Cheap Chinese Hd Dud Player

[BigB88]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

paramount took away like 7 movies for 18 months, fox added 29 that will never be seen on hd dvd. blu-ray won last monday IMO.

Your not getting it, we are dealing with perception here, not reality. We need something for perception in addition to the reality and so far BDA has been silent.

[jason_grumpy]

Originally Posted by BigB88

Your not getting it, we are dealing with perception here, not reality. We need something for perception in addition to the reality and so far BDA has been silent.

Whoa, slow down there.

First, the Paramount announcement means nothing in this stage. The shock was that it wasn't expected, especially with them starting to favor Blu-Ray with extras, sound, and encodes (makes you wonder if this is part of the reason they targeted Paramount). Had you asked anyone before this announcement which way Paramount was going to go, they would have said BR. HD-DVD has gained no market share by this move and is attempting to prolong the format war to survive Christmas. If anything, this move generated bad publicity for HD-DVD trying to buy it's way to victory with an inferior product. Several articles and websites have belittled Paramounts decision, and slammed Toshiba for slowing consumer adoption and have pointed out the lies of HD-DVD. Each one of those articles all lead to one thing, BR was and still is winning and the move by Toshiba was desperation only.

So we lost Paramount who was half-heartedly endorsing HD media, and gained back Fox who seems to be ready to play ball for Blu-Ray only. As a fellow poster pointed out, this only increased Blu-Ray's market share. Before Christmas, Fox will have released as many movies as Paramount has put out an entire year.

I'm a firm believer that perception IS reality, especially with this format war. However you forget that public perception is that Blu Ray is winning, or will win. Articles posted in major news papers have picked Blu-Ray each time the past 5 months. Retailers are beginning to drop HD-DVD and stock Blu-Ray only. Major talk radio hosts have talked about it, and if you go to any brick and mortar establishments, you'll see a dominating Blu Ray presence with a 2:1 or greater ratio for total units in favor of Blu Ray. More displays for Blu-Ray players, and giant posters at rental places saying that Blu-Ray is the future, implying that anything "DVD" is old, which also indirectly implies HD-DVD is DVD era as well.

Public perception indeed. Even articles commenting on the Paramount buyoff have stated the BEST HD-DVD can hope for now is a tie.

With that in mind, I'd say that public perception right now still highly favors Blu-Ray.

As far as the BDA, I think Toshiba caught wind of something and is scared to death. Don't you think it's rather odd that Toshiba is showing all it's playing cards now and going all out months before Black Friday? I will agree with another person on AVM$, and that is that something big is in the works and Toshiba is preemptively trying to counter it. Insiders here have hinted at it as well, some pseudo-insiders have even gone on to say that it is "war ending". The BDA is not stupid, and we know by insider information that they knew that the Paramount deal was going down.

Let's not forget after this whole drama started one insider has stated the BDA is sharpening their swords, and another hinted that this move has the real sleeping giant, Sony Corp paying attention.

As another insider put it, this is like a game of Chess. To pay off $150 million to a set of studios gives the appearance that Toshiba is desperate. In chess speak, Toshiba is trying to prevent an imminent Checkmate, drawing attention away from the winning move by Blu-Ray anyway they can.

Standalone BR sales are out pacing HD-DVD even with Toshiba practically giving them away, disc ratios are consistently 2:1 or greater for Blu-Ray. PS3 owners are becoming increasingly aware that their machine allows BR playback from 20% to 40%. And PS3 this Christmas year is going to be a powerhouse, offering 100+ games and exclusives, with for the first time exceeding Xbox 360's sales for the month with one exclusive must have game (Ninja Gaiden). As soon as the exclusive studio's begin releasing in Japan, the format war for us is effectively over as Japan is BR only, and region A.

Be patient, calm down, grab some popcorn, and watch the show.

[The Guardian]

Great post jason_grumpy! I particularly liked this part:

As far as the BDA, I think Toshiba caught wind of something and is scared to death. Don't you think it's rather odd that Toshiba is showing all it's playing cards now and going all out months before Black Friday?

It's very odd that they felt their announcements couldn't wait for CEDIA...

[jason_grumpy]

Originally Posted by The Guardian

Great post jason_grumpy! I particularly liked this part:

It's very odd that they felt their announcements couldn't wait for CEDIA...

I agree with that too Guardian. Why couldn't the Paramount announcement wait for CEDIA? Why couldn't this cheapo player announcement wait for CEDIA? Why show your hand this instant?

Everything about the last week regarding HD-DVD has shown panic. Paramounts press releases are comedy gold, as obviously the CTO was the entire time.

The only thing I can think of is that Toshiba is trying to buffer themselves for "Black HD-DVD Day".

[The Guardian]

Of course there IS the alternative that they might have a "knock-out" blow of some sort coming. I don't see what it could be but it would explain the "more minor" announcements of the last week...

So they either don't want these announcements (like Paramount) to be forgotten amongst the larger announcements at CEDIA.. or they're afraid of what BDA has in store for CEDIA?

[jason_grumpy]

Originally Posted by The Guardian

Of course there IS the alternative that they might have a "knock-out" blow of some sort coming. I don't see what it could be but it would explain the "more minor" announcements of the last week...

So they either don't want these announcements (like Paramount) to be forgotten amongst the larger announcements at CEDIA.. or they're afraid of what BDA has in store for CEDIA?

I would have thought that too if the Paramount announcement didn't have the air of panic surrounding it. The two big announcements possible have already been made. Studio exclusivity and cheapo Chinese players, which according to the HD-DVD faithful should have been the knock out blow. Perhaps Paramount forced Toshiba to have this company announce early due to all the flak they've received from the community.

Any further announcements studio wise can only be Warner, which doesn't seem to be in the works, at least not for HD-DVD. Them losing their 13 year Toshiba guy at the helm didn't help matters much either. The rest of the exclusives are sitting tight for Christmas.

Conjecture only, but this might be the quiet before the storm.

[Spankey]

I agree with Jason. Toshiba/MS usually has two times a year to make an impression. CEDIA and CES. Last year there was boast after boast, and did any of their predictions or statements of fact come to pass? Nope. Disney is still Blu-ray. What happened to those million HD-DVD players sold? Hardly. Meridian HD-DVD player. Anyone see it?

Paramount was the smallest of the big six and they took the pay-off. I would much rather have Universal than Paramount to honest. Other than Star Trek, and, until now, Transformers, there was not much coming down the pike from them. Top Gun? Meh. Two Jack Ryan films worth owning. Maybe. If Coppola is angry there is a good chance we see The Godfather on Blu-ray.

There were player firesales throughout the summer that did nothing. It really seems like HD-DVD is going all-in right now. I don't think they have a better hand than Blu-ray.

[Rup_Muk]

Originally Posted by Spankey

... It really seems like HD-DVD is going all-in right now. I don't think they have a better hand than Blu-ray.

I like the poker analogy better than the chess analogy that was bandied about in an earlier post. We really can only speculate on what HD-DVD has "in the hole". Personally, I believe all their "aces" are showing, there are no more wildcards left in the deck and we are sitting on a Royal Flush.

I purposely use Royal Flush as an analogy because the only thing that can beat it is 5-of-a-kind. Does Tosh have a 5-of-a-kind? I think not... but,... stranger things have happened...

My $0.02.

Rup.

[Blu-Light]

LOL,
This thread is funny. HD-DUD is junk. Put it in an even worse player than the Toshiba crap and it is still junk. No worries, I doubt this will have a significant impact unless they sell it for 29.95.