Could Warner Bros. Abandon HD DVD in 2008?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

They have never said they were the only ones doing BD50's and they never stated 30-40%.
Over a year ago they were claiming 79% on BD50's.
I will look up the link in the morning - my new fiancee will kill me if I post anymore anywhere tonight.

Seeing as how in October of 2007 they announced "substantial" improvement of replication yields on BD50 of 75% to 80% it's impossible for the 79% of a year ago.

The start of this summer they were in the 30% to 40% range. That is why gaining to 75% to 80% is "Substantial."

It's why Sony's subsidation of BD50 costs was so important to Studios. If there was a high yield rate (95% and above) the Studios wouldn't be so worried about BD50 subsidation.

Please don't get upset about it. Don't think you have to rebuke it. It's a fact. It means nothing to you. It means nothing to me. It means nothing to the people that post here.

So what BD costs more. It's not changing my life. It's also not changing the lives of anyone on here. So please just accept it. It's not a big deal. Because now they're in the 80s more than likely.

So the numbers are close to HD DVD. So it's nothing for you to get carried away about. Warners knows the costs of BD are higher and they're totally ok with it. So the improvement means that the old arguement of drastic low yield rates are now unimportant.

Kind of like if TL discs become popular it would make the arguement of BD having more space as unimportant.

I have to ask what did you do with your old fiancee?

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Revko1

Wow, wow, just wow...I can't believe so many folks, bitchin about a $99 HD players!
So what it's 1080i it's 99 DOLLARS!
Is this a snob stands? Too cheap for you blu boys? Would rather pay 1399?
If I had an extra 399 laying around I would have pick up PS3! Hmm probably not though, that can get me a few more A2's for Xmas gifts....


Piece out

Revko1

$1399? July 2006 called, they want their price argument back. Actually that's incorrect, it was only $1200 back then. Which country and currency are you dealing in?
BD-P1400 is $270 and bitstreams both TrueHD and dts-ma.

[1more4HDDVD]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

According to someone who always seems aware of what's going on at wb, insider MaxPower mentioned this about the meeting:

Sounds more like a smear campaign from the Blu side if you ask me. “Bag Bad Microsoft is going to come in and destroy HDM by getting Warner to split the HDM market and lock them in to an exclusive contract for HD downloads, which is what Microsoft truly wants.” Does that about sum it up? To me, it sounds like the Blu insiders are preparing their base to “cry foul” when an imminent WB/HD DVD/Xbox Live exclusive deal is announced. I guess we will see in a week or so.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Seeing as how in October of 2007 they announced "substantial" improvement of replication yields on BD50 of 75% to 80% it's impossible for the 79% of a year ago.

The start of this summer they were in the 30% to 40% range. That is why gaining to 75% to 80% is "Substantial."

It's why Sony's subsidation of BD50 costs was so important to Studios. If there was a high yield rate (95% and above) the Studios wouldn't be so worried about BD50 subsidation.

Please don't get upset about it. Don't think you have to rebuke it. It's a fact. It means nothing to you. It means nothing to me. It means nothing to the people that post here.

So what BD costs more. It's not changing my life. It's also not changing the lives of anyone on here. So please just accept it. It's not a big deal. Because now they're in the 80s more than likely.

So the numbers are close to HD DVD. So it's nothing for you to get carried away about. Warners knows the costs of BD are higher and they're totally ok with it. So the improvement means that the old arguement of drastic low yield rates are now unimportant.

Kind of like if TL discs become popular it would make the arguement of BD having more space as unimportant.

I have to ask what did you do with your old fiancee?

Actually I do have to rebuke it. Please show us where they stated 30-40% yields. You're stating it as fact, so show us something that would concur with your argument.

I will in turn show evidence that it was 79% a year ago and that the difference in cost is "negligible" between the two formats. Whether or not you choose to accept the facts is up to you.

For the replication, here is an article from October 25th, 2006 - http://www.sonydadc.com/opencms/open...CE10.25.06.pdf

DADC is "rapidly closing in” on 3 million discs shipped, involving 130-plus titles from his company's "entire stable of customers," Mitchell said. Yields are averaging 80% on single-layer 25-GB media --about the same rates quoted on our May plant tour. Yields are “ever so slightly less" on dual-layer, he said. The 80% yield rate is "still a good figure," Mitchell said. "But we've been so focused on adding new equipment, bringing it up and qualifying it that there hasn't been the type of [yields] emphasis allowed. There's only so many people to go around." Three Blu-ray dedicated packaging lines have been added since spring and "are up and running," he said. DADC has added a 2nd PTM mastering system --more than 2 months ahead of schedule, he said. The plant also added a 2nd offset printer and automation to support it, he said.

So BD25's were 80% in October 2006 and BD50's were a little less.

Now BD25's are 85% or higher and BD50's are 79% or higher.

Unless you have some official info that refutes this point which you can share with us? Going from 80% to 85% is substantial, but I also don't see where Sony said they have had "substantial" increases in their yields, I think you are a little confused; they only state that their cycle times have increased to a large extent.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...4674217&EDATE=

This is from October 2007.

Sony DADC has announced that they have produced their 10 millionth BD-50 disc. The disc, a copy of the upcoming 'Spider-man 3' Blu-ray release, was produced at Sony's Terre Haute facility in Indiana, one of three such facilities which produce the high capacity discs (the other two being in Austria and Japan). Together, the three plants have produced more than 50 million Blu-ray discs at a capacity of 21 million discs per month.

The huge increase in Blu-ray production can be attributed to gains in production yields. The BD-25 now has a consistent yield rate of around 85%, while the more difficult to produce BD-50 are consistently between 75% and 79%. Cycle times for the BD-50 have also greatly improved, meaning more Blu-ray discs are being made than ever before with levels for BD-25s approaching parity with their DVD production.

Sony has also extended assistance to Blu-ray disc replication equipment manufacturers Singulus and Oerlikon who are expected to release BD-50 upgrades for their popular manufacturing lines within the next few weeks.

"Huge increase in Blu-ray production"
"gains in production yields"
"Cycle times are greatly improved"

For cost, I've already pointed to Richard Casey's assesment of the production of Nature's Journey, that even for a small independant studio the cost from start to finish between the two was "negligible"

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by 1more4HDDVD

Sounds more like a smear campaign from the Blu side if you ask me.

Wouldn't be very consistent with that insder's posting history.

[1more4HDDVD]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Wouldn't be very consistent with that insder's posting history.

Yeah, I've read his postings, there is an awful lot of opinion spread in there. One thing is for sure, the “insiders” on the Blu site are trying to paint Microsoft as the villain in a big way. They are showing major concern over Microsoft’s role in the WB decision.

To add some context to his postings, it should be noted that earlier this month WB entered into an deal with MS to distribute WB content exclusively over Xbox live in many countries (although not the US). So, if he is right, I’m guessing this is for the US exclusive rights. I also see ads for WB movies on Xbox.com all the time, so it could be that these two companies have been on the verge of making an exclusive media deal all along and they are just going to lump in HD DVD exclusivity with Toshiba and do it all together. Just a guess.

Anyway, I can’t wait for CES to come and go. I am growing tired of the format war and it’s time for a conclusion. I think we all agree on that!