Posted by T.B. on 01/06/08 02:58

"willbill" wrote:
>
>> Blu-Ray was winning the HD format war in North America and Asia,
>> but not Europe, until the Dreamworks/Paramount buyout.
>
>
> up front, i'm in the USA and recently
> bought a 3rd gen Toshiba A35 player
>
> what on earth is Warner thinking of?
>
> i mean, how on earth is this Warner
> decision going to reduce BD standalone
> player prices in the USA?
>
> as far as i can tell, it won't
>
> Warner has just shot themselves
> in the foot
>
> i wonder how Europe will take this?

Good Lord, get a grip.

Warner Bros made the right move. At least they didn't pull a Paramount and
stop releasing titles the week they made the announcement.

If this stalemate continued into '09 or beyond, it would have likely
consigned both formats to the dustbin of other failed competing formats like
DVD audio and SACDs. As it stands, it already may be too late but at least
with the possibility of only one HD disc format by the end of this year, HD
via blu-ray has a chance of gaining a decent hold on the home video
marketplace in a couple years.

And really, the same misguided hair-pulling was made at the end of the 90's
by laserdisc fans when dvds first hit the consumer marketplace. Software and
especially hardware prices eventually dropped, just about every obscure
movie imaginable has been released on dvd (some, half a dozen times or more)
and the media quickly outgrew the initially crummy transfers that dogged
many releases the first few years of the media's existence.

And really, blu-ray is technically a better format than hd-dvd.

T.B.

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