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Posted by ninphan on 01/09/08 15:49
On Jan 8, 8:32 pm, caliman.j...@gmail.com wrote:
> Second Interview with Max Everett, owner of several electronics stores
> in Oklahoma and Kansas.
>
> Q: Thank you, Mr. Everett, for letting us interview you again.
> A: Thanks for having me
>
> Q: As you may know, there is yet another rumor that Paramount and
> Dreamworks may be switching sides in the coming days. Can you give us
> some updated insight on what will happen afterwards?
> A: I have been expecting this move, because once contracts are up with
> Paramount and the HD-DVD Group, rumored to be in Feb sometime, I
> thought they would either go format-neutral or over to blu ray
> completely. What I didn't know about was this so-called escape clause
> in contracts. Even if this happens within 24 hours, it's not going to
> have much (if any) more effect on the HD-DVD format, because it's less
> than one month from what was originally going to happen anyway. As
> Schwarzenegger said, judgment day can be postponed, but it can't be
> stopped.
>
> Q: Do you still believe that HD-DVD could last four or five months or
> longer, with this recent news?
> A: Of course, it will last at least that.
>
> Q: There are also rumors that Universal will soon follow Warner and
> Paramount. What impact will this have on the market? What impact will
> it have on you, personally, and with your electronics stores?
> A: If Universal goes over to blu ray disk, obviously, the format war
> will be officially over. In our stores, we've already instructed our
> managers to put warning signs on the HD-DVD section, in the case that
> the Paramount deal becomes official. These warning signs will
> basically give everyone the information regarding what's happening in
> the format war and that if our customers buy an HD-DVD player, they're
> buying it at their own risk.
>
> Q: Why would some one buy a player that they can't bring back if it
> doesn't work?
> A: Our stores have a two week no questions asked guarantee on most
> items, but we will not accept returns on this specific item because
> some one buys it, later on finds out he or she doesn't want it and
> would rather have a blu ray player. In the case of non-working
> players, all will have a manufactures warranty, which the customer
> would have to send to the factory themselves. So, we're not going to
> sell the systems as-is, with no way to return a defective product.
> Toshiba will still replace or repair those players, no problems.
>
> Q: Are we soon going to see HD-DVD movies on clearance all over North
> America?
> A: I've looked on ebay, and many HD-DVD movies online have actually
> went down in the last few days alone. As far as locally or in retail
> outlets, I don't know yet. Well, I should correct that. HD-DVDs will
> be cleared out, no doubt about it, if they can't sell off their movies
> with regular prices. We may see more buy one, get one deals, or even
> $9.99 deals.
>
> Q: Some people have said that a person from Oklahoma wouldn't really
> know a lot regarding numbers, technology, and the internet, in
> response of some of what you've said in your first interview. Do you
> have a reply?
> A: I apologize if I've made it sound like our people, from Oklahoma
> and Kansas, are in some type of Mongolian-esque country, with no
> electricity or Internet. We have Internet here, or I wouldn't have
> been able to surf ebay recently myself.
>
> Q: Some other people are taking the exact opposite approach to you
> owning stores in Kansas and Oklahoma, who may believe that if the
> Internet isn't as popular there, that you may be out of touch with the
> mainstream.
> A: Both Kansas and Oklahoma are part of the United States, just the
> same as many other states, and I can not apologize for this. I'd also
> like to think that just because people here like to go in to real,
> physical retail stores and buy stuff, instead of doing all of their
> shopping online, we need the same recognition. We don't have these
> huge gaming LAN parties, which you see on tech tv and such, and as far
> as I know, there are no huge electronics shows here, like CES. These
> two states have many good, honest, hard-working people.
>
> Q: Will combo format players help cushion the fall of HD-DVD?
> A: The concept of combo players is a really great concept, especially
> considering that over 1000 HD-DVDs have been released Internationally.
> Many people may have 10, 20, 50, or even 100 or more HD-DVD movies,
> which could have cost between $19 and $35 per disc. For some, that'll
> be just too much money to lose. With that being said, I can't
> personally recommend combo players, due to the prices of them. Chances
> are, if you've bought an HD-DVD player, you've done so based on price.
> Why not just keep your hd dvd player, maybe even buy a spare when they
> come on clearance sales?
>
> Q: Other than price, why wouldn't you want to buy a combo player?
> A: I'm skeptical about combo players. How long will the concept of
> combo players last in the retail marketplace? Will there be a few
> released, and then a year or two from now, they'll be nowhere to be
> found? Those are question you have to ask, and I really don't see
> combo players lasting in the marketplace myself.
>
> Q: Let's just make this clear. Are you for or against any of the HD
> formats?
> A: I've remained format neutral from the start. It's just a shame that
> a lot of our customers that bought hd dvd players, because they could
> not afford blu ray or ps3 systems, they're going to be forced to buy
> blu ray eventually. The good thing about the blu ray players are that
> once you save up the money to buy one, the movies are really about the
> same price as hd dvd movies. Since blu ray/hd dvd movies have an appx
> sales ratio of 60/40, that also means there are more blu ray movies in
> the market. What that means for blu ray people in general is that blu
> ray movies will be cheaper eventually.
>
> Q: How hard will it be to convert the other 40%, which are HD-DVD
> users, to blu-ray?
> A: Just to be clear, standard def DVDs are still the largest part of
> the video market. The HD market is less than 10% of video formats.
> Their hd dvd players will still support the hd dvds that they already
> have, as well as what clearance hd dvds they can find, but more
> importantly, they are great upconverting dvd players. There are
> thousands upon thousands of standard definition dvds out there.
>
> Some of those hd dvd owners will have to have the other format, and it
> won't be hard for them to choose blu ray. There are many many HDTVs
> that look absolutely horrid on standard definition but great on hi-def
> stuff. If you have one of these televisions and care about picture
> quality, you'll probably switch to blu ray easily.
>
> Previously, I've stated that you also have hi-def satellite
> programming and tivos and such. Some people may not want blu ray just
> yet. According to Microsoft and Apple, every one wants to get rid of
> physical media and do it all through download on demand or iptv.
>
> Q: But do you see download on demand or iptv services becoming
> standard? If so, how about a predicted timeline?
> A: I think Microsoft and Apple are, in some ways, out of touch with
> reality. It's not that we all want IPTV. It's that we'll be forced to
> get it in the future, if we want pay television. Download on demand
> services are already available on the 360 and various other PC
> formats, although they are niche markets.
>
> Q: Why do you believe IPTV will be forced?
> A: IPTV will be more easily tracked, and it could all but stop
> satellite piracy, with just a click of a mouse button. Because of
> this, almost all satellite services, as far as non-commercial, will be
> gone eventually. IPTV will replace both cable and satellites. Now,
> there is still a satellite service that's trying to bring IPTV
> technology over C-Band satellite, via company called National
> Programming Service, but even if it does get off of the ground, it'll
> be a niche market at best, a failure at worst.
>
> Q: You still didn't give a timeline for this IPTV format. Care to
> elaborate? Does this mean new satellites won't be launched in the
> future, etc?
> A: I don't have a timeline for the transition to IPTV format. Look,
> there are many different technologies that we hear about in the
> industry, many of which are far fetched, and some which seem great
> that never even happen. IPTV is something that has been tried and
> tested already, most in condos, which may not have access to small
> satellite dishes, in various states in the United States. Now, IPTV is
> in Europe. It's a tried and tested technology that seems to work. The
> question about IPTV that I'd personally ask about is video quality,
> but as you may know, small satellites don't have the best video
> quality either.
>
> It's not going to effect satellite launches and such, because that's
> where the channels are going to be broadcast from commercially still,
> unless they do eventually quit broadcasting from satellites and do it
> from the internet.
>
> Q: Let's talk about Microsoft now. What are some of the positives and
> negatives Microsoft is going to face, with HD-DVD going out?
> A: Microsoft helped to create the hd dvd format, but they relied on
> both formats to make money. For one, they helped create the vc-1 codec
> and made licensing fees on both hd dvds and blu ray discs from these
> video codecs. When all studios switch to blu ray, that isn't going to
> effect microsoft that much, unless most or all of the studios switch
> to AVC. However, they also created HDi, for hd dvd, but blu ray
> decided to adopt blu ray java instead, meaning that they're going to
> lose a lot of licensing fees because no studios are going to be using
> HDi.
>
> I believe Toshiba wanted to make their own version of the xbox 360, to
> include a built in hd dvd player, but microsoft didn't want that, and
> the reason being, in my opinion, is that microsoft was able to get
> disney, mgm, and various other blu ray exclusive movies on their
> download on demand video rental service on xbox live. That was their
> incentives or payoff for not allowing hd-dvd players in their systems.
>
> A lot of blu ray fans have blamed microsoft for monopolizing the so-
> called format wars, while a lot of hd dvd people will blame microsoft
> for the fall of hd dvd. Can you blame microsoft from wanting to make
> money off of both sides though?
>
> Q: Is there anything else you'd like to say?
> A: Sony has had a lot of bad luck, creating new technologies, with
> betamax, minidisc, umd movies, and various other formats. If anything,
> we should be happy for them that they have finally helped to create a
> technology that just may be around for another five years or more.
> Congrats, Sony!
Sorry Max, but the contract between Paramount and HD DVD was to expire
in February 2009, not February 2008.
Anyone with internet would have known that. Take August 20th, 2007 and
add on 18 months. Where does that land you?
As for dual format players Samsung have already announced that they
would be focusing on Blu-ray from this point on, so you can expect
that the BD-UP5500 is going to be their last dual format player.
At the same time they also announced a new standalone Blu-ray only
player, the BD-P1500.
LG have also stated they will re-evaluate their dual format stance
because of the Time Warner annoucement.
Toshiba from this point on would be the only other company that will
introduce a dual format player. All the other players from Denon,
Marantz, Daewoo, Philips, Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Loewe, Pioneer,
Daytek, Sylvania and others are all Blu-ray players.
Dual format is not a future. It doesn't matter how many titles they've
released, it's nothing compared to the future and how many Blu-ray
discs will be released.
Max is a very uninformed individual.
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