Why the Paramount deal doesn't matter

[BRisJesus]

There are 3 main reasons why this deal doesn't help the HD DVD camp at the moment

1) Due to the Paramount deal consumers are getting pretty pissed off. Everyone knew that the US was leaning toward Blu-Ray. With the whole 2-1 versus HD DVD for 300 and 2-1 versus HD DVD in the first half of this year PLUS Target, Bj's Warehouse, and Blockbuster going Blu-Ray exclusive. People were leaning to Blu-Ray but with this deal Blu-Ray's great speed they picked up the last few months has slowed them down enough to grab a mocha while HD DVD is still behind. This will result in less HD players sold in general since people will have to wait longer for the war to end, all this did was prolong the war.

2) The point of getting a Studio to sign up with a format is to get more movies released on that format! Paramount and Dreamworks haven't announced any new movies for HD DVD, hell this announcement hurt them when Fox/MGM rushed their announcement of 29 Blu-Ray titles because of the Paramount deal.

3) We still have more movies out and have more movies announced than HD DVD with only 68 titles announced on the HD DVD side excluding re-release, and 118 titles for Blu-Ray announced (Including the 29 movies announced today). ALMOST DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF MOVIES ANNOUNCED VERSUS HD DVD.

So Warner..... since you're all alone now JOIN us.

[BluDrew]

I'll give you one reason why it DOES help the HD DVD camp at the moment: Transformers. A lot of Blu-ray only supporters are being knocked off the fence into the HD DVD camp by this title alone, especially if players start selling at $199 or less in the next few months.

[zombieking]

Transformers will sell well but will be insignificant in the grand scheme of things IMO

[kaliraver]

Transformers or not they can stick that movie up their @$$. I will never support HD-DVD since it is the inferior product amd have had also bad luck with Toshiba products and I hate M$. I will support Blu till this format is the new standard for HD media.

[drwatson1234]

I know I'm the minority here by saying this, but I fell asleep in Transformers. It was a good movie, but I thought it dragged on in the middle. I hope this title isn't the 'savior' of HD-DVD.

[JonD7]

yeah, all they'll do pretty much is probably put all of the titles that were on Blu-Rays then put them on HD-DVD... or shall I say... compress them then put them on HD-DVD *giggles*

yeah Transformers was a good film, I liked it but it wasn't THAT good to go nuetral, way too much good films are coming out anyways.

[Gremal]

Originally Posted by BluDrew

I'll give you one reason why it DOES help the HD DVD camp at the moment: Transformers. A lot of Blu-ray only supporters are being knocked off the fence into the HD DVD camp by this title alone, especially if players start selling at $199 or less in the next few months.

The number of people who will pay $200 for a blu-ray player so they can watch a single action movie is negligible, I assure you.

[Chris Gerhard]

You guys can post thousands of reasons that the Paramount decision doesn't matter but that won't change the fact that it does matter. Paramount exclusively supporting HD DVD ends any hope for quick end to the format war unless another bombshell is dropped in favor of Blu-ray. The last couple of months have had several little announcements in favor of Blu-ray and one huge announcement in favor of HD DVD, net advantage HD DVD. If HD DVD was continuing despite all of the setbacks, there is no hope that HD DVD will withdraw now. Warner going Blu-ray exclusively or Universal going neutral would offset this. Nothing else I can think of can offset this if the goal is a quick end to the format war and I have no reason to believe either of those possiblities will happen.

Chris

[Deciazulado]

little?

btw Paramount released 28 titles in 16 months and DreamWorks 4 and we lost 8 announcements
Fox released 27 titles in 5 months and MGM 11 and we just gained 29 announcements

not so bad.

[aristotles]

Please, do you really think people who chose blu-ray are going to spend several hundred dollars in hardware just for Transformers? Come on.

The movie was not even that great and most of us saw it in the theatre already.

Maybe some of you will be that weak but you all should think about sending a message to Paramount and reminding them of the recent sales ratios including format neutral titles like 300.

Stick it to them were it hurts by boycotting them with disc sales and box office ticket sales.

As much as I enjoyed many Universal titles, I am content on my existing DVD versions of the films that I bought over the years and waiting for Universal to capitulate. If I'm not going to by an HD DVD player over Universal titles, what makes them think I would do that for the remaining Paramount titles that are not already out?

[secret]

Paramount does matter. They're Microsoft and Toshiba's problem now. I was going to fire Paramount anyways and was wondering when that laggard would ever leave the team.

[Chris Gerhard]

Originally Posted by secret

Paramount does matter. They're Microsoft and Toshiba's problem now. I was going to fire Paramount anyways and was wondering when that laggard would ever leave the team.

Funny post but you should put a smiley along with it, although I know it is a joke without it. Unless Paramount has a corporate policy in favor of dogfighting, I can't think of any reason I would want them off my team.

Chris

[becomingwater]

Originally Posted by zombieking

Transformers will sell well but will be insignificant in the grand scheme of things IMO

I would say HD-DVD supporter paramount will lose 60 million in sales from transformers alone by not going both formats! Not sure how many HD DVD players are out there but I know there are about 5 million playstations and about half want transformers! This could be the worst mistake a company has made in awhile! I truly believe they will retract their support of HD DVD soon enough when they see a loss in sales.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by zombieking

Transformers will sell well but will be insignificant in the grand scheme of things IMO

Exactly, theres not enough support to even cause a massive ripple

[scragham]

this move is big, let's not argue about that point. transformers is going to be a huge seller on whatever formats it will be available on.

however, it needs to be digested with a huge grain of salt.

the fact of the matter still remains that the vast majority of people don't want two players. they want ONE player. when holiday sales season rolls around, newcomers to the format war are going to look at one side with cars, rat, pirates, spidey, ff4, etc etc and the other side with transformers, bourne, etc etc and just going to get more frustrated and confused.

and more liable to say screw it, i'll just buy it on dvd.

or that's how i see things turning out.

they're certainly not about to buy a BD player AND a HD DVD player unless they're both $50 each.

the million dollar question is how many players will shrek 3 and transformers sell. i'm pretty crushed that i won't be able to watch transformers on BD, but this will be the one time i violate my no-more-SD-DVDs rule. i'm still not about to sink $200-300 (plus movie costs) into a format that's STILL on life support. if at this time next year, things look better for HD DVD, THEN i'll go neutral (maybe) and you know what? what are the chances transformers won't still be available in HD? and you've already seen my opinion on what the average joe will do.

the billion dollar question IMO is what the fallout from this will be. already fox/MGM have been spurred into announcing a whole slate of titles (which is AWESOME news). what will the BDA do in response to this? will they start wooing warner hardcore, maybe try to buy them off the way the HD DVD group did with paramount? will this provide more or less impetus for warner to start releasing the long-delayed titles like batman begins, matrix, etc on BD? will universal get pissy about someone else getting a sweeter deal and threaten to go neutral to get more money from the HD DVD group?

we'll see.

the war suddenly got a crapton more interesting, that's for sure.

[ReduxInflux]

transformers upconverted will suit us just fine. a few titles to upgrade sd upconverts are NOT worth hundreds of dollars in a risky investment.

[gamer4eva]

after reading most of the comments from the news i noticed that ppl r going crazy and wanna buy HD-Dead players cause of 1 movie u guys r just encouraging the was to go longer by buying players for 1 movie

here's what i think paramount will pre-pone the release date of transformers to 4 dec just to give comp to pirates 3 release and if they somehow succeed after half the ppl from here got the player this would encourage paramount to go longer and their decision will b proven right so all i'am saying is get the DVD i'am sure it will look better upscaled than HD-Dead ver

[gand41f]

Seriously. I don't think anyone will buy a player just for one movie.

I'm boycotting Paramount from now on. This means no DVD (not even rental) of Transformers or Shrek 3. I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the BD's Netflix is sending me anyway.

The money I save on Paramount Blu-rays and movies will go to Sony, Disney, Fox and Warner.

enjoy
gandalf

[kindredwolf]

Originally Posted by zombieking

Transformers will sell well but will be insignificant in the grand scheme of things IMO

Yes and No, many people myself included are REALLY looking to get Transformers in HD. And yes, some people will actually choose their format for this title.
As for some people, again like myself, i'm F*CKING PISSED. And even though i loved the transformers movie i may not get it even in SD DVD. "cough" Torrent "cough".........
Paramount you are truly a dick. I can even respect Universal more for sticking to thier guns, but you are a cash-wh*re traitor.

[gamer4eva]

@kinderedwolf

nice man paramount would also not a single cent of my wallet until they come back to BD coughs*longlivetorrents*cough(only for paramount releases)