Paramount/DreamWorks fallout... a primal scream therapy thread for Blu-ray fans

[tron3]

Originally Posted by Ender

I'm with you tron3, I already canceled all my preorders at Amazon, when they asked for a reason I said "No longer purchasing any hi-def movies because of Paramount announcement." I want no part in another endless and destructive format war.

Good man! I still have time to return my player but there would be a restocking fee. On the other hand, if I return it and this was just a tremor....what to do?

Part of me rests securely in knowing that blu-ray still outsells HD-DVD, but this bold (if not stupid) move hurts us blu-bloods.

No only am I not buying paramount films, I am half tempted to sell the Paramount films I have to increase my scorn.

[Proteus]

Actually, the case has very significant merit.

As mentioned, Paramount _did_ indeed indicate that they were now committed to neutrality. As such, they have influenced the decisions of MANY consumers (hence class action).

This is a class-action suggestion meaning no one person wins (in actuality, only the lawyers win on these), but rather a 'group' of people win. This group can easily be the six million people who have purchased Blu-Ray players. It's more as a punitive action again Paramount for promising one thing, then delivering another after people spent money, time, etc. preparing for what they promised.

"Harm" does not only come in the form of cash either. People can be harmed in many ways.

This is actually _exactly_ what class-action lawsuits are intended to handle. It is a VERY viable case (fear the precedent though, as it may give HDDVD people options as well if any studios every made any promises to them as Para/Dream did to Bluray).

[movies3]

shrek and transformers for me...

[CptGreedle]

I don't think this will help anyone. Amazon might sell a lot of discs but by lowering the numbers of the Blu-ray movies they sell, the HD-DVD guys will just keep buying and then we will see the market switch and HD-DVD will start to overcome Blu-ray. We have to keep supporting the better format despite this.
Give it a year and you will see Paramount will likely go back to supporting blu-ray as well. This is just instant gratification money. If they were paid to not support Blu-ray directly, I believe it would be against the law. The deal sounds like it is aimed at promoting HD-DVD over Blu-ray for a limited amount of time. $150M Is a lot of money, especially in the HD market. And so they could not pass that dough up. When they come back, Blu-ray will be stronger and they will be happy to go back to neutral, and have more incentive to drop HD-DVD then. But ONLY if you keep buying Blu-ray!

[Need0fMany]

To the thread starter that mentions boycotting Blu-ray because of Paramount, your heart might have good intentions but such actions would actually hurt the cause of Blu-ray.

Like others have said, keep buying Blu-ray and don't buy DVD or HD-DVD. You don't have to worry about Blu-ray becoming betamax or SACD because Blu-ray is an integral part of Sony's PS3, just like DVD was an integral part of the PS2. Sony Playstation platforms have very long lifespan and staying power. SACD and betamax did not have such inclusion in a product selling multiple millions of units in less than a year, that is why such comparisons and fear are not applicable to Blu-ray.

Keep buying Blu-ray, in fact spend the money that you would have spent on Universal\Dreamwork\Paramount tiltles to buy even more Blu-ray movies and enjoy them.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by Blu-Ray Buckeye

Why are you blaming Sony for the deceitful practices of Paramount and M$? Sony and Disney have done a ton to try to win this.

Just included this revision in original post.

Revision: I am not going to boycott the purchase of blu-ray titles, but I am holding off indefinately. What is the difference? Boycotting means "never again". Holding off means "eventually.". If I have to unload this on ebay, I'm not going to leave the water running while bailing out simulataneously. I am boybotting new Paramount movies in DVD format.

Now that you mention it, this move by paramount was probably in response to the Disney announcement.

If Microsoft just left their fat wallets out of this, everyone would be happy. Time to start selling off my DVD's. Probably get out of the movie market. I am sooo ticked!

[cdblu]

Im going to start buying like crazy! I just ordered the Spiderman trilogy, and plan on buying POTC 3, Bladerunner, Cars, Ratatouille, and many more. Im going to show support to blu.

[JTK]

This is as self destructive and frankly, stupid and insane as it gets.

Let me get this straight: You're going to punish the entire format of Blu-Raythat you claim to support and love so much just because of one studio? What a bunch of @#$%.

What does that accomplish except helping MS get what they want and indirectly helping HD-DVD by lowering BD sales?

Punish Paramount! Punish Universal! At least that makes sense.

What a bunch of garbage.

[movies3]

Originally Posted by JTK

This is as self destructive and frankly, stupid and insane as it gets.

Let me get this straight: You're going to punish the entire format of Blu-Raythat you claim to support and love so much just because of one studio? What a bunch of @#$%.

What does that accomplish except helping MS get what they want and indirectly helping HD-DVD by lowering BD sales?

Punish Paramount! Punish Universal! At least that makes sense.

What a bunch of garbage.

and the king speaks....lol amen

[JTK]

Originally Posted by movies3

and the king speaks....lol amen

There's a few people posting in this thread that I really expect a lot better from than this garbage.

[Count Zero]

Don't forget, the battle was lost today, but not the war. Blu-Ray's support is still stronger, the technology better! As soldiers in this war, we must not waver, but stand strong and press forward until our duty is done. Please continue to support the Blu!

[Ender]

Originally Posted by JTK

This is as self destructive and frankly, stupid and insane as it gets.

Let me get this straight: You're going to punish the entire format of Blu-Raythat you claim to support and love so much just because of one studio? What a bunch of @#$%.

What does that accomplish except helping MS get what they want and indirectly helping HD-DVD by lowering BD sales?

Punish Paramount! Punish Universal! At least that makes sense.

What a bunch of garbage.

It's not about punishment, it's self preservation. I won't put money into a format war to wind up with a bunch of expensive equipment and no new titles to play on it. Sure, the discs I have now will always work, but how many times can you watch the same movie, or listen to the same SACD? Without regular releases, eventually it just becomes a dust magnet.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

I don't think this will help anyone. Amazon might sell a lot of discs but by lowering the numbers of the Blu-ray movies they sell, the HD-DVD guys will just keep buying and then we will see the market switch and HD-DVD will start to overcome Blu-ray. We have to keep supporting the better format despite this.
Give it a year and you will see Paramount will likely go back to supporting blu-ray as well. This is just instant gratification money. If they were paid to not support Blu-ray directly, I believe it would be against the law. The deal sounds like it is aimed at promoting HD-DVD over Blu-ray for a limited amount of time. $150M Is a lot of money, especially in the HD market. And so they could not pass that dough up. When they come back, Blu-ray will be stronger and they will be happy to go back to neutral, and have more incentive to drop HD-DVD then. But ONLY if you keep buying Blu-ray!

I'm sorry I don't see that logic. Money talks, BS walks.... EVERY TIME. Period. Done. End of story.

It just goes to show that Paramount cares most about the bottom line and it doesn't matter who gets hurt in the process. This is the problem with corporate mentality. "But we will make MONEY so it is ok." "As long as we MAKE money it makes it all better." "Sure toxic dumping is illegal and harmful to the environment, but we will save MONEY."

Sounds like someone is giving the "Greed is good" speech from the movie Wall Street. At least we can see that movie on blu-ray. It is not a Paramount flick.

[Banjo]

Originally Posted by MasterXeus

I think we should buy Paramount Movies on Blu-ray to show them what they'll be missing. Boycotting Blu-ray only proves to Paramount that they made the right decision.

Actually, that's what I did immediately following the press release today. I bought the remaining titles that I didn't own on Blu-ray yet.

Bought around 5 titles online today, and there's still 2 more for me to buy. It's safe to assume they won't be releasing any other titles that were scheduled to be released this month and from now on. I'll even buy some from other countries if I have to, of course that's if they are region-free.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by JTK

This is as self destructive and frankly, stupid and insane as it gets.

Let me get this straight: You're going to punish the entire format of Blu-Raythat you claim to support and love so much just because of one studio? What a bunch of @#$%.

What does that accomplish except helping MS get what they want and indirectly helping HD-DVD by lowering BD sales?

Punish Paramount! Punish Universal! At least that makes sense. .

Even from the title, the OP's thread keeps reminding me of the Charles Schulz "Peanuts" strip:
---
Lucy: "Because we've decided to break up, here--I'm going to return all the presents I was going to give you."
Schroeder: "Thank you." (Takes gifts, slams door.)
Lucy: (beat pause later) "...That didn't even make SENSE! "
---

Obviously an Angry Fanboy Wanted to Boycott Something, but it helps when you have some clear goal in mind...That tend to be the usual stumbling block.

[Sir Terrence]

What could settle this sooner than later is for the BDA to lower player prices, and up software output. I have always said this was not going to be an easy battle, and if bluray supporters want to win, they'll have to spend this format into success.

I completely understand why paramount did this. I would rather have guaranteed money in my pocket up front rather than test the market with my catalog while the market is not that large and sales are so low.

It doesn't mean crap about the announcement they made to the public about their reasons. Money and profit means everything, and public blurb means nothing.

[Sir Terrence]

Originally Posted by tron3

Paramount to drop Blu-ray high-def DVDs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070820/...odO0Fo2SgjtBAF

I am pissed! I just bought my player last week exclusively in anticipation of Transformers later this year. But just today Paramount is saying Transformers will be an HD-DVD title only! In that ugly brown case to boot!

Sony needs to respond and quick. I am boycotting anymore blu-ray movie purchases until I see blu-ray is back. While this will not end blu-ray, it will create new sales of HD-DVD players for the Transformers title. It is now a political tool!

Sony needs to re-extend the olive branch and white flag and fix this for the consumers! If not, I see me selling this on ebay before the month is over.
If Toshiba and company won't play, then fight fire with fire. But use "smart bombs".

The only way to retain consumer trust is to make combo players. Those guys want to continue making movies their way, then fine... let them. But give me a choice of which format to buy. Blu-ray stands to loose a LOT MORE consumer trust if we don't get titles like Transformers on blu-ray. It only is the greatest summer flick of all time!

So, not only do we petition Paramount, we petition Sony as well. Settle on a format, or support both with your players. Anything else and all you turkeys loose my business forever! Who is with me? <Starts handing out pitch forks and torches.>

Revision: I am not going to boycott the purchase of blu-ray titles, but I am holding off indefinately. What is the difference? Boycotting means "never again". Holding off means "eventually.". If I have to unload this on ebay, I'm not going to leave the water running while bailing out simulataneously. I am boybotting new Paramount movies in DVD format.

Settle down Mcbuck, your need jerk reaction makes your part of the problem and not the solution.

[NutsAboutPS3]

Why would anybody love a format?

It's hard to see how anybody can justify buying movies in either format now. Any movies you buy, in either format, could be worthless pieces of junk in the future. When companies can be bought for such small amounts of money (and $150m is a small amount of money compared to lifetime format royalties), then this war can swing either way at any time in the future.

I'm done buying high def discs for now. I backed Blu-ray because it looked like it was going to rapidly become the dominant format, and I wanted to support that happening. I really don't want to buy another high def disc now till there's only one format in the marketplace. I'd prefer that one format to be Blu-ray, but if the movies aren't on sale I can't buy them to support the format.

[Banjo]

Originally Posted by Sir Terrence

What could settle this sooner than later is for the BDA to lower player prices, and up software output. I have always said this was not going to be an easy battle, and if bluray supporters want to win, they'll have to spend this format into success.

I completely understand why paramount did this. I would rather have guaranteed money in my pocket up front rather than test the market with my catalog while the market is not that large and sales are so low.

It doesn't mean crap about the announcement they made to the public about their reasons. Money and profit means everything, and public blurb means nothing.

In order to succeed, you have to lose money to make money. It's a philosophy that has been proven to work many times over and over.

[jctash]

boycotting blu ray doesn't make sense. PAramount on the other hand is a different story. The problem is that the money paid by M$ is going to ofset the loss. I've bout several BD and none of them are paramount. I've rented a few and decided not to buy after seeing the so so quality. Transformers does hurt though