Slow Death vs Fast Death

[tron3]

"Slow, then fast." - Marge / Simpsons

The fat lady can't sing unless Sir Knight slays the Red Dragon. Right now, it only is mortally wounded and gushing red kool-aid which is getting lapped up by hungry HD dogs. That is only to protect their stock! Of course they won't admit defeat! I'm tired of hearing about this rumored "out clause" for Paramount as no one can conclusively prove it exits, though the smart money says it does.

Ok, let's ass-u-me it does exit. Paramount is in no rush to make themself look like a bunch of mooks for taking money to go exclusive, proudly stand their ground, only to end up with egg on their face. If anything, they are watching Universal and/or waiting for this to blow over. I think they are waiting for the excitement to die down to make their own headlines and not appear to follow Warner's lead.

Maybe we will hear from Paramount when Warner finally drops HD DVD in May, maybe we will not. The only studio who was never "neutral" oddly is the studio by the name of "Universal." Watching them doesn't tell us much.

Without further information I can't even come close to a prediction, so it's a toss up. One of them has to go neutral soon, if not a complete abandoment of HD DVD. Someone has to cave first.

If Paramount and Universal both go neutral, HD DVD is affectively dead because we get ALL the studio support. In which case, it just makes sense to drop HD DVD and stop jerking the public.

[Kairav]

All the B&M stores, rental stores and any other palce that deals with HD Media should stop their customers from buying HD DVD. After the Warner announcement, my local BB had tons of returns, half of them were without the reciept. People were exchanging red for blu and the store was losing money.

[bluperch]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

I expect it's honoring commitments already made and also contracts.

I expect you're right. It'll be interesting to see sales figures moving forward. There'll be those who'll keep buying (they have the machine, might as well have the movies), but ya gotta figure a lot will abandon the format all together. Ditto with standalone sales. And I'm sure a lot of HD DVD people are now waiting for fire sales, so sales could be quite stagnant until the movies really drop in price. Hmmm, if the discs get cheap enough maybe I'll buy them as drink coasters....

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Kairav

IMHO, a fast death for HD DVD would be better for the format and the supporting companies. A slow death would mean more losses, angry customers and tons of confusion. A jump by Paramount can convert the current slow death of HD DVD into a fast one.

What do you guys think?

It depends on how cruel one is. A slow death will be more painful. That's what I hope for.

[bluperch]

Originally Posted by Kairav

All the B&M stores, rental stores and any other palce that deals with HD Media should stop their customers from buying HD DVD. After the Warner announcement, my local BB had tons of returns, half of them were without the reciept. People were exchanging red for blu and the store was losing money.

It could be taken out of Universal's and Paramount's (and Toshiba's) hands. And maybe that's what they're waiting for. If retailers stop stocking, they'll have no choice but to go Blu. I wonder if that would help them "save face?"

[mystiksuicide]

Originally Posted by Kairav

I agree with the fun part. But it is not funny for those who camped out during Black Friday for those $99 players and spent tons of money buying the discs.

I will repeat this for the tenth time:

People who love technology love Blu-Ray, people who are cheap buy hd dvd.

That's the expensive price for being cheap!!!!!!!!

[Kairav]

Originally Posted by mystiksuicide

I will repeat this for the tenth time:

People who love technology love Blu-Ray, people who are cheap buy hd dvd.

That's the expensive price for being cheap!!!!!!!!

LOL

[U4K61]

A fast death is the only sensable way out. As long as there is HD-DVD, the format war is still on! Consumers are still buying players, discs, etc. Investing their time and money - creating confusion and slowing mas market penetration. A slow death = slow consumer adoption.

[Kairav]

I know tons of people who would buy HDM, but are waiting for the war to get over. Come on Paraversal you can do it.

[Kairav]

:: Walks over with an axe in his hand to his local BB:: ::Smashes the cheap FUD all across the face of the customers:: ::Evil grin on his face::

[GregBlu5]

I wish someone had told me before I bought RCA's doomed CED SelectaVision format back in the early 80's--on sale, no less, with a free disk tossed into the deal--that it was a lousy format and was going to die in about a year. I would have had an informed choice to make.

Right now HD DVD fans have a huge informed choice. They know Warner is abandoning them. They know that other studios are probably going to abandon them, as well as all major retailers. They've got the Internet to inform them. They've seen the sales figures for months now. They have had far more warning than I ever got.

The ignorance card cannot be played. And it's difficult to have pitty on them at this stage.

-Greg

[Kairav]

Originally Posted by GregBlu5

The ignorance card cannot be played. And it's difficult to have pitty on them at this stage.

+1

[Pellaeon]

Fast death of course.

However, I dont think Paramount nor Universal are going to let that happen, which makes absolutely no sense to me.

Our best bet on quick end will be if Best Buy, Wal Mart, Target, and Circuit City start to make some kind of move to immediately quit carrying the players and then phase out the movies.

[Kairav]

Its like keeping a "brain-dead" person alive on medications.

[GregBlu5]

What other dying format ever gave the consumer much consideration before they folded? I've invested in them all: from 8-tracks to cassettes to vinyl records to mini disks to CED disks to laserdiscs.

Without much--or any--notice, inventories declined then disappeared. Retail outlets suddenly closed or changed offerings entirely. And these were from formats some of which had been around for years and been, to one degree or another, far more popular than HD DVD will ever be. Even CED SelectaVision was in existence for five years--HD DVD hasn't come close to that life-span and probably never will. And there were 1,000,000 laserdisc players in America at its most widespread point.

Any consideration HD DVD owners get at this stage is gravy. Manufacturers and retail outlets for other dead formats never treated this consumer with much consideration. Nor did I expect to be treated with much consideration. It's business. If it doesn't sell, it dies.

[oscar_in_fw]

Originally Posted by bluperch

I expect you're right. It'll be interesting to see sales figures moving forward. There'll be those who'll keep buying (they have the machine, might as well have the movies), but ya gotta figure a lot will abandon the format all together. Ditto with standalone sales. And I'm sure a lot of HD DVD people are now waiting for fire sales, so sales could be quite stagnant until the movies really drop in price. Hmmm, if the discs get cheap enough maybe I'll buy them as drink coasters....

Some of the HD DVD movies can look quite good. At $5-10, I may be tempted to pick up a few. I already have a dual format boat anchor and backup $98 HD-A2 boat anchor so I might be able to continue to play HD DVD for years to come. Of course, the retailers might simply pull them off the shelves without giving anyone a chance to get them at firesale prices.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

Even though we are blu-ray consumers all the way, we still need to show respect for the other party

No respect needs to be shown. That's sarcastic. I've been a supporter of both formats (as they both look beautiful to me) however, the only way I went blu-ray is through a PC (started the same way with HD-DVD too until the 98.00 player came out - won't buy another blu-ray until they get that low either - I will spend money in my PC because it's multi-functional no need for PS3 - ever heard of Extreme HD Gaming via Nvidia? PC community has been doing HD gaming for few years now).

The only reason I went to blu-ray is Disney - the only blu-ray movies I buy are Disney movies. I hear people talk about video quality, sound quality, yada, yada, yada...I've heard them both - It depends on the transfer more so than the format. And then there's the point of diminishing returns - My speakers can put out 35 khz and my subs (x4) can put out 17hz bass - I can't hear 35khz and I can only feel 17hz. I could have speakers with less output and be satisfied (but I got theses because I found a great deal - economics). I was satisfied with HD-DVD but when Disney began its Christmas push with releasing Cars, Ratatoullie, and several other titles at once, I knew this war was coming to an end and that Disney - not how much disc space or things like that would end this war. I'm not Blue or Red - you could call me purple, but I'm big on personal economics, I bought both of my players - blu-ray and HD-DVD for less than the cost of a Playstation 3 or the cost of a Samsung 1400 for that matter - new. If I was going to choose a loosing format - I was not going to have a lot of money invested in it. The next piece of Blu-ray hardware that I buy will only be a burner and only when the PC prices drop to 100.00 or below (they are dropping fast, down from 800 to the mid 300 dollar range - the PC industry knows what time it is and how to please a consumer).

So now that Blu has won, it's off to netflix to rent Blu-rays - because Disney films are the only ones worth buying.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by GregBlu5

It's business. If it doesn't sell, it dies.

And you sir, are correct!

[Kairav]

Originally Posted by prerich

So now that Blu has won, it's off to netflix to rent Blu-rays - because Disney films are the only ones worth buying.

Are you drunk? No seriously are you drunk??

[Razzy]

Originally Posted by prerich

So now that Blu has won, it's off to netflix to rent Blu-rays - because Disney films are the only ones worth buying.

WTF? Disney movies are great but definitely NOT the only ones worth buying on Blu. You're going to anger quite a few of us with that statement.