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Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

dropzone7 · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 1069 Location: Charlotte, NC

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

**kal** · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:28 pm Post subject:

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

An interesting article, Dave. Thanks for the link.

> Blu-ray ownership won’t hit 25 percent of US households until the end of 2011 <

So I guess we can look forward to 2012 being "the year of HD". I can hardly wait to see all the titles.

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

Dave commented:
> HD DVD hit that mark with MORE FUNCTIONAL players than any blu-ray player TO DATE... <

So?

> and a better audio spec. <

So? You're playing the "let the best man win" game, based on objective technical merit.

> Had consumers been smart and refused to buy blu-ray, it would be dead by now... <

Not true. Millions and millions did refuse to buy blu-ray... and still are. It's still not dead. There was a smokescreen that buyer adoption would influence the outcome, but it had very little real impact.

> and we would be seeing the flood of high def movies this year. <

I will agree with you that it's more likely that the volume of films released would have ramped up a lot faster had Toshiba "won". That was the main reason I was hopeful they would. I disagree though that it would have been a "flood".

> Seems like the blu-ray supporters have denied us all this. <

They really had very little to do with it. Vastly more important was the billion$+ in incentives that Sony paid out for market dominance to the major studios. Toshiba paid out far less. (Some folks like to label these as "bribes", and usually do so depending on who's doing the paying, vs. which camp they're in. But that's just mudslinging, which was sadly the predominant behavior from both camps.) That's just a fact of life, and common in many big-business scenarios. Sony had deeper pockets, or was more motivated to win. It will take them a while to recoup those costs, but they felt it was worth it.

The main thing you're overlooking, Dave, is that even if Toshiba "won", and every other studio went along with them, it wouldn't have ended anything. I'm sure there are films you'd like to have on HD disc from Sony Pictures Classics, but what about:

- Columbia
- Orion
- United Artists
- Tri-Star
- MGM
- Screen Gems
- TransAmerica
- Samuel Goldwyn Pictures
- Destination Films

just to name the ones I'm aware of. Recognize any of these names? No interest in seeing any of their films? Sony spent 16 years, and untold fortunes, acquiring these film libraries... and that gives them a lot of leverage. More than anyone else in the business. Even if Toshiba won, it would be a LONG, LONG time before we saw films from any of these houses on Tosh-HD format discs, if ever. Sony can be very stubborn, and so dual-format players would have almost certainly been an eventual requirement.

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

Toshiba and its partners had what, almost two full years of zero competition and they could encourage, or convince, ignorant consumers to buy? Now that is an interesting position to take.

I am one of those 'we consumers' and I do not think I have made less smarter decision. I am happy with the end result. I did not go into the high-definition world thinking it had to be cheap, inexpensive, etc. and as such I didn't mind spending the $500 on the PS3, nor $280 on the second Blu-ray player (the same amount that I spent on the HD DVD player).

Early adopters took the risk--whether knowingly or not--and got bit by its fearless leader that tucked its tail and ran home to momma. They showed little to no backbone, threw away their customers, and now someone is trying to make people believe they could have been smarter?

Toshiba failed in the face of competition and quit. Toshiba is a quitter. You would have other backed a quitter. Yeah, that's smarter.