Re: Toshiba Deploys New HD DVD Marketing campaign

xplaytendo, well said.

Falcon1 and xplaynintendo please come join us at these two sites if we are to help try to save HD DVD:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=45867


and
http://www.hdnowonline.com/807_The_Time_Is_Now.html

Getting back on topic, if both formats co-exist, can't any consumer go in to the video store and pick up whatever they want? Saying there needs to be only one format is ludicrous. If I wanted to buy a movie, and it was available in SD, HD DVD and Blu, than I can get anything I want, with no hassle. To say that 2 formats "confuses" people is not giving the average consumer much credit. A Blu-Ray player plays Blu-Ray, and an HD DVD player plays HD DVD. For those who were confused, there you go.

From my perspective, rather than both sides fighting and paying to get the upper hand, it would be much more beneficial to release on both formats, because it means your movies are available for anyone to purchase. The "confusing" 2 formats is not the reason people have not been jumping in with both feet. People are not jumping in for the same reason I didn't at first - I don't like not being able to get all the movies I want, and I wanted to wait until everything panned out. If all studios were format neutral, there would be nothing to hold anyone back. They can check them both out, and make a decision for themselves, not one that's being forced down their throats by Sony or Toshiba. Sony's track record with their early discs, greater potential or not, is why I won't buy Blu anytime soon. For me, it's HD DVD or DVD. For others, they may be quite pleased with Sony, and that's fine with me. I don't need everyone to agree with me. I just don't understand why everyone doesn't see that it is good for everyone to have 2 formats that release everything. It seems like common sense to me. Everybody wins - studios, retailers and consumers.

Falcon01 said -

Quote:
"That's because DVD is handled by the DVD Consortium as a whole. If Sony had succeeded with it's support of DIVX things would be different but thankfully DVD won and Sony never really got control of it."

Uh, Falcon, I believe you are re-writing history here (with the above). Sony supported "Open DVD" from the beginning of the format, not Divx, with several players and many DVD movies.

Circuit City's DIVX PPV-DVD (Digital Video Express) began in the Fall of 1998, with studio support primarily by Fox (Divx only), Disney (Divx & DVD support), Paramount (both), and Dreamworks (both). Fox and Disney were -the- major studios backing the format (especially Fox, who didn't have any DVD releases for awhile).

Sony backed DVD, and provided some of the best Anamorphic Widescreen releases, such as GODZILLA (Nov 1998 DVD release). Divx, by the way, released movies only in "Full-Frame" 4x3, and without the bonus content feature on standard DVDs, nor the DTS soundtracks included on many DVDs.

When Divx was discontinued at retail (June 1999), I went to a Circuit City store and purchased two movies at 99 cents each [discounted from the $4.49 retail price), as a "Collector's Item", and still have them to this day. The titles are: ALIEN RESURRECTION and PLANT OF THE APES (both by Fox), and since I never had a Divx-enabled DVD player [from Zenith etc], the only thing viewable is a screen stating that playback of the disc can only be seen on a Divx player, and a 1-800 phone number for more info.

Again, SONY did not support the Divx PPV-DVD format.

-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
~ DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/KURO Plasma owner ~

I see alot of people saying that competition is good and would be better than only one format. Is everyone forgetting that we had only one format for DVD and look how quickly those prices fell and that it was the most successful new electronics format ever! If every studio would produce both formats than both could live on but Sony will never produce HD-DVD's. Every other studio could go neutral but Sony owning Columbia will always be the hangup. I love HD-DVD and even prefer it over Blu-ray and I own both formats but I'm also trying to be realistic and not let my personal preference or emotions get the best of me.

RAMSFAN said -

Quote:
"If every studio would produce both formats than both could live on but Sony will never produce HD-DVD's."

Your entire comment was excellent, and the above quote recalls a scene from Brian DePalma's sexy BODY DOUBLE [1984, Sony/Columbia], where the main male character goes into an "all-night" X-rated video store to buy the film "Holly Does Hollywood" - as he's wanting to confirm the identity of the female lead (Melanie Griffith's character), that he's actually seen in person, across the way from a home where he's been housesitting.

When he asks the clerk if they had the film available, the clerk says something like, "Yeah, we have it. VHS, Beta, LaserDisc, 8mm, whatever you want."

Unfortunately, we don't live in a world where you can get the latest hit movie in the various home video formats (since most don't have available new hardware for viewing) --

VHS
Beta
LaserDisc
CED disc
8mm (videotape)
VCD
SuperVHS
D-VHS
UMD (for PSP)
DVD
HD-DVD
Blu-ray
...etc

-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
~ DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/KURO Plasma owner ~

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Jan 15, 2008]

Quote:
the only thing viewable is a screen stating that playback of the disc can only be seen on a Divx player, and a 1-800 phone number for more info.

What I'm dying to know is if you called that 1-800 number?

Skyhawk said -

Quote:

"What I'm dying to know is if you called that 1-800 number?"

Nah... By June 1999, I'd had my first DVD player for about 10 months ($399 Panasonic, model #A10 I think), and would never have supported Divx PPV-DVD. I just wanted a Divx disc or two as a reminder of it's history, which was doomed for failure against Open standard DVD.

-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
~ DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/KURO Plasma owner ~