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Warner Bros. says it fulfilled obligations to Toshiba, HD DVD

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

January 7, 2008, 9:30 PM

BetaNews asks Ron Sanders a question

Following the Blu-ray press conference Monday afternoon, BetaNews briefly spoke with Warner Bros. President Ron Sanders about the studio's decision to go Blu-ray and a potential lawsuit from Toshiba.

BetaNews: Warner Bros. is involved in the DVD Forum and was involved in the development of HD DVD. You also were one of the first studios to utilize Microsoft's VC1 codec. Toshiba has hinted that you may have violated contractual obligations to them over HD DVD. Are you concerned they might file a lawsuit over this? Do you have a contract in place to support HD DVD?

Ron Sanders: Clearly, [Toshiba and the HD DVD Promotional Group] have reason to be upset... But we fulfilled our obligations to them. That's why we will continue to provide movies in the HD DVD format through May rather than stopping now. They very well could file a lawsuit, but we have done everything that was required of us. We did not violate any contract.

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By skimore

posted Jan 9, 2008 - 5:07 PM

NOTE TO TOSHIBA: You want to win this war.. Sell the players for $100... EVERYWHERE.. you will win.. and do something for us IT people and sell the Disc's cheap(.25$) and writers(under 100$) cheap so we can use this media to backup our data!!!! (There is no doubt in 2 years this stuff will be this price..) If you think your losing the battle dump your inventory. better then a total loss...

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Jan 10, 2008 - 1:31 AM

Actually, now I believe if they truly want to profit from this major setback, they need to count their losses, regroup, and start showing the industry and consumers how the best Blu-ray players on the market should be designed.

Score: 0

By Riothedog

edited Jan 9, 2008 - 12:09 PM

Warners Problems stem from making the disc's Combo'ss as owner of both Blu-ray and HD-DVD when givin the choice of HD Combo and Blu-ray single I went with Blu-ray , but overall I prefer HD. I have had trouble with every blu-ray player and have none with the Toshiba players. ( Have had Sony and Sharp players only have the Sharp player left we junked the Sony .)

Score: 0

By darkzero63

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 10:22 AM

Name one good movie that has come from the Warner studio as of late?

Score: 0

By NULLedge

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 12:24 PM

Planet Earth, Ocean's Thirteen, Batman Begins

off the top of my head that's three. im sure there are more if i put my mind to it. cant be asked to invest the effort

Score: 0

By plague201

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 2:16 PM

I agree, minus Oceans 13...

Score: 0

By PSXp-ONE

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 11:16 PM

Minus Batman Begins, just Batman & Batman Returns still remain THE BEST out of all the BATMAN movies!!

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

edited Jan 8, 2008 - 12:05 AM

Clearly, [Toshiba and the HD DVD Promotional Group] have reason to be upset... But we fulfilled our obligations to them.

If even WB admits they clearly have reason to be upset then it must be even worse than BN is making it out to be.

"They very well could file a lawsuit"

Wow, what a quote! I have little doubt Sony indeed paid them half a billion dollars for him to say something of that nature! That means that WB benefits even if they're sued.

I have so many things I want to say about WB and Sony right now that are screaming from my insides--but putting them here cannot change the situation for the better. I'll say them aloud rather than wasting my 'breath' here.

Score: 0

By plague201

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 2:25 PM

Na, don't be upset thats just how businesses work. The highest bidder always wins.

Score: 0

By PSXp-ONE

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 1:05 AM

"But we fulfilled our obligations to them" - sounds to me like they are in their total right to ABANDON them.

Score: 0

By NULLedge

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 12:26 PM

i could feel like it was in my total right to punch my boss, but that doesnt mean it is

Score: 0

By PSXp-ONE

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 11:12 PM

Now that sounds more like a matter of choice! but it wouldn't be "right" to stay with something you don't want either, and who knows, how do you really KNOW is not right to punch your boss?

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Jan 7, 2008 - 11:38 PM

While Warner may not have violated any contracts they showed no class by making this announcement without warning Toshiba first so they could come up with a response. They are with HDDVD until May so they could of easily given a little notice. Totally classless on Warner's part if you ask me.

Score: 0

By PSXp-ONE

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 1:02 AM

LMFAOOO!! What do you want a two week notice? lol

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Jan 10, 2008 - 12:41 AM

They did give a 2-week notice.

Two weeks ago they announced that they were still clear supporters of HD DVD, and had no plans or intentions to change that.

Score: 0

By fernz33

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 2:39 AM

hahaha... 2-week notice. Classic!

Wait, didn't they give a 20 week notice. Paramount gave no notice. Now that's job abandonment.

Score: 0

By PSXp-ONE

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 11:13 PM

lol

Score: 0

By domino360

posted Jan 7, 2008 - 10:48 PM

In the corporate world, loyalty comes at price. Toshiba offered $150 million, and most likely Sony offered $300 million with no license fees. If I was Warner, the second offer was more attractive with of course questionable ethics that can easily be covered with stock options.
Warner also claims that DVD sales were down. It’s not the consumers fault if Warner didn’t have a good year.
Also, here is a challenge for both Blue-ray and HD DVD – downloadable movies.
Convincing people that BD or HD are better than standard DVD is very hard. Especially since most new DVD players also have 1080i enhancement. On top of that, if you want to truly appreciate BD or HD, how many people can afford a really high end hi-fi system with 50 inch plasma?
Another issue is the cable/satellite companies that also provide HD channels, and you can also record movies with DVR, or HD DVR, or TiVo. With appropriate software you can extract your recorded programs and burn a DVD. On top of that we have iTV from Apple and coming soon Netflix in the downloadable movie business.
So, how is Sony going to convince that Blue-ray is the ultimate choice? Is it only through PS3? Are movie studios desperate for a quick fix to satisfy share holders in the short term?

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 2:52 AM

First, I just wanted to say I am format neutral. I have both a Toshiba HD-XA2 HD-DVD player and a Sony PS3. Upscaling standard DVD's to 1080i does not make standard definition video look any better. Upscaling simply makes the video fit your screen instead of having a postage stamp sized video in the middle of your TV screen. I have a 24-inch HD monitor with a native resolution of 1920x1200. I only use HDMI and DVI for high definition video. Since I only sit 5 feet away from the monitor I can see a big difference between upscaled 480p video and 1080i/p video. As for cable and satellite TV HD channels, there is one problem. Most budget HD monitors cannot correctly deinterlace 1080i video. This is true even if the monitor's native resolution is 1920x1080 or higher. The video processor discards half of the vertical resolution so you only get 1920x540 resolution which results in a significant degradation of image quality. Since the video processors in current cable and satellite TV set top boxes don't support deinterlacing 1080i video internally at all this is a very big problem.

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Jan 9, 2008 - 12:30 AM

To even entertain the notion that standard-definition DVD upscaled to 720p or 1080i/p does not look any better... well, actually it's ludicrous, and simply proves that either you don't know what you're talking about, or your upscaler isn't worth a crap.

Score: 0

By dizzy_davidh

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 9:12 AM

"Upscaling standard DVD's to 1080i does not make standard definition video look any better. Upscaling simply makes the video fit your screen instead of having a postage stamp sized video in the middle of your TV screen" - ???????????????

I'm sorry but that is utter crap. Up-scaling makes a huge difference if you have a unit that does the job properly (e,g. Samsung HD850).

Score: 0

By NULLedge

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 12:30 PM

at 24inches you can barely tell the difference

Score: 0

By dvferret

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 8:05 AM

Yes, and its rather irritating.

Score: 0

By Setian^Stalker

edited Jan 8, 2008 - 7:14 AM

Yes but you are also smarterthan the average consumer :)

Score: 0

By Niro

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 10:03 AM

Actually...he's not

"Upscaling standard DVD's to 1080i does not make standard definition video look any better. Upscaling simply makes the video fit your screen instead of having a postage stamp sized video in the middle of your TV screen"

Is outright wrong...

Score: 0

By fernz33

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 2:44 AM

Care to back any of this up...... ohhhh wait... you can't can you.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Jan 9, 2008 - 3:30 AM

It doesn't matter if you use a Silicon Optix Reon video processor, a Faroudja video processor, a Mediatek video processor like the one found on the Oppo Digital DV980H DVD player or the software based upscaling in the PS3 (I'm currently using firmware version 2.10 in the PS3). The video still looks soft compared to the sharp picture of true 1080p video. This is true even when watching 480p video that was originally shot in high definition (such as the newer Battlestar Galactica TV series for example). I notice this because unlike most people I have a small home theater room and only sit 5 feet away from my monitor. If you have a medium to large sized room for your HDTV and you sit at least 10-15 feet away from the TV then unless you have a 60-inch or larger TV the soft picture may not be as noticeable.

Even the best and most expensive video processor can not magically add video from the original HD studio recording that was never present on the standard definition DVD to begin with.

Score: 0

By yountmj

edited Jan 10, 2008 - 1:38 AM

To be fair, you originally stated that standard DVD's simply did not look better upscaled for high-definition displays. I believe the way you stated it suggested that you meant "under any circumstance". Further elaboration in your next response solidifies that opinion.

I do not believe anyone was claiming otherwise to what you have just stated. Most everyone was responding to your previous claim that upscaled DVD simply does not look better at all, and took issue with that... not that it looked as good as or equal to true HD material.

Of course it's not going to rival HD DVD or Blu-ray (well, perhaps aside from some early Blu-ray titles), but the video processors found on quite a few universal DVD players today (especially Denon and Oppo models) offer significant improvements in picture quality with standard-definition material over run-of-the-mill DVD players. No one definitely suggested that it magically added what isn't there in the first place.

Some image processors are more effective than others, as I'm sure you're aware. DVD players that simply upscale the material to fit the native resolution of HD displays and nothing more... yes, you are correct. It's simply making it fit the larger screen, and the missing lines of resolution afterwards leave a lot to be desired. But, to suggest that Faroudja processors do not make standard-definition material look better in 720p or 1080i/p is just ridiculous, bud.

I bought the DV-980H specifically for it's critically-acclaimed audio and video performance, quality, and features (actually, the 7.1-channel analog outputs are what put it over the top for me). The price-to-everything ratio was just too hard to resist. It's an outstanding player.

BTW, good to see another BSG fan. :)

Score: 0

By fernz33

posted Jan 9, 2008 - 4:21 PM

Sorry I stopped reading your comment... You lost me at "Silicon Optix Reon..."

I was referring to back up the payoff claims.

Score: 0

By DavisFreeberg

posted Jan 7, 2008 - 11:25 PM

If Sony is willing to spend that kind of money to secure a monopoly on HDTV DVD distribution, then what does that tell you about the screwing that consumers are taking? Warner Brothers could have published to both platforms, but couldn't resist the allure of the cash. Until both sides learn to play together, I will be sitting this one out.

Score: 0

By dvferret

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 8:06 AM

I agree, it would be the best for both sides to work things out and join forces somehow.

Score: 0

By ChrisAllen

edited Jan 8, 2008 - 2:29 PM

Something that should have been done initially to prevent the format wars that prove to hinder the adoption of new technologies. It is just ironic that all the major players involved in the DVD forum could not generate the capacity to see a single format was the only way to bring HD disc technology to the masses, and then make it happen.

Score: 0

By Mystiqq

posted Jan 8, 2008 - 1:41 AM

No doubt this is a huge victory for consumers around the world. End of sarcasm.

Score: 0

By rorge

edited Jan 10, 2008 - 11:22 AM

I don't see how this can be a good thing for anyone; not the studios, the hardware manufacturers, or the consumers.

Right now Sony appears hell bent on tightening the Blu-Ray copy protection scheme with every update of the firmware. In usual Sony fashion this only makes the hardware and media more prone to compatibility problems and harder for the end consumer to use.

More frightening is the fact that blu-ray costs more to produce than HD DVD. Up until now Sony has been underwriting the cost of producing every disc to keep prices in line with HD DVD. Do you think Sony will keep doing this once HD DVD folds? Of course not and the price will jump.

Add to that the fact that Blu-Ray players still cost almost twice that of HD DVD players and you see real problems with Blu-Ray catching on any time soon.

Even if Blu-Ray succeeds and HD DVD goes away this year, I see little chance of it succeeding.
Mainly because DVD is not going anywhere. Studios may well drop HD DVD but they are never going to drop DVD until blu-ray is widely adopted.

With blu-ray discs two to three times the price of DVDs, blu-ray players costing 10 times more than DVD players, severe copy protection headaches and no way to back up blu-ray or transfer the content to your iPod, psp or home network blu-ray is not going to overtake DVD for years.

Sony is lining themselves up to create another UMD or SACD format.

Prices have to come down and Sony has to back off on the draconian copy protection methods for this format to have a chance.

Score: 0

By Kane99

edited Jan 12, 2008 - 8:31 AM

It isn't good, and it's gonna get worse. But it happened before. People are not aware of the differences, the specifications and usually they just don't care until it's too late. A typical consumer will just choose what is cheaper. However, there are still some that will go for the "bigger" thing, which is in this case blu (but only by a narrow margin, and even that is debatable).

I'm not agains anyone, but let me tell you this: what do you preffer of the two: a town where you are watched all the time with surveillance cameras and all you do is known or a town where you can do whatever you want? Awareness is important.

Unfortunately, if SCE wins this battle, dvds will start to dissapear step-by-step. They will lure the consumer at first with price cuts, special offers, until they can put the "old" dvd on the shelf of forgetfullness.

And now for the people who support blu camp: if SCE wins, this might turn against you, and then there will be nothing you'll be able to do about that. As monopoly, they will dictate how the market goes and where.

Keep in mind that HD DVD is the approved format, while BluRay is just something cooked up by the same company that put rootkits on your computer so that you can't make a copy of your rightfully purchased disk. THAT is what you will be getting in the future, in various flavors.

Score: 0

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