The rumor is that Warner is coming aboard soon

[olarmy96]

I wonder if Warner would offer trade-ins on Harry Potter or something like that to appease HD-DVD customers. Trade in red and get Blu? That might encourage folks to transition over if some of their discs could get swapped.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by RedIsNotBlue

But that is the thing if they do go Blu they WILL increase their profits because that move only makes the end of the format war inevitable and just will slowly kill off HD DVD. Blu-ray player prices can only go lower at this point while HD DVD has practically given them away.

Absolutely agreed on this part. Warner is by far the greatest studio with the greatest appeal in their movies libary and by going blu, they will high likely end this war. I think the BDA (not only Sony) made Warner a profitable deal, so it was not only about sales, but Q4 in this early state seems to be a disaster to the reds, so Warner has nothing to regret. The blu ray player prices are reasonable and economic and the PS3 effect has its full impact worldwide, profile 1.1 working, so yeah there is not much reason for any studio to stay with HD DVD, espically with the 98$ players moving no software.

[Marcusarilius]

Originally Posted by kknight

Not to mention, when there's one format, ALOT more people will buy a High Definition players... I know friends that are holding off until one format has prevailed. This will only make things better for us consumers and studios. There would be MORE sales, MORE titles release, MORE players to choose from... It's a WIN situation for both parties.

Same here. Having trouble convincing friends to go with blu early. Warner will go blu exclusive and Universal will at least go duel format on all and with Spielberg in the mix... well, we should be getting Universal titles in the later half of 08.

[kknight]

Originally Posted by Joon

This could set off a domino effect. Paramount will not opt out of their deal, that 150 mill is still more then they would have made using both formats. However, Warner's move could cause Universal(as already stated) to follow suit and then Weinstein. I don't think HD-DVD can hold on with just Paramount. Their whole existence is set up on a very delicate set up and only having 3 studio is dangerous. It is like playing war and they have 10 cards left and BD has 42. Eventually the 42 will take the 10 and end the game.

I wonder if there's a way that Paramount can pay a penalty fee to get out of the contract or have some deal in the contract that if HD-DVD is selling at a low 10% in the US, they can cancel and become neutral again or go with Blu-ray... Wouldn't that be awesome??

Then we can get Transformers and Shrek 3 with higher bandwidth video codecs, lossless audio and advance BD-Java!! I'm sure this is what Bay meant by superior Blu-ray!!

[mystiksuicide]

I think it's Sony's and the BDA game to win. All the marbles have fallen in place now it's time to seal the deal.

I like the part where it says if Warner goes to hd dvd it could drag on this fight. Warner wants this to end themselves.

[RedIsNotBlue]

Originally Posted by kknight

I wonder if there's a way that Paramount can pay a penalty fee to get out of the contract or have some deal in the contract that if HD-DVD is selling at a low 10% in the US, they can cancel and become neutral again or go with Blu-ray... Wouldn't that be awesome??

Then we can get Transformers and Shrek 3 with higher bandwidth video codecs, lossless audio and advance BD-Java!! I'm sure this is what Bay meant by superior Blu-ray!!

Nah I don't see Paramount getting out of their contract early. What it ends in Q3 of 2008?? I think will ride it out till the end and come back to Blu-ray heads hung in shame.

[Downhere]

Originally Posted by RedIsNotBlue

Nah I don't see Paramount getting out of their contract early. What it ends in Q3 of 2008?? I think will ride it out till the end and come back to Blu-ray heads hung in shame.

Actually, it's Q1 of 2009 if you go with 18 months from when they switched.

[olarmy96]

Couldn't resist posting this on AVS. I included no commentary, but I wonder if it will still get deleted.

[Beta-guy]

Originally Posted by RedIsNotBlue

Nah I don't see Paramount getting out of their contract early. What it ends in Q3 of 2008?? I think will ride it out till the end and come back to Blu-ray heads hung in shame.

I really want to watch stardust, but Paramount made thier choice, and we have the choice to support Blu, and the best way is right now support Warner, get them on the Blu train, and then hope Uni and Weinstein come over soon after, I want 1408 on blu!

[Swede]

Very interesting, I especially like this part:

Persuading it to sign an exclusive deal would give the Sony crowd about 70% of DVD market share. That could prompt the other studios to abandon HD DVD.

On the other hand, if Toshiba were to win Warner's hand, the two forces would divide the market between them. That could create mass consumer confusion and potentially strangle a new technology that the studios hope will give a lift to flagging DVD sales. That's exactly why Warner has long pushed for a single format.

Remember the recent comments by Warner at the blu-ray festival...

“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.” and the extra little nudge about “We can definitely talk Blu-ray,” he said. “We are committed to the format.”

[turboedguy]

Originally Posted by RedIsNotBlue

Nah I don't see Paramount getting out of their contract early. What it ends in Q3 of 2008?? I think will ride it out till the end and come back to Blu-ray heads hung in shame.

I agree, they will wait out their contract, and let the poor sales and bad rep be their punishment.

[kaliraver]

Everybody should support Warner by buying their BD's. Everyone on here should know about the Amazon Warner BOGO going on right now: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...72941&plpage=1
Great movies and great prices for movies like; 300, Troy, The Departed, Blood Diamond, etc.

[kknight]

Originally Posted by kaliraver69

Everybody should support Warner by buying their BD's. Everyone on here should know about the Amazon Warner BOGO going on right now: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...72941&plpage=1
Great movies and great prices for movies like; 300, Troy, The Departed, Blood Diamond, etc.

Good idea, we should show Warner our love for Blu-ray!!! No mercy for HD-DVD!! The sooner we end this format war, the better for everyone!!

I will buy their harry potter movies next week.

[mystiksuicide]

Originally Posted by kaliraver69

Everybody should support Warner by buying their BD's. Everyone on here should know about the Amazon Warner BOGO going on right now: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...72941&plpage=1
Great movies and great prices for movies like; 300, Troy, The Departed, Blood Diamond, etc.

Agreed!!!!!!

[Ispoke]

Also think the artical is spot on with this comment

The Blu-ray side has another advantage. Disney caters to families, who buy lots of older films for their kids. That could help the format build critical mass. "The Blu-ray customer is more likely to build a new library," says market researcher Richard Doherty. "Studios live for [that]."

This I believe has been one of the biggest advantages to Blu ray and got many people onboard.

Sounds like CES is going to be very interesting.

[GeorgeCaplan]

This is the phrase I liked

"The Blu-ray side has another advantage. Disney caters to families, who buy lots of older films for their kids. That could help the format build critical mass. "The Blu-ray customer is more likely to build a new library," says market researcher Richard Doherty. "Studios live for [that]."

The difference between and HD Disc and a SD Disc has to be as big as possible, then I am more likely to replace my favourite DVDs, so called double dipping (still sounds like a porn term to me). I don't think the "extras" or interactivity features which soon lose their novelty, are compelling enough to make a repurchase. It is about Picture and Sound Quality.

And I believe that only Blu-ray can deliver on that.
For the studios, they should work at getting the best out of the BD to strike home that advantage.

One other point, we should not count on Warner making a decision soon. When they do it will make a big difference, but I am trying not to get too excited about this until Warner make the annoucement

[olarmy96]

I did my part by buying Omega Man. I love Charleton, but I can't say it's a great movie.

Originally Posted by kaliraver69

Everybody should support Warner by buying their BD's. Everyone on here should know about the Amazon Warner BOGO going on right now: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...72941&plpage=1
Great movies and great prices for movies like; 300, Troy, The Departed, Blood Diamond, etc.

[mystiksuicide]

I wondered about this ad when I first saw it, now after reading that article it's starting to make more sense.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ques...p?startpage=36

[MerrickG]

Not to be a pessimist, but I do have to wonder if these articles do more harm than good.


"The rumor is that Warner is coming aboard soon," says Michael Burns, vice-chairman of studio Lionsgate (LGF), which makes its movies available on the Sony-backed format. "That will make it awfully tough for HD DVD to stay in this game." (Sony declined to comment, and Toshiba only would say it is "in regular contact with the studios.")

To me it seems like these comments could actually anger Warner and hurt the bluray cause, because I get this strange feeling that Warner will have to publicly announce that they are still neutral. blah blah blah

[Jack]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Not to be a pessimist, but I do have to wonder if these articles do more harm than good.

I think most of us take this as a for what ist is, a rumor.
Let's leave it at that.
January 7th will tell...