Warner officially dropping HD-DVD combos as of 2008....

[Nick Graham]

I guess there IS an announcement today from Warner relating to HDM, but it
doesn't make the guessing game on their eventual exclusivity with one format or the other any clearer.

News broken by a man who is incredibly popular here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=262807

[vw mofo]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

doesn't make the guessing game on their eventual exclusivity with one format or the other any clearer.

You can say that again!

That said, I'm a bit disappointed in this news. I'm one of the very few people who like the idea of combo discs. Oh well...

[bhampton]

Combo discs were really starting to help the Blu Ray side.

They almost never worked at least in the Xbox360.

It's only one type of dis-continued HD DUD but it's a start.

-Brian

[TruBlu2]

LOL, 1 step closer. Today they drop dvd from hddvd and dvd combo.

Step 2 drop hddvd all together!!!

LOL

They are getting there, hopefully

[SS316SRV]

I heard that today they are announcing BD exclusivity.

[w_tanoto]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

I heard that today they are announcing BD exclusivity.

lol

[Nick Graham]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

I heard that today they are announcing BD exclusivity.

If you are into real estate, I've got some ocean-front property in Arizona I'm looking to part with.

[MatrixS2000]

This is too funny...

Several weeks ago I challenged a certain Insider Movie Reviewer that was posting here that the problems with combo disks were more serious than his suggestion that BD50 yields were a low. He couldn't get any info on the combos...

Fast forward a few weeks, BD50s are still being produced and combos are not. LOL.

Guess he missed this story importance all together....

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Combo discs were really starting to help the Blu Ray side.

Damn! I was hoping it will take them longer to figure this out!

enjoy
gandalf

[Josh]

I want to see a news release so I can make a "Warner Admits HD DVD is Crap" news post.

[blackhawktraffic]

Originally Posted by vw mofo

You can say that again!

That said, I'm a bit disappointed in this news. I'm one of the very few people who like the idea of combo discs. Oh well...

Why would you like them? Double sided dvds were the worst thing ever invented.

[helli3yte]

hmm. i thought bestiality porn was the worst thing invented. boggles the mind it does.

[vw mofo]

Originally Posted by blackhawktraffic

Why would you like them? Double sided dvds were the worst thing ever invented.

Because I have a 3 year old litle girl at home and family over 8 hours away. I make backups of every SD DVD we own for the car and in her play room. That way when she messes them up, the original isn't foo bar and I can just make another copy.

While there isn't anything that was on a combo yet that she would be interested in, I'm sure there would be eventually and having to not buy the movie twice would have been a bonus. Lets just hope that if managed copy ever comes to fruition, it allows us to "downgrade" an HDM disc to SD. Otherwise I guess I'll just have to resort to "other" means of getting movies for her on SD that I own in HD.

[darinp2]

I had figured the combo thing was something the HD DVD side had to offer Disney to try to entice them to start releasing on HD DVD, but what looks like a lack of confidence in combos by Warner isn't likely to help that. If it was just the retail price difference that was the problem Warner could have chosen to continue with combos and lower the price difference for them, but seems they didn't choose that route. Maybe they cost Warner a significant amount more (not just a little bit) and have the reported playback issues, leaving dropping them as the best option.

I also figured that if somebody bought a combo disc incorrectly thinking that they could play the HD DVD part because they have an HDTV and an HD upscaling DVD player (a lot of people think like that), there was a good chance they wouldn't take the time to return the disc because they could at least play the DVD side.

The Star Trek series still seems a little strange to release as combos to me if the goal is to get people to buy it to watch the DVD sides before they get an HD DVD player. With HD DVD player prices what they are, I wonder how many people would be too cheap to buy a player while at the same time being willing to buy a box set that is almost $200 MSRP (although just $130 on Amazon). Seems like a pretty small group. I also wonder what those 10 discs are going to look like. Maybe 10 different colored rings inside that are supposed to clue people into which disc is which without looking at the fine print on the inner ring.

My memory is that Universal was going to release everything as combos until they found out how many people on the AVSForum didn't want them and then they went to combos pretty much for new releases. I wonder if they'll follow Warner and drop them for those also.

And the trojan horse strategy of releasing a major title as a combo only had a lot of HD DVD supporters excited that this would be used to try to win the war. I think Amir was even hinting around like somebody would do it with a big title with some comments about not being able to give things away on the forum with the competition looking on. And now what the competition has seen is that Warner has so little belief in combos that they are dropping them for those day-and-date titles, instead of embracing them completely and dropping DVD only for those titles like people had wanted. Doesn't seem like there is much chance of Warner doing combos only now and if Universal or Paramount try it and it doesn't work out they could look like fools after Warner has largely shown their hand as far as their belief in combos. That Star Trek release could definitely be interesting.

--Darin

[WickyWoo]

While there isn't anything that was on a combo yet that she would be interested in, I'm sure there would be eventually and having to not buy the movie twice would have been a bonus. Lets just hope that if managed copy ever comes to fruition, it allows us to "downgrade" an HDM disc to SD. Otherwise I guess I'll just have to resort to "other" means of getting movies for her on SD that I own in HD.

Then rent it. The premium you pay on a combo due is less than a kid's rental at blockbuster.

My memory is that Universal was going to release everything as combos until they found out how many people on the AVSForum didn't want them and then they went to combos pretty much for new releases. I wonder if they'll follow Warner and drop them for those also.

If there's one thing I've noticed about Universal, is that they'll do anything to press the least discs possible. That's why they were doing all their TV stuff as DVD-14s and 18s for several years. Pressing one disc for widescreen DVD and HD must have been really appealing to them

[tron3]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

I guess there IS an announcement today from Warner relating to HDM, but it
doesn't make the guessing game on their eventual exclusivity with one format or the other any clearer.

News broken by a man who is incredibly popular here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=262807

Stupid crap like these combo discs shows just how ignorant this market is in its' infancy. They will throw anything out there which might help them. Even if market research shows it isn't a a very good idea. As someone else has mentioned, it is a known fact that study groups will say how much they like something, and in reality they would never buy such a thing.

Further more, I'm not so sure they give these study groups a price range to base their decision. Just tell them how much you like or dislike the product. Heck, people holding the iphone prototype and thinking it would cost $100 will rave about it. Uninformed focus groups aren't doing anyone any favors.

People are liars, businesses are liars, marketers are liars, sales people are liars. It is a miracle any of us know the truth at all.