People at EMA taking Uni to task

[nhaase]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6461381.html

Some good excerpts:

Graffeo, Collins and other panelists acknowledged that PS3 owners far outweigh HD DVD player owners. But they argued that Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard are soon releasing a slew of HD DVD drives for notebooks and PCs.

“I don’t watch movies on my computer,” shot back Deganis, which was met with cheers from the audience.

Point to Deganis.

Digital Bits Web site founder Bill Hunt told the panelists about a family friend who bought a Toshiba player quickly after the company reduced prices to $299. The machine was just as quickly returned to the store after the friend’s wife mistakenly bought Blu-ray titles Ice Age and Pirates of the Caribbean, not realizing they were incompatible with the new player.

“The average consumer is just sitting out on the sidelines,” said Hunt, adding that a lot of people are enjoying the advanced quality on upscaling DVD players, not feeling it’s necessary to also buy true high-def players. “How can this ever be a mass market?”

Digital Bits Web site founder Bill Hunt and HTF members also questioned Universal’s and Microsoft’s stance that interactivity gives HD DVD a serious leg up over Blu-ray.

With picture-in-picture, HTF’s Sam Posten bemoaned the complexity, saying “I can’t even explain this stuff to my mom. It makes it harder to get to the actual [film] feature. Who is going to sit through a movie three times to hopefully see a bug in the corner of the screen?”

Hunt chimed in, “And who is to say that a year from now, Blu-ray won’t be able to add these things anyway?”

Points to Bill Hunt and Sam Posten. Nice to see them tell Graffeo the truth of interactivity.

[WriteSimply]

I could almost feel sorry for the HD-DVD guys for that *****slappings.

Almost.


fuad

[Spankey]

I will check out the occasional interactive stuff. Make that, rarely. The VAST majority of movie viewers just want to watch the damn movie. The HT enthusiast wants the best picture and audio quality. High def making of features, etc. are fine. If I was still single, I could not imagine renting a movie with my girlfriend and wasting time checking out the interactive features of a movie when I would rather be getting interactive with her.

[dialog_gvf]

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is adamant about exclusively offering HD DVD titles, despite protests by enthusiasts during the Home Media Expo here that it should work to end the high-definition format war.

How long does a company stay in business with an attitude that it doesn't need to worry about the desires of key early-adopters?!

Think of the crap that they will push as HD if that attitude succeeds.

Graffeo, Collins and other panelists acknowledged that PS3 owners far outweigh HD DVD player owners. But they argued that Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard are soon releasing a slew of HD DVD drives for notebooks and PCs.

“I don’t watch movies on my computer,” shot back Deganis, which was met with cheers from the audience.

Notice the MS-centric concept of the future here? Notebooks and PCs over stand-alones, which were supposed to be the key component. Oh yeah, we elevate something to key whenever it is convenient.

[dialog_gvf]

“In Europe, 80% of the high-def content is HD vs. Blu-ray,” said Graffeo. “We need to look at this business on a global basis.”

BS. And even if true, how about Japan?

Gary

[Deciazulado]

The French numbers a French site quoted from a Warner's placard weren't 80/20 if i recall correctly..

[The Big Blue]

Looking forward to watching the video which is supposed to get posted at hometheaterforum in the next few days.

Apparently attendees that went to the Blu-ray party are getting free Pannys!

[Sylin]

Originally Posted by sltmag

If I was still single, I could not imagine renting a movie with my girlfriend and wasting time checking out the interactive features of a movie when I would rather be getting interactive with her.

LOL - nearly spewed milk out of my nose on that last bit!

Originally Posted by The Big Blue

Apparently attendees that went to the Blu-ray party are getting free Pannys!

Well, that explains why I can't find one retail!

[The Don]

Originally Posted by sltmag

I will check out the occasional interactive stuff. Make that, rarely. The VAST majority of movie viewers just want to watch the damn movie. The HT enthusiast wants the best picture and audio quality. High def making of features, etc. are fine. If I was still single, I could not imagine renting a movie with my girlfriend and wasting time checking out the interactive features of a movie when I would rather be getting interactive with her.

when you purchase a "high definition player"....you want higher video and audio quality.....

you don't say "well, the HD DVD version of this movie has these interactive features....let's get the HD DVD player....even though I can get all the top movies on the BD player"

and why spend over a G on a combo player when the majority of the movies you want will be available on Blu-ray....it's only common sense..