Could Warner Bros. Abandon HD DVD in 2008?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

And right after the 100 million dollar pay off they got.

It was $50M.

Which is about the value of the buyout that Disney received in replication and manufacturing "discounts," to be exclusive for 2007.

So both sides play the gift game.

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by Lotus

It was $50M.

Which is about the value of the buyout that Disney received in replication and manufacturing "discounts," to be exclusive for 2007.

So both sides play the gift game.

I thought Paramount got $100 million & the other company got $50 Million.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

I thought Paramount got $100 million & the other company got $50 Million.

They got $50M, the company that owns Dreamworks catalog got $50M, and Dreamworks Animation got $50M. This money is for Advertising. It wasn't a straight up check written to them for coming on board.

Paramount went to HD DVD when their contract for BD50 subsidization ran out. Disney's runs out on the 1st. Currently they don't have a new contract in place. To their credit they've had HD DVD TL titles authored. This makes it look like Sony has to really pony up for their services.

I'm not dumb enough to not realize it could be a ploy for negotiations. It could be just like when a coach at some school goes and talks to another school when all he wants is a raise.

[dobyblue]

I too am connected to Disney through Panasonic's Hollywood Labs - I can tell you that Disney are not going HD DVD whether through exclusivity or otherwise.
Anyone that thinks they are connected to Disney and suggests they might be thinking about HD DVD at all is simply spreading lies and has an agenda.
There are no discs authored to fit in TL51 discs, even Disney's VC-1 encodes that Panasonic is not involved in do not fit within HD DVD's limited bandwidth.
If Microshiba is willing to increase the bandwidth to be the equal of BD then you could see it as a viable option, but until that point Disney are aware of how transparent their video encodes are to the masters and they just cannot do that with HD DVD and still include the lossless 24-bit masters they wish to continue using.

Originally Posted by Lotus

I'm connected to Disney. I'm told totally different things. They have TL test discs authored. You do that because you love BD?

This isn't a rumor. That is a fact. Their CEO routinely says the opposite of their VP that they are constantly monitoring both sides and remember Iger as recently as a few months ago again stated they were monitoring both sides. Last December he said it was likely they would be neutral at some point. Sony signed them to a 1 year exclusivity deal for pretty much free BD50s. That is up in January.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

Correction David!!! Toshiba and Microsoft never spread any such rumor of the sort. If you can find one please link it here. Unlike rumours started by Dunn from Fox or Burns from Lionsgate the HDDVD side does not need to start false rumours for a switch to occur!

So suggesting that encodes using anything other than MPEG-2 would never happen was not a false rumour?
Suggesting the same crap last year that Disney and/or Lionsgate and/or Fox would announce neutrality at CES 2007 was not another false rumour started by the HD DVD Propaganda Group?
Suggesting that BD50 discs would never see the light of day was not a false rumour?

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6515097.html

Some proof to our supposed insider Lotus's claim. When his predictions become fact I am sure it is only a matter of time before he is exposed!!! LOL!!!

Yes, Universal's "research" shows these numbers.
Funny how there is no mention of what Warner has to say about the matter isn't it.
This is typical of Susanne Ault's reporting. She rarely looks into any piece of information.
Universal's research also shows that gamers don't buy movies. I guess the attach rate of Blu-ray standalone players is freakin' huge then.

Also, if Harry Potter HD outsold BD and Bourne was the #1 title, how did BD not finally lose a week with all those BOGO's as well?

Something doesn't add up. I think you'll find the HP numbers were in favour of Blu-ray by somewhere around the 1.4:1 to 1.5:1 region.