Toshiba counters Sony and BD propaganda (1 Viewer)

http://crunchgear.com/2007/03/19/tos...d-format-wars/


If you look at some of the press releases flying around lately, you'd think that HD DVD is ready to pack up our tent and go home. Suffice to say, we're not goin' anywhere.

But what about the Nielsen numbers you might ask? What about the "independent" research reports, the subjective customer surveys and the fact that it's the Chinese Year of Pig? What does it all mean?

It's all in how you look at the data. And while you might not believe our marketing spin over someone else's, here's our take on the numbers:

Right now, overall movie sales to date for each format are roughly equal. Some see that as Blu-ray catching up and "winning." But look a bit farther and you will see that Blu-ray has a 5:1 hardware ratio over HD DVD right now due to sales of the PlayStation 3. That means five times as many players on the market. But if that's the case, why aren't their movie sales outpacing HD DVD by a similar ratio?

We'll let you speculate on that one. In fact, it's the opposite - every HD DVD owner out there is buying five times as many movies per player. That's huge! We'll take that kind of devoted consumer any day.

Yes, we know - our anecdotes versus theirs. But the real message here is don't believe everything you read – try it out on your own. Kick the tires. Check the prices. See if we're offering what we say we are. And as always, you can go to www.TheLookAndSoundOfPerfect.com for the latest news and updates."

http://www.tech.co.uk/home-entertain...leid=943604279

I'm sorry, but on one hand they knock the nielsen numbers and everything else, then they completely ignore the primary function of the PS3 and claim everyone that bought it should also be buying BR movies, not even mentioning the probability that some number of those PS3's aren't even connected to an HDTV.

Some serious Fud in there, made all pretty by the PR people. I'd have been more inclined to take them seriously if they hadn't tried to pass off

"Every PS3 should be being used as a BR Player! They're not! BR sucks!"

Heck, they could've even tried using the lack of new releases to explain the difference, instead they just outright BS.

In all seriousness, when I first read this e-mail over at AVS, I thought it was a hoax. I'm really surprised Toshiba actually released something like this.

We need more content! Hopefully Universal will put out some good stuff this year. Most of the BR released haven't been all that interesting so hopefully we will see Matrix by the end of the year.

Well, Tosh just needs to get serious...

They need to stop the reading into propaganda....

counter with what matters.... content..... that's what sells players....

CONTENT.

Dugger

I got the HD DVD newsletter as well with the same type stuff. I'm glad they're doing this...but yes, more content would help. Obviously the hardware part of this is holding it's own...but HD DVD and for that matter BD are just not "got to have" type gear yet for most people.

I kind of feel sorry for Toshiba because this war will be won on content and they have little to zero control over when and what titles will/are being released. They've proven they can build the hardware they just need more software support and it's just not there. I'm sure if they owned a studio, like Sony, this month would have been as equally aggressive with releases as we've seen with BR. But instead they're stuck defending their stance, and that of supporting studios, for yet another month.

Got this e-mail too (it's not from Toshiba, BTW), and they're right:




Cees

This is on par with the FUD released from Sony. I see no difference, and find both sides comments pretty amusing, and boring.

Agreed. A snapshot of the SI attach rate numbers taken at one point in time doesn't come close to telling the whole story.

Fud?

Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD).

Look at me. I'm a spokesperson defending a disc format, and I'm talkin' about player-to-movies ratio! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! If Blu-ray isn't outselling HD DVD by 5 to 1, you must acquit! The defense rests.

OK Cees, I don't believe you. Which means the message is from Toshiba and they're wrong!

Of course you shouldn't believe what I wrote either, in which case....oh, forget it.

Pretty antagonistic thread title to have survived this long, sadly not surprising.

Talk about propoganda. That every PS3 is owned by a movie freak fud is so asinine it's laughable.

lame.

Yawn.

Loving my Matrix and Star Wars DVDs...

I have both formats....that said....

No matter how it gets spinned, 2:1 disc sales is not good for HD-DVD. They have to get some bigger titles out than they have announced through June. Casino Royale will surely widen the gap, and the Pirates films and Cars will widen it more.

I'm excited to get stuff like Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich, Meaning Of Life, but these movies are not going to sell the average non-film fanatic consumer.

BTW: Happy Birthday, John!



Cees

Toshiba also tried to spin in this email that BD standalones were getting killed by HD-DVD, despite evidence to the contrary.

So they lie and mention that the BD sales were higher because of vouchers redeemed for free BDs included with the PS3. That's an outright lie. There are no free vouchers included. There's a few coupons for a $10 mail-in rebate on select titles. Use of this coupon requires you to cut the UPC off the back of the case to get the rebate. No one I know is willing to chop up their jacket for $10 you might get 6 weeks later. The bottom line is that Toshiba lied about these free vouchers.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm biased for BD but if Sony were to release a press release with such false information, I'd call them out on it.