Warner Pulls Support For HD DVD and Backs Blu-ray

[deacongreg]

We certainly need to see the end quickly, IF, this is really going to happen. Right now, its all talk.

[kennyt]

Originally Posted by Lotus

I think that nearly 1M ****ed off consumers will leave a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of consumers towards BOTH sides.

Moose, if I got that in the mouth I'd be unhappy as well!

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by Ken S

With HD DVD out of the way, will BD titles go up in price? I already see an indication of this with the new releases this week. Most of the BD (single) titles at Amazon were < $20, but the two new releases I'm interested in; 3:10 To Yuma and Sunshine are $26.95 - $27.95 respectively. How are these prices going to get more people to buy into Blu-ray players?

Well Amazon is having a Blu-Ray sale right now.

Look in the "big Blu-Ray sale" post in the Blu-Ray software forum.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Ken S

With HD DVD out of the way, will BD titles go up in price? I already see an indication of this with the new releases this week. Most of the BD (single) titles at Amazon were < $20, but the two new releases I'm interested in; 3:10 To Yuma and Sunshine are $26.95 - $27.95 respectively. How are these prices going to get more people to buy into Blu-ray players?

There will be nothing to push them down due to a lack of competition.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Lotus

There will be nothing to push them down due to a lack of competition.

You are correct sir, as I have indicated on the Blu-ray.com site.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by richardl

With HD DVD out of the picture, Blu-Ray is pretty much synonymous with Playstation 3 during this critical consolidation phase. Standalone Blu-Ray players cost the same or close to the cost of the Sony Playstation game and media system. The overwhelming majority of the Blu-Ray market is now people with Playstations. This may remain the case forever if Playstation momentum continues and Blu-Ray players don't get a lot cheaper quickly.

The part that has me concerned is that if HD DVD is in such trouble, Blu-Ray can't be far behind. Warner Bros. cited concerns about recession as one of the primary motivations for their dropping the second format. But their decision to drop HD DVD was apparently based on HD disc sales favoring Blu-Ray over HD DVD 60% to 40%. That's not a huge difference in units given the tiny size of the market. The fact is Blu-Ray sales have been very disappointing too.

It will be interesting to gauge Warner's commitment to Blu-Ray and HD discs. The first test will be to see if they release some of their exclusive HD DVD titles like The Matrix Trilogy to Blu-Ray. (The Matrix should sell well to PS3 owners.)

I'm hearing a lot of indifference toward HD disc from the kinds of people who Sony need to be enthusiastic about the format. It's not like either Blu-Ray or its doppleganger the Playstation 3 have anything close to the market enthusiasm of the Wii or the iPhone. Throw in the fact that about 1 million early adopters have just been alienated out of the market overnight.

I don't think the Blu-Ray camp should be celebrating yet.

You are correct. You will also have early adopters of both formats (like myself) that will speculate that something else will be around the corner to challenge BD. We will not buy tons of BD titles (I only have about 5 or 6 all Disney except 1 - I have more HD-DVD titles).
We will rent our movies instead.

It seems to me that most people that are Blu-ray defenders are really Playstation 3 defenders instead. (If you criticize PS3 its like you've downed BD - even if you own a BD player and praise it). I see something evil - more evil than Microsoft. I see Sony now attempting to dominate and control the BD hardware market as well (why by a wii, xbox 360, computer, or a competetors BD player - when you can have it all nice and on one machine - the PS3). Call me crazy, drunk, or high - but Sony's plans are bigger than most people think - don't think the sting of prior failed formats and products aren't fresh in their minds. They want the PS3 to become their master stroke! It's not all about BD - its really about PS3!