Interview: Universal EVP Ken Graffeo says HD DVD is here to stay

[FailedEXE]

Man, it's like a bad movie with a crooked busniessman trying ruin it for everybody. Instead, he brings up excuses that the PS3 comes first a video game console then anything else. Anybody remember when he said that the HD-DVD was backed by more companys then the Blu-Ray camp? He literally said 200 companys. If he's so worried about the consumers intreset, you think you would've been smart enough to jump ship by now? God I hate this tool. I can't believe he hasn't been fired yet.

[Bullseye]

You cannot blame Ken G. for trying to save his and Universal’s format of choice but if they continue with this triumphant rhetoric then they are in serious danger of isolating themselves from Blu Ray collectors when they do eventually decide to release on BD. While we all agree Paramount were asses of dropping BD in the first place they are being clever in not releasing any statements or interviews which could be seen to be isolation themselves from the BD market.

So while you have to admire Ken G. for his past backing of HD-DVD he is no longer in a position of strength and should really be more diplomatic in his interviews.

[Sane]

Originally Posted by Fozziwig

He repeatedly said that Universal would follow the consumer and what do you think the January set of Nielsen's will be telling him about consumer choice?

I was just about to quote that part and add "how's 85:15?"

His mind is clearly made up, so his statement should be amended to "we'll follow the consumer ...as long as they choose HD DVD ...combo HD DVDs".

[HeavyHitter]

I'm sorry, Graffeo is a douchebag whether or not he's been paid or forced to make these comments or not. I mean they are so ridiculous.

[Nick Graham]

I personally predict Mr. Graffeo will go from least popular studio exec to most popular studio exec on this forum at some point between now and the end of the year. You guys really need to heed Bill Hunt's most recent comments regarding PR and how each studio that has made a major switch was publicly supporting both formats right up until the split second they announced their change in direction. I think Bill is wanting you to read between the lines.

[tru2blu707]

Ken G says: I'll go back to what we've said over and over: the set-top player is the primary movie device. If you look at the attach rate of how many movies are bought for dedicated HD DVD players versus how many movies were sold for the PS3 and the Blu-ray set-top players combined, it's a 4 to 1 gap. Which says that people who own game machines are not buying at the same rate as someone who owns a set-top. And on the DVD side, your primary player is a set-top.

but the week after WB announces blu ray exclusivity:

The following week, after the announcement, Blu-ray players grabbed 93% of the market.

LMAO ken G got pwned...again

[macpac24]

Apologies if posted already..

Betanews interviews Universal EVP Ken Graffeo who says HD DVD is here to stay.

link : http://www.betanews.com/article/Inte...tay/1200951636

Nate Mook: How does it change things in the Promotional Group now that Warner Bros. has stated its intention to go Blu-ray exclusive once its contract obligations end?

Ken Graffeo: Well, we heard about the whole move when everyone else did -- when a lot of us were on planes flying to CES in Las Vegas. To be very honest with you, we have not addressed that yet -- Warner is still releasing HD DVD titles up until May. Warner has always been in two formats, and prior to Paramount's switch, they had been in two formats, so now that Warner is exclusive... we just haven't addressed it yet.

NM: There was a lot of surprise when you canceled the CES press conference and meetings after Warner jumped ship. It appeared to many that you were simply giving up. Two weeks after the fact, do you regret canceling everything?

KG: It's very easy to look back and say "I could have" because you always know the result. But at the time... imagine the orchestration of a press event with the presenters, the scripts, the entire presentation, videos that were produced -- everything. The crew was already setting up and we were on a plane on Friday, so not being able to get back to everyone to say "how do we make a change for Sunday" was very difficult. And what are the answers? We had no idea because we were reading and hearing about Warner's move the same time everyone else was.

[mystiksuicide]

It's old news and it's worthless.

[HighDefChief]

ok... so lets get this straight

(Majors only)
Blu-Ray
Warner Bros, Buena Vista, 20th Century Fox, Sony

HD DVD
Universal, Paramount

Paramount is destined to switch back to Blu-Ray either exclusively or neutrally so that would leave HD DVD with just Universal exclusive, and maybe one other major studio which would also release on Blu-Ray.

Enough is enough Universal

[The Big Blue]

About on par with sexually transmitted disease is here to stay!

Hooray!

[XSilentCobraX]

Starting to get really sick of all this, why keep supporting a format that has only 2 Major supporters, while blu has 6 plus a hell of alot more from all around, makes me sick..

[mykevermin]

It seems to meld well with Bill Hunt's assertion that Universal is contractually bound until a certain time (late 2009?), or until Toshiba says HD is dead. That, along with Graffeo's conflict of interest (a question asked of him that he clumsily dances around without answering), more or less make the things he says untrustworthy and/or constrained to what they can get away with saying.

The lack of the obvious "Blu-Ray is pulling ahead; are there plans to support both formats in the future?" question makes me think that this betanews cat got the interview approved with several caveats, including no questions about BD support. What kind of "journalist" (even a blog nitwit) would not ask a question like that, unless he was capitulating in order to get the interview in the first place?

[hharrizons]

It's more like.

HD-DVD is here to die.


:-)

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by XSilentCobraX

Starting to get really sick of all this, why keep supporting a format that has only 2 Major supporters, while blu has 6 plus a hell of alot more from all around, makes me sick..

you have to realize what they are doing. if they come out and say, no more hd dvds they are stuck with a lot of inventory and have a lot of retailers return items on them if they can or the retailers are pissed to the max. if they come out and say we are still supporting hd dvd, retailers will sell hd dvd discs to current hd dvd owners a lot easier, simply not re-stock and when supply runs out, supply runs out. also, they can promote hd dvd players as upconveters to get them into ppl's households without the consumer feeling ripped off, because the main point of the sale was upconversion.

im 99% sure, best buy and wal-mart are no longer reodering hd dvd hardware and will only be getting top-notch software in limited supply. don't expect to see this "hd scapes: saltwater" sh1t to be in stores, cause it don't sell. retailers want a clear victor by xmas 08, so expect hd dvd software and hardware to be completely out of most retialers by late Q3.

HD DVD only has about 6 decent releases this quarter compared to a slew of blu-ray releases.

[macpac24]

Originally Posted by mystiksuicide

It's old news and it's worthless.

fair enough just posted to get some reaction u shouldnt of bothered replying in fairness

[roachxp]

Isn't Universal also the only one that doen't want to be part of itunes.

[stockstar1138]

so when is universal's contract up. i've heard it was already up, but now im hearing not til 2009 unless toshiba abandons hd dvd, would they really have been dumb enough to sign a contract that binds them past xmas 08?

btw: i love how graffeo announced 1 future hd dvd release in this and calls it support for the format.

[blu-backer]

It's here to stay....until all existing inventory has been sold.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by roachxp

Isn't Universal also the only one that doen't want to be part of itunes.

universal is owned by NBC, NBC is in bed with MS, thats how you get MSNBC, MS hates apple, Universal thus pulls itunes support.

[blacknation]

¿¿the hddvd is still live?? were? here? please tell me were...i need one to complete my collection of crap systems. next to my coleco vision, the betamax, the atari jaguar, and the Gamecube.