Could Warner Bros. Abandon HD DVD in 2008?

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by 1more4HDDVD

I am growing tired of the format war and it’s time for a conclusion. I think we all agree on that!

Yes we do, I hope for the sake of content and availability that one format has to happen before next Xmas and in order for that to happen all content needs to be released on one format, then it does not matter what the other format does as the conclusion will be inevitable.

I truly believe that neither format will acheive anything above niche status if the war continues as it is, but I also truly believe that if they get all major studios to release on one format that said format will be able to acheive mass market adoption on a similar scale as DVD in a similar timespan.

[DaViD Boulet]

I everyone aware that the HD DVD didn't outpace the BD sales until Amazon issued a buy-one-get-one-free sale on the Harry Potter HD DVDs... while *not* offering the same 1/2-off discount on the BD format?

Had BD been granted the same 1/2-off priviledge by Amazon, I'm sure that the numbers would have tipped the other way just as easily.

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

I everyone aware that the HD DVD didn't outpace the BD sales until Amazon issued a buy-one-get-one-free sale on the Harry Potter HD DVDs... while *not* offering the same 1/2-off discount on the BD format?

Had BD been granted the same 1/2-off priviledge by Amazon, I'm sure that the numbers would have tipped the other way just as easily.

Yea I can see where that would tip the scales.
I wonder how many people are waiting to buy HP on Blu-Ray to see if it gets the same deal?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

I everyone aware that the HD DVD didn't outpace the BD sales until Amazon issued a buy-one-get-one-free sale on the Harry Potter HD DVDs... while *not* offering the same 1/2-off discount on the BD format?

Had BD been granted the same 1/2-off priviledge by Amazon, I'm sure that the numbers would have tipped the other way just as easily.

So when BD had the deal at Best Buy for two whole weeks before at the number 1 retailer it didn't count?

Previous BOGOs at Amazon have never come close to that kind of sell through. At one point they had 46 titles in the top 100. BD has had BOGOs but never come close to that kind of response.

Will they with their new christmas players?

Hard to say.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

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.

Blu-Ray Festival 2007. There they admitted the yields were that low.

You can point at their releases which use words like "little less," and "also greatly increased," and they totally contradict each other.

Also nobody in the electronics business considers a 5% gain "substantial," that would be a minimum gain.

Again you want to argue about something that has no meaning to you besides what?

Let me ask you a hypothetical question:

At CES 2008 Sony and all BD exclusives announce they will release titles on HD DVD and BD is going the way of computer storage and PS3 games.

What would that mean to your life?

Because you act like any kind of truth that makes BD look bad in your mind must be stopped at all costs.

Again to me the cost of a Honda vs a Porsche is negligable.

You have nothing to substantiate that everyone else in Media agrees with the opinion of one guy. His negligable might be another man's "too expensive."

[DaViD Boulet]

So when BD had the deal at Best Buy for two whole weeks before at the number 1 retailer it didn't count?

If a large retailer promoted a sale of any just-released A-List dual-format title on one format only, and did not offer/promote the sale of the same title on the other format, I would not consider that to provide meaningful Neilson sales-ratio data for *that* title for that period. This is regardless of which-format the sale would favor.

In some cases Amazon has provided BOGO sales of "catalog" BD/HD DVDs that have been released months earlier, and so the shift in sales figures is in those cases is more subtle because they don't affect a high-profile new-release title. BOGO sales of catalog HD DVD/BDs have been around since the onset of both formats and, with catalog releases, don't cause dramatic shifts in sales figures week by week.

But "half off" of a bran-new release A-list title on one format and not the other if a fundamentally different situation. That's obvious. Had this same sale been offered for BD only, I'd be telling you that, while I enjoyed saving money on my Harry Potter BD discs, I wouldn't have considered the shift in sales figures for that week on *that* title to represent a meaningful trend in comparing HD DVD/BD title-for-title.

Maybe Amazon/Warner are trying to clear out some HD DVD product prior to CES 2008...