"Blu-ray Fumbles Chance In HDTV DVD War" article

[HDTV1080P]

Here is a interesting read about BLU-RAY.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/davis061307.htm

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

He makes some valid points but totally overestimates the actual impact this will have in the long term.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Mitch Davis
HD Observer

With several million PlayStation 3 consoles sold, one would think that Blu-Ray would be on the road to defeating HD DVD by now, but this is far from reality.

A steady 2-1 sales ratio that's slowly growing past that isn't on the road to victory? Already I smell BS with this article.

With its back against the wall, Toshiba threw a Hail Mary pass by selling (HD DVD players) at or below cost with drastic price reductions that make HD DVD attractive to mass consumers. This is working well.

Not really.

Who would have guessed that affordable pricing means more people will buy HD? (maybe Swanni did).

It isn't.

Universal has been backing HD DVD with large amounts of popular catalog titles coming out after a drought of releases.

Now who's far from reality? His definition of large amounts and mine must be two very different things.

Not to mention Warner Bros. and Paramount have also been releasing their quality titles on both formats.

So what has the Blu-Ray team been up to?

Hardware releases from multiple companies with expensive pricing and a recent slowdown of exclusive titles hasn't helped.

Agreed.

Sony is coming soon with a very
nice new BR player at $499 list, which hopefully the price will come down when on sale. Let's hope other manufacturers follow suit fast.

Aren't there two others forthcoming by year's end (or sooner), at least?

Additionally, Blu-Ray exclusive studios have slowed down releases recently. Over the summer there is now very limited list of exclusive b-list releases. The more exciting titles are coming from Warner and Paramount as dual format releases.

Agreed again. I don't appreciate the downramping, either. Yet again it suggests to me way annoyingly short of:"We're going kick ass and end this format war."

Get it done!

Studio' like Sony, MGM, Fox and Disney are just not releasing their quality movies.

He's missing one word: "Enough."

Also, even more depressing to BR is the fact that Fox/MGM has stopped releases entirely. Warner has held back catalog
titles like Batman Begins and Matrix trilogy from BR because BD-J on BR the interactive format isn't finalized. Also, disc manufacturing for BR is an issue as they can't make enough discs to meet demand.

It's BD, not BR, but this is is essentially correct although he makes it sound like this is a situation that isn't going to improve in short order, which it will once we're past the summer doldrums.

Fox and MGM haven't publicly said they haven't released titles due to the fact that HD copy protection was hacked. Instead they cancelled releases sometimes on the day they were due out leading to consumer frustration and confusion.

No the only FUD and confusion comes from misleading statements like these, trying to make some kind of vague allusion that "maybe" they're reconsidering BD support and all the rest of the BS.

Not true.

No one knows how this format war will go, but I can say that Team Blu-Ray is fumbling their lead and this could lead to more dual format machines in the future and possibly even losing this format war.

OH NOES!!1 TEH SKY ISZA FALLING YET AGAIN1!!!!

Seriously though, and I've been saying it since last Christmas: The combined BDA needs to start showing consistent and umistakeable signs of wanting to win this format war outright...not just drag our feet along like it's been feeling like.

Fire the nukes. Get it done. You have the means and resources...it really shouldn't have even lasted this long.

[jermwhl]

Originally Posted by JTK

Fire the nukes. Get it done. You have the means and resources...it really shouldn't have even lasted this long.

Couldn't have put it any better myself!!!!

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Seriously though, and I've been saying it since last Christmas: The combined BDA needs to start showing consistent and umistakeable signs of wanting to win this format war outright...not just drag our feet along like it's been feeling like.

Fire the nukes. Get it done. You have the means and resources...it really shouldn't have even lasted this long.

There is one major flaw in this line of thinking. The BDA is a coalition that attempts to align the studios into a cohesive strategy. However in reality it is little mor ethan the tail trying to wag the dog. The BDA, despite your claim, has almost no power to control what these companies really do on a day to day basis. Even the Blu-ray division within these companies have little power to drive the overall ship. These companies remain individual companies who will do whatever they need to do to protect their own interests. Basically outside of a couple of the players, most of these companies could just roll with the punches and adapt. The profits from hi-def are a nice thing but not an end-all be-all kind of thing.

I'd love to believe they will do what it takes to win at all costs but let's get real. outside of Sony, Universal and Toshiba no one has a deep enough vested interest to live and die for this format war. Blu-ray will win, but the companies won't make any special effort to push it over the top in the near term.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Blu-Ray Buckeye

Seriously though, and I've been saying it since last Christmas: The combined BDA needs to start showing consistent and umistakeable signs of wanting to win this format war outright...not just drag our feet along like it's been feeling like.

Fire the nukes. Get it done. You have the means and resources...it really shouldn't have even lasted this long.

There is one major flaw in this line of thinking. The BDA is a coalition that attempts to align the stupios into a cohesive strategy. However in reality it is little mor ethan the tail trying to wag the dog. The BDA, despite your claim, has almost no power to control what these companies really do on a day to day basis. Even the Blu-ray division within these companies have little power to drive the overall ship. These companies remain individual companies who will do whatever they need to do to protect their own interests. Basically outside of a couple of the players, most of these companies could just roll with the punches and adapt. The profits from hi-def are a nice thing but not an end-all be-all kind of thing.

I'd love to believe they will do what it takes to win at all costs but let's get real. outside of Sony, Universal and Toshiba no one has a deep enough vested interest to live and die for this format war. Blu-ray will win, but the companies won't make any special effort to push it over the top in the near term.

I know.

[babyBlu]

Originally Posted by Blu-Ray Buckeye

[I] Blu-ray will win, but the companies won't make any special effort to push it over the top in the near term.

I agree. I feel like this 'war' is a game of chess, not checkers. It will be drawn out for a while but Blu-ray is slowly positioning itself to put HD DVD in checkmate, because of the larger studio support and all the PS3 owners who are "potential" BD owners.

Like my friend the turtle says, "slow and steady wins the race"

[Weez_Dawg]

Blah blah blah...it is JUNE PEOPLE!!!! We are the early adopters, everyone, even people in the HD-DVD camp. I did not hear anything last Christmas about HD DVDs or BRs, I just heard about how plasma, lcd, and rear projection TVs were about half the price they were the year before so I expect the nukes from the HD DVD and Bluray camps to start flying in the sky around October and all out destruction by November. This war will be over by Febuary 2008 no matter what anyone says. My thinking is that Bluray will have a win. I know this will piss alot of people off, but the fact of the matter is, is that people who can afford $500+ bluray players can afford to buy bluray disks. I don't see people trying to get $250+ hd dvd players with 7 free movies able to buy too many more HD DVDs and I also question if alot of these people have HDTVs. As we all know the kids at BB and CC don't know crap and might just sell this junk to an unsuspecting customer. There I said it...I am not a yuppie or rich, I am just telling it how it is(or how I see it). I am sorry in advance.

[ussrelativity]

Originally Posted by Blu-Ray Buckeye

Seriously though, and I've been saying it since last Christmas: The combined BDA needs to start showing consistent and umistakeable signs of wanting to win this format war outright...not just drag our feet along like it's been feeling like.

Fire the nukes. Get it done. You have the means and resources...it really shouldn't have even lasted this long.

I agree 100+%!

Make it a series of Mark IX Naquadriah-enhanced nukes and finish it immediately.

^(stargate joke)

[IamNhobdy]

Originally Posted by Weez_Dawg

Blah blah blah...it is JUNE PEOPLE!!!! We are the early adopters, everyone, even people in the HD-DVD camp. I did not hear anything last Christmas about HD DVDs or BRs, I just heard about how plasma, lcd, and rear projection TVs were about half the price they were the year before so I expect the nukes from the HD DVD and Bluray camps to start flying in the sky around October and all out destruction by November. This war will be over by Febuary 2008 no matter what anyone says. My thinking is that Bluray will have a win. I know this will piss alot of people off, but the fact of the matter is, is that people who can afford $500+ bluray players can afford to buy bluray disks. I don't see people trying to get $250+ hd dvd players with 7 free movies able to buy too many more HD DVDs and I also question if alot of these people have HDTVs. As we all know the kids at BB and CC don't know crap and might just sell this junk to an unsuspecting customer. There I said it...I am not a yuppie or rich, I am just telling it how it is(or how I see it). I am sorry in advance.

Don't apologize...You are correct. This is just the begining.
But one thing I must point out is that HDDVD players ARE currently bleeding their companies. This may not be as much as some people say/hope, but to a relatively big degree, it's true. By keeping BD players relatively more expensive gives them(BD) the upper hand in sale situations. With HDDVD players selling at a cost to their manufacturers all ready, they will not be able to keep up when the holiday season rolls around and certain BD players prices drop to match. Then it will become obvious that Blu-ray is the technically superior medium here. I think Sony learned their lesson with the BetaMax fiasco.

"It's not a race...it's a marathon"
-some wise person

[WickyWoo]

It's BD, not BR,

That's just moron marketing. If they want it abbriviated BD, then drop the Ray part.

It's like Nintendo GameCube being abbreviated GCN. Unless we suddenly became Japanese (in which case it would be GamuKyubo no Nintendo), it's NGC.

And the same goes for HD-DVD and their instance that you leave out the hyphen

[GasCat]

The article says, not making enough discs for demand? That's news to me.

[HDJK]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

That's just moron marketing. If they want it abbriviated BD, then drop the Ray part.

BD is the abbreviation of Blu-ray disc, and it makes sense if you take Blu-ray as one word.

FAQ

[Camulus]

Originally Posted by ussrelativity

I agree 100+%!

Make it a series of Mark IX Naquadriah-enhanced nukes and finish it immediately.

^(stargate joke)

Love the refernce.

[Smallville206]

Most of the people I know stopped listening to my arguments long ago for Blu ray since the format war is still going with no obvious signs that HD DVD is going anywhere. I point out the sales margin between the two, but they point out it's been like that for a while and HD DVD is still chugging along.
Overall I would say no one is impressed with my Blu ray collection of 40+ movies since they all have the feeling HD is a niche market and neither side will win.