Posted by Derek Janssen on 10/17/07 05:02

Lloyd Parsons wrote:
>
>>>
>>>And Netflix is seeing more interest in HDDVD vs Blu Ray.
>>
>>They're seeing more RENTALS than Blu-ray, if that's the numbers they're
>>counting.

>>And I repeat: Guys, it's *okay* now. There's nothing wrong with liking
>>Blu-ray in public anymore.
>>Blu-D00d hasn't been back here in months.
>>(we must conquer our fears and traumas)
>
> But I think the reason for the Netflix HDDVD results is that for those
> that rent, the HDDVD player at less than $300 is a much better buy.
>
> And since the only real practical difference between the two formats is
> which studio is releasing for them, I think we will continue to see the
> same percentages for quite some time.

As far as studios, it's hardly fanboyism to say that
Paramount/Dreamworks took a BIG public-relations hit with the
"promotional incentives" they thought we wouldn't notice--
As long as we're counting on ignorant average people to save HD-DVD, the
biggest headlines they've heard of it are that somebody bribed
somebody--or worse, that Probably-Microsoft bribed somebody--and that
doesn't carry much positive association when the retail outlets for the
disk software begin decreasing.
Paramount's exclusivity "incentives" only last for an eighteen-month
renewable deal through Feb. '09, at which point we can imagine they'd
just *RUSH* to renew format exclusivity in a heartbeat...It was just
eighteen picnic months of fun for them! ;)

And with studios believing that there will be some Halo-like opening-day
frenzy for "Transformers", the headline that ended up attached to that
is that Paramount implied they were forced to leave quality audio tracks
off the HD-DVD release because there was "no room" on the 30G disks...
For all the blu-side bragging and red-side jeering that gets kidded
about the disk-capacity issue, here we have the first headline-grabbing
test case for the courts. Joe Q. ILoveCheapPlayers may not know what
TrueHD audio is, but the tech news just couldn't resist playing a
Transformers-related story on Page 1.

> If the phony war was over today, I see no way that BD would win.
> Players are more expensive while being less featured. The PQ/AQ of what
> is actually released on both is the same when the studios bother to take
> advantage of it. The BD camp is in disarray with the new profiles
> supposedly coming at the end of the month, but yet no new profile player
> will be on sale before next year. And while my HDA2 has played every
> HDDVD I ever stuck in it without a firmware upgrade,

(...Wow, the DVD combos too? A good third of current owners would love
to have your player.)

> The signals coming out of the BD mfgs and studios is mass confusion
> about what it takes to create a market that is profitable and popular.
> The new ads talk about the interactive stuff in the newer profiles with
> no machine capable of doing that on the market. Call it potential or
> call it lies, but what it is, is deception. And that is a shame.

It's not deception to say that the disks have it and the players might
play it *someday*...And "someday" doesn't seem to bother BD fans all
that much.
Public perception still blames That Darn War for why companies haven't
been able to even standardize their own product, and although it's
currently Hip 2 Be Cynical about what's going on in Euro...er, Hi-Def,
cynicism and bi-loyalty isn't getting the player profiles out any faster.

If fear is dragging the market , it's fear of being stuck with 07's
stagnant product before '08 delivers any promised goodies.
Which makes adaptability to future systems the new scrip currency on the
Blu side of the war.

Derek Janssen (not a PS3 fanboy, just Tokyo-Rose'ing for the war to end
and the factories to reopen)
ejanss1@verizon.net

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