Interesting: Warner was not present at the HD DVD IFA conference

[Tekman]

During the conference we saw Toshiba take the stage, next came Ken Graffeo(Universal), later VP of marketing for Paramount took the stage and lastly Microsoft had the last word. (Microsoft talks about the HD-DVD drive for XBOX after Ken Graffeo states that gamers are not their target audience.)

Where was Warner? As we all know Warner was present at the Blu-ray conference.

[BluFox]

Originally Posted by Tekman

During the conference we saw Toshiba take the stage, next came Ken Graffeo(Universal), later VP of marketing for Paramount took the stage and lastly Microsoft had the last word. (Microsoft talks about the HD-DVD drive for XBOX after Ken Graffeo states that gamers are not their target audience.)

Where was Warner? As we all know Warner was present at the Blu-ray conference.

Warner and the same titles as BD was mentioned in the press con. And they are format natural, I have no doubts at the moment.

However, if it's true that there was no representative, it's interesting!

[buckshot]

very interesting

[Jack Torrance]

Oooooooo. Very interestink.

Blu-ray throws better parties, so I'm sure that had a lot to do with it.

[Blu As Hell]

Very Very interesting....I wonder?

[Papi4baby]

Well WB is a BDA member so i guess that's one reason, and they support both HD formats. To be on their side Universal didn't show up either.

[Fozziwig]

Originally Posted by Papi4baby

Well WB is a BDA member so i guess that's one reason, and they support both HD formats. To be on their side Universal didn't show up either.

..next came Ken Graffeo(Universal),

Universal DID show up (or were your refering to Uni at the BDA conference, which would have been very interesting). Weinstein didn't show up at either event.

[Zaphod]

Originally Posted by Tekman

During the conference we saw Toshiba take the stage, next came Ken Graffeo (Universal), later VP of marketing for Paramount took the stage and lastly Microsoft had the last word.

Originally Posted by Fozziwig

Universal DID show up (or were your refering to Uni at the BDA conference, which would have been very interesting). Weinstein didn't show up at either event.

He did mention that Universal was there for the HD-DVD conference.

[Jack Torrance]

The point is that WB supports both formats. And some of us have the suspicion that (at least until very recently ) WB had favoured HD-DVD.

With this in mind, the fact that they showed up for the BD event... but were basically a no show for the HD-DVD event is... interesting.

[Fozziwig]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

He did mention that Universal was there for the HD-DVD conference.

Originally Posted by Papi4baby

Well WB is a BDA member so i guess that's one reason, and they support both HD formats. To be on their side Universal didn't show up either.

I must admit I didn't read this as saying "Universal was there for the HD-DVD conference."

Oh, well, maybe my powers of deduction are failing me.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Jack Torrance

The point is that WB supports both formats. And some of us have the suspicion that (at least until very recently ) WB had favoured HD-DVD.

With this in mind, the fact that they showed up for the BD event... but were basically a no show for the HD-DVD event is... interesting.

No, that's not the point. At the present WB is neutral. If WB was wanting to communicate their long-term plans to stay neutral, they would have been at both. Their singular presence at the BD conference does say volumes. I was feeling about 50-50 that WB might go Blu, but now I am totally convinced that they are, AND since they were a part of the promotion of upcoming 1.1 features, that WB will announce they are switching to only Blu soon after Nov. 1st.

[Papi4baby]

Sorry i guess they did, wasn't really paying attention to that part. Got confused name wise.

[Slackr89]

the plot thickens...

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Papi4baby

Well WB is a BDA member so i guess that's one reason, and they support both HD formats. To be on their side Universal didn't show up either.

Assuming you meant the HD DVD press conference: Graffeo is a Universal exec, there as the co-chair of the HD DVD PRG.

Gary

[supersix4]

so lets show them some love now and on tuesday's .. nothing says you picked the right format like showing them good sales numbers

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Slackr89

the plot thickens...

Seems more like the speculation thickens.

[glenn22]

Originally Posted by JTK

Seems more like the speculation thickens.

Agreed. Wholeheartedly.

[BluFox]

Don't get your hopes too much! Just take it as "Interesting" for now... nothing more, no speculatiuon. Warner are 100% behind both formats and we can enjoy their support. That's it.

[BluBerry]

Originally Posted by JTK

Seems more like the speculation thickens.

Well said. Some of these posters seem to have majored in speculation. I don't take this as evidence that Warner is about go exclusive.

[jason_grumpy]

Originally Posted by BluFox

Don't get your hopes too much! Just take it as "Interesting" for now... nothing more, no speculatiuon. Warner are 100% behind both formats and we can enjoy their support. That's it.

Two weeks ago we could have said the same thing about Paramount. If you asked me back then, Paramounts shift towards BR with encodes, extras, and audio would have made me speculate they were going to the Blu only side before the end of the year.

Stranger things have happened. We can speculate, but the lesson is don't get your hopes up.

That said, Warner's absence from IFA at the HD-DVD PR is interesting. Almost as interesting as Paramounts response during it.