The rumor is that Warner is coming aboard soon

[turboedguy]

Originally Posted by merrick97

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

the same type of speculations and comments were made before the Paramount switch, but they rejected them until the day they went public.

[richard lichtenfelt]

Originally Posted by Jack

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...

It's a little more than a rumor when Business Week is reporting it.

[johnno1986]

G'day all,

I pray to God that this will come to fruition. To have lossless audio would be great.

[zombieking]

Originally Posted by tru2blu707

lets not count out eggs before they hatch....but in the meantime.....save up a little bit of money on the side....the A2 and A3 are still great upconverting dvd players

So is Oppo, Panasonic, or Denon. So what if the A2 and A3 is cheaper. Why throw Toshiba a lifeline? Just let hd-dvd die and go away already

And I'm sure later bluray players will have excellent upscaling capabilities.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by richard lichtenfelt

It's a little more than a rumor when Business Week is reporting it.

I remember a few weeks ago, a guy came in here and said Warner would go exclusive...we all know what happend
Ok, he was not Business Week, and i admit we all know the BDA is fighting for Warner that is confirmed, but even Lionsgate vice chairman said it's still a rumor and the Business Week article is clearly based on speculation and providing only hints. There is definately something going on about Warner going exclusive, but it's far away from a confirmation
Sry for the pessimism :/

[Beta-guy]

Originally Posted by turboedguy

the same type of speculations and comments were made before the Paramount switch, but they rejected them until the day they went public.

are you saying this kind of press doesn't hurt BD?

[Frode]

Originally Posted by Jack

Right, the gap in sales increased but even with a 25% market, warner IS making money with HD DVD.

Not really. The problem is that only the top selling titles on both formats have been making a profit, with the rest barely breaking even, if that. Lately the numbers have gotten better as the volumes go up, but still not quite there. They'll be looking for that magic point where BD releases make a profit on their own. Right now even though the total costs of releasing in both formats is higher, they can share some of the costs because they use the same encodes for both and the breaking even threshold is lower.

That's the financial realities - at the same time Warner is well aware of the marketing realities and the overwhelming support BD has from various industries. At this point I think they're almost ready to switch, but they'll be cashing in from holiday sales at the least first.

[olarmy96]

Perception is at least half the battle. A respectable publication predicting a Blu-ray win may spurn others to buy Blu. That in turn makes it more likely for Blu to win.

Also, someone in a vice-chairman role has to be very careful about what he says. Lionsgate is a publicly traded company. I doubt it's a baseless rumor.

It could even be an intentional leak to start getting people used to the idea. If more and more of these rumors come out and then it happens, it takes some of the shock out of it.

Originally Posted by Beta-guy

are you saying this kind of press doesn't hurt BD?

[AikonEnt]

If and when Warner does go Blu exclusive it will be great news, both for Blu and for hi-def in general as the longer this 'war' continues the more damage is done to the format as the general public will just start to care less and less. When there is only one format to choose (although people on here already believe there's only one anyway ) more people will embrace it.

But, as this is not yet fact do we really need another thread based on rumours? When we have some sort of official release from Warner then yeah I want it plastered everywhere and we can rejoice. Because once it happens Universal's hand will basically be forced and they'll have to go at worst neutral just to keep the accountants happy. Which will only leave Paramount. And wouldn't it be good if they had prepared Transformers for Blu-ray to be released on the day they come back, with a brand new encode and the most earth shattering lossless audio track, that then goes on to sell more copies in it's first week of release than the HD-DVD copy sold in it's year of exclusivity?

Just my thoughts and not based on any facts whatsoever

[Beta-guy]

when/if Warner annouces Blu exclusivity, I plan on buying a HD-DVD player (it'll be a collectors item like the betamax)

seriously tho, I'm treating this like any other rumor, even if there is a strong reason for the insiders to think Warner will go Blu NOW, doesn't mean that in 2 weeks time Warner won't think more about HD-DVD... I'm waiting, I don't want to get my hopes up again like Sept 26...

[richard lichtenfelt]

A vice president for WB already told us this was most likely coming after the holidays. He never recanted that statement. Someone from the marketing strategy office said in an interview with only highdefdigest.com that they were remaining neutral for the foreseeable future.
Now Business Week magazine and studio big wigs are telling us that it is in the works.
People act like the rumor that happened before was a bad thing, but studios monitor this site from time to time and I imagine that they were impressed with the huge number of posts that occurred as a result of it. Plus, those couple of days were wildly entertaining.
I realize that some people are not inclined to fantasize, I have nothing against people who fancy themselves as realists, but realize that some of us love to speculate and be caught up in the moment.
Let's keep the dream alive. I hope to come back here later and see that this thread has exploded like a nuke.

[jling84]

Huh when did a VP from Warner say they would most likely be joining Blu-Ray after the holidays?

[Beta-guy]

Originally Posted by richard lichtenfelt

A vice president for WB already told us this was most likely coming after the holidays. He never recanted that statement. Someone from the marketing strategy office said in an interview with only highdefdigest.com that they were remaining neutral for the foreseeable future.
Now Business Week magazine and studio big wigs are telling us that it is in the works.
People act like the rumor that happened before was a bad thing, but studios monitor this site from time to time and I imagine that they were impressed with the huge number of posts that occurred as a result of it. Plus, those couple of days were wildly entertaining.
I realize that some people are not inclined to fantasize, I have nothing against people who fancy themselves as realists, but realize that some of us love to speculate and be caught up in the moment.
Let's keep the dream alive. I hope to come back here later and see that this thread has exploded like a nuke.

how many posts was in that thread? 2000 or something? does that thread still exist?

Edit: found it 2040 posts...

[Malosch78]

Originally Posted by Hassoon

Here's hoping...

Me too.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by richard lichtenfelt

I hope to come back here later and see that this thread has exploded like a nuke.

Don't worry, the intenet will explode when Warner and/or the BDA confirms it
But right know, this is only the calm before the storm

[saljr]

If this is true we welcome Warner Bros. Blu-Ray is higher quality HD.

[jayd]

I think seep down, we know this is coming, we just don't want to get our hopes built up and then be shot down. But we know, and Warner, Fox, Disney, the whole BDA know that this war has been going on for far too long and it needs to be wrapped up quichky if HDM is to succeed DVD, because that is the real battle. HD-DVD fanboys like to harp on about dual formats etc, but that is because they are in denail, and know that their format is dead. Come on Warner, lets get Blu-Ray where it should be.

[Smallville206]

I'm not even going to post this article in another forum I frequent where HD-DVD supporters post every little tidbit, no matter how unfounded. The last thing I want is egg on my face. I will just sit back with fingers crossed and hope this comes to fruition and THAN rub it in their faces (they have all been extremely arrogant).

[Giyomu]

not a rumor, it is a lie

warner will stay neutral, unfortunately.
11 exclusive hddvd on the planning (including tim burton's batman!!)
for just 1 exclusive blu (a crappy movie don t even remember title)

we have to stop these warner going blu?? threads...
it is just as annoying as if/when transformers come to blu?'s thread

[olarmy96]

Just deleted out of Blu-ray Software and HDTV Software forums on AVS. I guess they don't want to believe it...