Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Interview posted today:

BetaNews | Interview: Universal EVP Ken Graffeo says HD DVD is here to stay

I'm sure glad I'm format neutral because this "war" isn't going to be over anytime soon!

Mark

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

And Nixon said he wasn't a crook.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Horrible news =(

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

I was thinking of making a Comical Ali reference myself.

And "CH-DVD"? Is that like taikonauts or something? Like I don't have enough to keep track of....

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

I think he needed to mention American Gangster a few more times :-)

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Oh, what's the big deal? I expect U will have to begin putting out BRD's as the ratio of BR:HD players goes more one-sided. I think it would be reasonable for them to keep publishing HDD's - after all, the expense is all pretty much a sunk cost. They may not be widely carried by B&M's, but if on-line stores stock them, I think it would be a stand-up thing for U to do to support their HDD-ONLY customers. If they continue to use the same compression for both products, I still doubt the touted BRD capacity superiority would be noticeably compromised. What's the harm?

BTW: Being format neutral, I have no horse in this race.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

From the article;

"Nate Mook: How does it change things in the Promotional Group now that Warner Bros. has stated its intention to go Blu-ray exclusive once its contract obligations end?

Ken Graffeo: ...we just haven't addressed it yet."


What an amazing strategy.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

He doesn't so much say it is here to stay as he says "... we just haven't addressed it yet." In other words at the time of the interview they had no plan, except the old plan. He mentions the old plan directly when he says "All of our new releases that Universal has made since last September have been combo discs [with standard DVD on one side]. We have no plans to change that."

But I'm sure he'll come up with a plan before someone else takes his job and comes up with a plan.

Zack - jinx!

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

What new HD DVD releases has Universal announced since Warner Bros. made their intensions to defect that camp as of June this year clear? American Gangster? Truth be told that title was already pre-announced last year sans a release date. What else? *crickets*

Ken Graffeo sure can talk to the talk, but I'll pay more attention if Universal walks the walk.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Everyone is free to agree or disagree with Ken Graffeo's assessment of the HDM market today, but let's dispense with the smartass remarks. Mr. Graffeo has been a good friend to HTF and its members, and the least he deserves is common courtesy.

M.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Yeah, this isn't The Blu-Ray Times, er, The Digital Bits, you know.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

You guys are reading too much into standard issue PR. Trust me on this one.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

I'm format Nuetral but I'm looking long and Hard at anything I buy on HD-DVD.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

And hopefully,to show their support, theyre going to release a killer list of upcoming titles.

Right?

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Based on the subject of this thread and the interview, I thought that now Universal will spill some beans. To me it seems that they haven´t really made up their mind yet (about that "next step" after Toshiba dropped prices of their players and will launch that new marketing campaign) and in the meantime everything is "business as usual" ("we're continuing to release titles" etc). I know that mr. Graffeo says some positive things about HD DVD and gives some "hope" (as he probably should be), but this is mostly "PR" to my ears. Anything can still happen, it just might take a few months etc (hell, perhaps more than that).

Nice that Graffeo gave the interview, though. I can respect him for that.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Well, no disrespect to Mr. Graffeo, but like all other major corporations that are public; he would have to answer to the shareholders. If the shareholders tell him to go Blu-ray, he will have to do it. Now, I know that last year when he attended a press conference, he stated that he was getting calls everyday from GE to go to Blu-ray; and he convinced them (the big wigs) that HD DVD was still good to go. But, with recent events, and loss of major marketshare; I really don't think it will be too long until they go to the Blu side.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

And Warner said they were 100% behind both formats less than a month before they dropped HD DVD. No offense to Kenny G, but this is some serious doublespeak. And anyone else notice how he refuses to say he won't release on Blu-ray? Two press releases and an interview with the same omission. C'mon, even the most fervent HD DVD fan has to realize that's no accident.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Its all just PR unless titles are announced.

I have both formats, and am a bit sad that HD DVD doesn't seem to be putting up much of a fight, to be honest.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

At this point, Graffeo is merely trying to calm the fans and retailers in some degree. His message basically is, that until their new strategy is ready/etc, they´ll "keep releasing movies" and supporting the format. They know that the Warner´s (Blu-ray) "deal" won´t be effective until May, so they have some time to think this through (which is wise of course). If they still keep releasing movies (at least the "upcoming months"), it´s quite natural for them to say "We keep releasing movies". I doesn´t mean that "we don´t support Blu-ray in the future"..

The questions in the interview are very pro-HD DVD and in some cases the interviewer is almost trying to feed some answers to Graffeo´s mouth ("Sony claims that the PS3 has given Blu-ray the market lead -- is this just posturing so Blu-ray can tout higher sales numbers?"). Sure, this is nothing new, since there are many pro-Blu-ray sites and interviews out there, but just pointing that out.

You can also read between the lines that HD DVD and SD DVD walk hand-in-hand now when they´re marketing the format - and the prices of the players are low. Almost like: "You can still buy Toshiba-players" (=they also do great upconversion for SD DVD) and "you can still buy HD DVD-films" (=they have also SD DVD-version included), EVEN when you´re not fully ready for HD or ready to "fully choose the format":

**"Consumers right now are buying upconverting players -- they are outselling the next-gen players combined by 10 to 1 every month... So pricing is very important."

**"All of our new releases that Universal has made since last September have been combo discs [with standard DVD on one side]. We have no plans to change that, and our retail partners are saying if you want to go to the mass market, you don't want to limit consumers into only being able to play it on one device."

To me (at the moment at least) HD DVD is not really "fighting" in the strongest sense of the word, it´s buying time. Their final plans are not ready yet.

I still fully agree with mr. Graffeo on one thing:

**"Over the course of the upcoming years -- the next 5, 8, 10 years -- physical media is still going to be dominant. That's not to say you're not going to have digital, because it's going to come, but it won't reach the masses very quickly."

Physical media won´t die in any time soon! That´s at least the message that most of us here share..

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

I'm not even sure I could even classify it as "buying time". It seems more like they are letting the clock run out. At least, that's how I'll see it until I see Paramount or Universal announce some titles that hadn't already been announced prior to WB's announcement.

There should be a DVD announcement for "Charlie Wilson's War" within the next month, I'd imagine. We'll see if it gets a corresponding HD-DVD release...

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Graffeo is co-president of the HD DVD North American Promotion Group. He'll be the last person to declare HD DVD dead. He did, however, say anything was possible and they'd follow the consumer.

Go to The Bits and check out the latest player stats. The consumer has all but abandoned HD DVD.

The Digital Bits - Celebrating Film in the Digital Age

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

Again, if the Paramount and Warner moves taught us anything, it's to take these announcements with a grain of salt.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me thrice...I must be on an internet forum!

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I trust the Digital Bits for impartial reporting on this issue like I trust Fox News to tell me the truth about what's going on in Iraq.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

If you're referring to last year's EMA panel, which was attended by numerous HTF members, that is not what he said. He said that he was getting calls about the situation, but not the substance of the calls. He certainly never said he was being pressured by GE to adopt Blu-ray.

M.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

As a supporter of HD-DVD, I too was underwhelmed by KG's interview. I also wish that the interviewer had asked some tougher questions such as "where are the titles?" This is such an obvious question that I don't see how the interviewer couldn't have asked it.

I will have to go with the majority in this thread, that until I see Paramount/Universal announce titles that weren't announced before the WB defection, I'll consider this all damage control. When studios begin releasing press releases of things they've already announced (Paramount), this doesn't exactly inspire confidence. The actions (or lack there of) of the HD-DVD studios are making it appear that Bill Hunt may actually be on to something regarding their support of HD-DVD.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

The player sales figures are the official ones from NPD, not Bill.
Odd, the transcript says otherwise:

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

WTG.....I just started reading this thread and for a moment I thought I was at that "smackdown" forum.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

I'd trust you more if you could expand on your thoughts.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

To be fair...I'm still waiting for a list of "killer" titles from the Blu-ray exclusive studios. I just don't see much enthusiam on the part of ANY studio in announcing titles for this year.

Re: Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay!

He also has to answer to contract obligations.