Archived: Insiders Thread

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I would like to see Blu-ray promoted in every creative way possible, but the studio would not do something like this. The main reason is that the retailers would be very upset with us for inconveniencing loyal customers who just aren't ready for HD yet...

It's something you can get away with in the smaller markets but I can see it being harder in the larger ones. The only way it'd even truly be feasible is if it was available directly from SPHE but I don't know if they have an online store ala Warner's store. It'd make sense to sell through there early though since profits would be higher with less middlemen to deal with.

The anime side has done that with releases in the past; for example, AnimEigo released the Macross series direct to fans for a higher price and then 6 months to a year later started release it via regular retail channels. A smaller set of people obviously bought it direct (no discounting, etc) but those that did built some nice pre-buzz on it and it got some good inter-industry promotion because it wasn't a standard move. It pleased the fans, didn't upset the retailers.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I would like to see Blu-ray promoted in every creative way possible, but the studio would not do something like this. The main reason is that the retailers would be very upset with us for inconveniencing loyal customers who just aren't ready for HD yet...

Thanks for the reply Paidgeek,

It would be worth trying at least once as an experiment to release a BLU-RAY title like Spiderman 3 30 days early. Unless Sony tries it for one major title they will never know the effect in real world conditions. It could be a total success with possibly a few thousand BLU-RAY devices sold and most likely over 200,000 Spiderman 3 BLU-RAY discs sold to the millions of PS3 owners.
Sony could say something like the following to the retail stores:
The DVD version is coming out 30 days later since the DVD version has all kinds of extra features that needed to be finalized. Since the BLU-RAY version is being released in a HDTV Super Bit version with no extras we are able to release the BLU-RAY version 30 days early. I am afraid if this concept caught on and was successful Universal Studios might start releasing their HD-DVD movies 30 days early to push the HD-DVD format.
Sony Pictures owns the Spiderman 3 movie and they have every right to market the movie the way they want. If Sony decided to never release the movie on home video in any format and just keep replaying it in the theater from time to time then that is their choice. I guess my point is Sony has the power to do what they want with the movie and release it in what every format they want and when Sony wants. This is a advantage that Sony did not have with the BETA format.


The one negative thing about a 30 day early release is piracy

The only negative thing is pirates could purchase the BLU-RAY movie that was released 30 days early and connect a little box to the S-VIDEO output that removed the analog copy protection and they would be able to make a 480I analog copy that would be close to DVD quality. The only way to get around this would be to have the BLU-RAY 30 day early released movie disable all analog outputs. A big sticker on the front of the package would need to say “This BLU-RAY 30 day early release movie requires a HDTV display with a HDMI or DVI digital connection with HDCP”. Then the studios would not have to worry about piracy from people making copies from the analog outputs before it was released on the DVD format. Of course you would sale less movies that way since some people still use component video connections.

Just some ideas to think about


P.S.

Also people can still hook a BLU-RAY player up to any 480I standard monitor TV. So some people that are not interested in HDTV might purchase a BLU-RAY player to get a select few movies 30 days early.

[fingersdlp]

Are new AACS keys now is use for the April 24th releases?

Thanks

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I would like to see Blu-ray promoted in every creative way possible, but the studio would not do something like this. The main reason is that the retailers would be very upset with us for inconveniencing loyal customers who just aren't ready for HD yet...

Due to people thinking they could get the DVD on the same date too?

Laserdiscs weren't subject to the rental window releasing of VHS, where for about six weeks the VHS was a nominal $99 if you wanted to buy it, and then it was released "priced to own".

Was the death of the rental window due to customer inconvenience issues?

Gary

[stevei]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

The one negative thing about a 30 day early release is piracy

The only negative thing is pirates could purchase the BLU-RAY movie that was released 30 days early and connect a little box to the S-VIDEO output that removed the analog copy protection and they would be able to make a 480I analog copy that would be close to DVD quality.

This is an irrelevance - pirated DVDs are already available up to a month before the retail date due to insiders leaking them to the pirating groups. There's no need to derive a DVD from the high def format because they already have a DVD source available to them to copy well before the DVDs hit the shops.

[JTK]

The best thing I've seen for Blu-Ray has been TV and radio spots that go:
"<Insert movie title here> out Tuesday on DVD and Blu-Ray." <- This is accompanied by easy to see visuals of the DVD and BD logos and it's obvious that they are seperate products but mentioned and shown in the same breath.

^^ This is a trend that needs to increase and continue as much as possible. That's a memo to all the BD supporting studios.

[Longshot]

While I agree releasing Spidey 3 on BD 30 days early would be great it is not necessary. Sony just needs to repaet their efforts with the BD commercials of Casino Royale. They where awesome and no doubt had a positive impact on sales.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Longshot

While I agree releasing Spidey 3 on BD 30 days early would be great it is not necessary. Sony just needs to repaet their efforts with the BD commercials of Casino Royale. They where awesome and no doubt had a positive impact on sales.

IMO Casino Royale is the perfect way these releases should be done, especially for big name titles.

Everyone on the street that normally doesn't pay attention to these sorts of things KNEW that Casino Royale was coming out on DVD and Blu-Ray at the same time.

Furthermore, I've run into some evidence that CR really was a title that turned heads and made some people look into what BD actually is.

EVERY BDA studio needs to follow that example IMO. "DVD and Blu-Ray" over and over again where you can't miss it.

The CR campaign was/is the right way to do it.

The BDA needs to agree to terms on an outright War Chest and use it as a unified team. Take the analogy as far as you want to go with it.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by JTK

The best thing I've seen for Blu-Ray has been TV and radio spots that go:
"<Insert movie title here> out Tuesday on DVD and Blu-Ray." <- This is accompanied by easy to see visuals of the DVD and BD logos and it's obvious that they are seperate products but mentioned and shown in the same breath.

^^ This is a trend that needs to increase and continue as much as possible. That's a memo to all the BD supporting studios.

Which is why it was very odd to me to see all of those ads from Fox for A Night at the Museum running all the time with absolutely no mention of the Blu-ray release at all.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by GoldenRedux

Which is why it was very odd to me to see all of those ads from Fox for A Night at the Museum running all the time with absolutely no mention of the Blu-ray release at all.

That obvious missed oppurtunity frustrates me to no end. That shouldn't have happened.

That's a title that a lot of people like and want. We should have seen nothing but "on DVD and BD this Tuesday" ads on TV, radio, and print just like we've seen with other titles.

Fox needlessly dropped the ball on that one.

[ProvenFlipper]

Originally Posted by JTK

That obvious missed oppurtunity frustrates me to no end. That shouldn't have happened.

That's a title that a lot of people like and want. We should have seen nothing but "on DVD and BD this Tuesday" ads on TV, radio, and print just like we've seen with other titles.

Fox needlessly dropped the ball on that one.

I think it should be "Blu-ray and DVD" or just Blu-ray like they do on the HD channels.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by ProvenFlipper

I think it should be "Blu-ray and DVD" or just Blu-ray like they do on the HD channels.

Weren't there Blu-ray only adds for Casino Royale that ran on network television as well? I'm almost certain I saw one on Fox during 24 or Prison Break.

[Longshot]

Originally Posted by GoldenRedux

Weren't there Blu-ray only adds for Casino Royale that ran on network television as well? I'm almost certain I saw one on Fox during 24 or Prison Break.

Correct. The CR BD promos were shown on many prime time shows.

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by GoldenRedux

Weren't there Blu-ray only adds for Casino Royale that ran on network television as well? I'm almost certain I saw one on Fox during 24 or Prison Break.

Absolutely!

And they seemed to have worked!

[ProvenFlipper]

Originally Posted by GoldenRedux

Weren't there Blu-ray only adds for Casino Royale that ran on network television as well? I'm almost certain I saw one on Fox during 24 or Prison Break.

I don't watch FOX very often, so I missed that one. I just started watching FOX with the new show Drive. I only saw the CR ads on MHD.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by ProvenFlipper

I don't watch FOX very often, so I missed that one. I just started watching FOX with the new show Drive. I only saw the CR ads on MHD.

Sooo....

When can we expect Season 1 of Drive on Blu-ray?

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by GoldenRedux

Which is why it was very odd to me to see all of those ads from Fox for A Night at the Museum running all the time with absolutely no mention of the Blu-ray release at all.

Maybe when the ads were approved and made Fox hadn't decided if Museum would be kept as a 4/24 release. So they erred in the side of caution. Anyways some people got this earlier than 4/24 from what I've seen.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Maybe when the ads were approved and made Fox hadn't decided if Museum would be kept as a 4/24 release. So they erred in the side of caution. Anyways some people got this earlier than 4/24 from what I've seen.

That's a possibility.

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by ProvenFlipper

I don't watch FOX very often, so I missed that one. I just started watching FOX with the new show Drive. I only saw the CR ads on MHD.

On the other hand, I just caught a promo spot for The Queen on CNN - and they say "now available on Blu-Ray and DVD"... mentioning blu-ray first Nice one, Disney!

[The Big Blue]

That must be the commercial I saw. I couldn't remember which movie but I noticed they said Blu-ray first.