Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yaya]

HD DVD backers reeling as Blu-Ray shines at electronics show

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) - HD DVD backers are reeling at the world's top consumer electronics show in the wake of a major blow by rival Blu-Ray in the battle to be the reigning format for high density DVDs.

Warner Brothers studio pulled out of an alliance with Toshiba's HD DVD camp and switched sides, announcing on Friday that Hollywood's largest distributor of DVDs will do so exclusively in Sony's Blu-Ray format.

HD DVD Promotion Group cancelled a press conference it had planned for the eve of Monday's formal start of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Warner Home Video executives were to have joined those from Toshiba, Microsoft, Intel, Universal Home Studios, and Paramount Home Entertainment at a press conference in the Wynn hotel and casino.

"Based on the timing of the Warner announcement, we decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference" the promotion group said in an e-mail to news reporters.

"We are discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps."

Toshiba America Consumer Products chief executive Akio Ozaka said Sunday the Japanese electronics giant is "surprised and particularly disappointed" by Warner's decision but remains committed to the HD DVD format.

Toshiba rolled out the third-generation of its HD DVD players on Sunday in a preview to news reporters attending CES.

"As you can imagine, this is a tough day for me," Toshiba vice president of marketing Jodi Sally said while unveiling the possibly endangered DVD player product line.

"It is difficult for me to read all the pundits declaring HD DVD dead. But, we have been declared dead before. We firmly believe HD DVD is the best format for consumers."

Toshiba reported that its HD DVD player sales were the best ever in its last financial quarter.

Sony gleefully seized the momentum, unveiling a 200-dollar Blu-Ray disk drive that enables personal computers to play the disks.

"As you can guess, all of us at Sony are feeling blue today," Sony of America chief executive Sir Howard Stringer quipped during the press conference.

"But, that's a good thing. We thank Warner for their decision."

Sony introduced a line of Vaio laptop computers with built in Blu-Ray players. Sony said it expects a Blu-Ray win to bolster sales of its PlayStation 3 video game console, which doubles as a DVD player.

Blu-Ray movie DVDs outsold HD DVD disks two to one in 2007, according to Sony senior vice president of home products Randy Waynick.

"Blu-Ray has made incredible strides this past year," Waynick said at a press conference in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"The Warner announcement is in response to consumer demand. We believe this decision will further strengthen and accelerate the adoption of the Blu-Ray format."

Industry analysts and electronics makers maintain the format war has stifled sales of high-density DVD players because consumers are waiting for a victor before plunking down money for the expensive new technology.

Warner's decision to switch to the Blu-Ray camp is seen by industry insiders at CES as a fatal blow to Toshiba's HD DVD format, which has vied for years with Blu-Ray to win a battle to become the industry standard.

The loser of the battle will become a mere footnote in consumer electronics history, much the way Betamax was forgotten after VHS became the technology of choice for home video players, according to industry analysts.

"The decision by Warner will finally resolve the issue," Panasonic chief operating officer Joseph Taylor told AFP.

"The war is over, and this will speed things up. A lot of people have been standing on the sidelines and now it is clear where the future lies."

Taylor agrees with analysts that say if Paramount and Universal also abandon HD DVD, the format is doomed.

Panasonic executives say they aim to be the "industry leader in Blu-Ray."

Silicon Valley analysts feel HD DVD will die a quick death, but wonder whether the outcome will be rendered moot because people are shifting to downloading movies from the Internet instead of buying DVDs.

[mindmetoo]

Blu-ray is just a cool name.

[bassexpander]

Much to everyone's surprise, the name "HD-DVD" backfired.

No one anticipated the impact that upscaling DVD players would have on the market, and that they would advertise themselves as "HD upscaling" DVD players. That really hurt HD-DVD. People bought the upscaling players and didn't know the difference.

I think most everyone (me included) thought the Blu-ray name was stupid at first. Now, it's something different, and people recognize it as a different, and "new" technology.

Most thought that the logical progression from DVD to HD-DVD would provide a competitive edge. It turned out just the opposite.

[hanguker]

Why do you care who "wins" the war? As consumers we're just gonna buy the stuff no matter what it is.

[eamo]

I'm just glad that the 'format-war' phase is almost finished so all the cheap 'n' cheerful Chinese manufacturers can start pumping out $100 Blu-Ray players.

By then, hi-spec, large-screen LCD's will also be a more realistic price.

At last, my big home-theatre set-up can happen!

[Bigs]

To quote from a Red vs Blue PSA on technology (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZqWv7kDRy8)

Sarge: Everyone knows that this years Blu-Ray,is gonna be Red-ray. Heh-heh!
Grif: What about HDDVD?
Sarge: Bad marketing. Not enough repeated letters in the name to be catchy. So it's being replaced with HHDDVVDD BVD.

Later...

Church: Actually I just came back from the future. I got this new wristwatch, it's got a pedometer and a built-in time machine. Oh and it also plays MP3s. But in the future we don't call 'em MP3s. We call 'em MP48s
Grif: Sweet
Church: Yeah, you can also play MP48s on your HHDDVVDD BVD player
Sarge: Dar dern They stole my idea!

All hail Rooster Teeth!!

[Yaya]

The bad thing about Blu Ray is that a few titles are bare bones. If one Blu Ray disc has the capacity to hold one full season of a TV show or something, why the hell are studios skimping on certain titles, Rocky for instance.

[bassexpander]

Because studios want to "double-dip" later. They know many will buy a 2nd (better) version of a movie with more extras a second time.

This is done with DVD all of the time.

Fox is horrible about this.

[itaewonguy]

the war is not over yet...
still a few studios have not dropped HD DVD..
also the sales of HD sold 100million copies last year
while blu ray sold something like 150 million..

[mishlert]

HD-DVD is dead.
Long live HD-DVD.

On another note. If I ever upgrade my DVD player. it'll be to one that can play both.

[bassexpander]

[JustJohn]

"A great deal?" There haven't even been that many blu-ray titles availible until the last few months. You must have been doing a lot of blu-ray buying in the past year or so.

[Yaya]

[bassexpander]

[Yaya]

Of course, one needs the right hardware to fully take advantage of Blu Ray's strengths. Forget it if you have an HD TV 40" or smaller.

My friend just got a Mitsubishi LCD projector with full HD, and he says the picture quality on his PS3 Blu Ray player is AWESOME.