Re: BREAKING NEWS!! Warner Brothers is now Blu-ray Exclusive
It's funny how polarizing this event is. BD owners are obviously ecstatic, but most (like myself) are trying to be restrained and HDD owners are obviously disappointed. But I've read way too many "ah well it doesn't matter because HD media in general is going to be a niche format" kind of sour grapes mentality. To be fair, those same sour grapes would probably be coming out of BD owners' mouths if WB had gone HDD. They are:
1. Most people can't tell the difference between HDM and DVD
2. People are happy with DVD
Frankly, when I bought my DVD player in May 1997 (L.A. was one of the seven test cities for DVD), you could replace "HDM" with DVD and "DVD" with VHS and the same arguments were going around back then.
And you know what? In 1997, both points were true! Tons of people loved VHS. And on a normal 25"-32" direct view TV (which was the norm back then) very few of which had s-video and no component video, even I had a hard time telling the difference between VHS and DVD.
And don't forget that DVD had other hurdles to overcome: those dreaded black bars. 90% of the public didn't know why they existed, and most didn't like them cramping their already small 25" TV.
Another hurdle was the rental model. Back in 1997 no one thought the ownership model would work, people just rented. Well Hollywood dropped the rental model, lowered prices so that movies were affordable by all, and look what happened. Where there is a [corporate] will, there is a way.
And we know how that uphill battle turned out, don't we?
I'll fully admit HDM has a long way to go. But those who think it's just going away are fully underestimating the power of corporate advertising. Studios need to re-sell their product on a regular basis to stay in business. Disney has mastered it with their "vault" system. But right now, most of the catalog titles that people want are out on DVD, so really most of the sales of DVD are for new releases.
With a unified HDM, studios will now have a perfect opportunity to re-sell not just their new, hot, titles, but their catalog as well.
I will admit that on lesser TVs, the difference between HDM and DVD is minimal, just like DVDs and VHS were in 1997. My circa 2001 Panasonic 47" HDTV yielded very little difference when I played BD on it. But I just bought a new Sony KDS-60A3000 and the difference is very noticeable.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you have an HDTV, most households in America do to. The fact is most do not. Most will, though buy one in the next 5 years. Those new TVs will clearly reveal to the majority of the public the difference in PQ between HDM and DVD. Just like component video connections and early-generation HDTVs clarified the difference between DVD and VHS.
Yes HDM has an uphill battle. But no more so than DVD did, arguably less. People now are fine with the ownership model. People are now starting to buy more affordably priced HDTVs which will show the difference between HDM and DVD. And the concept of home theater is now something even the masses contemplate, whereas in the 90s it was something for the rich or obsessed (I fall in the latter category
).
And the most important reason HDM will succeed? Because the corporations need it to. The studios need to re-sell their property. The hardware manufacturers need to move product. The box stores need to sell merchandise with higher profit margins.
As soon as a unified format is official, we will all witness the full fury of the corporate advertising power and support behind the surviving HDM and mark my words (or bookmark this thread), HDM will become mainstream.
