Re: Warner jumping ship?

Hoodaguy I'm thinking the same thing cause it makes perfect sense however it would be pretty ballsy of them to go to a bluray conference and announce they may be going exclusive to one format and they're not talking about bluray. What a burn it would be if they went HD DVD exclusive after making that announcement at a bluray conference.

we all know sony is very hostile, we all know about the retail shelf space idea, we all know HD-DVD needs better ads, we all know price-drops alone might not do it, and we all know it wouldnt be good for sony to manipulate everything.

lets hope our friends at Warner share the same big picture we do, and arent manipulated by Sony's strategies.

or we might aswell bring back that thread.... hmm i think it was called. ... what if your format looses.

Well, we don't know exactly how they were approached. If the blu-ray side came up to them to ask if they were ever going to be exclusive to one format or the other, they wouldn't really want to say they are going to side with HD DVD when they are surrounded by BD supporters. It would have been a huge letdown for them at that conference, so maybe they were just trying to be nice.

I mean, that conference or whatever was the PERFECT spot to announce such a big endeavor if they were indeed going with BD, yet their statements have a lot of ambiguity with cloudy "mights" and "maybes" and no definites.

It is unprofessional, unbusinesslike and irresponsible to leave a large customer base "hanging" with unsubstianted product speculation. Period. Last August's decision by Paramount and Dreamworks was not the same they left no doubt as to their intentions from the onset. Also, these decisions, one way or another, are not made in a vacuum. They take many months of anaylsis and study. You can bet that Warner knew in advance what Para/Dream was up to and visaversa with today's announcement, not to mention Microsoft/Toshiba, AMAZON, etc. Its an odd time to make a major shift in a marketing strategy. There is more behind this then meets the eye. It not only affects a large consumer base, but also other studios, like Universal who will also lose big bucks should Warner jump ship.

I expect a clarification will be forthcoming pretty quickly. If indeed, Warner does what is being speculate and BD becomes the format of choice, then yes, I will eventually buy a player I said that before. You can bet your arse, however, that it won't be a Sony.

Simply put, I will not give in to BD. I don't care if they win the war or not, my player upconverts regular DVDs just fine. Plus you just know for a fact that if for some strange reason BD does triumph over HD DVD - BD disc prices will skyrocket.

Yep prices of movies, and probably players, will go up if bluray wins.

Steve I agree with you...IF I ever get a bluray player (believe me I will be holding out a long time and may never get one) then it definitely won't be a Sony.

I still believe HD DVD is being way too aggressive with their pricing for Warner to jump ship now. Plus Paramount and Dreamworks went HD DVD exclusive for SOME reason (not because they got paid $150 mill LOL) otherwise they would have stayed neutral. Somethings up.

Is it just me, or is there something really strange about Dan Silverberg's quoted statements in that article? Spreading FUD or at best "confusion" about your own company's products that could potentially result in lost sales is generally considered a bad thing - one that often results in people getting fired. Company execs are usually very well versed in what to say and what not to say when the media are within ear shot.

Figured I would throw out my thoughts. I believe WB will go to the side that sells the most stand alone players. Its all about who owns these players not how many discs are sold. When it comes down to it if they HDDVD players double this holiday then WB may go with them if not maybe they will go to BluRay. People are not going to buy 4 PS3 or a 400 dollar Player for there 6 year old.. Heck People will have a hard time buying 2, 200 dollar HDDVD players. Its all about profit.


This War is far from over. If I remember correctly Transformers sold 8.5 million copies and only 150,000 copies on HDDVD and Spiderman 3 will do about the same. The true problem with this War is that most people dont care. Dvds are pretty much a perfect product. Only we care the people that like new tech. I am a tech dealer this is how I make a living. Until its in black and white and WB says we are for one or the other dont buy it.

Just my thoughts

I think calling this a war is stupid anyways. This is not VHS versus Beta. Back in those days, they didn't sell as many beta players as they did compared to HD players. Too many people have both formats, and Sony was kind of to blame for bringing in BD after HD DVD was already out on the market.