Your BDA wish list - what they could do to wipe out HD DVD

[richteer]

In addition to what everyone else has said, I'd like to add:

Apply incentives to WB and Paramount to make them go exclusively Blu.

[CptGreedle]

This can be done in 3 large steps. (IMO)

1) Price.
Lower the prices of the players to compete directly with HD-DVD prices.
Lower the Price of BD movies to compete with DVD's by Q4 2008.
Bundle PS3 consoles with games for holiday season to lower the price further. Sweeten the deal.

2) Marketing.
Disney has to release their BIG name films (Snow White, Pinocchio, Lion King, etc...) and all their Pixar films (Toy Story, TS2, Bug's Life, Cars, Finding Nemo, etc...) ASAP but in highest quality. This will appeal to parents, and kids of all ages.
Apple and other computer companies need to start to release BD drives in their computers before end of year.
Saturate the market with BD products (BD-R, BD games, BD movies) Get the name out and fill the market with content!

3) Education.
Clear up the confusion and misinformation with better, bigger promotions, and more ads.
Educate the average consumer in a massive way.

Finally, one step that would seal the deal, and single handedly wipe out HD-DVD...
Negotiate with Universal. If a deal can be made, and universal goes neutral, the war will end quickly. I doubt it will happen without money and undeniable results, but we'll see. Eventually it will have to happen to end the war.

[Musashi]

They first and foremost have to expand the catalog, get movies on the shelves without delay (That means you, Fox). Not that I endorse rush-job shoddy transfers like Universal's been doing, but BDA studios have to concentrate on putting good films out, using quality transfers, encoded with PCM tracks and high-bitrate AVC on BD50s.

They also need to get authoring tools in place for PIP/IME functions. That should get Warner to release the titles they claimed they would.

Aside from their work with the BDA, Sony should see about getting more games to come to PS3. I'm not sure how long some of M$'s exclusivity contracts are in effect for, for Sony should push for titles like Katamari and Dead Rising at first opportunity, and remember to cite the lackluster sales of these games in Japan as reason why they should get a chance on PS3.

Finally, BDA members should see about pushing HDTVs, especially once they can be produced more cheaply, and include some papers inside the big box explaining how a BD player will show the true potential of their new HDTV far more than a DVD player will.

[gandley]

make AVC/vc-1 and at least PCM or TruHD mandatory on all titles.

Get the profile mess finished with. make the specs mandatory for profile 2.0.

Continue with high quality content and give fox a big kick in the nuts.

covince either paramount and or warner to go exclusive.

get the Chinese BD players to retail before the HD-DVD chinese players hit retail. while maybe not as cheap, being first will be seen as a very positive move against HD-DVD claim that this would be there big win.

make big adds clearly stating you will never see Disney/FOX/Sony/MGM/etc on HD-DVD. i mean like real adds making that direct claim in big letters. that will make J6P think more than just price. underhand but it will work.

[CptGreedle]

Th price of HDTV's must also go down. I don't think you will see enough of them in the market for J6P until they are under 1k for a decent sized HDTV.
If HDTV can become the mainstream, and SDTV and EDTV's are no longer available in stores, people will buy the HDTVs and have more incentive to by conttent in HD as well.

[seanjohn21276]

I think what will really help Blu-ray out is when over the air television goes from analog to digital next year which will make HDTVs the norm instead of the exception. Even though they're going down in price now, when that happens, then more high definition devices, i.e. blu-ray players, will see a sales spike. But as far as the right now goes, two things will help the BDA's cause. One, make good quality, yet inexpensive, blu-ray players. Somewhere in the $200-$300 price range wouldn't be bad. The PS3 price drop will help as well. Then, do whatever you have to do and much as money in Universal's pockets to make them go neutral. If the BDA does that, then you can kiss HD-DVD good bye.

[blublublu]

My wish list:

- They need to keep the standalone player pricing more competitive. Right now there is a $200 MSRP differential, and an even larger street differential. They need to keep the MSRP difference to no more than $100 ASAP, and $50 by year end.

- Sony needs to reveal there plans for BD 1.1 on the PS3, and all standalone Blu Ray vendors need to release BD 1.1 players... and they need to work with Warner to get one of their IME titles (e.g. The Matrix) out on Blu Ray before the end of the year. Sony should have a software release with a best in class IME experience (topping anything from Warner) out before that as well (Spiderman 3?)

- Fox needs to get in the game.

[smiley]

Originally Posted by Blu-dock Saint

Consumers? I think they need to fire every best buy employee who isnt educated in new technology, I dont care if they point out the good things about hd dvd, but as soon as they start distorting facts they should be let go, such as my best buy employee trying to tell me disney was hd dvd exclusive.

I think consumers at least need to be educated enough to not trust people at Best Buy. This goes well beyond blu-ray.

[mshulman]

Originally Posted by shadblz

one day i went to best buy, and i saw a couple looking at HDDVD films. the husband wanted purchase an HD DVD player and get Babel on HD, but the wife insisted that BD is better. then they called one of the media employee. i decided to check what he would say to them. he said "hddvd is cheaper more economic, and they deliver more than BD."HA. I decided to cut in, so I kept explaining to the couple why BD is better. Next thing I know, I felt like an employee, unfortunately having an employee showing whats better VS. a customer. They decided to hold on and wait until the format war is over. The least i did is they decided to hold on buying an HD player.

I agree consumers need to be educated!!!.

Well.. it seems all you really did was keep them from enjoying additional HD. If you have an HDTV, either one is well worthwhile and will show them HD is worth it. Once they have one, they'd like want the other to take advantage of all the titles.

[dialog_gvf]

Cut the price of the PS/3
Get a bunch of independent studios to announce Blu-ray support
Get Denon to announce a Blu-ray player



Seriously, insisting Blu-ray play the HD DVD price game to margin oblivion is a sure way of losing the interest of CE and retailers. We'd get what happened to DVD when the non-royalty cheaters entered the scene: stagnation.

$499 for what some of these boxes offer is truelly staggering. Only severely subsidized HD DVD players make it seem expensive.

Value v. price

But, what the BDA can do (and I believe they will do):

(1) Marketing, marketing, marketing.

(2) A big flashy Q3/Q4 of titles (especially from Fox).

(3) Lots of package deals with the CEs HDTVs. Each CE should offer their HDTV/BD bundle. People will not pass up a sweet bundle deal on a HDTV + BD player to get a BDA CE's TV and an HD DVD.

Gary

[Anthony P]

Well.. it seems all you really did was keep them from enjoying additional HD. If you have an HDTV, either one is well worthwhile and will show them HD is worth it. Once they have one, they'd like want the other to take advantage of all the titles.

don't know, the way I see it he helped them not waste their money.

[mshulman]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

don't know, the way I see it he helped them not waste their money.

Is it such a waste to enjoy additional High Def Material now? Obviously they were interested in getting more out of the High Def TV. Without knowing their budget, how can one recommend one over the other?

I know most here think HD DVD is dead or dying, but the facts hardly show that and if you think otherwise you are just in denial. HD DVD is going to be around for awhile, as well as blu-ray, unless there are some major upsets coming up in the near future.

So, stop hating the other format and get it and enjoy all you can in HD. Either one is good, but both are GREAT!

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by mshulman

So, stop hating the other format and get it and enjoy all you can in HD. Either one is good, but both are GREAT!

Having both formats around is bad for HD in general; there needs to one format for hi-def material. With 2 competing formats, people get confused.

I firmly believe that Blu-ray will survive and HD-DVD will not last through Q2-2008 if not earlier. And I want it to work that way so as to end the needless format war and start seeing widespread adoption of the hi-def disc.

[WickyWoo]

People need to stop being allergic to conflict. It's counter productive

Nothing important gets done in this world without a few bloody noses

[gandley]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

People need to stop being allergic to conflict. It's counter productive

Nothing important gets done in this world without a few bloody noses

Hasnt really worked out too well for the world though has it.

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by mshulman

Well.. it seems all you really did was keep them from enjoying additional HD. If you have an HDTV, either one is well worthwhile and will show them HD is worth it. Once they have one, they'd like want the other to take advantage of all the titles.

that wasn't the intention. i had a goal. the poor people were gonna buy an hd dvd player, thinking they have a reliable source, who knows what he is talking about supposedly. the best thing was just delaying them from purchasing one.

[marzetta7]

Good info everyone. Here is my list of steps that I think need to be taken...

1) Get Warner to releas full feature Blu-ray discs and missing titles--Batman Begins, Harry Potter, V for Vendetta, etc. Not just some HD DVD port. Maximize the space!

2) Get Fox onboard yesterday.

3) Make all releases on BD50s with AVC codec and 7.1 PCM.

4) Lower the PS3 price this holiday season to $399. This would cause mass Blu-ray consumption in a major way.

5) Have standalone prices right around $399 with the lower end selling for $199 to $299. this will counter any percieved value in going with HD DVD based on price.

6) Get Universal to go neutral, then game is over.

[HeavyHitter]

I think releasing more (good) titles (with high quality transfers) is the best thing BDA can right now. Fox definitely needs to get aboard!

Second and almost as important is getting the hardware price on at least one Blu-ray model very close to Toshiba's HD-A2 - either matching it or coming within $50.

[marzetta7]

Originally Posted by mshulman

Is it such a waste to enjoy additional High Def Material now? Obviously they were interested in getting more out of the High Def TV. Without knowing their budget, how can one recommend one over the other?

I know most here think HD DVD is dead or dying, but the facts hardly show that and if you think otherwise you are just in denial. HD DVD is going to be around for awhile, as well as blu-ray, unless there are some major upsets coming up in the near future.

So, stop hating the other format and get it and enjoy all you can in HD. Either one is good, but both are GREAT!

Maybe if all of us were made of money, then no it wouldn't be such a waste to buy that other format that only has one exclusive studio supporting. However, in reality, it is a waste--buying into HD DVD--based on the lack of content, support, and the lackluster technical specifications.

"The facts hardly show that and if you think otherwise you are just in denial." Hmm, do you know the facts? Blu-ray outselling HD DVD 2:1-3:1 is one fact, the others are accomplishing this feat with 1) more expensive hardware and 2) with 2 and 1/2 studios tied behind their back--Fox, MGM, and Warner (yeah, this is the 1/2). Moreover, the standalone player ratio stands at 45% for Blu-ray and 55% for HD DVD...and this isn't even counting the 100s of thousands of PS3s being used primarily as Blu-ray player.

Sorry bud, no hating here. Just the realization of facts and knowing that one format causes less confusion and more of a chance of mass adoption. HD DVD is the odd man out. Face the facts.

[LynxFX]

If they really want to see sales surge they need to do one simple thing...reduce the price of the software. If every title was at or below $20, especially at B&M stores then you will see a lot of people start picking up titles. Lower price on players is a good goal, but at this stage of the game, you are only buying one player. You are hoping to buy dozens and dozens of titles though but at current prices people that even already own players are still being very picky and choosy. I have literally hundreds of DVD's I bought, not because they were must have titles, but because the prices were incredibly low. Impulse buys are what really drove DVD to stardom.

I've been incredibly picky this go around and have only picked up titles when the price is right and I haven't doubledipped many DVD's because I can't justify the high price.