Sony CEO sees ‘stalemate’ in disc fight (1 Viewer)

[Stephen_J_H]

This all means that the studios may be looking at BD in a whole new light in a few months i.e. why are we backing a technology which, while technically superior, is unable to continue financially? I wonder if Panasonic is having flashbacks to the 3DO @ this point?

 

[Paul_Scott]

so at the bottom of this page, what should I see under the 'similar threads' banner?


post date 10-04-2004


ouch.

 

[Danny_N]

I'd say it's not only the Blu-Ray studios that may be re-evaluating their support for HD. Sales on both sides are pathetic in comparison to DVD and the public at large just doesn't seem to care for HD optical. Unless that changes significantly in the next year or so I fear that both formats are bound for obscurity.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

No they weren't. Go back and look. Disney's first DVDs came out in December 1997. They're first DIVX titles came out in July of 1998. Again, where are you getting this idea that Disney favored DIVX?

 

[Norman Matthews]

Yes, they were (I can see where my previous post was poorly worded; I meant releasing specific titles on DIVX first once the format was launched). Searching for specific DIVX release dates at this point is a fruitless task, but the first two examples I can give you are Armageddon and Air Bud 2 -- both available on DIVX, neither released on DVD until after DIVX was officially declared dead. Therefore, released on DIVX first.

That's where I'm getting the idea. Where are you getting the idea they didn't?

 

[Peter Overduin]

Ahhhh...the good old days when the only format war we had was DVD vs DIVX. I was there...in the beginning, when the format was young and fresh, and shiny new disks dazzled us with their beauty and high prices and we could bash studios for not releasing in OAR and when the hell was Fox going to finally make ALL their titles anamorphic widescreen? Why...I recall the first POTA box set; what a travesty!

DVD vs. DVX.....let the mayhem begin!!! Again!!!

For the record, there were Disney DVDs before DIVX but there were indeed Disney DIVX titles before their DVD release. But Disney was with DVD as it is with BD; very very slow off the mark.

 

[Paul Arnette]

If you let any format war topic run long enough, this is what you inevitably wind up with don't you?

 

[ppltd]

I don't know about that. I purchased an XA1 at 999.00 and replaced it with an XA2 for 899.99, had the first Samsung and repaced it with a Panny. I have certainly received value for each purchase and while I have a preference for HD DVD, I would not lose any sleep no matter which format would win or lose. I (like I think most early adopters) knew the risks when we purchased the products.

 

[Bob_L]

I'm with Thomas. I purchased my HD-A1 over a year ago and I've never regretted it. I realized that the "war" could invalidate anyone's purchases; but, as an HT hobbyist, I couldn't let the "pioneer experience" pass me by. I've enjoyed the player and the discs immensely.

Back on topic...

While I suspect that Stringer's comments are a palliative to an apprehensive board of directors, is it also a possibility that they are a diversionary tactic to mislead the competition?

Just idle (irresponsible) speculation...

 

[Paul_Scott]

It seems like a really foolish thing to do if it were.
This is the major selling season, and the company putting out the most expensive next gen home video format tells every potential buyer " yeah the other guys are cheaper and likely to be just as durable in the long run...but buy us anyway. After all some of are devices are fully compliant now."

No, to me it sounds like he's trying to stink up the room a little, so that when more shit hits the fan, the stench doesn't come at everyone all at once and cause them to bolt the room and not come back.

 

[Reginald Trent]

I find the timing of his comments interesting seeing they come after Walmart and Toshiba partnered to sell a boatload of HD DVD players.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

When people talk of Disney / Buena Vista, they are obviously talking about the animated classics and not some recent almost Direct-to-video release. DVD owners really wanted the animated classics on DVD because the wouldn't wear out when their kids played them 20 times in a row and theoretically would last forever. Disney did not announce or release any animated classics before Divx was clearly dead. Go back and read Eisner's comments on DVD and how they were looking at how they were "looking into" the new technology for their animated classics. Many speculated that Disney wanted to see if Divx would survive so they could release their animated classics only on a PPV model instead of open DVD ownership.

Edit - One more note
When Disney gave their support to Divx, that was the only mention of releasing animiated classics. Now they were pretty vague about it so while not throwing their full weight behind Divx, that was still a huge amount of weight.

Now to be fair, when Disney finally did release the classics they did a good job and even went so far as to release movies that were 1.66 OAR in "enhanced for widescreen". That only resulted in a 12% increase in quality for those with widescreen TVs (very few at the time) and arguably could have been released 4:3 (in 1.66 OAR) to remove downconversion artifacts for almost all consumers.

 

[Chris S]

My concern is that this is an early sign of retreat from HDM. With studios (looking at you Fox and MGM) relatively uninterested in releasing titles on time, if at all, I could very easily see this being the first sign that internally Sony is not confident there a market for sustaining HDM long term. I deeply hope that is not the case...

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I think your suspicions may be correct, Chris and that this may be an example of what happens when suppliers rush to market with what they believe to be the "next big thing" in media. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, perhaps some more serious thought should have been given to a unified format instead of consumers having to endure glitch after glitch from both sides (slow load times, interactivity problems, copy protection cracks). If compared to the relatively few problems DVD had by comparison (dual layer compatibility, DVD 18s [but only the ones produced in Mexico in recent years]), your conclusion seems to be the correct one.

 

[JonZ]

I never understood the HD vs Bluray arguments. I agree that was bickering over technology.

I also agree abotu the comments about lack on consumer consideration.

I dont regret my player purchase at all. Ive more than got my moneys worth.

And I dont care who wins becuase eventually there will be a player for both,and having less HD discs to buy keeps money in my pocket

But I agree its sad because instead of diving in, everyone was apprehensive, pissed off, confused,etc and HD didnt take off the way it should have.

HD support is still pisspoor. I dont even bother going out and looking for HD discs release day anymore becuase theyre hardly ever in stock on the day theyre supposed to be. I just order them.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

It looks like Stringer's comments have been taken way out of context and is a typical example of bad journalism, wherein comments are taken selectively and then misconstrued to suit the journalists own agenda.

Here is a transcript of the actual comments made by Stringer courtesy the Digital Bits: --> http://digitalbits.com/#mytwocents



That should put an end to any further speculation on the subject and maybe the admns ought to look into locking this thread.

 

[ppltd]

For a second there I thought you were talking about 'My Two Cents'.

 

[Paul_Scott]

The head of the company driving the entire format just said that Blu-ray is ultimately inessential to the PS platform, and could easily be replaced with 'another' drive- and somehow, I doubt he is talking about a DVD drive as a dvd would not have near the storage capacity for those 1080p games.
So in essence he is saying it would be no big deal if Blu-ray is not adopted by the masses, Sony would swap (the drive that shall not be named) into it and go back to business as usual.

I can understand why Bill Hunt would spin the text as much ado about nothing, but to me the comments look even more startling in the fuller transcript.

 

[JonZ]

"Wal-Mart was selling the Toshiba HD-DVD for $99 last Friday for a couple of days."

Wow.

 

[Jari K]

I don´t fully see your point? Why we should lock the thread?

"We have a sort of stalemate at the moment. As you know, they had fewer studios, but then they paid a lot of money for Paramount. So we have four studios and they have two or three studios. It's a difficult... it's a difficult fight. There was a chance to integrate it before I became CEO. This is something I inherited. And I don't know what broke down. I wish I could go back there, because I heard it was all about saving face and losing face, and all the rest of it."

I think this is pretty clear statement for me..