Warner jumping ship?

This is on Home media Magazine

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?article_id=11449

Quote:Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, which since Paramount’s move to the HD DVD camp is the only studio to support both next-generation formats.

That may not be for long, Silverberg said. “One thing that may be changing is our strategy,” he said. “When both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide. But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide — so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.”

Silverberg noted that Warner has the top-selling Blu-ray title of all time with 300 and is consistently No. 1 or No. 2 in both Blu-ray sales market share and in number of Blu-ray titles in the market.

“We can definitely talk Blu-ray,” he said. “We are committed to the format.” At the Monday morning kickoff, the featured speaker was David Berman, director of Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA), a buying consortium of 62 dealers and 800 installers with combined revenue of more than half a billion dollars a year. He said the HTSA supports Blu-ray because a member survey found 92% favoring Blu-ray over HD DVD.

A member survey found 92% favor bluray? In what delusional world are these guys living and how are these studios actually believing this crap? This is how they fool people into thinking people prefer bluray and get them to stay on the bluray side. It's just a bunch of false information that never ends but this is how the bluray camp feels they need to win.

Again hopefully the consumers AND the studios see through all these lies.

I agree with you Falcon, but it should be Bill Gates and Toshiba stepping up to battle back. It is obvious that SONY will play dirty atics to win this war, and this information about WB does not sound good for all of us HD DVD supporters. Grant it the drop in prices is a great idea, but if the cosumer cannot buy movies for HD DVD, then Blu Ray may win this battle. Remember, someone said it in one of the threads,if Blu ray wins then they will name their price and that will stick a fork in this new technology. Again, Microsoft needs to pull out their guns and send them blazing or it will be a dark future for all of us who support HD DVD.

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[Post edited by InvisibleBiker on Oct 30, 2007 - CDT 9:18 AM]

How much juice do we the HD DVD supporters have? We need to send a message to the people out there, that HD DVD is a better than SONY. We need to be heard, so that SONY does not continue to use the skat tactics that they have begun to use. Blu ray is not supreme , we know that and it is important that everyone knows it!

I think the HD DVD camp needs to come out with better ads, especially in the stores. Shelf cards, displays, whatever it takes to tell people about the beauty of HD DVD at a much lower cost. Make sure everyone knows that HD DVD movies are all 1080P, HD sound codecs are provided, exclusive studio support...I don't promote the product like crazy the way Sony has been without all the lies.

That will take lotsa money however and I'm thinking that the HD DVD camp is hoping the low priced HD DVD players this holiday season do all the talking. All we can do on the net is provide the best information possible.

Yes I agree Falcon, but if WB jumps to the Blu Ray side, well HD DVD could be doomed. Lower prices will not be able to stop the blood letting after that.

HTSA came ouit with that fake stat a couple of months ago. It's old news. Just keep in mind that these guys are megaHIGH end installers who set up systems worth MANY thousands of $$$ to the super rich, not a few grand like the Geeks or Fire Dog. They were corraled by Sony a long time ago. There's one in the BIG BUCKS Boston suburb of Wellsley that has been advertising BD setups for a long time on a local talk radio station.

Disney is throwing mega bucks at their new campaign. In the last few days, I have seen very loud "in your face" Disney ads on the more "mature" cable channels Discovery, Home and Garden, etc. These ads are clearly being aimed at a more affluent and mature market, on the assumption, I think, that this demographic is more likely to spring for the higher priced BD stand alone players. They are also advertising their BD releases as featuring interactive games as a major feature, something the HD DVD camp has not done. In other words, their strategy is to move beyond the PS3 market, but they still have games on their brain. We'll see if it works. The players are still a lot more $$$ then the HD DVD units. I'm not sure how many people will spring for the expensive BD players so their kids can find the gems on the Pirates disk, or the aliens on Independence Day or rodents on Ratatoli (did I spell that wrong?).

I agree, Toshiba and Microsoft HAVE to become more aggressive. I really wish there was some way to pressure them to do so.

I agree that if Warner jumps ship things will be tough again but I doubt they will do it any time soon. It would be irresponsible of them to go on the bluray side now with the prices of HD DVD players dropping so low. In the end it will greatly affect their bottom line with huge sales potential starting with this holiday season.

well according to the story on the site, they are going to make a decission some time soon. Like the news says, whoever they go with there is no doubt the WAR will be over. They do have the biggest catalog of movies. It is time that Bill Gates and Toshiba pony up the wampom, and fight it on the front lines. Or all we will have is DVD players that will upconvert and thats not cool at all.

I hate to say it kids, but if Warner goes Blu exclusive, it will be the beginningof the end for HD DVD.

Absolutely