"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[kibbled_bits]

Penton-man

Any truth to the rumors that Toshiba is working on a Blu-ray player? The BDA would have to know these things beforehand anywaysince they would need their approval.

[Proteus]

Universal and Paramount are only in it with HDDVD to help move the last of the inventory.

It's my opinion that this war has been over since around Jan. 9th. It's just been a matter of cleaning up all the bodies from the battlefield and clearing the old mines (to use a lame war metaphor).

I would be extremely surprised if Uni and Para have not made the move by mid-april and totally shocked if nothing by June. Once inventories are reasonably cleared things will be over and shift quickly.

Penton, I do greatly appreciate your taking the time to keep these forums up to date on affairs (and occasional insight into future comings). For a man in your position it is a great move and one I wish more executives would make in an effort to understand their customers more clearly. Open communication with customers is a wonderful thing. Perhaps someday we will all be enlightened to your true identity (maybe when HDDVD is done and gone completely?) so we can show our appreciation more directly.

Until then...

[TheRealBob]

Proteus must be really serious about believing the format war is over, since he even basically said goodbye to Penton at the end of his post!

[Proteus]

Believing is for religion.

The format war being over is statistical fact.

In life, I am generally a jack of all trades in that I learn things quickly and can solve problems fast and easy but rarely take the time to master them. There's one thing though that I feel I've mastered as best as can ever be expected of anyone... Marketing. It's like the one thing I just 'get' every time. Probably why I hate it so much. Yet, I still do it.

I suffer greatly inside for it.

Didn't mean for it to sound like a good-bye though... Just a props and hope that someday he identifies himself here.

[blitz6speed]

Originally Posted by kibbled_bits

Penton-man

Any truth to the rumors that Toshiba is working on a Blu-ray player? The BDA would have to know these things beforehand anywaysince they would need their approval.

No they dont. The LG Dual player announced at the 07 CES was a COMPLETE shock to toshiba & Family and even amir said he had no clue about it. They even promoted it as a official HD DVD product at CES then later retracted it because the player did not do HDi properly. This all happened at the show. So they could obviously be building a machine without anyone knowing.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by blitz6speed

No they dont. The LG Dual player announced at the 07 CES was a COMPLETE shock to toshiba & Family and even amir said he had no clue about it. They even promoted it as a official HD DVD product at CES then later retracted it because the player did not do HDi properly. This all happened at the show. So they could obviously be building a machine without anyone knowing.

LG had access to detailed specifications of both formats, that's why they could do it. But several people strongly hinted at a dual format player coming beforehand, so I doubt it was really a shock.

[blitz6speed]

Originally Posted by kjack

LG had access to detailed specifications of both formats, that's why they could do it. But several people strongly hinted at a dual format player coming beforehand, so I doubt it was really a shock.

I am sure Samsung is close enough with toshiba, along with LG, to let them have any documentation they would need to build a blu-ray player without anyone being the wiser.

[bambam1901]

Penton, care to comment on Uni's stellar release schedule? American Gangster and... Fletch? WTF?! Nothing after March 1st. Hmmmmm...

[Azumi]

Originally Posted by bambam1901

Penton, care to comment on Uni's stellar release schedule? American Gangster and... Fletch? WTF?! Nothing after March 1st. Hmmmmm...

Add to this the fact that season #2 of the Star Trek HD DVD boxset has just fallen from a cliff...

Penton, do you know if Universal and Paramount are still reprinting current HD DVD discs that are close to run out of supplies?

[akbungle]

Originally Posted by Azumi

Penton, do you know if Universal and Paramount are still reprinting current HD DVD discs that are close to run out of supplies?

Isn't that an oxymoron of sorts?

Sorry I couldn't resist.

[MerrickG]

I created a seperate thread for this, but I wanted to reiterate here:

Penton or Wicky can delete this if they feel it violates the rules:

Ok everyone,

I realize that when Penton-Man made his remark that there were more announcements to come, a lot of people assumed he was talking about Paramount and people started speculating that an announcement could come by friday.

I think that is unlikely for several reasons:

1. Bill Hunt has said on HTF that it likely wont happen until March or April at latest.
2. Another "insider" who will remain nameless also told me this in an email.

Lets calm down, while we wait for some more good news in the mean time.

of course if I end up being wrong. Remind me every 5 minutes!

[Azumi]

Originally Posted by akbungle

Isn't that an oxymoron of sorts?

Sorry I couldn't resist.

That would be telling, wouldn't it?

Grab them while you can because they won't reprint them and so we won't sell them. It's this way or it's eBay.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Proteus

Universal and Paramount are only in it with HDDVD to help move the last of the inventory.

It's my opinion that this war has been over since around Jan. 9th. It's just been a matter of cleaning up all the bodies from the battlefield and clearing the old mines (to use a lame war metaphor).

I would be extremely surprised if Uni and Para have not made the move by mid-april and totally shocked if nothing by June. Once inventories are reasonably cleared things will be over and shift quickly.

Penton, I do greatly appreciate your taking the time to keep these forums up to date on affairs (and occasional insight into future comings). For a man in your position it is a great move and one I wish more executives would make in an effort to understand their customers more clearly. Open communication with customers is a wonderful thing...........

You guys earned it because you’ve been supporters long before other forums or online entitles finally saw the Blu writing on the wall.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I created a seperate thread for this, but I wanted to reiterate here:

Penton or Wicky can delete this if they feel it violates the rules:

Ok everyone,

I realize that when Penton-Man made his remark that there were more announcements to come, a lot of people assumed he was talking about Paramount and people started speculating that an announcement could come by friday.

It would be an incorrect assumption that I was referring to a major Hollywood studio concerning that timeframe.
And in regards to an additional nail in the coffin announcement by the end of the week, like I said on my prior post on this matter, I doubt that the logistics are in place.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

You guys earned it because you’ve been supporters long before other forums or online entitles finally saw the Blu writing on the wall.

I still have my HTF scars...speaking of one forum that still hasn't seen the (Blu) light.

[plee]

Originally Posted by blitz6speed

I am sure Samsung is close enough with toshiba, along with LG, to let them have any documentation they would need to build a blu-ray player without anyone being the wiser.

Or just rebadge the Samsung/LG units so they could sell quickly, then develop their own unit later....

[GreenScar]

I expect Circuit City to fall into place soon.

That's my guess anyway.

[elwaylite]

Lets not forget that the A3 is not even shown on Wally Worlds website anymore.

[BillCable]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

It would be an incorrect assumption that I was referring to a major Hollywood studio concerning that timeframe.

Ooooo... Weinstein then??

[TheRealBob]

Originally Posted by merrick97

1. Bill Hunt has said on HTF that it likely wont happen until March or April at latest.

I actually thought that was a typo and you meant that he said "at the earliest". But, nope, I checked the thread, and he did in fact say at the latest. So I guess I'm a bit puzzled why that is supposed to mean anything, as tomorrow or Friday would meet the criteria of by April at the latest.

Originally Posted by merrick97

2. Another "insider" who will remain nameless also told me this in an email.

They also told you it would happen by April...at the latest?

Originally Posted by merrick97

Lets calm down, while we wait for some more good news in the mean time.

of course if I end up being wrong. Remind me every 5 minutes!

Let's get EXCITED! April at the LATEST means...well...RIGHT NOW at the EARLIEST!

Thanks for the good news, Merrick!