Archived: Insiders Thread

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

The player pricing debate is tough for me because I see it as a race to the bottom. If hardware companies can't make a dime (or in fact have to subsidize) in order to sell players, then where do they go from here? We have a symbiotic relationship between hardware and software. The fact that a companies pride can get the better of their sensibilities is a pity. Is a $200 price difference so much compared with the rest of the investements you make in your display or audio reproduction chain? To get a good HD video/audio experience you can easily drop $5K or more, does it make sense to fret over $200 for the device that will feed that system? I don't think so...

I agree 100% - the player is the cheapest part of the HD experience!

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by darinp2

I'm guessing you won't be able to say anything, but I would love to hear Universal's opinion of BD+ now and how they can justify asking the US government for help fighting piracy at the same time as they try to kill the format that put more in to try to fight piracy, and push for the format that the professional pirates definitely want to win (just look at what the guys behind AnyDVD (Slysoft I believe) say and how much they want HD DVD to win).

Maybe that could be their new slogan or something. HD DVD, the format supported by professional pirates everywhere. I'm sure the professional pirates in the know love hearing how easy it will be for them to replicate HD DVDs, and I bet they fear a world where they won't be able to use high density ROM discs (even if the market isn't big enough yet). Especially in countries where pretty much the whole market is these professional pirates, since the studios haven't been able to compete with them there.

--Darin

Great question!

Can any insider comment?

[Member-9711]

Paidgeek,

In case it got lost in the shuffle five or six pages back.

These are the titles I show as announced for december by SPE: Superbad, Rent, Legend of Zorro, 20 Million Miles to Earth (and Celine Dion by Sony BMG).

Is the list for december complete or are the more coming our way?

[woodspoon]

Paidgeek, I just got the spanish edition of the Spider-man trilogy and there are some mistakes on the first and second movies: on the box it says PCM spanish/english, then the individual movies it says (correctly) Spanish TRUEHD and English plain DD, and it is that way, even though it was supposed to be truehd for the 2 languages on the 3 movies. Just so you know.

[SS316SRV]

There also were indications that the Blu-ray camp is done playing nice.

- Dan SIlverberg

I know its early but I am really hopeful that one of our insiders can elaborate on this today.

[nhaase]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

Quote:

- Dan SIlverberg

I know its early but I am really hopeful that one of our insiders can elaborate on this today.

That quote is not from Dan Silverberg, it is from the author of the article, Thomas K. Arnold. The part of the article concerning Dan Silverberg said the following:

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.

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by nhaase

That quote is not from Dan Silverberg, it is from the author of the article, Thomas K. Arnold. The part of the article concerning Dan Silverberg said the following:

Ok fair enough. I guess then, is there anyways to elaborate...

There also were indications that the Blu-ray camp is done playing nice.

...what are those indications? What are the aggressive steps taken by the BDA?

[Nooff]

Penton-Man,

Any word on BD+ being cracked? I just saw Fox expanding their Blu-Ray support for 2008, I surely hope they won't cancel those again too

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by shamus

I noticed the PCM sounded a bit better myself. I was really surprised to learn PCM is 48/16 and TRU 48/24. If anything should have sounded better it should of been TRU...
Paid?????????????

What is your system configuration?

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by woodspoon

Paidgeek, I just got the spanish edition of the Spider-man trilogy and there are some mistakes on the first and second movies: on the box it says PCM spanish/english, then the individual movies it says (correctly) Spanish TRUEHD and English plain DD, and it is that way, even though it was supposed to be truehd for the 2 languages on the 3 movies. Just so you know.

You should have Dolby THD for both Spanish and English. I will confirm this later today.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by nhaase

There also were indications that the Blu-ray camp is done playing nice.

I certainly hope so. That's long overdue IMO, quite frankly.

[Frode]

Originally Posted by Nooff

Penton-Man,

Any word on BD+ being cracked? I just saw Fox expanding their Blu-Ray support for 2008, I surely hope they won't cancel those again too

Penton's out for a couple of days, so won't be able to answer. That said, BD+ hasn't been cracked quite yet.

[dbs2]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

It is close though, by December the first batch will be broken, but Fox will probably change it up for the next batch.

Exactly.... Then it's from square one again...... SPLENDID (OMG I did not think i would be so happy about anti piracy )

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Dofflan

Paidgeek,

In case it got lost in the shuffle five or six pages back.

These are the titles I show as announced for december by SPE: Superbad, Rent, Legend of Zorro, 20 Million Miles to Earth (and Celine Dion by Sony BMG).

Is the list for december complete or are the more coming our way?

This looks correct according to my information. I can't confirm for the Sony BMG title though.

[lymzy]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I'm not sure I understand your question, but there are contraints in segments with seamless branching. There are no constraints at layer breaks.

Thanks for the answer. Could you elaborate such constraints a little bit further?

I originally thought seamless layer change and seamless branching are the same thing. Obviously I was wrong.

Thanks again.

[Woody]

Hello Paid,

There is a known HD DVD fanboy on AVS claiming that WB has called an "emergency" press conference for tomorrow.

Is there any truth to this, or is he just trying to deflect the WB VP comments from yesterday?


Thanks

[WickyWoo]

No, for the last time

It's a standard "look at our christmas titles" press confrerence. It's been in the works for weeks

[Woody]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

No, for the last time

It's a standard "look at our christmas titles" press confrerence. It's been in the works for weeks

OK thanks

[Beta-guy]

Is there a way for the us the consumer to see world wide numbers in this format war much like Productwars or the Neilsen/videoscan, it was suggested in another thread on this forum that the numbers for BD has to be better then what we're seeing in term of world wide number because the only play wherethe numbers are roughly 2:1 is North America, it might serve to give BD users more confidence, I've notice and I'm sure you've noticed that alot of BD users (myself included at times) worry on issues like what way Warner will go, and I believe that could be why you see so many BD users clinging to hope that Warner will annouce on Oct 31 BD exclusivity, but I currently believe it's but a check out our upcoming movies.

[Elandyll]

Honestly, I think that this kind of decision has been already tasken, before a Warner Exec (VP) would venture to make this kind of comments.

I may be proven wrong in the future, but let's look at the facts:

Warner is a member of the BDA

Warner was at the BDA conference at the CEDIA, but not the HD DVD one.

Warner France is part of the Blu Ray Partner Group, a group whose sole goal is to have Blu Ray win over HD DVD

Warner has its more prominent franchise featured in the new Blu Ray domination campaign ("I do Blu"), aka Harry Potter.

a Warner VP is now at a Blu Ray lounge for a Blu ray event, saying they are firmly comitted to Blu Ray, and probably about to re consider their neutral stance (without saying straight that they are going Blu, which makes sense for them to sell the titles they have coming on HD DVD till end of the year).


I don't know what that all tell you, but when I see a HD DVD fanboy saying Warner is going Red, I'm thinking "I gotta have some of what he's smoking".

How long can Toshiba keep this up? Basically giving away players & movies, $150 million dollar payoffs etc.

Oh wait.....the 800lb gorilla.

Actually (unfortunately), Toshiba -the consortium- is also a 800 lbs Gorilla, and both Sony and Tosh have record profits this past Q3 (thanks to other activities, electronics for Sony, Industrial for Tosh). So, they can't really play the attrition game, that could go on forever, or until they are tired of losing money in one banch of activity.