Will Paramount/Universal come to Blu-ray?

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by david2189

I'm new to the whole blu ray thing, basically all i'm wondering is will they be moving over to blu ray any time soon? What is it thats actually keeping them on hd dvds side? any comments on this matter are welcome

I had a conference rencently with some of the major stuidos (at least with their regional sales reps). Both Paramount and Universal were there. This whole situation is so confusing that even their reps can't explain it. I asked point blank if they were going to release BR or were we going to see a never ending battle emerge. The answer they gave was confusing and really laughable.

For instance the Universal rep said they have no contract with HD for exclusivity and would make BR discs when the market seems to tip in favor of that format. I had to hold back my laughter. Basically both were making **** up and ended by saying that's about all they say about it for right now.

There was no indication from them that either were looking to release anything on BR anytime soon. Those reps are absolutely HORRIBLE as far as information with their own stuido is concerned.

In other news, the Universal rep claims they are releasing Hereos season 2 in January lololol. I was really confused seeing as how the season would only be half over at that time. He seems to think theya re going to release it in two parts....like Heroes Season 2.5. I can now offically say Universal is run by a bunch of idoits. Heck the rep couldn't even explain what one of his movies (releasing in April 08) was about. It's like he wasn't expecting questions from us after giving us the release schedule.

[w_tanoto]

Originally Posted by BluOgre

For instance the Universal rep said they have no contract with HD for exclusivity and would make BR discs when the market seems to tip in favor of that format. I had to hold back my laughter. Basically both were making **** up and ended by saying that's about all they say about it for right now.

lol.... very funny!!! isn't that clear already???? 94.8% for Japan, 70% for EU, 61% for USA??? how clear they want the figure to be??? 100%?? I laughed at that comment

[Right of Might]

Personally I think W.B. is using Harry Potter as a tie breaker in Q4 to help them decide where to consumer wants them to be. Now based on the success of 300 on Blu I'm pretty sure where this is going to end, however Harry Potter is a slightly different audiance than 300. I wish they would have chosen Matrix as a tie breaker but that's kind of the same group as 300. I believe that Harry will win on Blu by a landslide because we've already been given the unofficial title of the Family format because of Disney exclusive support of Blu. Now it's our job to make sure Harry Potter is a HUGE success and we should have no problem making up W.B.'s mind for them.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by Right of Might

... I believe that Harry will win on Blu by a landslide because we've already been given the unofficial title of the Family format because of Disney exclusive support of Blu. Now it's our job to make sure Harry Potter is a HUGE success and we should have no problem making up W.B.'s mind for them.

That and we want to get it on BD before they go HD-DVD exclusive.

If the rep seems that clueless, then I can't hold a degree of hope in what they say about not being slaves to HD-DVD. Maybe Paramount is silently talking to buy out of that contract? They MUST have been paid off. Paramount is not about to give up that hefty portion of Transformers BD revenue without some form of compensation.

[Right of Might]

Originally Posted by tron3

That and we want to get it on BD before they go HD-DVD exclusive.

If the rep seems that clueless, then I can't hold degree of hope in what they say about not being slaves to HD-DVD. Maybe Paramount is silently talking to buy out of that contract? They MUST have been paid off. Paramount is not about to give up that hefty portion of Transformers BD revenue without some form of compensation.

I wish Paramount was buying out of their lame contract with HD-DUD. I have a hard believing that they wouldn't have made $150 million over the next 18 months in Blu sales.

[Evan702]

Originally Posted by Right of Might

I wish Paramount was buying out of their lame contract with HD-DUD. I have a hard believing that they wouldn't have made $150 million over the next 18 months in Blu sales.

Perhaps, but as the saying goes, "a bird in hand is better than two in the bush."

They'll make their money from all the hd dvd boys right now. When/if they start releasing on BD again eventually all will be forgiven and they'll make their money on those same titles again not to mention new titles going forward.

[Right of Might]

Originally Posted by Evan702

Perhaps, but as the saying goes, "a bird in hand is better than two in the bush."

They'll make their money from all the hd dvd boys right now. When/if they start releasing on BD again eventually all will be forgiven and they'll make their money on those same titles again not to mention new titles going forward.

This is very true and it could be considered the safe route while the format war is undecided. I'm just thinking they could have made a lot more if they at least remained neutral. What's done is done now we simply wait and see which format is still standing this time next year and we can hopefully declare a winner.

[Gamma_Winstead]

Originally Posted by Evan702

Perhaps, but as the saying goes, "a bird in hand is better than two in the bush."

They'll make their money from all the hd dvd boys right now. When/if they start releasing on BD again eventually all will be forgiven and they'll make their money on those same titles again not to mention new titles going forward.

Question would you forgive them if they still did not include lossless? just dolby digital and stuff. They said that they were going to include lossless on their new releases but how do we really know that they were? The deal with M$ had to have been more than two days before BOG. They knew we would go crazy over that.

[MovieMan19]

People complaining about the Paramount payoff need to realize that Sony & the BDA started this first. Target & BJ's were both offered alot of money to double the size for their Blu-Ray sections as was Blockbuster for going Blu-Ray exclusive in most of their stores. On top of that Disney has been paying retailers a $5 bonus for just about every Disney Blu-Ray they've been selling from July through September. Payoffs are nothing new and Toshiba did what they had to do. If you're goint to complain about payoffs complain that Sony started it in the first place, which is nothing new for them.

And as for Warner going Blu-Ray exclusive, don't count on it. Warner owns patents in both DVD & HD-DVD, they get money for every disc made, whether it is a Warner disc or another studio's, it just matters that its on HD-DVD. Right now Warner is just playing neutral for a bigger pay out, most likely a larger percentage for each HD-DVD disc made. Warner knows that right now they control the format war, whichever side gets them exclusive will win. Warner also distributes Disney's movies overseas, which could cause them to want to go neutral if Warner goes exclusive. It would take some major money to make Warner give up all the royalities from HD-DVD discs. They've made billions off of DVD in the past 10 years and stand to make billions off of HD-DVD as well, and that's on top of the money they make from their actual titles on either format. People keep laughing when people ask if Sony would ever release on HD-DVD, but it's no different for HD-DVD and Warner Bros., they have a big investment in the actual HD-DVD technology just like Sony does in Blu-Ray.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by Evan702

Perhaps, but as the saying goes, "a bird in hand is better than two in the bush."

They'll make their money from all the hd dvd boys right now. When/if they start releasing on BD again eventually all will be forgiven and they'll make their money on those same titles again not to mention new titles going forward.

I'm repeating myself, but I will be doing a LOT of reading here to see if all they did was rip from HD-DVD and slapped it on BD. Bad enough they treated us, the highest caliber of HD consumers, like crap last month. I'm not going to buy their crap if all they do is slap it on BD.

I can't see Sony and Disney going to hd-dvd. Yes, I know Sony SWORE they would never make VHS players either. Such a decision is back peddling and will WORSEN the the adoption rate of HD home media. ONE STANDARD. ONE STANDARD ONLY. That is what consumers want. Decide between DVD or bluray. Any other solution creates a "100 year war". They don't want it, the consumers don't want it, and the stores certainly do NOT want to stock it!

[Y3k Bug]

Originally Posted by MovieMan19

People complaining about the Paramount payoff need to realize that Sony & the BDA started this first. Target & BJ's were both offered alot of money to double the size for their Blu-Ray sections as was Blockbuster for going Blu-Ray exclusive in most of their stores. On top of that Disney has been paying retailers a $5 bonus for just about every Disney Blu-Ray they've been selling from July through September. Payoffs are nothing new and Toshiba did what they had to do. If you're goint to complain about payoffs complain that Sony started it in the first place, which is nothing new for them.

Sony paid Target to increase their presence, not remove the presence HD DVD. Completely different than Paramount getting paid to stop producing Blu-rays.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by tron3

They MUST have been paid off. Paramount is not about to give up that hefty portion of Transformers BD revenue without some form of compensation.

Hefty? Last I saw, HD disc sales combined are still rather small.

[ottscay]

Yeah, there is no WAY Paramount would have made $150 million in sales from Blu-ray next year, let alone $150m in profit. I think Blu-ray will win this (although now the earliest we can have a defacto winner is Q1 2008...thanks Paramount), but absolute sales numbers would take a few years to take off, even with a winner.

BTW, Movieman19, what's you source for Sony paying lots of money to Target, Blockbuster, or BJs? I know Sony paid for an endcap in Target, but do you have any other facts, or are you just talking out you a$$?

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by MovieMan19

And as for Warner going Blu-Ray exclusive, don't count on it. Warner owns patents in both DVD & HD-DVD, they get money for every disc made, whether it is a Warner disc or another studio's, it just matters that its on HD-DVD.

Warner has a profit shre in blu-ray too. Not just their discs, but all discs made. They're a director on the BDA's board.

If they think it can expedite the confusion of format war and get those raw sales numbers up where they belong, they might go blu exclusive.

[Bullseye]

Originally Posted by Y3k Bug

Sony paid Target to increase their presence, not remove the presence HD DVD. Completely different than Paramount getting paid to stop producing Blu-rays.

It appears the HD-DVD people cannot grasp that concept.

[MovieMan19]

Originally Posted by ottscay

Yeah, there is no WAY Paramount would have made $150 million in sales from Blu-ray next year, let alone $150m in profit. I think Blu-ray will win this (although now the earliest we can have a defacto winner is Q1 2008...thanks Paramount), but absolute sales numbers would take a few years to take off, even with a winner.

BTW, Movieman19, what's you source for Sony paying lots of money to Target, Blockbuster, or BJs? I know Sony paid for an endcap in Target, but do you have any other facts, or are you just talking out you a$$?

It was mentioned in the LA Times article conerning Warner Bros. getting a offer that was listed on TheDigitalBits.com where the amount was mentiond to be "jaw droppingly large". And with Disney I work for a major online retailer so I know what incentives are being offered from the various studios. Fox is currently the only BD exclusive studio not offering any type of incentive to push Blu-Ray at any time this year. HD-DVD exclusive studios have not made incentives to us, yet we consistantly sell more HD-DVD product than Blu-Ray.

[MovieMan19]

Originally Posted by Musashi

Warner has a profit shre in blu-ray too. Not just their discs, but all discs made. They're a director on the BDA's board.

If they think it can expedite the confusion of format war and get those raw sales numbers up where they belong, they might go blu exclusive.

Warner does not receive money from Blu-Ray sales other than the movies they produce. Warner was not involved in the creation of Blu-Ray, they simply support it and are on their board. The same way Disney is on the DVD Forum but they do not receive money for every disc sold. Warner Bros. has patents in DVD & HD-DVD formats, which is different than being on the board of either format.

[MovieMan19]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

It appears the HD-DVD people cannot grasp that concept.

Blockbuster is more or less Blu-Ray exclusive unless you live by one of the 250 stores that already carried HD-DVD as well. And it's yet to be seen what BJ's will do, based on all their statements they will only focus on Blu-Ray this holiday season, making it seem to consumers that Blu-Ray is the only choice for high-def video. The same could be said for Target even though they carry the movies since Sony paid to have Toshiba's machines not carrid any longer in Target stores. If anything the Sony & Blu-Ray tactics are dirtier than the Paramount decision to leave Blu-Ray, especially when Paramount was never vocal before the announcement to retailers that they were upset with how complicated Blu-Ray was for them and all the production issues they were running into making titles for the format.

[oldmike]

Originally Posted by MovieMan19

People complaining about the Paramount payoff need to realize that Sony & the BDA started this first. Target & BJ's were both offered alot of money to double the size for their Blu-Ray sections as was Blockbuster for going Blu-Ray exclusive in most of their stores. On top of that Disney has been paying retailers a $5 bonus for just about every Disney Blu-Ray they've been selling from July through September. Payoffs are nothing new and Toshiba did what they had to do. If you're goint to complain about payoffs complain that Sony started it in the first place, which is nothing new for them.

you made it all up i think
target was given cash for a endcap same thing happens in all stores endcaps cost $$$ target pick to drop HD DVD playters

blockbuster picked blu-ray after noteing that in the test stores blu-rays were rented 2 to 1 strange how thats what sales are in the US and you say they sony paid them???

dont know any thing about BJ theres none were i live and so dont get much news on themsame as Frys

disney giveng stores cash to push blu-ray sales 1st i seen of it

i think your just mad that blu is wining MS is the big cash pushers in this
the war whoud have been over if not for MS big bucks

[oldmike]

Originally Posted by MovieMan19

Blockbuster is more or less Blu-Ray exclusive unless you live by one of the 250 stores that already carried HD-DVD as well. And it's yet to be seen what BJ's will do, based on all their statements they will only focus on Blu-Ray this holiday season, making it seem to consumers that Blu-Ray is the only choice for high-def video. The same could be said for Target even though they carry the movies since Sony paid to have Toshiba's machines not carrid any longer in Target stores. If anything the Sony & Blu-Ray tactics are dirtier than the Paramount decision to leave Blu-Ray, especially when Paramount was never vocal before the announcement to retailers that they were upset with how complicated Blu-Ray was for them and all the production issues they were running into making titles for the format.

man you realy pull shit out oif the air what online store you work for is it the pro HD-DVD one that is full of FUD???
TARGET was NOT PAID TO DROP HD-DVD PLAYERS stop lieing sony reps even sayed they were "plesintly suprised" by target suporting only blu players