An open letter to the HD video industry

[tron3]

You have heard all the opinions in the world, but the facts are before you eyes, let's point them out.

If one more studio supports HD-DVD exclusively, this war goes on indefinately. If one more studio stays neutral, this war goes on indefinately. As a result, NEITHER format will receive widespread acceptance. PERIOD.

Should another studio accept a cash offer from Toshiba, you can justify it by saying, "The stock holders will be happy." Ok, what about next year? What makes the stock holders happy NEXT year? Who do you fire for the mistake of not unifying the format to make the stock holders happy at that point? Does it pay dividends to fire someone? NO. No matter what, next year comes.

Will Toshiba offer yet tens of millions of dollars every 12 to 18 months to keep you exclusive to HD-DVD? This only artificially inflates the numbers of HD-DVD. Why? Consumers have no choice in which format to buy in high definition for that single movie. To us adopters, DVD is no longer an option. That is EXACTLY why most consumers will NEVER adopt either format. DVD will live as long as VHS. There is little profit to be made in selling DVD players any more. All the fancy upsampling in the world will not create a new surge of sales in DVD. Look at how Superbit failed. It also was too little too late.

Everyone speaks of the Beta vs VHS wars of the 1980's. The mistake was ONE company tried to have it all. Toshiba is repeating Sony's mistake and throws good money after bad. Unless you missed the revolution, this is the Internet age. People find out information in minutes and you are powerless to hinder it. The Intenet is bigger than all of us.

HD-DVD was a wonderful idea and concept. But still a day late and dollar short. People know quality when they see and hear it. All the layering and compression in the world still will NOT make a souped up DVD into blu-ray. Longer movies simply do NOT fit on HD-DVD without a compromise. Consumers are not willing to settle for "good enough". You both promise the next generation of home video entertainment, but who actually delivers the goods?

Consumers are growing weary waiting for a winner. Once a deaf ear is turned, you lost us for good. If this war presses on, the adoption of both sides could slow to crawl. Eventually you BOTH will have to abandon the format where you invested millions. Simply because not enough people will buy into it to make it profitable. You both will lose millions in dollars and unmeasurable amounts in consumer confidence. Who is going to explain that to the stock holders? No amount of money buys good PR nor consumer loyalty.

Digital downloading is not the answer. The vast majority of people want the hard media. These are movies, not music. They are much harder to store and backup. Hard pressed media is the format of choice for the forseeable future, NOT hard drives and PC's. You can NOT expect to undo the concept of hard movie media as it has been with us over 30 years since the inception of VHS and BETA. Even decades longer if you count 8-track, cassette, and vinyl records. Most people want to "own" not rent their media.

Toshiba, the world is inreasingly blu. Be willing to drop the gauntlet, and Sony be willing to give them a good deal for making peace. I for one do not want to be a sore loser or worse, a sore winner! Unify, and watch the growth potential for you both. A unified format paid off handsomely for CD, VHS and DVD. We are waiting for the next big thing that doesn't threaten our investment. Further more, let Paramount buy out of the contract.

I do not have to explain that HDTV is still a growing industry. Now, you have a sure way of adding on to that future growth. Both consumers and stock holders will be happy. The growth is indefinate at this point. But only if you unify and agree on one format. HDTV would never have succeeded under the same principle in which you both operate for HD movie media. It had to be ONE standard.

Cheaper dual format players will allow HD-DVD adopters to keep their investment in movies. I'm sure many have spent hundreds and thousands as we have on the formats prior. They deserve that option. Many could justify the cost of a player for a new one, but NOT thousands in movies. No one has to come up the loser. Toshiba, you owe them that support.

[DaViD Boulet]

So,

are you advocating for cheap dual-format players as the answer or pushing staunchly for a single (BD) format?

[maximiza]

Is it me or is this letter more for Toshiba then the the whole HD industry.

[mystiksuicide]

No dual format for me, no way

[TauRus]

Originally Posted by mystiksuicide

No dual format for me, no way

I think Tron basically used the term "unify" as a face saving way for Toshiba to describe the HD DVD capitulation and adoption of Blu technology. When this happens, I am pretty sure they will come forward with some funny way to describe how they were listening to their customers and decided to unify the competing products, how they worked with BDA to make this happen, bluh bluh bluh. Dual format player might be a temporary solution, but eventually only one format needs to stay alive and we know its blu.

[doctorxring]

I just bought both an Blu-Ray and an HD-DVD player
for a total cost of $650. If I would have had the
option to buy a Dual Format player of equal quality
for less money I would have done so. I also bought
a bunch of movies for each player.

Toshiba A3 and a Panasonic BD10A played through
a calibrated 1080P Samsung 5084 plasma.

Any difference in picture and sound quality is all
in someone's imagination. Both are excellent with
excellent transfers as source material.

I am very pleased. Just wished I did not have to
have two players on my rack.

dxr

[OokieSpookie]

Dual format is death to both formats and wasting every bit of work and time that has gone into it.
There are no ifs ands of buts about it, and there is no can't we all get along bullshit.
If high definition media is going to even scratch dvd sales something has to be done soon.
If high definition media is going to be profitable for movie studios something has to be done soon.
The fact that there is even any doubt that there will be a resolution anytime soon is asinine but sadly it is the way it is.
Something HAS to be done soon.

[jd213]

Originally Posted by doctorxring

Toshiba A3 and a Panasonic BD10A played through
a calibrated 1080P Samsung 5084 plasma.

Any difference in picture and sound quality is all
in someone's imagination.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but since the Toshiba A3 only outputs 1080i and the Samsung 5084 fails at 3:2 deinterlacing (see here: http://www.hometheatermag.com/images...ookHDTVrez.jpg), there being no difference in picture quality is all in your imagination. You're essentially getting bobbed 540p (although stuff like concerts should look OK) with your A3 but full 1080p with your Panasonic Blu-Ray player.

[Beta-guy]

it sounded good until the talk of dual format players we have to be unified the logical step would be to go blu for that unified format. it would be exciting if Toshiba Joined the BDA at CES, thing is the idea of cheap dual format players are not likely, if the industry goes along with the letter and Toshiba and Sony make friends, some HD-DVD users can afford the dual format those who could probably already have them. everyone else will be out of luck because with the death of HD-DVD no need to make further dual format players, sell off the stock, and those who can't afford it lost thier library...

that's what you risk in a format war Betamax users lost thier library, and that's why people are nervous about format wars to begin with! this will simply be another lesson in history.

[m6bigdog]

Originally Posted by doctorxring

Any difference in picture and sound quality is all
in someone's imagination.

dxr

I'm sorry, NO I'm NOT,
Ignorant statements like yours just piss me off!!!

Your assertion of equal PQ & SQ is a perception falsely justified in your mind by your lack of observation of the full Blu-ray capability for both the video and audio bandwidth.

That is, just because you don't have the A/V equipment to display the full capability of the Blu-ray format is no reason to claim it doesn't exist. Believe me one day you will and if HD-DVD is your path it will take another generation rollout of the HD format to obtain what Blu-ray offers now!! Believe me!!

The whole world is full of people that accept mediocrity (40% less) and claim it is good enough for everyone, since it is good enough for them. Kind of sounds like socialism to me. Not surprisingly, wars are fought over such issues.

So, I don't want your lack of desire, understanding or knowledge to limit my ability to obtain the better format, when it is so close.

From my perspective, if Blu-ray becomes the HD format standard, I get the best available for now, you can remain in your fog of lack-of-awareness and we can both be happy.

With respect to the HD Format future you either (from Lee Iacocca) “lead, follow, or get out of the way”.

Rant off!!

[foolscrow666]

Well said. (One nit though..."“lead, follow, or get out of the way” was originally said by Patton )

There is a certain mentality with a lot of the blu-ray supporters that is rather...shall we say...unpalatable. Things like the derogatory name for HD DVD, the misinformation that floats around concerning uncompressed audio vs. lossless compression codecs, etc.

I own both formats as well, and for all intents and purposes, there is ZERO difference between the 2 formats. While I'm not a professional, I tested them using the same movie, on the same HDMI input, with the same settings on the TV. The only time that I noticed a difference was when the transfer was performed using different codecs (mpeg2 vs. vc1 for instance).

The difference for me comes down to the interactive features, and unfortunately, BR falls short here. Granted, Blu-ray is making improvements in this area (such as true PIP, rather than a second version of the film that includes it), until these features reach the market, they're don't count for much.

It's a pretty unpopular viewpoint (especially when you consider which board we're posting too), but I would much rather see all of the studios go neutral for a bit, and let the market...not the bigwigs...decide which format will survive.

[Banzai!]

nice letter! but it´s sad, none of these "hd video industry people" will pay attention to it. we are just peasants in this "foolish" game. no one will and can pretend, which format´s gonna win this "fight". so let´s go and enjoy whats there!

@foolscrow666

exactly my point of view! awesome!

[monkyman]

Originally Posted by foolscrow666

I own both formats as well, and for all intents and purposes, there is ZERO difference between the 2 formats.

You said you watched the same movie on both, probibly meaning a blu that was ported down to HD DVD levels. There is definatly a difference between the 2 formats whether you want to believe it or not. Facts don't lie, people do.

[alpinewiz]

Originally Posted by Beta-guy

it sounded good until the talk of dual format players .

I believe Tron is trying to say Unify the two HDM. When we have a clear cut winner offer an inexpensive dual format player so that consumers who own disc's from the format that doesn't exist anymore can still use the disc's they have invested in. The goal of this letter is to keep consumers happy when there is a single format.

[Banzai!]

Originally Posted by monkyman

You said you watched the same movie on both, probibly meaning a blu that was ported down to HD DVD levels. There is definatly a difference between the 2 formats whether you want to believe it or not. Facts don't lie, people do.

Proof !?

[monkyman]

Originally Posted by Banzai!

Proof !?

Do your own research, edjucate yourself, but if you think 30Gb with lower bandwith is ever going to equal 50Gb with higher bandwidth, then you are just fooling yourself or in denile.

[Banzai!]

be assured, i can do my research on my own and i wonder, if you ever spend your time with hd-dvd. ok, on hd-dvd there aren´t that much extras, but the feature film is presented in all it´s high-def standards you can get. and to get proof on my point of view, i was getting a few where i can do so. i.e.: Ghost Rider, Bridge to Terabithia, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, etc. exact bitrate on both formats. so ?

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...._Reality/1096

thats for everyone whos interested in the compression schemes.

[Seretur]

Let's really not ever quote Josh Zyber as a serious source of info.

Not. Ever.

Please.

[Teazle]

I hope these droll authors are being paid by the word.

[blitz6speed]

This thread is full of so many damn toshiba/microsoft plants, its unreal. You guys should get real jobs.