"Total HD" from Warners (re: Blu-ray/HD-DVD hybrid disc) (1 Viewer)

[Grant H]

I say-- forget this HD DVD/Blu-ray stuff.

Let's resurrect the laserdisc chassis, go for LP-sized discs, but structured like a BD and run uncompressed video as well as audio!

It'll be the new niche HD format of choice!

 

[BrettB]

linkage

Nice pic guys.


Are retailers planning on buying more shelves or something?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Great picture of the gang in that link! I must say our own Ron is sporting a nifty look with the sport coat and shaved head...

 

[John Berggren]

Lots of shelves will be emptied after the HD-DVD fire sale. Of course, then they won't have to launch Total-HD at all, which is the real deal.

 

[ReggieW]

Whatever :rolleyes

 

[Tim Glover]

Reg...you'll find the "ignore" button a useful one.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

c'mon HD DVD dudes... lighten up... we Blu-ray boys have to wade through comments like that all the time...

 

[Tim Glover]

No...you don't...not like that David.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I think he was talking about shelf space as in there are a lot of releases in the 4th quarter and they don't want Total HD to get lost in the shuffle.

Doug

 

[Greg.K]

I thought the whole point of Total HD was to REDUCE the needed shelf space.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Greg,

excellent point. Right. That WAS the whole idea. If WB presses a certain title on TotalHD, I wonder if that would mean that they don't even manufacture a separate BD/HD DVD in that case... or would they "make" all three? And even if they did, the rental chain only needs to stock the one TotalHD disc.

 

[John Berggren]

You see I'm not calling names, I'm not being mean in any way. I'm just stating a perspective as plain as other people do. You don't really think that the fact that many in the industry speculate that this holiday season is make or break time for the final HD optical format and the fact that Warners has delayed Total-HD until after the holidays are wholly unrelated do you?

 

[Jason Roer]

John,

I also read your post as rude. It didn't come across as you merely stating a point - it came across as yet another attack. If it was just a point, you could have worded it more like you did in your followup post. It is not a foregone conclusion HD-DVD will have its death blow delivered this holdiay season despite what you may personally believe. Every time someone comes out and states it I wonder if they realize the "Bluray/HD-DVD war... the end is near" thread is now nearly 2 years old. In the very first post or so it claims Bluray has won the war.

I'm sorry to point you out here John, but it's posts like yours that have kept me on the sidelines for the past few weeks. It's just getting really annoying to come here and have someone constantly putting down one format or the other. This was fun for awhile, but I'm tuning out for good now. Or at the very least until some of this nonsense blows over.

Cheers,

Jason

 

[John Berggren]

Although I do prefer Blu Ray to HD-DVD, I don't hate HD-DVD or the people who buy it. I do think that it's about time to go ahead and have a single HD optical format, as everything "good" a format war can do has already been done, and everything "bad" it can do (restrict title commitments, discourage new buyers) is what's left.

I don't want Blu Ray to win over HD-DVD. I just want a single format and I want it now. After MUCH reasoned analysis and sitting on the sidelines for nearly 2 years into HD optical, I decided that Blu Ray will in fact win. I'm not saying this in a snide or nasty way. I think anyone who bought HD-DVD should enjoy their devices and their titles and continue to do so.

But enough is enough, and it's not a bad thing to have this discussion. Believe me, if my same analysis suggested that HD-DVD was the clear winner and that Blu Ray were just dragging along to the end of the war, I'd want the same things of HD-DVD that I want of Blu Ray and vice versa.

Make no mistake, a primary reason that DVD was so successful so quickly was because it was a single unified format. There was no "benefit" for having 2 formats. There was no "need" for consumer choice. These are red herrings. The sooner we have a single unified format for HD optical, the better for all involved.

Period.

And I'll eat my words and smash my Blu Ray deck if I'm wrong.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I think that the Total HD titles would be Total HD only and no separate HD DVD and Blu-ray release. But I think in introducing a new product they probably want to wait until later so it won't be over shadowed by the large number of releases scheduled for the 4th quarter.

Doug

 

[DeanWG]

Is it possible that Warner could be having issues with retailers? We can all speculate about retailers concerned with duplicating shelf space for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. The question is . . . where do you put the Total HD discs? Do you pick one format or the other? Do you need to double stock the discs in each section to attract each format's respective buyers? Does it belong in its OWN section, therefore adding even MORE space to retailers already valuable real estate?

To me, this is sounding like a worse idea ever day.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Agreed. I think that reflects the sentiments of most industry folks right now as well.

 

[Cees Alons]

Then they're either lying or are facing a "cat out of the bag" problem.

It's not us, the consumers who started or are maintaining this "war". Nor the government or any other party. It's "the industry" themselves (whatever that may mean) who started this whole situation.

And it's the same "industry" who maintain it. No crocodile-tears please from their camp! Nor does the quoted opinion emanate any comfort to us.

(Dave, in this specific context I personally wouldn't call them "folks" either. )


Cees

 

[Jari K]

I don´t see that this "Total HD" is the solution to anything. It´s just another "combo" - why would I want to pay extra for the "other format"? IMO, it would be better that they would just release two different formats (releases), if that will be the case in the first place (=the format war drags on). If persons like myself doesn´t need "two formats on one disc" (I´m not claiming that others agree - just my opinion), I don´t see why that "average joe" would want them..

I have a feeling, that Warner just wants to see how things play out in this year and how the format war is progressing. They could probably release them already..

 

[DaViD Boulet]

That is indeed true!

However, not everyone in the industry is to blame (really, the primary force behind the war is Toshiba who almost single-handedly has pushed for their own format when most of the other manufacturers and companies have firmly supported BD), and there are often complicated political/contractual relationships that make decisions that would look simple to you/me much more difficult to make happen in a short time-frame.

I think as the year progresses we'll start to see the "single format" attitude of the industry at large start to express itself more clearly.