Universal Studios under pressure to support Blu-ray?

[McBain]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=11814

[Helicon]

Question, in Europe the publisher of SONY / Columbia Pitures titles is Universal.

Does that mean that Universal already has Blu-ray disc production equipment? Or does the publisher only handle the logistical part of the releases?

"Udgiver" means: Publisher

[Dadds]

I just really dont want Universals crappy transfers.

[jermwhl]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

might negotiate with Blu-ray backers at this summer's investment conferences.”

Anyone know when this conference is? Summer is upon us, so Universal going Blu by Christmas is not so farfetched as previously thought!!!! At least by some! Keep the faith alive.........GO BLU!

[Mr. Joshua]

"When you sell six million standard-definition units of a title, and you're selling only about 70,000 in hi-def, it's hard to say, 'Wow, look at what we're leaving on the table.' "

This is a quote from the last paragraph of the article. If Universal were supporting Blu-ray I bet that 70,000 would triple or even quadruple. I think somewhere down the line as in the post above mine shows, Universal has some skin in the game with Blu-ray, just like Toshiba has some skin in the game with PS3...

[MasterXeus]

Originally Posted by Dadds

I just really dont want Universals crappy transfers.

I've looked at some Universal HD-DVDs at stores (The main one I remember is Serenity and that one didn't look that crappy.) They could be better, but they're limited by space. That's why they should go Blu.

[Mr. Joshua]

Originally Posted by movies3

i dunno if universal will release the bourne series this holiday. They are prolly saving all there good stuff until they go to the blu side.

Universal blu-ray will win this format war... Universal search your feelings you know this to be true. Join me on the blu-ray side and together we will rule the galaxy...

[Mr. Joshua]

Originally Posted by sltmag

Is it me or does this guy look like a little twit?

Who is that guy? A Universal Exec? My best guess as I've not seen his pic before...

[nhaase]

Originally Posted by wsciv123

Who is that guy? A Universal Exec? My best guess as I've not seen his pic before...

That's Ken Graffeo, the man with the highest concentration of THC in his blood right now, as he is the head of Uni's HD group, and is the one who keeps saying, "wait till the 4th quarter for HD DVD," and any other nonsensical quotes from that format's camp.

[dialog_gvf]

^^^ What Graffeo completely misses is that a large number consumers are waiting for an outcome of the format war. He's deliberately and with full intent causing that war to continue.

He's risking the revenue streams of all the studios. Users could stop buying anything. Waiting for a resolution of the war to go HD, but not wanting to waste anything more on SD.

Gary

[dillycheeze]

bluniversal

its pretty funny to me...think about this...universal is still 100% backing hd dvd....and the overall players including ps3s and 360 addons is ridiculously favoring blu ray at this point.....blu-ray players and ps3s are only going to drop in price from here on.....so the numbers will get even more out of control....short of giving hd-dvd players away for free (which....might be their next move) theres no way to overcome this....i mean think about it...if blu-ray is ahead by this much right now.....IF hd-dvd were to somehow gain ground and then 'win'...do you know how long that would take....because if sales since inception miraculously made it back to 50-50 for hd-dvd, no blu-ray exclusive studio would be jumping ship...they would be doing what universal is doing now....so the timetable for hd-dvd to win is so long that it just makes sense to end it now....so why doesnt ken graffeo of universal realize that if they just stopped this they would make more money and make more people happy in the long run.....at least universal has forced blu-ray to evolve and drop in price quicker than it probably ever would have being the only hd format.....but its time to move on

[jorg]

Originally Posted by wsciv123

"When you sell six million standard-definition units of a title, and you're selling only about 70,000 in hi-def, it's hard to say, 'Wow, look at what we're leaving on the table.' "

This is a quote from the last paragraph of the article. If Universal were supporting Blu-ray I bet that 70,000 would triple or even quadruple. I think somewhere down the line as in the post above mine shows, Universal has some skin in the game with Blu-ray, just like Toshiba has some skin in the game with PS3...

most movies have only sold on average around 30 thousand

[KingDeezie]

I hope this is true...

I really want Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead on Bluray...

[darinp2]

Originally Posted by jorg

most movies have only sold on average around 30 thousand

The average is probably closer to 5-6k for releases (some have 2 version because of both formats) so far, even with some bigger hitters. If the 2 formats have combined for 3 million disc sales so far and there were 500 unique releases, that would only be 6k each. I think there are more releases and the disc sales might be higher than that now, but seems like a ballpark. I don't know if Universal has even a single release that has sold more than 30k (not counting "free" ones included in a box like King Kong) at this point.

Places like Best Buy not selling some of the lesser titles (like some of those from Universal) at all their stores is another reason for lower averages.

--Darin

[PaulDubya]

Im glad to see Universal is getting help for their HD-DVD addiction. Hd-dvd kills. There goin to rehab so maybe there is a Blu-ray intervention in sight. lol

[reiella]

For new releases, the HD format war isn't hurting bottom lines that much. As said, the numbers just aren't there yet. Further, most folks, even if they have a bd player, will still buy the dvd version if it's their only option. Some won't, but again, the numbers are so small, it's not a hit to their line.

[thebluemax]

Personally, I could care less if Universal goes BD. The only reason I would want them to is to end this F_ _ _K_ _ war, and I would probably buy some of there better titles.

[kknight]

Originally Posted by thebluemax

Personally, I could care less if Universal goes BD. The only reason I would want them to is to end this F_ _ _K_ _ war, and I would probably buy some of there better titles.

I care for Universal movies but I agree, the sooner that HD-DVD dies, the better for everyone. I'm so tired of their bulls*** and their stupid manupulative news, if it weren't for Microsoft backing them up with their add-on drive which the ONLY reason was to go up against the PS3, this war would of been over a while ago...

[cruzzer cruz]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

^^^ What Graffeo completely misses is that a large number consumers are waiting for an outcome of the format war. He's deliberately and with full intent causing that war to continue.

He's risking the revenue streams of all the studios. Users could stop buying anything. Waiting for a resolution of the war to go HD, but not wanting to waste anything more on SD.

Gary

This is so true. If they were to just go nuetral, the war would be over very quickly, the HD market would boom, and they'd have thousands upon thousands of new costumers.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

poor toshiba people they must be feeling pretty bad, makes me feel sad fir them. They spent so much on HD DVD all for not.