Could Warner Bros. Abandon HD DVD in 2008?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by 1more4HDDVD

On October 22, CNBC’s Jim Goldman wrote:
“Sources I'm talking to at the company suggest that an announcement could come soon that Microsoft will unveil a new version of Xbox 360 featuring a built-in HD-DVD player and HD tuner. The device might be officially unveiled during Bill Gates' keynote at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in January.” Microsoft issued denials as expected (presumably to protect holiday sales), but the next day Jim Goldman wrote: “I bounced that comment [Microsoft’s denial] off the folks I originally spoke to and they're not buying it.”

This is an interesting point. If all new X-Box units were HD DVD enabled...

It would more than cancel out the PS3. The 360 is outselling the PS3, and if price points remained similar then I could see that causing giant Studio confusion. Unless they already know about it.

However I have my doubts on it. For one the XBOX needs the 12X Speed that the DVD drive offers. Games rely on it. So the HD DVD drive would have to be Toshiba's new 4X HD DVD drive bare minimum. The cost on that drive would be possibly prohibitive to putting in a 360 under the "Elite," unit.

For the move to spark interest it would have to be in the $349 priced units and above.

Maybe they will... but I'm skeptical.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

Lotus, so one Fox exec says his side will win and you change your stance?

My stance is that Warners is making a decision and always has been. Unlike others I don't discount HD DVD as a serious option.

The primary goal of Warners is to create a market that consumers actually invest in.

So far neither format is really doing that.

We know that Paramount and Dreamworks will be HD DVD exclusive for another 12 months. There is no way to change that.

Disney, FOX, MGM, and Lions Gate are all capable of switching on January 1st.

Universal is capable of switching on January 1st.

If Warners has Universal standing behind their decision, it would mean that most likely in 12 months Paramount and Dreamworks would be jumping the sinking red carcass.

If Warners has one of the two majors in Disney and FOX ready to stand behind their decision then that would mean to me that the lessers MGM and Lions Gate would immediately start reconsidering their positions.

So either one fits the "Shock," statement from the guy at FOX. The kicker here is that he was smugly happy about it. Knowing how anti-MS the man is.... lets just say for me that was an indicator that FOX is feeling Warners is going Blue.

I know for a fact that Disney has authored test TL discs complete with HDi. So they're obviously prepared for a move. It doesn't mean they will. Just as Universal doing similar this past summer just meant they were prepared and nothing else.

I've been told not to read anything into the lack of BD from New Line on titles they're preparing for HD release in 2008. It supposedly has to do with issues not related to whom they are going to pick.

[DaViD Boulet]

All I know is 1 format was extremely well thought out from the start. It is fully backward compatible and doesn't leave any consumers out in the cold in regards to advanced HDM features and specs. 99% of the discs are not lacking extras from the dvd which is an arrogant move by the studios for a double dip.

And the vast majority of those discs don't (can't?) even provide lossless audio. Compared to the nearly 100% record of lossless audio on Blu-ray from Disney, Sony, MGM, and Fox.

Funny how the HD DVD producing studios (Warner, Paramount, Universal) seem to make lossless audio the exception rather than the rule. Why would studios who don't care about delivering lossless audio quality would embrace HD DVD... or maybe authoring HD DVD limits their options given bandwidth and space? (Paramount stated that they wanted to provide lossless audio on Transformers but didn't have the space to do it).

While I'd like it "all" (and I agree that the BD strategy of allowing features like PIP and/or web connections not to be standard feature day one was a pretty bad move), If I had to choose between shopping for merchandise using my web-connected HD player and listening to the feature film in full lossless qualtiy... I'd choose software with lossless sound.

[PRO-630HD]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Today Warners dropped plans on some BD titles...

but put some titles in the TL pipeline...

I wonder if that means they made a decision?

This doesn't make sense if they are going Blu? You just stated this 2 days ago. If they were going blu why would they have dropped proposed bluray titles and have TL-51's in the works.

David, you are correct on the lossless audio. Transformers is the title that pops into everyones mind and it should have had it. At 28.2gb they should have dropped the english, french and spanish DD+ tracks and just gone with a TrueHD track and subtitles. I am not keen on warners 640 kbps tracks either. I would far prefer at least 1.5 mbps DD+. True HD obviously being the goal. Lately more titles than not have the True Hd track though.

[1more4HDDVD]

Transformers won “Best Audio Quality” at this year’s “High Def Awards” and it was given perfect scores in audio by many reviewers.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/new...ticle_id=11663

DD+ is proving itself to be very capable of delivering a solid high-def audio experience.

[1more4HDDVD]

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

This doesn't make sense if they are going Blu? You just stated this 2 days ago. If they were going blu why would they have dropped proposed bluray titles and have TL-51's in the works.

+1

Lotus, I appreciate your insights, but an explanation about this would be nice. 2 days ago, you talked of WB dropping some blu titles and adding TL titles… then yesterday you said “If I was to guess, I'd say they're going BD and Universal is with them... just from the way the guys at FOX were acting.” … those two posts don’t seem to fit each other…