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Universal's Graffeo: HD DVD is here to stay! - Page 10  

post #271 of 285
2/9/08 at 8:54am

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

Generally this tends to be a good time for sales because of the Super Bowl. That means the market tends to be more ordinary people. These consumers are format agnostic. They may be using it to play dvds or they may be using it as a paperweight. Maybe some of these people are using it for second blu-ray players. There is no way of saying.

If people are purchasing something at least we can say they have some use for it. Nobody pays even $150 for a paperweight. There certainly has been no increase in the numbers of blu-ray discs sold since this promotion.
post #272 of 285
2/9/08 at 5:43pm

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

I know that Universal stated that they where not with drawing support for HD-DVD. But what the heck is going on with them anyway? For a studio taht swares that there support is with HD-DVD, why have they not put out a list of titles for Q2, Q3, Q4 and anything possible coming out for 09'? It is going to be March here soon and Universal is talking the talk but not walking the walk. HD-DVD supporters need to know that Universal actually means what they said by showing actuall support. They need to put out a list of titles that we can exspect to see and to my knowledge we have basically gotten a big nada from them so far. IMHO this is exactly how not to support a format by not releasing blockbuster titles and not even releasing title information.

Universal was doing a great job with HD titles with very good sound and great video quality. But now on a scale of 0-10 I have to give them a big fat 0 for no release information!
post #273 of 285
2/10/08 at 3:00am

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

Like last year. Apparently they have a different time-table for announcements than other studios. But at least they generally release what they announce.


Cees
post #274 of 285
2/10/08 at 10:15am

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

The thing is that Universal is not strong on catalog titles. I have Universal titles on VHS that have not even made it to dvd. I don't expect a lot of catalog titles from Universal.

To a degree, I can see where they are coming from. HD media is a hit driven business. If you could see the figures of most catalog sales they would be embarassingly bad whether on hd-dvd, blu-ray or both. Warner's decision to go one format only is a hail mary attempt to revive embarassingly bad catalog sales.

The question is how many times can you ask someone to purchase the same title? CE3K was a title that I had bought 3 times previously and I am so sick of buying it that I did not consider buying the latest release. Even if I had a blu-ray player, I would not have bought it. I have over 500 dvds and even if I could, replacing them with hd copies is not a viable option. Even if every studio were format neutral that would not be an option. Maybe if I won the lottery it would be different. I wonder how many people on this forum would replace their dvd collections if they could. I think hd movie prices are going to have to come down a lot for catalog sales to increase.
post #275 of 285
2/10/08 at 10:25am

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

Right there with you Francis, I am VERY selective of double and triple dips. Stuffs gotta be RIDICULOUSLY priced (Like under $10) for me to consider 95% of the titles. There are some however that I will be first in line for but those are very few.
post #276 of 285
2/10/08 at 11:00am

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

Blah blah blah.

Quote:
I have over 500 dvds and even if I could, replacing them with hd copies is not a viable option.
Why not?

If you track release dates (which you probably do if you're on here), you can just sell titles as their better HD brethren street/are announced.

Yeah yeah yeah I understand the diff between the LD-to-DVD migration versus DVD-to-HDM, but some of these comments remind me of friends who refused to sell LD titles when the market was ripe and later ended up having to sell their entire collections on consignment at a loss.
post #277 of 285
2/10/08 at 11:50am

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul.S
Blah blah blah.


Why not?

If you track release dates (which you probably do if you're on here), you can just sell titles as their better HD brethren street/are announced.

Yeah yeah yeah I understand the diff between the LD-to-DVD migration versus DVD-to-HDM, but some of these comments remind me of friends who refused to sell LD titles when the market was ripe and later ended up having to sell their entire collections on consignment at a loss.

I used to be really heavy in blind buys, or upgrade to a new DVD SE. Not so much now. For one thing, i cant sell old stuff to second hand places like i used to. Things you might have bought new for $25, you will only get $2, maybe $3 for! I will give it away to friends before i sell for that price. It was easier to sell for $8 or $9, and then upgrade for $15 on that new DVD SE. Of course now almost all SE's sell for $25, unless you go the single disc route. I have 32 Blu-rays, and i didnt pay full price for any. Most i bought when Amazon, or Best Buy had a BOGO sale. Some i bought on release week. Release week prices (for Blu-ray, HD DVD, or even DVD) are hard to take when you have already bought it twice, maybe 3 times on DVD. Like Sam said, i would do it on some titles, but not all. Shoot, some of my 950 DVDs i own, i wouldnt have bought unless i had gotten them for $5 at BB.
post #278 of 285
2/11/08 at 11:46am

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by FrancisP
Generally this tends to be a good time for sales because of the Super Bowl. That means the market tends to be more ordinary people. These consumers are format agnostic. They may be using it to play dvds or they may be using it as a paperweight. Maybe some of these people are using it for second blu-ray players. There is no way of saying.

If people are purchasing something at least we can say they have some use for it. Nobody pays even $150 for a paperweight. There certainly has been no increase in the numbers of blu-ray discs sold since this promotion.

LOL. Why would anyone use a BD player as paperweight?? Sure, maybe some might eBay it (or give it away). And maybe some/many of them might just end up being used as upconverting DVD players though I seriously doubt too many people would do that w/out even giving a couple BDs a try before deciding that considering it comes free w/ an expensive HDTV purchase, not just any old purchase.

Besides, it's not like you even have anecdotal evidence that's what people are doing. Meanwhile, we do indeed have folks here on HTF talking about buying backup HDD players or buying HDD players w/out following up w/ HDD title purchases. And LOL, Toshiba has even changed their marketing angle to tout their players as upconverting DVD players more so than as HDD players lately.

As for increasing media sales or not, well, somebody is certainly sustaining sales of Planet Earth on BD (unless you want to argue the BDA and BD fanboys are somehow stuffing the ballotbox or something), but not on HDD.

Anyway, like I said before, it's just plain silly to complain about that limited time free players offer and not make an issue of what Toshiba's doing as well when it comes to talk about market penetration...

_Man_
post #279 of 285
2/21/08 at 9:28am

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul.S
Having said that, I think Spielberg's purported BD preference has been drastically overstated, with the high priest of that gospel being we-all-know-who.

Neither the carve out from Par's press release last August nor Columbia's ownership of the CE3K negative translating into Steven participating in that BD's release to make it better means he is a blue partisan.

Pursuant to Adam's recent posts, I think Steven's color is as it has always been: green. He learned a major lesson from his pal George's lesson with Star Wars galvanizing VCR hardware sales that he didn't have a piece of the backend on.

Not to beat too much on a dead horse, but this appeared in today's news updates at the imdb.com:

Universal Says It Will Switch to Blu-ray; Paramount Silent

Only hours after Toshiba tossed in the towel in its battle with Sony over consumer high-definition video systems, Universal announced that it will begin releasing both new and catalog titles in the Blu-ray format. Universal and Paramount/DreamWorks had been the last-ditch holdouts in the format war, having committed themselves to Toshiba's HD DVD technology. "The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear," Universal said in a statement. "While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray." The decision apparently clears the way for both hold-out studios to begin releasing films by Steven Spielberg, who has insisted that they be released only in the Blu-ray format. Paramount has yet to issue a statement regarding Toshiba's decision.

Just wanted it noted that I wasn't taking out of my ass or just drinking from the Bill Hunt Kool-Aid fountain (though I do think he's a swell and insightful guy)...you may now return to your regularly scheduled discussion...
post #280 of 285
2/21/08 at 9:58am

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

Wow. You just couldn't resist, huh Travis? I had to go all the way back to page three of this thread to refresh my memory on this exchange.

IMDB has a history of errata in their news posts, having had to correct if not retract items. Just because they state what you bolded above--with no proof/evidence--does not make it any more true, for all the reasons stated earlier in the thread by myself and others.

But more importantly, Travis, especially given Crawdaddy's admonition in his post #115, in particular, and all that has happened in the past 11 days and several HTF admins' comments along the way about putting some of the acrimony of the past almost two years behind us, in general, may I respectfully suggest that it might be time to let this issue go?

In fact, especially given Universal's announcement Tuesday, might it be time to close this thread?
post #281 of 285
2/21/08 at 10:32am

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

I fail to see the acrimony in my statement--I simply felt compelled to offer additional support to back up against your (and others') counter-argument that my Spielberg assertion was based on airy evidence. Of course, you appear to be taking the position that any evidence I offer will be considered taken from a specious source, which makes it clear that I'll make no meaningful headway with you, so I'll use that as the basis for retracting from the discussion, not any fear of acrimony from either side--certainly none is intended by me, nor assumed by you, I promise.
post #282 of 285
2/21/08 at 10:41am

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

It's hearsay unless it comes from Spielberg's own mouth.



Don't mess with me; I'm a lawyer.
post #283 of 285
2/21/08 at 10:58am

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

But in the absense of "horse's mouth" testimony, I still say that the available evidence is stronger that Spielberg is a Blu-ray supporter than not.

Sir.
post #284 of 285
2/21/08 at 11:22am

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

Here is some more indirect, circumstantial, hearsay, not sure what is the appropriate legal term here, evidence supporting the theory that Spielberg has a 'preference' between the two HDM formats.

Quote:
As of about 1:30 p.m., Spielberg was apparently unaware of Universal's news or a pending Paramount announcement.

I just got off the phone with Steven Spielberg's right hand man Marvin Levy who saw Spielberg "for about a minute" this morning. He says Spielberg will likely not have anything to say yet but that they are all happy at the retail developments of last week and the Toshiba announcement this morning meaning that one format will prevail and this will hopefully become a format that will reach the mass market.

They were not aware as yet about Universal turning Blu.

Asked to suggest what Spielberg-directed titles might be first on his list to release in Blu-ray, Levy mentioned two Universal titles as strong candidates, "Jurassic Park" and "Jaws," though he cautioned that he was just speculating and noted that it takes a long time to prepare and Master movies for presentation on high-def disc.

As for whether any Spielberg-directed movies have been readied for high-def disc release, such as the Indiana Jones movies to tie to the upcoming theatrial sequel, Levy says there is nothing that he is aware of that has been prepared for release other than last fall's Blu-ray of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

Levy says the brakes were put on all Spielberg's high-def projects about a year ago when it was clear he had a preference and it was equally clear that there was not going to be any resolution in the format war for some time.

HollywoodInHiDef.com: Universal Turns Blu; Spielberg on board?



post #285 of 285
2/21/08 at 11:25am

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by Travis Brashear
Of course, you appear to be taking the position that any evidence I offer will be considered taken from a specious source
Nah, just "evidence" from a source with the long-standing and known credibility problems of IMDB's news page.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Travis Brashear
I still say that the available evidence is stronger that Spielberg is a Blu-ray supporter than not.
Well, sure. Of course, that can mean there's a 51% chance he favored Blu-ray, and it doesn't mean he's a strong enough "supporter" to actually put the films he owns out on the format.
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