According to a story from Home Media Retailing Magazine (http://www.homemediaretailing.com/) , Kornblau has been promoted and will now oversee all digital activities for Universal Studios, with the title- President, Universal Pictures Digital Platforms.

He becomes the 2nd ever, along with Warner's Kevin Tsujihara, top executive that oversees both digital and packaged media in home entertainment.

The story mentions his role as spokesman for the HD DVD camp and "waging and uphill fight against Blu-ray Disc and its contingent of supportive studios".

Responsiblities:

-electronic sellthrough
-HD DVD
-Video-on-Demand
-technology group
-digital entertainment group (wireless, mobile, gaming)


This on the heels of having Ken Graffeo appointed as executive in charge of HD DVD operations for Universal Studios a few months ago.

Congratulations to both of these men. Regardless of where you stand in the format war, you can't deny the job Universal Studios has done with HD DVD software deserves high praise. Along with Warner, they have been among the most prolific providers of HD disc releases in terms of quantity, quality, special features, and interactivity.

Regardless of where you stand in the format war, you can't deny the job Universal Studios has done with HD DVD software deserves high praise. Along with Warner, they have been among the most prolific providers of HD disc releases in terms of quantity, quality, special features, and interactivity.

I certainly agree that Universal has produced generally outstanding results in their high def titles and they deserve to be congratulated for that, despite recent playback problems. But Warner has not done anything remotely like what Universal has done and clearly does not deserve to be paired with Universal in this way.

I don't know what differences these promotions will make, but it does seem to project a focus on HD from their infrastructure.

But Warner has not done anything remotely like what Universal has done and clearly does not deserve to be paired with Universal in this way.I can think of many extradinary WB releases: Batman Begins, Corpse Bride, Scanner Darkly, POTO, Casablanca, Grand Prix and later this month The Matrix Trilogy will set the new standard. I know where you are coming from but if Warner isn't 2nd to Universal, then who?

Kornblau is a stage name, right?

Universal still owes us a proper HD transfer of Traffic.

I certainly agree that Universal has produced generally outstanding results in their high def titles and they deserve to be congratulated for that, despite recent playback problems. But Warner has not done anything remotely like what Universal has done and clearly does not deserve to be paired with Universal in this way.

Patrick, did someone from Warner Bros. kick your dog or something? Your bile for that studio is unreasonable and unwarranted.

Patrick, did someone from Warner Bros. kick your dog or something? Your bile for that studio is unreasonable and unwarranted.

My attitude toward Warner is a result of my feelings as a dissatisfied consumer. My feelings about them are genuine and deeply held and are based entirely on my experience with their high def discs and no other factors. You are of course free to disagree.

Any specifics? I know a couple early releases from Warner had some problems (POTO, Perfect Storm), but overall I think Warner is doing a kick ass job.

Universal still owes us a proper HD transfer of Traffic.

If they even have a HD transfer to use. Of course there is one, we've seen it, but Universal might not have access to it for whatever stupid reason.

I'd like to know what Steven Soderbergh thinks about his film being presented so shoddily.

Universal has done about the best job of any studio at supplying HD DVD content. If that is the goal, then Kornblau and Graffeo deserve commendation.

Unfortunately for Universal's bottom line, the better the job that they do with HD DVD, the less money Universal will make off of nextgen.

The reason is that Universal is now the major source of propping up HD DVD. By doing an excellent job, Kornblau and Graffeo assure that the format war will continue. As long as the format war continues, both nextgen formats will continue to be niche formats.

Together, Blu-ray and HD DVD now have about 2% penetration. I believe this would increase to 10% overnight if the format war were to end.

If Universal were to support Blu-ray, their sales would more than double immediately, and go to a factor of 10 once HD DVD folds.

The harder these guys work, the less money their company makes. And they get promoted??

Universal has done about the best job of any studio at supplying HD DVD content. If that is the goal, then Kornblau and Graffeo deserve commendation.

Unfortunately for Universal's bottom line, the better the job that they do with HD DVD, the less money Universal will make off of nextgen.

The reason is that Universal is now the major source of propping up HD DVD. By doing an excellent job, Kornblau and Graffeo assure that the format war will continue. As long as the format war continues, both nextgen formats will continue to be niche formats.

Together, Blu-ray and HD DVD now have about 2% penetration. I believe this would increase to 10% overnight if the format war were to end.

If Universal were to support Blu-ray, their sales would more than double immediately, and go to a factor of 10 once HD DVD folds.

The harder these guys work, the less money their company makes. And they get promoted??
Apparently their job performance isn't judged on the basis of your biased excuse for logic.

Universal has done about the best job of any studio at supplying HD DVD content. If that is the goal, then Kornblau and Graffeo deserve commendation.

Unfortunately for Universal's bottom line, the better the job that they do with HD DVD, the less money Universal will make off of nextgen.

The reason is that Universal is now the major source of propping up HD DVD. By doing an excellent job, Kornblau and Graffeo assure that the format war will continue. As long as the format war continues, both nextgen formats will continue to be niche formats.

Together, Blu-ray and HD DVD now have about 2% penetration. I believe this would increase to 10% overnight if the format war were to end.

If Universal were to support Blu-ray, their sales would more than double immediately, and go to a factor of 10 once HD DVD folds.

The harder these guys work, the less money their company makes. And they get promoted??If what they are doing causes the Blu-ray camp to lower their player prices this Christmas, then Universal could end up selling more movies in HD even if HD DVD loses, than if they had gone neutral or switched sides. Basically, the pressure could make Blu-ray be more successful as far as how many players and discs get sold, even if the margins on players don't end up being what some in the BDA want.

There is also that interesting factor where a studio on the losing side could end up making more money in the long run (since their content would be more fresh on the other format later on than if it had already been released on that format).

--Darin

I believe this would increase to 10% overnight if the format war were to end.Faith is the belief in the impossible to prove.

If Universal were to support Blu-ray, their sales would more than double immediately, and go to a factor of 10 once HD DVD folds.Ah, it's so nice to see a fresh viewpoint. As pointed out a million times before, switch Blu-ray for HD DVD and vice versa and it is still flawed

The harder these guys work, the less money their company makes. And they get promoted?? That is obviously not a factual statement.

My faith is this: At some point in time people are going to have to wake up to the fact that statements like the above belong in the urban myth section of the fossil museum and it's way past the time to move on and accept life in the present tense. Whether you like it or understand it or not or whatever, we have 2 hi-def formats. Neither one is going to magically\instantly go away and solve all of the perceived problems and solutions that you have invented.
How long will it take for this to sink in?

I certainly agree that Universal has produced generally outstanding results in their high def titles and they deserve to be congratulated for that, despite recent playback problems. But Warner has not done anything remotely like what Universal has done and clearly does not deserve to be paired with Universal in this way.


IMO Warner has done more for DVD than any other studio (Next to MGM before Sony got their mitts on them), and they are now bringing the same care and attention to HDM. They have a fantastic catalog and know what to do with it, FOX never did.

My attitude toward Warner is a result of my feelings as a dissatisfied consumer. My feelings about them are genuine and deeply held and are based entirely on my experience with their high def discs and no other factors. You are of course free to disagree.
It's funny but I feel exactly this way about Fox. I think WB has done a good job thus far.

kinda different than what has happened to some prominent Blu-ray BDA Sony executives isn't it? :D

;)

kinda different than what has happened to some prominent Blu-ray BDA Sony executives isn't it? :D

;)


For good reason.

I think the HD-DVD focus on economy and efficiency rather than BD's focus on high cost technology, high-end CE's, patent and non-fair use rights will prove Universal's choice in spades. The BD surge given by PS3 will be submerged when the economies of HD-DVD hit the mass market. These guys get promoted, while the other side gets "promoted"

My attitude toward Warner is a result of my feelings as a dissatisfied consumer. My feelings about them are genuine and deeply held and are based entirely on my experience with their high def discs and no other factors. You are of course free to disagree.
Yeah, but come on. Seriously - it's getting old. It's gotten to the point where nearly every other post of yours is a bash on Warner. We get it. You're unhappy. Understood.

<snip>
Together, Blu-ray and HD DVD now have about 2% penetration. I believe this would increase to 10% overnight if the format war were to end.
<snip>

Uh... not with $600-1200 BD players.

Why are BD fanboys completely incapable of understanding that $1,000 players simply do not grow formats quickly. Good grief, Sony certainly didn't WANT to lose $250-300 on each PS3 it sold; but they wanted to grow their format and they also knew that $1,000+ players were no way to get substantial market penetration.

BD fanboys are constantly poo pooing Universal for not supporting BD; well I applaud them for backing HD DVD 100%. Why in the world should I be giving some sort of strange allegiance to a couple of greedy studios that insist I purchase a BD player that costs twice as much as what HD DVD is offering - without even giving me any noticable benefits?? I'm supposed to cough up an extra couple of hundred bucks so Fox can not release any movies and develop BD+? Or so Disney can have region coding? Uh.. no thanks.

It's funny but I feel exactly this way about Fox. I think WB has done a good job thus far.
I have to agree. Warner has been responsible for more disc purchases (either HD or DVD) from me in the last few months than most of last year. Between Paramount and Fox you'd think BD had cooties or something.

*Dangles a tootsie roll with 'BD+' on the wrapper, hanging off a string, in front of Fox execs*

Come on... come on... I know you want it...

I think the HD-DVD focus on economy and efficiency
Maybe this dude will drop prices on combos? I damn well hope so. Otherwise, just kill the damn things.

(I like the concept of combos, but only if they actually work, and don't cost significantly more.)

Yeah, but come on. Seriously - it's getting old. It's gotten to the point where nearly every other post of yours is a bash on Warner. We get it. You're unhappy. Understood.

I'm very pleased to learn that my message is being heard. Perhaps it will be heard by Warner and contribute to a change in their practices.

I could see 10% after a month. In any discussion on the news, magazines, in newspapers, or by reviewers for a year leading up to the release of the two formats and pretty much through December and you still get some today, they say "Wait until one format wins". Universal could end it by at least going neutral and this would be best for HD format as a whole as one format is better and neither format will take off until it happens, and if sony was the only studio for Blu-ray the same arguments would apply for them to go neutral. My parents and their freinds reason for not buying a HD player is they don't want to spend that much for something that may be worthless in a year or two.

People are easily confused, they don't know why one disc won't work in all the players so they just decide not to get either.

I could see 10% after a month. In any discussion on the news, magazines, in newspapers, or by reviewers for a year leading up to the release of the two formats and pretty much through December and you still get some today, they say "Wait until one format wins". Universal could end it by at least going neutral and this would be best for HD format as a whole as one format is better and neither format will take off until it happens, and if sony was the only studio for Blu-ray the same arguments would apply for them to go neutral. My parents and their freinds reason for not buying a HD player is they don't want to spend that much for something that may be worthless in a year or two.

People are easily confused, they don't know why one disc won't work in all the players so they just decide not to get either.

Why is it only Universals job to go neutral? Cant the other guys like Fox go neutral?

Works both ways me thinks! :D

People are easily confused, they don't know why one disc won't work in all the players so they just decide not to get either.

The old "everyone is retarded but me argument" eh? They can buy the right video games for their consoles, buy dog food for the dog and cat food for the cat, even sort their socks, but not figure out the difference between HD DVD and BD packages? :rolleyes:

Nice of you to be concerned, I suggest all studios no neutral, and leave it up to us to decide. Then we will just pick the best bang for our buck and it will all be over just as fast.

Uh... not with $600-1200 BD players.

Why are BD fanboys completely incapable of understanding that $1,000 players simply do not grow formats quickly. Good grief, Sony certainly didn't WANT to lose $250-300 on each PS3 it sold; but they wanted to grow their format and they also knew that $1,000+ players were no way to get substantial market penetration.

BD fanboys are constantly poo pooing Universal for not supporting BD; well I applaud them for backing HD DVD 100%. Why in the world should I be giving some sort of strange allegiance to a couple of greedy studios that insist I purchase a BD player that costs twice as much as what HD DVD is offering - without even giving me any noticable benefits?? I'm supposed to cough up an extra couple of hundred bucks so Fox can not release any movies and develop BD+? Or so Disney can have region coding? Uh.. no thanks.

Great post, I fully agree. Even if Universal would switch sides I would not buy Bluray. Too expensive. It is as easy as that. I would go back to DVD and watch from time to time my HD DVDs. Bluray..... like Sony's memory sticks in my cell phone - they are insanely overpriced compared to the competing micro SD cards. Why are they so expensive? Because Sony is greedy and wants the extra money you get from a monopoly. I don't want to get scalped by Sony with Bluray. So it is either HD DVD or DVD for me.

And I hope Universal keeps up its great work!

I don't know what differences these promotions will make, but it does seem to project a focus on HD from their infrastructure.

I can think of many extradinary WB releases: Batman Begins, Corpse Bride, Scanner Darkly, POTO, Casablanca, Grand Prix and later this month The Matrix Trilogy will set the new standard. I know where you are coming from but if Warner isn't 2nd to Universal, then who?

Yep. Kudos to Warner as well.

I could see 10% after a month. In any discussion on the news, magazines, in newspapers, or by reviewers for a year leading up to the release of the two formats and pretty much through December and you still get some today, they say "Wait until one format wins". Universal could end it by at least going neutral and this would be best for HD format as a whole as one format is better and neither format will take off until it happens, and if sony was the only studio for Blu-ray the same arguments would apply for them to go neutral. My parents and their freinds reason for not buying a HD player is they don't want to spend that much for something that may be worthless in a year or two.

People are easily confused, they don't know why one disc won't work in all the players so they just decide not to get either.

When player prices get to $199 nobody is going to care since the risk becomes next to nothing for most. The $199 player will play DVDs and upconvert and if it becomes "throwaway" in a year or two no-one will lose any sleep over it. Right now the market is driven by early adopters. With $299 to $350 HD DVD players and 5 movies thrown in many BD supporters are either buying them or considering it so that they can have access to Universal titles. Universal's lose is fading as HD DVD prices continue to fall. Any arguments about Universal losing money by not servicing both formats can be made about the other exclusive studios. This "my way or the highway" and "I know what's good for you" attitude is very tiresome and smakes of elitism and arrogrance and is extremely condescending. Let all studios be neutral so the formats can compete on a level playing field and we'll see if the consumer considers 50 gb dsics and higher bandwidth a fair tradeoff for a higher priced product! Cat got your tongue?

Cheers,

Grant

Uh... not with $600-1200 BD players.

Why are BD fanboys completely incapable of understanding that $1,000 players simply do not grow formats quickly. Good grief, Sony certainly didn't WANT to lose $250-300 on each PS3 it sold; but they wanted to grow their format and they also knew that $1,000+ players were no way to get substantial market penetration.

BD fanboys are constantly poo pooing Universal for not supporting BD; well I applaud them for backing HD DVD 100%. Why in the world should I be giving some sort of strange allegiance to a couple of greedy studios that insist I purchase a BD player that costs twice as much as what HD DVD is offering - without even giving me any noticable benefits?? I'm supposed to cough up an extra couple of hundred bucks so Fox can not release any movies and develop BD+? Or so Disney can have region coding? Uh.. no thanks.
I've said before:

If I didn't already have a 360 HD DVD drive (for which I paid US$175 including a free disc), I'd buy an HD DVD standalone when it got close to $199.

However, I'd buy a combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player when it got close to $299.

I'm very pleased to learn that my message is being heard. Perhaps it will be heard by Warner and contribute to a change in their practices.

The problem is that your opinion of the studio is wrong, no matter how often you repeat it. Fortunately, the majority of reasonable consumers don't share your views.

Have you considered the possibility that the reason you prefer Universal transfers is that Universal often adds edge enhancement and artificial sharpening to give their transfers more "pop", while Warner doesn't, hence your mistaken belief that their discs are "soft"?

Why is it only Universals job to go neutral? Cant the other guys like Fox go neutral?

Works both ways me thinks! :D

There is a big strategic difference between the position that Universal has compared to the other "players".

Universal is the only exclusive HD DVD major. Hence, by the single corporate act of going neutral, Universal can end the format war and increase its own nextgen profits.

No single BDA studio has this power. If Disney goes neutral, that would prolong the format war, not end it. If Fox goes neutral, then HD DVD supporters get to join BDA supporters in waiting for an announcement that may never come. :)

In multi-person game theory, a single player who has a move that will end the game has a lot of power. This is the situation Universal is in.

The question is: will Universal remain satisfied with taking nextgen crumbs, or do they want the main course?

If Sony went neutral, the foundation would crumble and all other exclusives would not fear being threatened by the big blue and both formats would compete fairly in the marketplace where the blue ray player prices would kill the format.

As far as Warner, I can only imagine how good things would be if every studio was doing as good a job as they are. That's a dream.

--Darin

If Sony went neutral, the foundation would crumble and all other exclusives would not fear being threatened by the big blue and both formats would compete fairly in the marketplace where the blue ray player prices would kill the format.

Wtf are you on about, Sony are never going to produce a HD DVD, not now that they have a large potential userbase to sell to.

Seriously, Disney - maybe, Fox - probably not, Sony - never ever, ever.

Seriously, Disney - maybe, Fox - probably not, Sony - never ever, ever.

You mean just like they never put out a VHS movie ? :p

I guess they will not do HD DVD if both the HiDef formats remain niche (like SACD/DVD-A) - but they will put HD DVD discs out of HD DVD wins and becomes mainstream.

As far as Warner, I can only imagine how good things would be if every studio was doing as good a job as they are. That's a dream.

--Darin

If you own HD DVD, yes, they have done a very good job.

If otoh you own Blu-ray, then no, they have done a substandard job, not optimising releases to the strengths of the format isn't cool. Also they have still got to release a bunch of titles on BD that are already on HD DVD (Batman Begins, and a personal favourite of mine - Constantine). They very rarely use lossless/uncompressed audio which Disney, Sony and Fox do on all of their titles. So to summarise, WB have not done a great job for BD for a purportedly neutral studio.

You mean just like they never put out a VHS movie ? :p

I guess they will not do HD DVD if both the HiDef formats remain niche (like SACD/DVD-A) - but they will put HD DVD discs out of HD DVD wins and becomes mainstream.

Not in the context of what the above poster was suggesting, that Sony would go neutral BEFORE Disney or Fox.

As far as Warner, I can only imagine how good things would be if every studio was doing as good a job as they are. That's a dream.

--Darin
Agree 100%.

If otoh you own Blu-ray, then no, they have done a substandard job, not optimising releases to the strengths of the format isn't cool.
Not as if you could hear or see the difference, it's the principle. :rolleyes:

Universal still owes us a proper HD transfer of Traffic.

You may want to try and import the title since is going to be release outside the states by SC as of may 21

here is the link....


http://hddvdformat.blogspot.com/2006/12/studio-canal-hd-dvd-titles-in-france.html

rlsmith,

Together, Blu-ray and HD DVD now have about 2% penetration

could you please provide a link for your estimate. By all other accounts, HDM penetration is way less than 1%.

For example, DVD is a 24 billion dollar industry. Divide that into 4 quarters, and you get roughly 6 BILLION per quarter.

Grubert recently posted a link indicating that first quarther HDM sales amounted to 30 MILLION dollars.

The question is: will Universal remain satisfied with taking nextgen crumbs, or do they want the main course?

but the simple fact of the matter is that it is ALL crumbs right now. There is no real money. If Universal switched, they would make a few million more dollars (emphasis on few) and that would be about it.

There is a big strategic difference between the position that Universal has compared to the other "players".

Universal is the only exclusive HD DVD major. Hence, by the single corporate act of going neutral, Universal can end the format war and increase its own nextgen profits.

No single BDA studio has this power. If Disney goes neutral, that would prolong the format war, not end it. If Fox goes neutral, then HD DVD supporters get to join BDA supporters in waiting for an announcement that may never come. :)

In multi-person game theory, a single player who has a move that will end the game has a lot of power. This is the situation Universal is in.

The question is: will Universal remain satisfied with taking nextgen crumbs, or do they want the main course?
You keep saying things as if they are fact, when actually they are totally your speculation. I feel almost completely opposite of you. Both formats are too established now for one of them to just go away. Oh, maybe in a couple of years Blu-ray will decide to fold, but we are going to have TWO formats for the forseeable future. I don't think that there is any reason for Universal to go neutral since I feel that HD DVD is going to be a huge success(notice how I express what I think as an opinion). I think almost everyone would agree(even the Blu-ray fanatics) that if all of the studios were neutral then HD DVD would certainly win easily. Blu-ray is totally dependent on the PS3. The Blu-ray stand-alone players are crippled and way overpriced compared to the value of HD DVD. Any average consumer that gets talked into buying a stand-alone Blu-ray player right now is going to be really pissed when he finds out that it isn't fully functional--that has to backfire on Blu-ray to some degree. Also, sales of the PS3 are not going as well as expected, and now with talk of a PS4 in 18 months, some potential buyers might decide to wait for an even more advanced console. If Blu-ray was more developed and almost every title was a BD50 that looked BETTER than HD DVD titles, then I would be right there with you saying HD DVD must die, but the TRUTH of the matter is that HD DVD titles look every bit as good as even the best Blu-ray titles, if not even better. Blu-ray movies should look a whole lot better than HD DVD according to the "much better specs" but for some reason they don't.

There is a big strategic difference between the position that Universal has compared to the other "players".

Universal is the only exclusive HD DVD major. Hence, by the single corporate act of going neutral, Universal can end the format war and increase its own nextgen profits.

No single BDA studio has this power. If Disney goes neutral, that would prolong the format war, not end it. If Fox goes neutral, then HD DVD supporters get to join BDA supporters in waiting for an announcement that may never come. :)

In multi-person game theory, a single player who has a move that will end the game has a lot of power. This is the situation Universal is in.

The question is: will Universal remain satisfied with taking nextgen crumbs, or do they want the main course?


Why would Universal go neutral? They have invested more in the next generation of optical media than any other studio. Universal will be the first studio to release 100 films, why would Universal want to waste its time re-releasing its films on Blu-Ray, when they could just re-release a "super limited Seabiscuit" on DVD and have >10000% sales over any possible BR version.

According to a story from Home Media Retailing Magazine (http://www.homemediaretailing.com/) , Kornblau has been promoted and will now oversee all digital activities for Universal Studios, with the title- President, Universal Pictures Digital Platforms.

He becomes the 2nd ever, along with Warner's Kevin Tsujihara, top executive that oversees both digital and packaged media in home entertainment.

The story mentions his role as spokesman for the HD DVD camp and "waging and uphill fight against Blu-ray Disc and its contingent of supportive studios".

Responsiblities:

-electronic sellthrough
-HD DVD
-Video-on-Demand
-technology group
-digital entertainment group (wireless, mobile, gaming)


This on the heels of having Ken Graffeo appointed as executive in charge of HD DVD operations for Universal Studios a few months ago.

Congratulations to both of these men. Regardless of where you stand in the format war, you can't deny the job Universal Studios has done with HD DVD software deserves high praise. Along with Warner, they have been among the most prolific providers of HD disc releases in terms of quantity, quality, special features, and interactivity.

That lay to rest (if it's true) any questions about Uni having second thoughts about HD DVD - Bill Hunt et al were flat out wrong about Uni's change of management being somehow related to their shift in HD strategy. I believe he and others are being fed stuff by the BDA that is being passed off as Uni insider info ;)

... I feel almost completely opposite of you...
Could this be an example of liberal arts vs science? Or, wiishful thinking vs reality.

rlsmith,



could you please provide a link for your estimate. By all other accounts, HDM penetration is way less than 1%.

For example, DVD is a 24 billion dollar industry. Divide that into 4 quarters, and you get roughly 6 BILLION per quarter.

Grubert recently posted a link indicating that first quarther HDM sales amounted to 30 MILLION dollars.



but the simple fact of the matter is that it is ALL crumbs right now. There is no real money. If Universal switched, they would make a few million more dollars (emphasis on few) and that would be about it.

The 2% comes from sales of disks for key titles like The Departed that are available in equivalent versions on all three formats. Actually, it is a bit less than 2% for that particular title (about 1.75% according to my calculations).

If you follow the Nielsen Videoscan numbers, which are published weekly in homemediamagazine.com and other sources, it is pretty easy to come up with a number a bit less than 2% as a generality for recent disks on all 3 formats. I think this number can be made reasonably hard from published reports and is not just a guess.

I think looking at disk sales for key titles is more reliable than looking at player sales since a number of other factors are at work there including the game consoles.

It is also not reasonable to look at total sales $ because so few nextgen titles are published. You are right that if you look at those $ totals, you see much less than 2% as a "penetration", but there are 10's of thousands of DVD titles availabe with hundreds coming out all of the time. Staggering output really.

Yes nextgen is all crumbs right now and will remain so until the format war is finished.

Looking at HDTV sales, we now have a penetration of about 30% in the US. This is expected to increase very rapidly in the next two Christmas selling cycles, especially with the end of NTSC broadcasts coming in early 2009.

I do not think that it is unreasonable to project that nextgen penetration will climb to 10% quickly once the format war has closed. So, for Universal, this would represent about a factor of 10 increase over their current nextgen sales (since they have deliberately and enthusiastically confined themselves to the format that is selling fewer disks).

As to Universal's Mr. Kornblau (the subject of this thread), it is not clear what the connection between Universal and HD DVD really is. I have read many speculations, none of which seem compelling. [Events have proven the "HD DVD is more reliable/cheaper/easier to press disks for/supports VC-1 better" arguments to be fallacious. I also cannot believe the various stories of personal emnity.]

If the current Blu-ray/HD DVD sales trends continue, it is hard to believe that Universal will not figure out, as I and others already have, that they can greatly increase their sales by putting an end to the format war, and that they and they alone have the power to do this with a unilateral action.

This will apparently not happen before January 2008 at the earliest. By then, it is conceivable that HD DVD will have a resurgence based on cheaper players. It is also possible that a stalemate may have developed as downloading captures more mindshare and hard media formats become passe.

For a long time I thought that downloading would not replace hard media, but I am beginning to wonder if Hollywood may prefer it. Lots of things going on there. You might also note that Mr. Kornblau is also in charge of electronic distribution.

Frankly, I am beginning to think that the studios might prefer seeing a future with downloading based on a PPV module and no more media to sell (and give up control over forever).

Does anyone know what the REAL connection between HD DVD and Universal is?

For a long time I thought that downloading would not replace hard media, but I am beginning to wonder if Hollywood may prefer it. Lots of things going on there. You might also note that Mr. Kornblau is also in charge of electronic distribution.

Frankly, I am beginning to think that the studios might prefer seeing a future with downloading based on a PPV module and no more media to sell (and give up control over forever).
You're not the only one that noticed the new job title had "digital distribution" in it.

Sorry, but I'm not going to a PPV module. I want the discs to play whenever I want, or parts of them whenever I want. I also like collecting and having a tangible library of movies I can see and touch. If the studios decide otherwise, then I guess I'll just sell off my home theater equipment, upgrade my boat, & spend more time fishing. :D

Does anyone know what the REAL connection between HD DVD and Universal is?
Real as opposed to.....? Maybe they just preferred a finalized spec, mandatory network capabilities and lower production costs. Are you implying its something more mysterious or secretive?

You're not the only one that noticed the new job title had "digital distribution" in it.

Sorry, but I'm not going to a PPV module. I want the discs to play whenever I want, or parts of them whenever I want. I also like collecting and having a tangible library of movies I can see and touch. If the studios decide otherwise, then I guess I'll just sell off my home theater equipment, upgrade my boat, & spend more time fishing. :D

I may join you. :)

I have never believed that any "rental"/PPV model can replace the revenue from selling collectable copies of movies. I think people pay hugely to be able to "own" their disks.

In their hearts, studio bosses have never wanted to sell copies.

Every studio is jumping as fast at they can at the download systems (which work very badly IMHO) while they drag their feet on nextgen.

Could this be an example of liberal arts vs science? Or, wiishful thinking vs reality.


Since game theory impresses you, let me try out a scenario:

1. Each studio has the following decision to make - stay exclusive or neutral.

2. A studio will stay neutral IF they believe that the payout from being exclusive is higher than being neutral.

3. Being exclusive assumes that one format will win - the one the exclusive studio is backing.

4. Their decision is based on sacrificing short term revenue/profits for long term benefits of having one format.

5. So the longer there are 2 formats the greater the cost of staying exclusive.

6. Based on this, the highest payoff is for neutral studios since the cost of winning the war is being borne by the exclusive studios.

7. So, a neutral studio will ALWAYS have a higher pay off than an exlcusive studio no matter what.

8. Game theory would say that the equilibrium will be for all studios to be neutral. Remember Fox or Disney or even Sony has no advantage over Warner or Paramount, neither does Uni. I would bet that WB has the highest payoff right now (since they ar even reusing the same encode for both formats whereas Paramount still encodes twice). So, IF you're talking Game theory, everyone should be doing what Warner is doing....that IS the highest payoff for any player. In other words it IS the Nash Equilibrium :)

9. Unless, a studio is being paid to support one format which is greater than their expected pay off for being neutral (this can include bribes, royalties and subsidies....)....or is bounf by a contract.

So, that's a logical sequence of events that leads to a conclusion.

IF studios are neutral which format will they favor? The one where profit per unit sold is the highest....

Also, given that the current stakes are so small, the studios are really not forced to make an optimal decision since making the wrong decision has a small cost associated with it.

Blu-ray movies should look a whole lot better than HD DVD according to the "much better specs" but for some reason they don't.
It's all Warner's fault, the B******S.

<snip>
Also they have still got to release a bunch of titles on BD that are already on HD DVD (Batman Begins, and a personal favourite of mine - Constantine).
<snip>
So to summarise, WB have not done a great job for BD for a purportedly neutral studio.

Ok, you simply cannot hold those HD DVD exclusive titles against Warner. Warner WANTS to relase them on BD, but they want to release them with the bonus features they've created. You can blame those missing titles directly on Sony for still not having a finalized your favorite format a full year after launch. Or for not requiring PiP capabilities until well after BD's one year anniversary.

Sony launched BD before the software OR hardware was ready. Don't blame WB for expecting Sony to step up and meet its software and hardware requirements that it promised but has not delivered yet.

Every time I think of this, I still cannot believe that the BD group released a bunch of $1000-1200 movie players that will not be able to play video commentary tracks on movies like Batman Begins when they hit BD. My rinky little $300 Toshiba HD-A2 can do this right now, how can a $1200 Panasonic BD player NOT?? Beta-Ray indeed...

Ok, you simply cannot hold those HD DVD exclusive titles against Warner. Warner WANTS to relase them on BD, but they want to release them with the bonus features they've created. You can blame those missing titles directly on Sony for still not having a finalized your favorite format a full year after launch. Or for not requiring PiP capabilities until well after BD's one year anniversary.

Sony launched BD before the software OR hardware was ready. Don't blame WB for expecting Sony to step up and meet its software and hardware requirements that it promised but has not delivered yet.

Every time I think of this, I still cannot believe that the BD group released a bunch of $1000-1200 movie players that will not be able to play video commentary tracks on movies like Batman Begins when they hit BD. My rinky little $300 Toshiba HD-A2 can do this right now, how can a $1200 Panasonic BD player NOT?? Beta-Ray indeed...

Yep!

Ok, you simply cannot hold those HD DVD exclusive titles against Warner. Warner WANTS to relase them on BD, but they want to release them with the bonus features they've created. You can blame those missing titles directly on Sony for still not having a finalized your favorite format a full year after launch. Or for not requiring PiP capabilities until well after BD's one year anniversary.

Sony launched BD before the software OR hardware was ready. Don't blame WB for expecting Sony to step up and meet its software and hardware requirements that it promised but has not delivered yet.

Every time I think of this, I still cannot believe that the BD group released a bunch of $1000-1200 movie players that will not be able to play video commentary tracks on movies like Batman Begins when they hit BD. My rinky little $300 Toshiba HD-A2 can do this right now, how can a $1200 Panasonic BD player NOT?? Beta-Ray indeed...

1. Most missing titles (e.g., Mutiny on the Bounty, which I will buy) do NOT have any features that will not work on Blu-ray. My guess is that the sales on HD DVD were so poor (see Videoscan data) that they simply forgot about this and other titles.

2. WRT special features (e.g., Batman Begins), my personal opinion is that I don't care about IME or other "interactive features" for which facilities to not exist yet on Blu-ray. Just give us the movie! It is ridiculous to hold up titles for stuff that many/most people just don't care about. We will see how Blood Diamond goes, which is apparently a test of just this point.

Sorry, but I'm not going to a PPV module. I want the discs to play whenever I want, or parts of them whenever I want. I also like collecting and having a tangible library of movies I can see and touch.
Reading this I realized just how much I already am on a distribution model myself. All my music comes from Napster ($15/mo), and most of my movies come from Netflix ($toomuch/mo :)). I actually enjoy having a fixed fee to hear and watch whatever I want.

The rub with both however, and the reason why I will still buy the odd CD and movie, is because both services have an annoying tendency to simply 'lose' titles. What songs worked one day on Napster may not work the next. A queued title on Netflix might be banished to 'saved' hell. Some of this is technical glitches, some distribution agreements/rights, others just political maneuvering.

But the end result is, if you've listened/watched the title before, then you may never get to again. If you've never seen or heard it, then you may never be able to. And if you're looking for indie titles or niche products, then good luck. The MPAA and RIAA seem to be the only groups in the world who believe that not selling product increases sales. (Well, maybe Nintendo... :))

rlsmith,

I think looking at disk sales for key titles is more reliable than looking at player sales since a number of other factors are at work there including the game consoles.

The $30 million dollar figure I quoted was for disc sales, not hardware sales. Furthermore, even if you look at the estimated numbers in the Nielsen thread you have a combined sale of 200-300K sale of discs per month. Supposedly SD DVDs sell in the 10s of millions discs every month.

So again, disc sales track at less than 1%. Furthermore, if you go back to the Mondato article at the beginning of the year, it said that iTunes sold more movies than HDM across the board. Picking "key" titles depends on who is picking them, and one could always argue that the wrong titles were picked.

, that they can greatly increase their sales by putting an end to the format war, and that they and they alone have the power to do this with a unilateral action.

How can they greatly increase their sales if the discs overall arent selling.

Personally I dont see a massive switch to HDM if one format wins. If BD wins, the players are still too expensive for mass adoption. Most people are not going to shell out $500 for a player.

So, IMO two things need to happen for widespread adoption - one format and low player prices, even though most BD supporters say player prices are not a major factor.

1. Most missing titles (e.g., Mutiny on the Bounty, which I will buy) do NOT have any features that will not work on Blu-ray. My guess is that the sales on HD DVD were so poor (see Videoscan data) that they simply forgot about this and other titles.

Very likely, agreed.

<snip>
It is ridiculous to hold up titles for stuff that many/most people just don't care about. We will see how Blood Diamond goes, which is apparently a test of just this point.
No way can they test extras vs non-extras on HD by releasing on two formats a month apart. The data would be totally useless.
Besides, studios have already tested the validity of including "stuff that many/most people just don't care about" on DVD and have found apparently that its worth the effort. Studios will continue that trend on HD media, regardless of format. Just like they'll continue the trend of multi-disc sets to achieve an appearance of "value" to consumers. Dreamgirls and the upcoming Pirates 1&2 release come to mind.

Personally I dont see a massive switch to HDM if one format wins. If BD wins, the players are still too expensive for mass adoption. Most people are not going to shell out $500 for a player.
DVD players were more expensive than that when the format debuted. Fortunately we aren't still using VHS. If BD becomes the only 'standard' then prices will fall for both players and discs as volumes increase. It always works that way. If HD-DVD wins, well it's already got inexpensive players and titles. Maybe investment in triple layer discs will get serious attention in that case, and title releases will accelerate.

Players and discs for DVD had their growing pains too. The only difference this time is that the movie studios are eying the format war as a major profit center, which wasn't the case with DVD initially. Thus they aren't trying to help anything win, they just want to milk sales (and minimize costs) for any format as much as possible. That means the consumers (us) lose.

wildfire,

DVD players were more expensive than that when the format debuted

First, no they werent. I bought the base Toshiba unit a month after it was released for $500. IIRC, the step up model was about $1K, which is where HD and BD started.

If one format wins, prices will fall eventually, but not for awhile. If BD were to win today, prices at Christmas would be essentially where they are now.

The only difference this time is that the movie studios are eying the format war as a major profit center, which wasn't the case with DVD initially

The studios have the same reasons for HDM as they did for SD - declining sales of either DVD or VHS tapes and they were looking for a new revenue stream and a way to sell their catalog titles one more time.

Thus they aren't trying to help anything win,

You have obviously forgotten the whole DIVX fiasco with CC, Disney and Fox on one side and most of the other studios on the other. The studios were trying to win something, and the issues were essentially the same - copyprotection from making bit perfect copies that could be pirated. One player (Fox) is still playing the same game - DIVX and BD for the enhanced copy protection.

kinda different than what has happened to some prominent Blu-ray BDA Sony executives isn't it? :D

;)

I think this summarizes this topic.

First, no they werent. I bought the base Toshiba unit a month after it was released for $500. IIRC, the step up model was about $1K, which is where HD and BD started.
OK. The list for the SD-3000 was over $700. I bought an A2 HD-DVD player for about the same as I bought my first DVD player, ironically. Of course none of these prices are corrected for inflation. At the least we can say that neither format started out inexpensive.

The studios have the same reasons for HDM as they did for SD - declining sales of either DVD or VHS tapes and they were looking for a new revenue stream and a way to sell their catalog titles one more time.
Well that's the thing. Unlike the music industry, the DVD industry seems to still have a phenomenal amount of life in it. This whole HD thing is almost an artificial push for something the masses don't need, and don't really want, hence the issues we're having now with formats. So I think most studios don't want to play the HDM game, and thus we're seeing the release issues.

After all, if a studio really wanted to maximize profits, the solution is straightforward and easy: you release all your titles, as soon as possible, on both formats. If HDM as a whole dies, you made an extra sale per user (at best). If one format dies, then you have some of those people re-buying those titles on the winning format. And by releasing bare-bones titles, without IME and whatnot, you avoid compatibility issues and create a wonderful situation to re-release a title yet again, as a full-featured product.

So I have to think profits have nothing to do with any of this, aside from possibly Warner, who is both taking profits and playing politics. I'm not going to dig up the sales charts to figure out if that is being profitable for them.

You have obviously forgotten the whole DIVX fiasco with CC, Disney and Fox on one side and most of the other studios on the other. The studios were trying to win something, and the issues were essentially the same - copyprotection from making bit perfect copies that could be pirated.
DIVX was different, IMO. It was a process where your discs were by default restricted and unplayable. BD+ is merely ensuring you actually bought the disc. You can then take it and play it anywhere, unless and until the key for that copy is revoked. But I have no false impressions of Disney and Fox... neither of them are the consumer's friend.

Overall though I would prefer no serious copy protection. AACS is enough to deter grandma from making a bootleg. If you want to play statistics... CSS for DVD was cracked and sales actually increased, thus the less copy protection you have, the more sales you will have. :D And no matter what, pirates will always have a way to get the movie in HD, frame by frame, and no pirate is going to sit there and not release a title because it isn't a "bit perfect" copy (nor will those who buy pirated titles hold back for that reason).

The fundamental problem is that all of us here love film, and want it on the best possible format. And we think that the execs love film and want to give it to the consumer in the best possible format, and that's where the disconnect happens: they don't, as you noted. They want to give us the crappiest, most bare-bones product possible while still making their quarterly profits go up. At least I think so.

The fundamental problem is that all of us here love film, and want it on the best possible format. And we think that the execs love film and want to give it to the consumer in the best possible format, and that's where the disconnect happens: they don't, as you noted. They want to give us the crappiest, most bare-bones product possible while still making their quarterly profits go up. At least I think so.

This is the most important thing about this war, the only reason it is even happening is that the Studios want to sell their big catalogue titles to us again, but this time for a higher price and with less work on their part. All these companies care about is their bottom line, optical discs and our enjoyment of them is just a byproduct of that.

I can guarantee that if the big seven found a way to auto-destruct all of our DVDs tomorrow and sell us the same DVDs instead of HDM, they would do it in a flash as it would have no cost on their part, just us and we wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it.

Call me cynical, but I am a byproduct of this consumer society, and this is what I see happening all the time.

According to a story from Home Media Retailing Magazine (http://www.homemediaretailing.com/) , Kornblau has been promoted and will now oversee all digital activities for Universal Studios, with the title- President, Universal Pictures Digital Platforms.


Very interesting.

Esp. given this rather speculative / nasty post about leadership change in Universal posted sometimeback by joshd2012.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=800567

Where he added

Could Blu-ray be part of his "turnaround plan"? Changes are coming.

Not really. There has been much speculation about this exact thing happening, and that the current leadership was the only reason why Universal went with HD DVD. Its really not that reaching at all.

Guess what. The current leadership got promoted.

This is the most important thing about this war, the only reason it is even happening is that the Studios want to sell their big catalogue titles to us again, but this time for a higher price and with less work on their part. All these companies care about is their bottom line, optical discs and our enjoyment of them is just a byproduct of that.

I can guarantee that if the big seven found a way to auto-destruct all of our DVDs tomorrow and sell us the same DVDs instead of HDM, they would do it in a flash as it would have no cost on their part, just us and we wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it.

I think it is funny how some here sweat every spec and feature a given formats software is capable of, when I often doubt that the studios are going to load-up our plates with extras if they don't think the title in question warrants the added expense. If things get rolling, in many cases it won't.

As far as self-destructing DVDs, I'd never buy another if they pulled a stunt like that. I'd consider it a divine message that I was throwing my life and resources at something that truly had no value, and was not meant to be owned.

This is the most important thing about this war, the only reason it is even happening is that the Studios want to sell their big catalogue titles to us again, but this time for a higher price and with less work on their part.

I don't think thats the only reason. The main reason is the so called deceleration of DVD sales.

As with everything else, corporations rarely do things for one & only one reason.

All these companies care about is their bottom line, optical discs and our enjoyment of them is just a byproduct of that.

Well, if you owned their stock, you sure hope that is what they are concerned about.

Very interesting.

Esp. given this rather speculative / nasty post about leadership change in Universal posted sometimeback by joshd2012.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=800567

Guess what. The current leadership got promoted.

Good memory.

Sometimes I wonder how many outright false 'steering' posts someone has to make before they are permanently banned at the IP level?