First of all, I will admit, this was a big blow for the BDA. I personally didn't see anything like this coming. But while we are at it. Was this the best way to spend $150 million dollars?


All the hd dvd fans have said that a sub $200 player will win the war. You could have had your sub $200 player. You could have sold 750,000 A2's at $99 bucks each. Or 1.5 million players at $199. Thats not even a cheap chinese player. I bet wal mart would have purchased everyone of those players in a day.

Software, you could have gone to blockbuster and put 5 copies of every hd dvd title available in each of their 2000 stores. You still would have had 75 million left over to subsidize software at amazon, best buy and circuit city. They could have sold 10,000,000 hd dvd's for $12.99 and made a higher percentage margin. I bet all of those retailers would have jumped on that.


IMHO, I think the money could have been put to better use. Those titles were going to be released on hd dvd anyway. Why pay for it???

I am not trying to spin this. It is a BIG deal that this happened. I personally wanted quite a few titles from Paramount/Dreamworks and I would have wanted them on Blu Ray.

I just want to know why the HD DVD forum felt this was the best place to spend the cash????

First of all, I will admit, this was a big blow for the BDA. I personally didn't see anything like this coming. But while we are at it. Was this the best way to spend $150 million dollars?


All the hd dvd fans have said that a sub $200 player will win the war. You could have had your sub $200 player. You could have sold 750,000 A2's at $99 bucks each. Or 1.5 million players at $199. Thats not evern a cheap chinese player. I bet wal mart would have purchased everyone of those players in a day.

Software, you could have gone to blockbuster and put 5 copies of every hd dvd title available in each of their 2000 stores. You still would have had 75 million left over to subsidize software at amazon, best buy and circuit city. They could have sold 10,000,000 hd dvd's for $12.99 and made a higher percentage margin. I bet all of those retailers would have jumped on that.


IMHO, I think the money could have been put to better use. Those titles were going to be released on hd dvd anyway. Why pay for it???

I am not trying to spin this. It is a BIG deal that this happened. I personally wanted quite a few titles from Paramount/Dreamworks and I would have wanted them on Blu Ray.

I just want to know why??

I bet they want you as a main bookkeeper.

Not sure where the online app is.

In case you didn't know studios are quite good in counting the money. Well, some of them. Those which weren't are long gone.

Sorry, I really didn't understand your point.

Sorry, I really didn't understand your point.

My point was they (P/DW) had a perfect idea where to put the money.

We poor souls cannot judge their "financial" decision unless we have a VERY successful business and much better bookkeeping system than they have.

First of all, I will admit, this was a big blow for the BDA. I personally didn't see anything like this coming. But while we are at it. Was this the best way to spend $150 million dollars?


All the hd dvd fans have said that a sub $200 player will win the war. You could have had your sub $200 player. You could have sold 750,000 A2's at $99 bucks each. Or 1.5 million players at $199. Thats not even a cheap chinese player. I bet wal mart would have purchased everyone of those players in a day.

Software, you could have gone to blockbuster and put 5 copies of every hd dvd title available in each of their 2000 stores. You still would have had 75 million left over to subsidize software at amazon, best buy and circuit city. They could have sold 10,000,000 hd dvd's for $12.99 and made a higher percentage margin. I bet all of those retailers would have jumped on that.


IMHO, I think the money could have been put to better use. Those titles were going to be released on hd dvd anyway. Why pay for it???

I am not trying to spin this. It is a BIG deal that this happened. I personally wanted quite a few titles from Paramount/Dreamworks and I would have wanted them on Blu Ray.

I just want to know why??

I agree with your point. However this was a last ditch effort to squelch the 2:1 software sales lead ratio that keeps getting worse for HD-DVD. All the pre-orders for Paramounts upcoming movie's were doing way way better as usual for Blu-Ray. They were able to eliminate all those potential sales at a loss in multiple ways against Blu-Ray. This is truly anti-consumer, but they had no choice since they were losing very badly anyways..

First of all, I will admit, this was a big blow for the BDA. I personally didn't see anything like this coming. But while we are at it. Was this the best way to spend $150 million dollars?


All the hd dvd fans have said that a sub $200 player will win the war. You could have had your sub $200 player. You could have sold 750,000 A2's at $99 bucks each. Or 1.5 million players at $199. Thats not even a cheap chinese player. I bet wal mart would have purchased everyone of those players in a day.

Software, you could have gone to blockbuster and put 5 copies of every hd dvd title available in each of their 2000 stores. You still would have had 75 million left over to subsidize software at amazon, best buy and circuit city. They could have sold 10,000,000 hd dvd's for $12.99 and made a higher percentage margin. I bet all of those retailers would have jumped on that.


IMHO, I think the money could have been put to better use. Those titles were going to be released on hd dvd anyway. Why pay for it???

I am not trying to spin this. It is a BIG deal that this happened. I personally wanted quite a few titles from Paramount/Dreamworks and I would have wanted them on Blu Ray.

I just want to know why??

Excellent points and raises the question. Did they REALLY pay $150 million?

The articles coming out with so called "unnamed insiders" confirming the deals etc etc.

I simply don't see $150 million being paid for this no matter what, especially knowing that the first news of this came from BD propaganda machine.


Hey you know what the bottom line is, if Sony spent pretty much almost 6 billion dollars pushing Blu-Ray not including the loss they bite on PS3 then I would say $150 mill. is change.

My point was they (P/DW) had a perfect idea where to put the money.

I guess I didn't make my point. From a P/DW point of view, it is very smart. They would never make 150 million in the next 18 months off any blu ray or hd dvd. Impossible.

My point was is this the best possible money spent by the HD DVD forum?

Excellent points and raises the question. Did they REALLY pay $150 million?

The articles coming out with so called "unnamed insiders" confirming the deals etc etc.

I simply don't see $150 million being paid for this no matter what, especially knowing that the first news of this came from BD propaganda machine.


Hey you know what the bottom line is, if Sony spent pretty much almost 6 billion dollars pushing Blu-Ray not including the loss they bite on PS3 then I would say $150 mill. is change.

it could have been for a percentage of the technology rights. Estimated at $100 million plus cash. I don't know. I am not on the board, but it does appear to be a lot of money for an exclusive studio.

the best selling hd disce is 300 right? sold maybe 400,000 copies (being generous) of which 300,000 would have been blu ray. Even if warner is making $7 per disc, which is probably high, they are only clearing 2.1 million. Now take 75 movies like that and you break even.

I assumed that the studios that were exclusive were probably given lower usage fees and preferential advertising rights. I really didn't think that obscene amounts of money were being thrown around. I guess I was wrong.

I agree that it is a drop of water in the bucket of losses on Sony's side.

Well, perhaps they didnt do it for the $$$....$150 million that is.

I agree with your point. However this was a last ditch effort to squelch the 2:1 software sales lead ratio that keeps getting worse for HD-DVD. All the pre-orders for Paramounts upcoming movie's were doing way way better as usual for Blu-Ray. They were able to eliminate all those potential sales at a loss in multiple ways against Blu-Ray. This is truly anti-consumer, but they had no choice since they were losing very badly anyways..

At first i thought more 'Sour Grapes', but now i'm thinking its something else as you keep posting the same garbage over & over in every thread you post in.
Take Charge of Your Health (http://www.depression.com/) I hope you find some help there, even Superboy gets Depressed sometimes :)
http://www.thepaperprincess.com/images/large/superboy_lrg.jpg

Well, perhaps they didnt do it for the $$$....$150 million that is.

And they did it for what. That line of BS from the CTO of paramount. That sounded like it was written weeks ago by the dvd forum. He knows less about the formats than anyone on this forum.

Anyone that actually thinks he said that doesn't know how a corporation works.

And they did it for what. That line of BS from the CTO of paramount. That sounded like it was written weeks ago by the dvd forum. He knows less about the formats than anyone on this forum.

Anyone that actually thinks he said that doesn't know how a corporation works.

Perhaps the reasons he stated....is that at ALL possible?

The man attained his current position for a reason. I'm sure he knows a little something about the format.

$150 million is just speculation at this point in time. Just like the earlier post that it was an 18 month contract only. Only Paramount knows the reasons why. I'm sure they are looking long term......beyond 18 months.

Perhaps the reasons he stated....is that at ALL possible?

The man attained his current position for a reason. I'm sure he knows a little something about the format.

Do you think he can say ANYTHING without having some public relations person at his side? A publicly traded company like that has to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. I bet you know a lot more about blu ray and hd dvd than he ever could hope to.

And he probably attained that position by being a cut throat business person. Promotions are not all ways for the best employees. Just the ones that appear to be doing the best.

Perhaps the reasons he stated....is that at ALL possible?

The man attained his current position for a reason. I'm sure he knows a little something about the format.
Because we've learned over the past decade that if anyone can be trusted to speak the whole truth, it's the corporations. No one in a position of power has ever lied to us or distorted the truth.

Or politicians. That is way to funny.

"major combat operations have ceased in Iraq"

Do you think he can say ANYTHING without having some public relations person at his side? A publicly traded company like that has to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. I bet you know a lot more about blu ray and hd dvd than he ever could hope to.

So BDA affiliated execs who wax poetic about capacity and bandwidth advantages are presenting a cogent argument based upon earnestly held beliefs, but those on the other side are slinging pure PR shite, and it's all about the money? Can you say: cognitive dissonance?

I guess I didn't make my point. From a P/DW point of view, it is very smart. They would never make 150 million in the next 18 months off any blu ray or hd dvd. Impossible.

My point was is this the best possible money spent by the HD DVD forum?

Black Monday (TM) will always be remembered as the day the first neutral studio dropped one of the formats, you bet your a** it was worth every single penny.

And they did it for what. That line of BS from the CTO of paramount. That sounded like it was written weeks ago by the dvd forum. He knows less about the formats than anyone on this forum.

Anyone that actually thinks he said that doesn't know how a corporation works.

Let's see....

He is the CTO of a major corporation and an engineer with a very impressive resume according to the bio posted in the insiders thread.

You (and I for that matter) are an anonymous weenie posting on a forum because you are unhappy about the decision he made.

Pardon me if I give his interview more weight than your speculations.

So BDA affiliated execs who wax poetic about capacity and bandwidth advantages are presenting a cogent argument based upon earnestly held beliefs, but those on the other side are slinging pure PR shite, and it's all about the money? Can you say: cognitive dissonance?

No can you please speak in plain english. It goes on with both sides, blu ray and hd dvd. I am not saying that he is the only person guilty of it. But you honestly believe this was a phone/personal interview? It sounds like he had the president of the hd dvd forum giving him crib notes.

Let's see....

He is the CTO of a major corporation and an engineer with a very impressive resume according to the bio posted in the insiders thread.

You (and I for that matter) are an anonymous weenie posting on a forum because you are unhappy about the decision he made.

Pardon me if I give his interview more weight than your speculations.

Thanks for the anonymous weenie comment. That is high class.

I am not losing sleep over the announcement. I just don't see the financial benefit that hd dvd will get over this. 150 million is a lot of money considering the small amounts of money coming in from actual sales of hardware/software on both sides.

If he is the Chief Technology Officer, he might know a little about the formats, but I doubt he knows how to program BD-J and he sure sounded like he was ready to go type code.:D

I just want to know why the HD DVD forum felt this was the best place to spend the cash????
Unless/until the terms of the deal is made public (if in fact, there was a deal), no one, except the people involved with the deal, can answer that question . At this point, all you're doing is making assumptions. And so far, your assumptions don't make sense.

And they did it for what. That line of BS from the CTO of paramount. That sounded like it was written weeks ago by the dvd forum. He knows less about the formats than anyone on this forum.

Anyone that actually thinks he said that doesn't know how a corporation works.
You need to do some research on who Alan Bell, CTO Paramount, is before you form your opinion. Otherwise, you're only making yourself look like an ass.

No can you please speak in plain english. It goes on with both sides, blu ray and hd dvd. I am not saying that he is the only person guilty of it. But you honestly believe this was a phone/personal interview? It sounds like he had the president of the hd dvd forum giving him crip notes.

He say HD DVD have good stuff that BD don't have. Maybe he actually believe it. Maybe it true, Maybe it possible he actually not dumbass, and know WTF he talks about. Maybe that actually make more sense ( anywhere other than Blu-land ) than a one time payoff for in.....in.....sorry, indefinite exclusive deal. Better?

No, but I am glad to see Virginia public schools are up to the task.

Was $150 million deal with Parmount/Dreamworks the best idea??

You betcha!

NOTHING more important than gaining a studio as exclusive the size of Paramount/Dreamworks.

"Content is King"

I have read those three words here at AVS AT LEAST 500 times . . . or more.

Without this announcement HD DVD could have been DOA Q1 2008. Now - totally different story. HD DVD gains . . . BD loses. Not like Lionsgate going neutral or Weinstein going neutral.

No, but I am glad to see Virginia public schools are up to the task.

Perfect example. You've made an erroneous assumption about my educational background. But then, nearly all of us are guessing; some of us are just honest enough to reflect that fact by using qualifiers in our posts. ;)

First of all, I will admit, this was a big blow for the BDA. I personally didn't see anything like this coming. But while we are at it. Was this the best way to spend $150 million dollars?


All the hd dvd fans have said that a sub $200 player will win the war. You could have had your sub $200 player. You could have sold 750,000 A2's at $99 bucks each. Or 1.5 million players at $199. Thats not even a cheap chinese player. I bet wal mart would have purchased everyone of those players in a day.

Software, you could have gone to blockbuster and put 5 copies of every hd dvd title available in each of their 2000 stores. You still would have had 75 million left over to subsidize software at amazon, best buy and circuit city. They could have sold 10,000,000 hd dvd's for $12.99 and made a higher percentage margin. I bet all of those retailers would have jumped on that.


IMHO, I think the money could have been put to better use. Those titles were going to be released on hd dvd anyway. Why pay for it???

I am not trying to spin this. It is a BIG deal that this happened. I personally wanted quite a few titles from Paramount/Dreamworks and I would have wanted them on Blu Ray.

I just want to know why the HD DVD forum felt this was the best place to spend the cash????

I feel for you...

1. You don't know cash was paid.

2. Even if it was, it got a major studio to dump the format you so love dearly...

3. And their CTO sites all the reasons they decided to dump this white elephant...

4. And support is indefinite....

Both the 18 months and $150M cash - both made up by the BDA. It is possible 18 is minimum and $150M is incentives (basically accounting stuff) mostly....but the critical item is that the #1 studio has slapped all BD fan boys in their face with this - 'go to hell' attitude. I feel for you....

but this is just a movie format. Your depression will be temporary :)

Blue Ray will be the biggest disaster in Sony's hallowed hall of failed formats. Disney and Fox are barely behind it and looking for a reason to go neutral....they got it today.

First of all, I will admit, this was a big blow for the BDA. I personally didn't see anything like this coming. But while we are at it. Was this the best way to spend $150 million dollars?


All the hd dvd fans have said that a sub $200 player will win the war. You could have had your sub $200 player. You could have sold 750,000 A2's at $99 bucks each. Or 1.5 million players at $199. Thats not even a cheap chinese player. I bet wal mart would have purchased everyone of those players in a day.

Software, you could have gone to blockbuster and put 5 copies of every hd dvd title available in each of their 2000 stores. You still would have had 75 million left over to subsidize software at amazon, best buy and circuit city. They could have sold 10,000,000 hd dvd's for $12.99 and made a higher percentage margin. I bet all of those retailers would have jumped on that.


IMHO, I think the money could have been put to better use. Those titles were going to be released on hd dvd anyway. Why pay for it???

I am not trying to spin this. It is a BIG deal that this happened. I personally wanted quite a few titles from Paramount/Dreamworks and I would have wanted them on Blu Ray.

I just want to know why the HD DVD forum felt this was the best place to spend the cash????

For impact in the consumer's pyche of how this battle is shaping up which is better the things you listed or a major studio dropping the other format, which they had been supporting too, and press about it everywhere?

I guess I didn't make my point. From a P/DW point of view, it is very smart. They would never make 150 million in the next 18 months off any blu ray or hd dvd. Impossible.

My point was is this the best possible money spent by the HD DVD forum?

This was absolutely the best possible way to spend their money. You're not thinking long term. They'll see that money back 10 fold when 2 things happen.
1-Bluray fails and joins all of Sony's other failed proprietary formats.
2-HD DVD gets mass adoption.

Both are probable at this point. Especially with falling HD DVD player prices and more studio support. But anything can happen. This format war isn't over yet. Let's see what both camps do over the holiday season. I have a feeling that Sony is going down...but not before the gloves come off and things get real messy first.

I agree with your point. However this was a last ditch effort to squelch the 2:1 software sales lead ratio that keeps getting worse for HD-DVD.

2:1 is nothing! Sony have been on the other end of a 20:1 Wii vs PS3 software sales spanking several times this year.

First of all, I will admit, this was a big blow for the BDA. I personally didn't see anything like this coming. But while we are at it. Was this the best way to spend $150 million dollars?


All the hd dvd fans have said that a sub $200 player will win the war. You could have had your sub $200 player. You could have sold 750,000 A2's at $99 bucks each. Or 1.5 million players at $199. Thats not even a cheap chinese player. I bet wal mart would have purchased everyone of those players in a day.

Software, you could have gone to blockbuster and put 5 copies of every hd dvd title available in each of their 2000 stores. You still would have had 75 million left over to subsidize software at amazon, best buy and circuit city. They could have sold 10,000,000 hd dvd's for $12.99 and made a higher percentage margin. I bet all of those retailers would have jumped on that.


IMHO, I think the money could have been put to better use. Those titles were going to be released on hd dvd anyway. Why pay for it???

I am not trying to spin this. It is a BIG deal that this happened. I personally wanted quite a few titles from Paramount/Dreamworks and I would have wanted them on Blu Ray.

I just want to know why the HD DVD forum felt this was the best place to spend the cash????I think the flaw with suggesting the supposed $150M would have been better spent (further?) subsidizing players and/or media is what would they do once the $150M was gone? Raise the prices of the players and/or media back up to today's levels?!? I think consumers would revolt if they were able to buy a player for $99 and some HDM for $12.99 today but in two or three months they're looking at $199 - $299 for a player and $24.99 for HDM. I think the move on the part of HD DVD was a good one. Honestly, aside from the exclusive P/DM deal, when is the last time you've heard and/or seen the letters HD DVD splashed across newspapers, websites, TV, etc. as much as you are right now? If anything, this move has made a lot of people more aware of HD DVD.

IMHO, I think the money could have been put to better use. Those titles were going to be released on hd dvd anyway. Why pay for it???I think a payment of $150 million for 2 studios to go exclusive would strengthen that the same group paying that would also be willing to subsidize players until manufacturing costs come down. Doesn't seem like there would be much reason to pay for one without paying for the other (or at least be willing to if it is needed). The best use for money is often to spread it amongst multiple things, and that goes for both sides.

--Darin

I think a payment of $150 million for 2 studios to go exclusive would strengthen that the same group paying that would also be willing to subsidize players until manufacturing costs come down. Doesn't seem like there would be much reason to pay for one without paying for the other (or at least be willing to if it is needed). The best use for money is often to spread it amongst multiple things, and that goes for both sides.

--Darin

Who said the checkbook is empty?

These are all multi-billion dollar companies (except Weinstein and Lionsgate).

Who said the checkbook is empty?Did you even read what I was responding to? It said, "IMHO, I think the money could have been put to better use" and my response was that the best thing is to spread money around and spending this much in one area would be a strong indicator that they would be (or have been) willing to spend money in other areas also.

--Darin

2:1 is nothing! Sony have been on the other end of a 20:1 Wii vs PS3 software sales spanking several times this year.

Kind of off topic, but at my local CC they have a teeny tiny rack of about 12 PS3 titles. The Wii and 360 are all HUGE. I even asked, is this it for the PS3, and the CC guy said "that's it".

I agree with your point. However this was a last ditch effort to squelch the 2:1 software sales lead ratio that keeps getting worse for HD-DVD. All the pre-orders for Paramounts upcoming movie's were doing way way better as usual for Blu-Ray. They were able to eliminate all those potential sales at a loss in multiple ways against Blu-Ray. This is truly anti-consumer, but they had no choice since they were losing very badly anyways..

Exactly right. Might be great for their pocketbook short term but very bad for the vast majority of HDM consumers.

Kind of off topic, but at my local CC they have a teeny tiny rack of about 12 PS3 titles. The Wii and 360 are all HUGE. I even asked, is this it for the PS3, and the CC guy said "that's it".

My Fry's and Best Buy have a large selection but my CC is just like yours, very limited. Their 360 catalog isn't nearly as large as Fry's or Best Buy's either but still bigger than the PS3's. PS2 is the largest catalog their by far.

It seems to me that they may have had little choice. If Spielberg (who has quite a bit of clout at DW) preferred BD, what with the pressure to end the war and the favorable sales for BD, Paramount may have been looking at going BD exclusive (or at least letting Dreamworks do so).

Anyone wonder why the reports are $50 million for Paramount (with a sizeable catalog) and $100 million for Dreamworks (which has Shrek and...um...)? I would guess that they wren't merely paying for exclusivity, but perhaps changing their intended plans.

If MSFToshiba saw the war ending with studio support going away from them, $150 million would be a bargain to keep it going (not to mention put HD DVD right back in the running again).

ottscay, considering Microsoft has paid 3rd parting gaming studios well over $40,000,000.00 to simply keep 1 game (potential series) off the PS3 this move isn't shocking.

No doubt it was a poor move for the consumer, but from HD-DVD's point of view it was a great move I think and good value. The amount of press coverage and positive discussions for HD-DVD have been incredible. In reality HD-DVD gained no new movies, but it struck a major phsycological blow to the BD alliance.
HD-DVD seems to have ovenight to have gone from deaths door to back in the running.

I'll chime in OP's post. Was $150 even paid? According to Paramount, they never said they paid anything. There was no confirmation from any credible source. As far as I know the 2 so called sources from Viacom could have been in charge of BR when Paramount was neutral. Seeing how they got rid of BR, those exec could have lost their jobs and spreading FUD. So the question shouldn't be if the $150 million is a good idea, but, was $150 million ever true? Until I see concrete proof, all these figures are just speculation and FUD.

If Toshiba/HD DVD Group could spend $1B to buy every studio's exclusivity (sans Sony Pictures obviously), I bet they'd do it. In the short term, they'll take losses, but if you look at the long term RoR (say 10 yrs), they'd be cashing in big-time. Think of it in similar terms to a business purchasing another business like AMD buying ATi. AMD takes a very large short-term charge, but they're looking down the road for profit.......hopefully. ;)

No doubt it was a poor move for the consumer, but from HD-DVD's point of view it was a great move I think and good value. The amount of press coverage and positive discussions for HD-DVD have been incredible. In reality HD-DVD gained no new movies, but it struck a major phsycological blow to the BD alliance.
HD-DVD seems to have ovenight to have gone from deaths door to back in the running.

You call these positive discussions? Most high def consumers (whom the majority are Blu-Ray owners) are pissed off at this decision because it was done without taking into accounts consumer preference. If you call HD-DVD attacks on everyone who supports Blu-Ray in forums with vitriol positive, then you have a twisted sense of what is going on.

You call these positive discussions? Most high def consumers (whom the majority are Blu-Ray owners) are pissed off at this decision because it was done without taking into accounts consumer preference. If you call HD-DVD attacks on everyone who supports Blu-Ray in forums with vitriol positive, then you have a twisted sense of what is going on.

Hold on there, I'm a BD suporter. I just said that from HD-DVD's point of view, it seems to have done wonders for confidence in the format.
Of course its against consumer preference, that what I said at the start of my post.

You call these positive discussions? Most high def consumers (whom the majority are Blu-Ray owners) are pissed off at this decision because it was done without taking into accounts consumer preference. If you call HD-DVD attacks on everyone who supports Blu-Ray in forums with vitriol positive, then you have a twisted sense of what is going on.

how do you come to the conclusion that consumer preference is with Blu-ray and not HD DVD? Is it because of the 2:1 sales margin?
If you read the interview with Bell and Pc World, you'll notice that he makes mention of something that Blu-ray supporters have been saying doesn't matter- attach rates. The studios have noticed that fewer HD DVD owners buy more discs amongst themselves than many times larger force of PS3 owners. This is something that speaks to a long term strategy- not short term novelty.

as for the original posters question- I don't think anyone showed up at Parmamounts gates with a suitcase full of cash- but if they had it would have been money well spent. I've been arguing for months that the best use of resources for HD DVD would be financial incentives to studios to go exclusive- its far better than the HD DVD bus tour or advertising blitzes in national magaizines and network tv. This is a substantial move that generates massive word of mouth which always trumps even saturation advertising.

People also seem to forget that Toshiba wins even if HD on disc is slow to catch on- because they still get the royalties from sd DVD. it is only if Blu-ray supplants dvd quickly that Toshiba loses...and that simply will not happen.
on the other hand, there is almost no way for Sony/Bd to 'win' because at this point it is clear that any move to HD is going to be a slow phase in transition for the majority of consumers- this will take many, many years and Sony just can't afford to bleed that long by investing in lines that can do nothing other than replicate Bd discs. This was/is the trump card of HD DVD- it allows for a slow, protracted phase in. Bd doesn't which is going to end up being its achilles heel.

I can't see the 2:1 software lead of BR as anything but misleading. You have 1.8M BD players including PS3 compared with only 400T HD DVD players inlcuding xbox add-on sold over the last year. That's almost 5:1 hardware lead. And yet you only have 2:1 software lead!!! I consider that a poor attach rate. Compare that to the 400T of HD DVD with almost 1.3M titles sold. Now that's a high attach rate for HD DVD that studios cannot overlook. I think it's the growth rate and attach rate that one should look. If HD DVD hardware sales are increasing, which they do especially considering that they will be the first to break the $200 mark, their strong attach rate will translate to titles sales faster than BD in any future period. OTOH, they must have seen the poor growth of PS3 sales bottoming out as there have not been any exclusive PS3 killer games lately. And the selling price of BD players that are almost always twice as much as any HD DVD players. Couple that with the fact that BDA is said to have ended its subsidy in the production of BD titles as they are more expensive to produce than HD DVD, then I quess the decision to junk BD make sound business sense. With or without a bribe.

The winner of the format battle can easily gain the confidence of the consumer by offering a trade in the the current player for the winner. Offering a good price for the looser would be a smart move and would get consumers to buy more disks.