Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming Video and Digital Downloads › Blu-ray › EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

post #1 of 103
7/5/07 at 4:30pm
Thread Starter 
As part of our EMA coverage, we have set up a Q&A session with Ken Graffeo EVP of HD Strategic Marketing at Universal Home Video. Of course anyone attending EMA with us will have the ability to ask their own questions in person, but if we have any remaining time I can ask any questions on behalf of members who aren't going on the HTF EMA trip.

Please only post questions you want passed onto Ken in this thread, no discussion.

Yes Mr. Glover, I will ask about Hitchcock HD releases!
Reply
post #2 of 103
7/5/07 at 4:54pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo



Thanks Adam! Awesome. Have a GREAT time and go ahead and insist we get Jaws, ET, & Jurassic Park too .
Reply
post #3 of 103
7/6/07 at 12:38am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

No need to second the Hitchcock films here, I guess.

Add Back to the Future (properly masked ) and Citizen Kane, please, and also a thorough (not to say drilling ) general question about their expectations of the developments in the HD format and their future policy in this field.


Cees
Reply
post #4 of 103
7/6/07 at 1:09am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Ask Mr. Graffeo if it would be possible to do something about the combo situation to seriously help the format. Ask if they'll consider releasing combo ONLY releases of season sets like Battlestar Galactica S3 and Heroes S1. This would have the benefit of potentially placing HD software stealthly in MILLIONS of homes. With the already high prices of season sets, they'll have much more flexibility to experiment with the pricing.

Thanks.
Reply
post #5 of 103
7/6/07 at 5:14am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Adam,

Second Back to the Future and the Spielberg requests including his earlier works (Duel, Sugarland Express) and other Uni films (1941, Always). And third the Hitchcock films!
Reply
post #6 of 103
7/6/07 at 5:35am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

I'll limit it to 5

1. Hitchcock titles
2. Conan
3. Scarface
4. Universal monsters (Frankenstein, Bride, Dracula, Mummy)
5. Spielberg titles - Jaws, Jurassic Park, etc (though I think the answer will be "fat chance")

and dump the combo - period.
Reply
post #7 of 103
7/6/07 at 5:51am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

What Jim said! We have to have Hitchcock, Uni Monsters, and Spielberg on HD-DVD! That way I'll know what to ask for this holiday season.

Cheers,

Jason
Reply
post #8 of 103
7/6/07 at 6:28am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Adam, please ask them why they are consistently removing Spanish subtitles from HD DVD titles released this year (even when the existing DVD version included them), and why recently-released combos have Spanish subtitles on the SD side but not on the HD side, whereas all of their 2006 titles had Spanish subtitles.

(Before you ask - no I don't need Spanish subtitles, but my wife does.)
Reply
post #9 of 103
7/6/07 at 6:58am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Adam, since Hitchcock is taken, I'm curious about all the John Carpenter horror titles they have the rights to (They Live, Prince of Darkness, etc) and other 80s horror from Universal (Halloween 2 & 3, the Psycho sequels, etc).
Reply
post #10 of 103
7/6/07 at 4:06pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Ask him what has to occur in the marketplace for Universal to released HDM on Blu-ray Disc.
Reply
post #11 of 103
7/6/07 at 4:52pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Arnette
Ask him what has to occur in the marketplace for Universal to released HDM on Blu-ray Disc.





Reply
post #12 of 103
7/6/07 at 5:02pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo



Well, I figure #$^& it. If you're going to ask questions, you might as well ask the tough ones.

Should I have asked, "Golly gee willikers! What other middling titles do you have in store for HD DVD this year"?
Reply
post #13 of 103
7/6/07 at 11:05pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Arnette


Well, I figure #$^& it. If you're going to ask questions, you might as well ask the tough ones.

Should I have asked, "Golly gee willikers! What other middling titles do you have in store for HD DVD this year"?


Paul, I plan on asking him your question in person at EMA. Strangely, I've never seen this question posed to him before.
Reply
post #14 of 103
7/6/07 at 11:32pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Glover
That is the funniest post I have seen in ages.Thanks, Tim.

Adam, pretty much any title listed above. And tell them there are many of us out here that appreciate their catalog titles. If you have limited time, don't waste any on the BD question.
Reply
post #15 of 103
7/7/07 at 6:22am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Paul, I plan on asking him your question in person at EMA. Strangely, I've never seen this question posed to him before.

Thanks, Ben!
Reply
post #16 of 103
7/7/07 at 7:42am
Thread Starter 

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

As long as it's asked respectfully, no question about the formats is off limits. Hopefully he will talk about their stand and plans in general.

Some questions I had:

It looks like BR will survive, so what would HD DVD consider a "win"? Is the end game to have two formats forever?
As both hit market penetration will more studios go neutral?

Just a personal observation. I think the answer to the BR question will be a hard and fast "Not going to ever happen". If he gave a probably truthful answer like "we have no plans to release BR for the next year or two and then we will reevaluate", all you would hear around the net is that Universal is going neutral. I think everyone learned their lesson with Microsoft indicating that they were pursuing a parallel downloading strategy and having that translated to them trying to kill all optical discs.
Reply
post #17 of 103
7/7/07 at 7:47am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
It looks like BR will survive, so what would HD DVD consider a "win"? Is the end game to have two formats forever?
As both hit market penetration will more studios go neutral?

Sounds like a great question to ask.
Reply
post #18 of 103
7/7/07 at 8:54am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

How about this one:

"Recently announced Universal titles have lossless audio tracks listed in the specs. Can we expect to see Universal move in the direction of other studios such as Disney and Sony that are releasing every title with lossless audio?"
Reply
post #19 of 103
7/7/07 at 8:54am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

How about "There have been some complaints about the video quality on some of your recent catalog releases, do you have any comment on this?"
Reply
post #20 of 103
7/8/07 at 8:24am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Adam, if it's possible, ask Mr. Graffeo if Universal plans on releasing any of their classic Monster titles like FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA to HD DVD. Thanks so much.
Reply
post #21 of 103
7/8/07 at 1:33pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by ppltd
That is the funniest post I have seen in ages.Thanks, Tim.

Adam, pretty much any title listed above. And tell them there are many of us out here that appreciate their catalog titles. If you have limited time, don't waste any on the BD question.

Glad you liked it Thomas. It is rather funny if I may say so.
Reply
post #22 of 103
7/8/07 at 2:11pm
Thread Starter 

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
How about "There have been some complaints about the video quality on some of your recent catalog releases, do you have any comment on this?"

I know what you are getting at Shawn, but can you make the question more specific? Name a title(s) and what the video quality problem was. That way if the answer is "which titles are you talking about", I have something to say other than "you know, the ones they are talking about on the internet..."
Reply
post #23 of 103
7/8/07 at 5:02pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

I would like to second the question about their John Carpenter library. Specifically Prince of Darkness, They Live, Halloween II and III.

Please consider that!
Reply
post #24 of 103
7/9/07 at 11:42am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Ask Mr. Graffeo if it would be possible to do something about the combo situation to seriously help the format

You all know my position on this, the only downside to Combos is the price. I intend to explore that problem in depths with anyone at Uni who will listen, and also petition them to make all U-Control content menu selectable, or find a better way of getting to it than randomly button mashing during a second viewing.

Sam
Reply
post #25 of 103
7/9/07 at 1:10pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Thanks Sam.

My position on combos is that they should either:

a) Be priced @ the same msrp as a non-combo HD-DVD release
b) For certain releases, namely season sets (BSG, Heroes), simply release the combo with NO SD-DVD counterpart. BD is enjoying a propaganda coup with the 2 to 1 publicity. It's time to reverse this.
c) IF they don't intend to change course regarding combo strategy/pricing, then I would have to agree with Jim K. Just Drop them.
Reply
post #26 of 103
7/10/07 at 5:32am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Arnette
Ask him what has to occur in the marketplace for Universal to released HDM on Blu-ray Disc.

I believe this is probably the most important question. I´m sure that they´ve some kind of "answer" (2008 perhaps?), but I doubt that they´re reveling anything. "Currently we have no plans" will be the answer.

I personally don´t see why these combo (HD DVD)-titles are being released (what is the "official" reason?), at least if they´re more expensive because of that. I have over 1500 DVDs already, thank you very much - and I´ll buy 1501th at some point. But when I buy that HD-release, I want the HD-version only.
Reply
post #27 of 103
7/10/07 at 6:35am
Thread Starter 

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

For new releases a lot of people (myself included) like the combos (esp for new releases).
Reply
post #28 of 103
7/10/07 at 6:42am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Since it appears Ben Williams will be asking my question anyway, I would like to submit another, more friendly, question to Universal. This is along the lines of the Combo Format. I am curious as to how well the non-Combo Format re-issues of Army of Darkness and Unleashed are doing and whether or not Universal plans to release any more of its previously Combo Format catalog titles in this manner.

As of now, my position on the Combo Format is this: If I am expected to pay more for it, I won't buy it. Plain and simple.
Reply
post #29 of 103
7/10/07 at 6:42am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Here's a suggestion you could pose to Universal - Test the market for Combos.

They could pick one upcoming high profile new title and release a Combo version and a single HD version and let the market decide.

I don't like paying $5 more for something I plain don't want. Not to mention my worry that like Universal's DVD-18's the glue won't hold up in 6 to 18 months and I'll be stuck with nothing but coasters.
Reply
post #30 of 103
7/10/07 at 7:09am
Thread Starter 

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

It looks like they aren't doing catalog combos anymore (haven't seen any for a while). I think it still makes sense on new releases.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Blu-ray
Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming Video and Digital Downloads › Blu-ray › EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo