What will Toshiba's Super Bowl HD DVD ad be?

[TheRealBob]

Ever since news broke that Toshiba had purchased time for a commercial during the upcoming Super Bowl, there has been a lot of speculation about what that ad will be. What do you think? I've tried to post all options I've heard, no matter how unrealistic I think some of them are.

For reference, here is their ad from last year's Super Bowl:

http://www.superbowlads.us/2007/02/toshibas_2007_h.html

Note that they apparently purchased this ad time before the Warner jump.

[actionhank]

Probably a video of Toshiba CEOs commiting seppuku (ritual suicide for defeat). haha lol

I don't know, probably just a normal HD-DVD ad with pretty cut scenes from Transformers, Bourne etc. Leaving out the fact that they only have 2 studios of course.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by actionhank

Probably a video of Toshiba CEOs commiting seppuku (ritual suicide for defeat). haha lol

I don't know, probably just a normal HD-DVD ad with pretty cut scenes from Transformers, Bourne etc. Leaving out the fact that they only have 2 studios of course.

I thought that was called hara-kiri.

[actionhank]

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

I thought that was called hara-kiri.

hari-kari is the colloquial term for it. my source is wikipedia though

[Sylin]

I imagine it'll be football themed, and look something like this:

[Sling]

Open the Box and power will be yours

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by actionhank

Probably a video of Toshiba CEOs commiting seppuku (ritual suicide for defeat). haha lol

[TheRealBob]

The ad, exactly as it ran, is available here:

http://www.spike.com/video/2938290

Basically the same ad as on their site, but it replaced the 300 footage with Shrek footage (which kind of looks silly when they're depicting it being watched by a stereotypical group of amped-up male Super Bowl fans) and added a tag line at the end saying it's available from prices starting at $149.99 while showing the logos of Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart, and Amazon.com.

Pretty blah if you ask me. Also kind of muddied the issue with the line, "With up to six times the details of DVD, even your current DVD collection looks great." That line doesn't really make any sense. It's as if they were trying to not give up on HD DVD while also pushing the upscaling abilities, but they conflated six times the resolution of HD DVD with the ability to upscale DVD and turned it into a nonsensical claim that upscaled DVD has six times the detail of DVD.

So basically the big push is that it's cheap. I wonder if Circuit City did intend to clearance these players out and Toshiba found out, nearly had a heart attack since they were mentioned in the ad, and put pressure on them to retract the clearance sale.

I don't think this ad will have much effect, and if I were in the red camp looking for a sign that there was still life in HD DVD, I'd be very disappointed.

[TheRealBob]

Bill Hunt's take ( http://thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents ):

Talk about an anti-climax.

[ ... ]

No, I'm talking about Toshiba's big "hail mary" Superbowl ad buy. So I'm watching the game, keeping my eyes peeled for the ad to see what kind of big surprise the HD-DVD camp cooked up for the much-hyped spot. Would they go for humor, would they pull out a celebrity endorsement, would they announce some kind of surprise exclusive title? And then there it was, right before the halftime show. And the answer to all three questions was: Nope. Now, maybe it was different in different markets around the country. But the spot I saw here in Southern California, talking about how great Toshiba's high-definition DVD format is... was broadcast in standard definition. And it was window boxed. And THAT was the only surprise.

Okkaaaaaaaayyy. Maybe not the route I would've gone, but you know... whatever.

Speaking of ads, I think E-Trade gets my nod for the best spot. The talking stain and the pigeons were pretty good too. You can watch them all here. Toshiba's ad is suspiciously absent.

[gand41f]

Voted for dual-format player, just for the fun of it.

In reality, I think it's just another one of those boring "Wow! HD DVD looks great!" commercials.

enjoy
gandalf

[Anthony P]

Has it played yet?

if not, here is what I think it will be


Guy sitting on couch watching TV with big smile

wife starts talking

Wife: "I bought my husband this cool new HD DVD player it was only 100$ and someone said it was a great deal. I think it was a great investment. Look

{Camera pans away from her. You see a gorgeous outdoor scene, it is life like, the camera then pans to the side and you cee the player between the window and the window sill}

Wife: “it can keep the window open, not only that but”

{picks it up and goes to the door, opens it and then, puts it down}

Wife: “it can also hold the door open”

{rumbling come from the sofa}
{picks the player up, closes the door and then places the player down}

Wife: “or it can keep it closed”

{you hear someone banging at the door}

Husband: “are you still talking about that piece of junk that won’t play the movies I want, open the door so that I can beat you up for wasting my money”

Wife {wispering}: “yup a good investment, it can keep the door closed until he passes out from drinking too much while watching the game”

[Sling]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

Has it played yet?

if not, here is what I think it will be


Guy sitting on couch watching TV with big smile

wife starts talking

Wife: "I bought my husband this cool new HD DVD player it was only 100$ and someone said it was a great deal. I think it was a great investment. Look

{Camera pans away from her. You see a gorgeous outdoor scene, it is life like, the camera then pans to the side and you cee the player between the window and the window sill}

Wife: “it can keep the window open, not only that but”

{picks it up and goes to the door, opens it and then, puts it down}

Wife: “it can also hold the door open”

{rumbling come from the sofa}
{picks the player up, closes the door and then places the player down}

Wife: “or it can keep it closed”

{you hear someone banging at the door}

Husband: “are you still talking about that piece of junk that won’t play the movies I want, open the door so that I can beat you up for wasting my money”

Wife {wispering}: “yup a good investment, it can keep the door closed until he passes out from drinking too much while watching the game”

Well it aired for some Viewing areas but not all

[Anthony P]

so was I close

[TheRealBob]

Apparently it was a variation of the ad available here:

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd/

The basic ad shows a bunch of guys watching football in HD, then pushes the idea that you can watch movies in HD afterwards with an HD DVD player. It's not that good of an ad, in my opinion.

Reportedly the ad didn't air in all areas, as some people never saw it. The ones that did see it said it aired right before the halftime show (universal bathroom break time) or in the third quarter. A lot of people watching in HD said the ad was in SD. Others said it came through on their station in HD.

Unless these are local plug-in ads and the real ad hasn't aired yet, this is beyond pathetic.

If anyone saw it, did they leave the scenes from 300 in the ad? They are in the online version.