Sony outbids Time Warner for MGM Assets (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ia_mgm_sony_dc

This could give BluRay an advantage in the hidef format wars given the strong title selection they will hold. This could impact the movie and music areas both in my opinion.

My hope is that this win will put pressure on the entire entertainment community to back one format so we can avoid a format war in hidef video.

 

[Marc Colella]

I guess we can expect more overpriced DVDs with little extras, P&S releases and constant double/triple/quadruple dipping to occur.

This is bad news for DVD fans.

 

[ThomasC]

:frowning: Let's hold out hope that Warner will buy Sony sometime in the near future.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Not likely to occur given Time Warner's hugely leveraged balance sheet.

 

[DanFe]

I think Lee has shares in Sony.

 

[Marc Colella]

Hi-Def is still an uncertainty.

What is a certainty is Columba TriStar's (ie. Sony) poor DVD practices. Warners has released alot of outstanding DVDs the last couple years and has been the best studio (with regards to DVD) in that same timeframe.

Most fans of the current format would prefer Warner to handle the MGM library instead of Columbia TriStar.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Perhaps but maybe even more would want to avoid a format war for HD DVD.

 

[Marc Colella]

Lee,

the general consensus on the Software forum is most will NOT move to Hi-Def DVD anytime soon.

People are sticking with DVD, so people aren't happy that Sony has the MGM titles - when it would've been so much better that Warner has them.

I want to move to Hi-Def, but right now there are too many unknowns (format, price, quality and the titles I like).



No, the current DVDs released by Sony is an indication that they may do a poor job with Hi-Def releases - including their infamous double/triple/quadruple dip and their higher-than-average pricing strategy.

Sony can win the Hi-Def wars, but I want Warner to handle the MGM titles.

BTW, when does the finalized spec for BluRay get released... and is DSD still not supported?

 

[KrisM]

O.K., I'll bite. What does this have to do with the music forum? Just curious.

KrisM

 

[Lee Scoggins]

That doesn't look possible now. Why don't we give Sony a chance and see what they can do? I saw the their hidef video of Spiderman 2 on a Qualia projector at HE2004 and it was stunning.

 

[Marc Colella]

True, true.

This is the music forum and I brought up movies... my apologies.

This doesn't look to have any impact on music whatsoever, as Sony has yet to announce DSD for BluRay.

This thread should be closed, as there's already one in the Software forum.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

We've been discussing BluRay here for months.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Sony has shown no indications of using Blu-Ray as a music format, in fact, the opposite is true.

As far as format wars go, I could care less whether HD-DVD or Blu-Ray becomes the standard (now that Blu-Ray has been forced to include advanced video codecs), I just hope that the format war is settled before products hit the marketplace.

 

[Patrick R]

I wanted Warner to win so that all of the rights issues concerning The Hobbit would be out of the way. I don't know if we will ever see Jackson's version now.

Patrick

 

[TheLongshot]

When it is the last time Sony developed a standard that was widely accepted?

Personally, I can't remember one.

Jason

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Me too. That's why I think this is important.

I read an interesting statistic on the deal in The Wall Street Journal today. The companies involved, Sony and MGM, estimate the combined library will include 50% of all color movies that have been made.

Also, apparently the bid was a last minute surprise delivered right before the board met last Thursday to consider the offers. I guess Sony and the equity partners really see value in this library.

 

[Brian-W]

Depends on your definition of "widely accepted" - by who, manufacturers or consumers? Minidisc, while not entirely popular in the U.S. was widely adopted in Japan and Europe, and supported by many major manufacturers.

 

[PaulDA]

I think co-developing the CD qualifies as a widely accepted standard.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

True. I also think DSD is becoming a professional standard for archiving in some quarters as well. You can easily argue, that while not mainstream, DSD has been a success for Sony.

It certainly is a hirez standard for many audiophile labels and high end manufacturers.

 

[TheLongshot]

I think the key word there is "co-developing".

Problem is, most of the time, Sony goes on its own developing stuff. That's cool and all that, but other manufacturers don't want to play when someone else is holding all the cards (i.e. the rights and the royalties).

Not exactly promising for Blu-Ray (at least with Sony holding all the cards for it) to get widespread acceptance as a consumer format.

Jason