Archived: Ask the Insiders: Judgment Day Edition

[JasonR]

I think Paramount by end of February, Uni by end of March.

[elwaylite]

I think we can be safe in thinking that Uni is going to hold out awhile. Hopefully Paramount is moving on a faster track.

[Sling]

Originally Posted by OokieSpookie

I disagree.
It is in blu's best interest to get this over with and also in the best interest of HDM in general.
(Let me add that I do not think that this is Toshiba's thinking at all. Universal and Paramount possibly but Toshiba is just being scum)

+1
Toshiba is causing more consumer confusion thus hurting HDM.
Toshiba is true Scum with Paramount and Uni not far behind.If Sony wants to end this fast they need to throw Money at Paramount /Uni..Lots of money...It would be in there best interest to do so.

[Papi4baby]

Originally Posted by ezcobar411

If the BDA gave Toshiba money to just stop, I wouldn't be the least bit disappointed. In fact I would be happy to see that it is over.

Actually i would be pretty down if that were to happen. As much i want this to be over, i hope Toshiba burns for this, and burn bad. If i were to say they should loose it all i might be thinking of over doing it. But their latest &*%*(^ attemp to cash up on the remaining stock or players and possibly blackmail the BDA is just LOW.


BDA DO NOT PAY TOSHIBA OR UNIVERSAL NOR PARAMOUNT. They dont deserve sh!t, they should be honored to be allow to publish on Blu ray, and toshiba should just die a slow and painful death.

P.S. Wish i had a Death Note for corporations

[sj001]

Can any Insiders comment on when ANY of the studios will be making some significant release announcements, outside of the ones mentioned already?

[thebluemax]

Originally Posted by Sling

+1
Toshiba is causing more consumer confusion thus hurting HDM.
Toshiba is true Scum with Paramount and Uni not far behind.If Sony wants to end this fast they need to throw Money at Paramount /Uni..Lots of money...It would be in there best interest.

Wrong, they should not offer nothing, in a few months it will all be completely over anyway. Why waste money, BDA should advertise like hell stressing the fact that DUD has practically no Studio support.

[JohnAlden]

Originally Posted by sj001

I think one of the 2 studios, not sure which one, will announce something in the next few weeks. Penton kinda hinted that ONE of them was delayed by Toshiba but maybe not the other. The slate for HD-DVD releases is virtually empty, they are going to get POUNDED into the ground in sales, and especially with all the WB news, people are going to be dropping HD-DVD like a hot potato.

I'm sure the BDA is doing all it can to make things happen. After all, the WB deal was going on behind the scenes since September, and everyone was wringing their hands over that (myself included), and it turned out good. My gut tells me this will be all but over come Spring.

I think it could be Universal coming on board soon, there contract is over with the HD-DVD group according that article from Varitey. But, I trust Bill Hunts word with that. Penton-Man seems to be close with Ken Geaffo makeing sure all the contracts go through. If Ken Geaffo wants to come here post, then i will give A good welcome.

[Sling]

Originally Posted by thebluemax

Wrong, they should not offer nothing, in a few months it will all be completely over anyway. Why waste money, BDA should advertise like hell stressing the fact that DUD has practically no Studio support.

Kill two birds with one stone...SD DVD & HD DVD
Toshiba's a snake... giving them time to recover with there so called " up-convert HD DVD " screws up new consumers that should be buying into blu-ray in-turn consumer confusion is had.
Sony throwing Paramount/Uni money puts Toshiba upconvert scam to sleep which adds a great dent into SD DVD at the same time.

[Papi4baby]

Originally Posted by JohnAlden

I think it could be Universal coming on board soon, there contract is over with the HD-DVD group according that article from Varitey. But, I trust Bill Hunts word with that. Penton-Man seems to be close with Ken Geaffo makeing sure all the contracts go through. If Ken Geaffo wants to come here post, then i will give A good welcome.

Meh, i'll read what he has to say, i wont worship the ground he walks on like our real and faithful insiders

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

I guess at this point the question is if the BDA will wait for the death blow of Warner to bleed out, or open up the coffers and hurry up and end it. I guess so long as Paramount still jumps soon it is no biggie, but if they hold fast like Universal is, I'm hesitant to get cocky.

I'm sure the bean counters are already doing a cost analysis regarding various scenarios. I think most of us here would obviously prefer a quick end to the war.

I just don't want anymore nasty surprises like Paramount's initial jump - the longer the hold-outs drag their feet, the more I am going to fear such surprises.

Eh?

What kind of surprises could possibly happen now?

You sure as hell aren't going to see any Blu-ray studio switch to HD DVD at this point! So what else does HD DVD have in terms of "surprises"???

Cutting the crap out of their hardware prices even further, and hoping/praying/paying for Universal and Paramount to stay HD DVD exclusive (and possibly cutting software prices) is all they can possibly do.

When the sales gap and hardware sales continue to mount in BD's favor, Universal and Paramount will have no choice but to go with Blu-ray.

[Esox50]

Guys, read between the lines here based on recent posts. At a higher level, Ken Graffeo is being forced to spout the company line and support continued HD DVD releases. At the same time, it *seems* like he may have been charged/tasked with getting "things" aligned/co-ordinated for Universal's INEVITABLE Blu-Ray releases.

The announcements may not happen as fast as we hope, but keep in mind we are now in the "slow season" of home video. I'm 95% sure (and Penton can correct me if I'm wrong on the percentage again, like he did with WB ) that when things start ramping up again late summer, Universal and Paramount will "be there" with titles on the shelf.

I do think it's BS though if Toshiba is going to prey on more unsuspecting customers. Yes, people should make informed decisions, but at the end of the day, there will always ber a segment of the population that has bad info, or even has all the 'right' info and still makes the wrong decision. People do this in life every day.

[Neo65]

Public Forums and inner working of business negotiations do not mix well. Methinks people have work to do, some have pots to sweeten, others have dead horses to flog.

Our proper role here is to nod knowingly, smile, and pretend we're enjoying the show. Even if takes days or weeks or months before the paint dries.

[JohnAlden]

Originally Posted by Papi4baby

Meh, i'll read what he has to say, i wont worship the ground he walks on like our real and faithful insiders

Nothing beats are faithful insiders like Penton-Man and Paidgeek. Paidgeek will make his return someday, he is probelly busey raising his family and working on remasters for Men in Black and maybe Ghostbusters also. Though if Michale Bay wants come on here to post...heck it would be nice to have an director here on the forums.

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Esox50

I do think it's BS though if Toshiba is going to prey on more unsuspecting customers. Yes, people should make informed decisions, but at the end of the day, there will always ber a segment of the population that has bad info, or even has all the 'right' info and still makes the wrong decision. People do this in life every day.

Dude, speak for yourself!

[TheRealBob]

Originally Posted by ay221

Or like checkers, the other guy just has one piece left, you have 12 kings and your going for the last kill but he keeps moving his piece away from you and into a corner instead of just resigning the game.

If you have twelve kings in checkers and the other guy is able to avoid a loss by moving away from you, well, then you are pretty terrible at checkers.

(Sorry to pollute the Insiders thread, but that's just the silliest analogy I've ever read.)

Back on topic, we of course only know a small fraction of what's going on, but I think this move by Toshiba is because they're playing from a position of weakness that they know damn well is about to turn into a position of extreme weakness, so they're puffing their chests out and threatening to drag this out for a long time, hoping that the Blu-ray people, weary of the war, throw them a bone.

Personally, I'd like to see the BDA crew hang tough and let Toshiba twist in the wind, but either way is fine with me. People got a little crazy with their expectations after Warner flipped (it's only been ten days), but I really doubt it's going to be much longer before the endgame plays out. Just look at the margin by which the BD players are reportedly outselling the HD DVD players, the HD DVD player price drops, the HD DVD players all over eBay, and the very carefully worded statements from Paramount and Universal that go out of their way to seem to deny they're going to start releasing on Blu-ray without actually doing so. As Penton-Man pointed out, this isn't HD DVD roaring back to life; this is the death twitch.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by JohnAlden

Nothing beats are faithful insiders like Penton-Man and Paidgeek. Paidgeek will make his return someday.......

He already returned today for a quick look-see of Maya patiently waiting.
He’ll start posting again on the newest version of the Insider’s Thread.

Plus ^ don't forget Max, kjack and talkstr8t.

[JohnGalt]

Originally Posted by Neo65

Public Forums and inner working of business negotiations do not mix well.

Bingo. I'm sure the endgame is relatively well-scripted at this point with details, precise timing, and execution still being worked through. I seriously doubt that anyone will be telegraphing the next major blow before it lands.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

Dude, speak for yourself!

Don't get me wrong, as you know and as we both have posted, I think people who bought HD DVD should be "big boys" and live with the poor decision.

What I object to now is Toshiba and some retailers deliberately taking advantage of people. For example, anyone notice they are pushing "upscaling" now, and "watch movies from all studios"...it's deceptive at best.

Just give it up already...this thing is over Toshiba.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

He already returned today for a quick look-see of Maya patiently waiting.
He’ll start posting again on the newest version of the Insider’s Thread.

What are the odds one of the first questions is, "Since it was at the show, when is MIB coming out?" answered with... "Please don't ask me about future releases as the Marketing Dept gets mad at me."

[iceman]

The end of an era:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDzjFEPCePs





The beginning of a new:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/forumdisplay.php?f=61