domino360's Profile

Member since June 1, 2006

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    domino360

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  1. Comment - Interview: Universal EVP Ken Graffeo says HD DVD is here to stay

    (Jan 22, 2008 - 4:10 PM)

    I hope Universal is not another jackal.
    Here is what I found about AOL/Warner at www.hometheatermag.com/news/012208didfox/ :

    "...Warner actually wanted to go HD DVD. They gave Toshiba the chance to bring another studio into the HD DVD camp before they turned Blu. Fox was lined up, and told the HD DVD camp it was going to switch to HD DVD, which would've also turned Warner exclusively HD DVD. At the last possible minute, it nixed the deal... It's also been reported in various places that Fox got $120 million in promo cash from Sony, and Warner somewhere between $400-500 million..."

    At the moment studios don't care about which format is technically better. They like the idea that Sony and Toshiba are throwing money at them. I think that kind of cash would do more good if it was donated to UNDP.

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

    (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?

  3. Comment - HD DVD cancels CES press conference after Warner's snub

    (Jan 6, 2008 - 2:53 PM)

    I don’t know if “absolute monopoly” is true for the gaming industry. There are many good titles for both X-box 360 and Wii and they don’t have to adopt Blue-ray into their consoles.
    The fact the HD DVD promoters pulled out of CES, that’s not good news at all. You could say that “absolute monopoly” by Sony is possible in the HD movie industry. The only movie studios left in the HD DVD camp are Paramount and DreamWorks, and I’m sure they don’t want to be left behind in the HD area.
    However, what would be funny is if Disney defects to HD DVD camp. That's a funny story for a soap opera.

  4. Comment - HD DVD cancels CES press conference after Warner's snub

    (Jan 6, 2008 - 12:59 PM)

    OK... my mistake with red laser on HD DVD. But I was trying to get a point here with HD movies that can be made with red laser on normal DVDs. That's something that Blue-ray doesn't allow on playback. Sony wants to make sure that you use only BD disks for any kind of HD content.
    You can create Hi-Def DVDs (up to 60 min) using 4.7 GB Type 5 DVDs (DVD-R). Once you built and formated your DVD on your PC/Mac you can play your movie on HD DVD player only.
    Since most ultra cheap DVD players can't play DVD+R, DVD-R is the preferred choice to ensure it plays on all players. When you submit a master disk for DVD duplication or replication, DVD-R is a must. If you also want your movie to have CSS or Macrovision encryption (copyright protection) then you submit your files on an external hard disk.

  5. Comment - HD DVD cancels CES press conference after Warner's snub

    (Jan 6, 2008 - 2:08 AM)

    Isn't ironic these news came just before CES?
    HD DVD has more in favor than Blue-ray. That’s because of red laser which can also be used in burning DVD-R disks. But the battle between Sony and Toshiba is not about quality, but LICENSES.
    When looking back into VHS history, Betamax was far more superior. But Sony lost because they didn’t own movie studios. Now they do, and they can do whatever they want with the market.
    Since the license fee for Blue-ray is 25 % more than HD DVD, I’ll bet you that Sony in desperation in messing with Toshiba gave 75% discount on license fees to AOL/Warner.
    The biggest looser in this dishonorable behavior from Sony, are the small movie studios who are now forced to pay (if they want HD releases) higher license fees.
    I don’t like swearing, but given what Sony did I must say that they are unconditionally eligible to the biggest MF Club on the planet. Sony reminds me of Wal-Mart, Microsoft, AOL/Warner, Adobe, IBM/AMD, Oracle, oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, Ford, GM, etc…
    So, since people are complacent, nothing is going to be done about this. I guess that future generations will adapt to this kind of behavior by becoming more ruthless than today.