Home Media Magazine: Great quotes from Warner!

[Razzy]

Later in the day, on the 20th Century Fox lot, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn blasted Paramount for its defection, accusing the studio of “taking the bait,” referring to a reported $50 million payout to drop its support of Blu-ray Disc and release titles exclusively in HD DVD.

Dunn also intimated that the format war is being perpetuated by Microsoft in the hopes of confusing consumers so much they don’t support either format and ultimately buy their entertainment online. He didn’t name the computer giant by name, but blasted “the orchestrated campaigns of confusion and anti-consumerism fueled by an 800-pound gorilla that would prefer to force us all into the practice of paying tolls for the right to exchange information and enjoy entertainment.”

Right on Mike!! Tell it like it is.

[krispydude]

sounds pretty good from warner. looks like the switch will happen after the holidays if all stays the same.

[Bullseye]

Lets not carried away people. It is an exciting post non the less. But until i see it in writing i will be happy enough to see the status quo.

[frank_t]

oh snap! that comment from warner is very interesting indeed.

[clownface]

Originally Posted by frank_t

oh snap! that comment from warner is very interesting indeed.

I Agree.

[jctash]

Warner is probably going to release the movies it has in production then make the switch. It makes good business considering they aren't taking a payoff and don't want to loose money on work that has already been done. The only payoff they see is the fact that they will make more money with BLU

[Teazle]

Excellent. Can't wait to read Josh's coverage tomorrow.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by krispydude

sounds pretty good from warner. looks like the switch will happen after the holidays if all stays the same.

Just what I predicted. I wish people would QUIT posting here about being afraid of losing Warner. Read this again everyone:

"Also there was Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, which since Paramount’s move to the HD DVD camp is the only studio to support both next-generation formats.

That may not be for long, Silverberg said. “One thing that may be changing is our strategy,” he said. “When both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide. But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide — so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.”

[javabear]

Ok. I'm heading on over to buy more blu-ray movies from Warner and Fox now! I've been looking forward to getting my hands on Terminator 3. I hope it is up for pre-order soon at warnerhomevideo.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

My favourite part:

Also there was Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, which since Paramount’s move to the HD DVD camp is the only studio to support both next-generation formats.

That may not be for long, Silverberg said. “One thing that may be changing is our strategy,” he said. “When both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide. But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide — so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.”

Silverberg noted that Warner has the top-selling Blu-ray title of all time with 300 and is consistently No. 1 or No. 2 in both Blu-ray sales market share and in number of Blu-ray titles in the market.

“We can definitely talk Blu-ray,” he said. “We are committed to the format.” At the Monday morning kickoff, the featured speaker was David Berman, director of Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA), a buying consortium of 62 dealers and 800 installers with combined revenue of more than half a billion dollars a year. He said the HTSA supports Blu-ray because a member survey found 92% favoring Blu-ray over HD DVD.

[DocNovak]

Just read the article and I feel all a tingle now. I am tired of the war and want Universal and Paramount to start releasing on Blu (Although I am sure HD-DVD proponents want Sony, Fox, Disney, et al. to start releasing on red.) Hopefully, and it sounds like, WB is moving in the right direction. I just feel that the extra bandwidth, disc capacity, etc is worth it to go Blu. Why settle for the mediocrity of HD-DVD when setting up a high-def home theater?

[HD DX]

Fox also previewed several Blu-ray Disc titles still in development, including I, Robot, Independence Day and Sunshine, which will be released early next year and boast picture-in-picture, audio mixing and other groundbreaking interactive features.

Was the ID4 delay previously announced?

[coolmilo]

Originally Posted by HD DX

Was the ID4 delay previously announced?

I was wondering that myself ID4 and I, Robot. Hmmmm.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by HD DX

Was the ID4 delay previously announced?

I couldn't tell if they were saying that "I, Robot", ID4 were coming next year with "Sunshine", or if "Sunshine" was the only one coming next year...

~Alan

[clyon]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

I couldn't tell if they were saying that "I, Robot", ID4 were coming next year with "Sunshine", or if "Sunshine" was the only one coming next year...

~Alan

ID4 IS December 4, 2007
I,Robot has not been officially announced, that I know, but is expected to comeout sometime in Jan.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

Anways, The Warner VP states that they were neutral so they could let the consumer decide, but then he goes onto say that the consumers no longer want to decide, which means that they will make the decision for them. And since they probably want A SINGLE format to succeed they would look at how both formats are doing as of now. BD is dominating HD DVD and has won sales every week for this year, and knowing that if they go Blu a format would be chosen. Only 2 studios would support HD DVD which would kill it off. So the decision is quite an obvious one from any point of view.

[Marcusarilius]

Originally Posted by Leopold BUTTERS

Anways, The Warner VP states that they were neutral so they could let the consumer decide, but then he goes onto say that the consumers no longer want to decide, which means that they will make the decision for them. And since they probably want A SINGLE format to succeed they would look at how both formats are doing as of now. BD is dominating HD DVD and has won sales every week for this year, and knowing that if they go Blu a format would be chosen. Only 2 studios would support HD DVD which would kill it off. So the decision is quite an obvious one from any point of view.

Excellent! 100% correct. Its only a matter of time now before HD DVD is dead. If Warner jumps ship on HD DVD, what are people in the BBs and CCs going to say to prospective new HD format buyers? "Well, you can get an HD DVD player for $199.00, but only two studios are currently supporting this format, on the other hand... Disney, Fox, MGM, Lions Gate, Warner, etc."

Its over people. Universal will bow out next. I garantee it!

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by Leopold BUTTERS

Anways, The Warner VP states that they were neutral so they could let the consumer decide, but then he goes onto say that the consumers no longer want to decide, which means that they will make the decision for them. And since they probably want A SINGLE format to succeed they would look at how both formats are doing as of now. BD is dominating HD DVD and has won sales every week for this year, and knowing that if they go Blu a format would be chosen. Only 2 studios would support HD DVD which would kill it off. So the decision is quite an obvious one from any point of view.

I'm not getting too excited .. if Warner went Blu then the war is for all intents and purpose over. If they went HD DVD then we know they have been working for a stalemate all along to protect DVD revenues. Either way I'll be buying Blu-ray disks and enjoying them over DVD titles in the future.

[Rob Zuber]

Dan Silverberg: “...so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.”

Come on Dan. Everyone's doing it and you know you want to. It will feel good.

[flyingdutchman]

Originally Posted by Razzy

Later in the day, on the 20th Century Fox lot, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn blasted Paramount for its defection, accusing the studio of “taking the bait,” referring to a reported $50 million payout to drop its support of Blu-ray Disc and release titles exclusively in HD DVD.

Dunn also intimated that the format war is being perpetuated by Microsoft in the hopes of confusing consumers so much they don’t support either format and ultimately buy their entertainment online. He didn’t name the computer giant by name, but blasted “the orchestrated campaigns of confusion and anti-consumerism fueled by an 800-pound gorilla that would prefer to force us all into the practice of paying tolls for the right to exchange information and enjoy entertainment.”

Right on Mike!! Tell it like it is.

As we all know that this is truth, Microsoft can and will be hit with Monopoly and antitrust lawsuits left and right. Sooner rather than later.