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If no clear HD winner, Sony would let Blu-Ray co-exist with HD-DVD? (1 Viewer)

Ryan-G

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Nils is absolutely correct.

No console to date has ever failed because of a Format War.

The death of consoles have been directly attributable to...

1. Poor/Limited Library: When a console has no games that interest many people, or the titles are generally considered lackluster & boring, or the size of the library is very small. Atari(At the end), 3do, NeoGeo, Jaguar.

2. End of their lifetime: The console was surpassed by either it's own or the game market's technology. Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Colecovision, Intellivision, N64, PS1, X-box.

3. Poor decisions by parent company: Fragmenting the hardware base, or outright abandoning the console. Being forced to create an upgrade path, when the market had not yet learned tolerance of an upgrade path. Sega Genesis, Sega Dreamcast, Commodore 64(The market wasn't ready for computer upgrades as a whole yet).

But none of these consoles have ever died because they had done all the right things, and lost to a Format War. They all died because they made key mistakes.

As of now, HD-DVD is making the key mistake number 1. They have a limited library, and as time passes this will finish them. People will walk into stores, look at barely 1 aisle of HD-DVD titles compared to multiple aisles of BR titles, and the choice will be made right there. Few people will choose a platform with lesser selections, especially since with Movies they know that eventually everything will be available in 1 format and that format will be the one with a larger library.

The first key of buisness is having a product to sell that's more attractive than your competitors. Size of library is a key part of attractiveness. Should things continue as they are today, HD-DVD cannot win. BR will reach price parity, and it will have a larger library, before the majority of people are ready to adopt to High Definition.
 

Rachael B

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That's a fun theory Ryan except the industry looks split right down the middle. Both sides could have about the same number of titles? HD-DVD already has the lead. Each side has three big studios in their camp. Even though some studios have hinted they'll release in both formats. They may not? Each faction is of approximately the same size.

I see no foregone conclusions.
 

Steve Tannehill

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Ha hah ha ahhahha hahha hahhahhha! Funniest thing I've read all morning. They have a library! Where are the B(f)D discs?

- Steve
 

Nils Luehrmann

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Last I checked only HD DVD had Universal as an exclusive studio. Blu-ray on the other hand has exclusive support from Columbia/Tristar, Fox, *Disney, and Lion's Gate.

*(Disney hinted that a while back that they are considering supporting HD DVD as well, but to this point have made no further indications that that will actually happen)

That's just software. In hardware the industry is even more on the side of Blu-ray with nearly every single major DVD player manufacturer supporting it with the exception of Toshiba of course.

Could these lines change? Sure. Will they change? Maybe. However suggesting the industry support is split right down the middle is pure FUD, and in the words spoken so eloquently by Steve, "one of the funniest things I've read all week".
 

Rachael B

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Nils, I thought Universal, Warner, and Paramout were partial to HD-DVD, and that Sony, Dissney, and Fox favoured Blu-way...? That seems split down the middle to me. Do I have the principals split correctly?
 

Paul McElligott

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Warners probably favors HD DVD (having some business stake in the DVD trademark, I believe) but is supporting both. Paramount is also supporting both (and hasn't yet announced a release slate of HD DVD or Blu-Ray titles, AFAIK). Its failure to support HD DVD during its launch may be telling.

Sony, Disney and Fox are currently Blu-Ray only. That gives Blu-Ray five of the six major studios and three of them are exclusive. HD DVD only has three with one exclusive.
 

Nils Luehrmann

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No.
  • Dual Support: Warner, Paramount
  • Blu-Ray Only: Columbia/Tristar/MGM/UA/Orion/etc, 20th Century Fox, *Disney/Buena Vista/Touchstone/Miramax/Dimension/Pixar/etc, Lion's Gate
  • HD DVD Only: Universal
Originally, both Warner and Paramount were going to offer HD DVD exclusive support, but late last year they both announced dual support. Furthermore, Blu-ray has always had the vast majority of support from hardware manufactures.
 

DaViD Boulet

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We can't know what' going on in the minds of the execs at WB, but in practice their committment (publically saying this as well) to releasing EVERY HD DVD title on BD as well so that they won't have any "exlusives" to HD DVD is pretty revealing. IMO, coming from their history of being in bed with Toshiba that's tantamount to adultery...and the sting that Toshiba took on that had to hurt. I don't think they would have risked such strong and long-standing loyalty to Toshiba had they not really wanted to support Blu-ray...which says to me that it's more than just a casual comittment on their part (very different than the "support" that Disney has mentioned for HD DVD, for instance, while still expressing their opinion for Blu-ray's superiority and long-term success).

Gaining Warner's support was one of the best things about the "format war" as it forced Sony to incorporate DD+/DTS-HD and VC1 codecs into Blu-ray. Even after unification talks failed with Toshiba, these codecs were required by Warner to get on the Blu-ray bandwagon...and so Sony delivered.

That will help the BD format and the HT enthusiasts if BD ends up winning...becuase it basically now combines the best of both worlds. At the onset HD DVD had the better codecs and BD had the better bandwidth and space...now BD has both so it's a win-win, and I think WB knows that and secretly may be leveraging for it's long-term success while still showing courtesy to Toshiba (and making a little $$) in the short-term with their HD DVD releases.

Why not? All that compression and authoring practice on HD DVD isn't going to waste....they're learning how to use VC1 and since HD DVD replication costs are lower than BD right now and they're charging *significantly* higher than DVD prices for HD DVD releases...they're making a buck in the process.

It's what I would do if I were them!
 

Shawn.F

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I'm still picking up a few SD titles. Couldn't resist the Crimson Tide, Napoleon Dynamite and Kingdom of Heaven reissues that came out over the past two weeks.
 

Nils Luehrmann

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Great observations Dave. If I were in the same position as Warner, I would do the same. It’s a win-win scenario for them.

I also can understand why Rachael, and perhaps many others have the mistaken impression that Warner is exclusive to HD DVD. Not just because Warner was maintaining that position for most of last year, but that there are several people posting here and on other forums suggesting, implying and sometimes out and out stating that Warner is exclusive to HD DVD.

Even some of the more respected members and contributors to HTF have on occasions made similar suggestions, and in the following thread, even imply that Blu-ray = Sony and don't acknowledge or avoid discussing the broad support Blu-ray has from key consumer electronic companies and studios that in some cases have a larger market share than Sony:

Re: Worthwhile Reissues...

Given all that it is no wonder this issue of who is supporting who can get so badly misunderstood.
 

Rachael B

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Nils, I knew that Warner and Paramount had announced dual suppourt. I'm under the impression that they're partial to HD-DVD at the start. How they end up, I couldn't quess!
 

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