Posted by Derek Janssen on 04/09/07 16:03

Jay G. wrote:

> Well, you guys get your wish, as Universal seems to be stopping combos for
> catalog titles:
>
> http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/04/03/universal-giving-up-on-hybrid-hd-dvds/
>
> I read somewhere else that one studio is going to re-release some previous
> combos as HD DVD only, but I can't find the link at the moment.
>
>
>> Do they actually think their target market is folks that don't have
>>HD DVD yet, but intend to UG in the future?
>
>
> No, I think they feel the target market for combos are for people who own
> multiple TVs and DVD players and only have one HDTV or HD DVD player at the
> moment. So these people can buy one disc and watch it in their living
> room, their bedroom, the car, on a plane, at a friend's house, etc.
>
> The idea of a combo disc is solid, it's just the fact that they cost more
> that's the real negative. If they cost the same as regular HD DVDS, I
> think combo discs would have a lot more fans.

No, I'm still on the side that Universal made the hybrid disks for
Chickens Like Us:
Ie., that HD was going to be "consumer friendlier", help ease timid
undeclared fans in gradually, and reassure them that they didn't have to
"replace their library" overnight on the new-release titles...
Which transition image would've welcomed more new fans into considering
buying the hardware technology than Sony's self-absorbed buy-it-all blitz.
(Eg., Paramount previously planning to release "Star Trek:TOS 2.0" on
combo disk, to exploit the hi-def features, but not have millions of
disgruntled fans complaining that they were keeping the series "away"
from them and "forcing" them to buy expensive new machines.)

Unfortunately
A) the price caught studios right smack *between* the brave people who
were going whole-hog for one format, and the regular people who couldn't
care less, and
B) Three was literally a crowd: For disks they were hoping to sell HD
with, the DVD side was just becoming a liability--Why bother to waste
space on one side of the disk for the "old" format, when Warner could
use a 2-sided disk for BOTH new formats?

That doesn't proclaim the "death" of HD overnight, but does take away
one of its prime sources of recovery.

Derek Janssen
ejanss@comcast.net

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