Universal Sabatoge of HD DVD

[stockstar1138]

I think most people here would agree with me that Universal is most likely under a contract with the HD DVD promo group. There is a good chance that when they signed this contract the HD DVD promo group told them things that have not come true (Players sold, state of BD, etc). This has got to have Universal a little PO'd at HD DVD as they have not received the revenue they thought they would. Now being in a contract they have to release exclusively to HD DVD, however there are somethings they can do. One of these would be to make cheap POS transfers to HD DVD. Recent transfers from Universal have been way below par with the recent Knocked Up "yellow" fiasco (for those who don't know the entire movie has a yellow tint). This was one of their biggest movies of the year, its just hard to believe that they couldn't do a little better of a job, unless they wanted to save a little money with a half assed transfer and hurt hd dvd as hd dvd has cost them a lot. its payback in universals mind. thoughts?

[Spankey]

Universal is thoroughly entrenched with HD-DVD. I don't expect anything from them in the way of Blu-ray unless one or both sides give in.

[SS316SRV]

Well, although feasible, it is very unlikely. First, maybe the crappy transfer is because HD DVD is crappy. Second, no business, no matter publically owned or privately owned, would rob themselves of money. Universal wants to make as much $ as possible, why would they make unsellable products?

[CptGreedle]

I don't think anything is on purpose. I think they are desperate to get titles out since they are competing against many major studios while their only exclusive "ally" has very few titles out. They are just trying to churn these discs out as fast as they can to compete, and in the process they are lower the quality standard and messing things up, which will cost them more money. Don't think Uni can't see that BD has better sales, they can see that. So can Para even though they just signed a contract (instant gratification vs holding the course).
I expect that (assuming BD sales continue to dominate) after this 4Q, things are going to change somewhere. I can't say Uni will give up easily since they put so much time and money into it, but they could make millions if they release on BD as well.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by Spankey

Universal is thoroughly entrenched with HD-DVD. I don't expect anything from them in the way of Blu-ray unless one or both sides give in.

why do you say that? if they are in a contract they have to appear to be into hd dvd. there is a good chance the contract says a min. of 4 releases every month or 100 total releases til your contract is up something like that. nearly all of their movies they have put out have had below par transfers and knowcked up is just another in a line of many. by the way i find if funny that it has yet to break the top 100 at amazon.com

[Blaumann]

i am very much afraid, they just don´t care about pq or actually think it is "good enough" for some reason. Maybe the "whatever" state of mind regarding the pq of many SD DVDs (imo) is still around there.

Sad, so sad, i'm afraid their stuff would look the same, even if they released on BR.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

Well, although feasible, it is very unlikely. First, maybe the crappy transfer is because HD DVD is crappy. Second, no business, no matter publically owned or privately owned, would rob themselves of money. Universal wants to make as much $ as possible, why would they make unsellable products?

look at it this way, they can expect to sell 500k (25000 discs) in revenue with an poor transfer or sell 800k in revenue (40000 discs) with a above avg. transfer. know if the difference in making a good transfer vs. a bad transfer is 500k then they make more money with the bad transfer and hd dvd gets hurt. remember the hd dvd boys are desperate thye buy anything.

[lch]

if they really come over to blu, we will also be worrying if they are going to follow warner by just dumping all the hd-dvd stuff directly onto blu

[Longshot]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

why do you say that? if they are in a contract they have to appear to be into hd dvd. there is a good chance the contract says a min. of 4 releases every month or 100 total releases til your contract is up something like that. nearly all of their movies they have put out have had below par transfers and knowcked up is just another in a line of many. by the way i find if funny that it has yet to break the top 100 at amazon.com

Stock,

They passed 100 releases a few months ago. The two idiots that run Universal Kornblau & Graffeo have been very vocal about their support for HD DVD and have gone out of their way to take cheap shots at Bd.

Unless these two clowns leave I don't see Uni going nuetral anytime soon (CES 2008). Penton Man has even said as much. Things can always but I would not get my hopes up.

[cpgator]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

Recent transfers from Universal have been way below par with the recent Knocked Up "yellow" fiasco (for those who don't know the entire movie has a yellow tint). This was one of their biggest movies of the year, its just hard to believe that they couldn't do a little better of a job, unless they wanted to save a little money with a half assed transfer and hurt hd dvd as hd dvd has cost them a lot. its payback in universals mind. thoughts?

I haven't personally seen this movie, but in all the reviews I have read, only one mentioned the yellow issue - and it still gave an above average VQ rating. None of the other reviews mentioned anthing about a yellow hue, and all said the quality was good.

Perhaps everyone is jumping on an issue that really isn't an issue?

[GasCat]

Someone believed Chalabi.