http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/33489/128/

Paramount and Dreamworks go HD-DVD: Sony’s curse continues
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Strangely enough, the success of this hinges on Disney, if Disney (who is in heavy competition with Dreamworks and Paramount) concludes as they did that HD-DVD is where the money is, they are likely to switch camps and many may not realize that Disney was actually one of the key architects for the HD-DVD platform and switched sides for political reasons. I’m not convinced the why behind that move is going to survive close scrutiny once Disney’s board starts asking about the Paramount and Dreamworks move and I would love to be in the meeting when that is discussed.
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What was the political reason Disney switched before, and will it make them switch back now?

(Tnx to Bob Black)

I'll give you a hint. The first word is "Region" and the second? "Coding".

ummm... I think Sony going HD-DVD is just as likely.

ummm... I think Sony going HD-DVD is just as likely.

I don't think so, but I doubt Disney is going anywhere ATM.

Disney like Region Coding and they are really interested in the BD+ protection technology

I'll give you a hint. The first word is "Region" and the second? "Coding".
Are you sure? Why isn't it important to Uni, Warner, Paramount and DW?

Hey, isn't that from Bob Enderele the Microsoft shill ?

I would rather by in Disneys board meeting than Universals, its a no brainer, "we will stick with the 2 to 1 sales leader". Paramounts is a little different, "gentleman before you are thick manila envelopes, enjoy".

I'll give you a hint. The first word is "Region" and the second? "Coding".
That was the reason? What are they thinking? :eek:

For the record, if anyone from Disney is reading: I live in the UK and use an American Blu-ray player to buy American Disney Blu-ray releases.

Region coding is a failed experiment that promotes software piracy. The type of people who would import discs in the first place are the people who will get around it if they need to. Disney should learn this.

That was the reason? What are they thinking? :eek:

For the record, if anyone from Disney is reading: I live in the UK and use an American Blu-ray player to buy American Disney Blu-ray releases. Region coding isn't going to stop that!

Yeah but your machine and discs come from the US, so you become part of our market.

Which is cool!

Region coding is also available on HD DVD right? Just not switch on.

I suppose they can try to justify to their BoD that Regional Coding is worth contributing to a competitor's bottom line and creating a format war. There must be a better reason.

Hey, isn't that from Bob Enderele the Microsoft shill ?

I would rather by in Disneys board meeting than Universals, its a no brainer, "we will stick with the 2 to 1 sales leader". Paramounts is a little different, "gentleman before you are thick manila envelopes, enjoy".

You guys keep saying that, but some people that actually make a difference chose to go HDDVD anyway.

Disney doesn't want one-half to one-third the disc sales and no ability to protect their theatrical windows in other regions from an earlier release in regions that already passed their theatrical window. Obviously, this mainly applies to hit movies that Universal need not be concerned about. ;)

Yeah but your machine and discs come from the US, so you become part of our market.

Which is cool!

That defeats the purpose of region coding really. If players were cheap enough (like DVD currently is) then why wouldnt sellers sell both player types?

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/33489/128/



What was the political reason Disney switched before, and will it make them switch back now?

(Tnx to Bob Black)


Thanks that was good read.

Disney doesn't want one-half to one-third the disc sales and no ability to protect their theatrical windows in other regions from an earlier release in regions that already passed their theatrical window. Obviously, this mainly applies to hit movies that Universal need not be concerned about. ;)


If this Paramount move prompts a Warner move, or it has the effect Paramount wants it to, Disney could be looking at 1/2 - 1/3rd of the market real quick. ;)

Disney doesn't want ..... no ability to protect their theatrical windows in other regions from an earlier release in regions that already passed their theatrical window.

I think its been shown that piracy is greatly reduced by global release. They spend the same amount for staged releases anyway, so what's the point?

You guys keep saying that, but some people that actually make a difference chose to go HDDVD anyway.

Yes I agree, I am not disputing that, I don't think it was the case here, but I'm sure there were plenty of back room deals made on both sides. More to come, no doubt. I just wish I was a Lear jet salesman!

It certainly creates a VERY strong argument that Disney should be supporting both formats.

HD DVD movies disc sales may be almost the same as BD by January, which would mean that, by adding HD DVD support, Disney could double their sales revenue, and perhaps even TRIPLE their HiDef profits, given bluray's higher development and production costs to studios.

It certainly creates a VERY strong argument that Disney should be supporting both formats.

HD DVD movies disc sales may be almost the same as BD by January, which would mean that, by adding HD DVD support, Disney could double their sales revenue, and perhaps even TRIPLE their HiDef profits, given bluray's higher development and production costs to studios.

At this point I don't think any of that matters. Disney should move if they share Paramount's concerns about BD. That's pretty much the only reason to move ATM.

Given enough money Disney probably could be bought and Toshiba certainly would have the motive to do that considering they have already spent $100 million to get a studio to stop supporting Blu-ray. Still I rather doubt they have the spare cash to give a few hundred million to Disney and I think that is what would be required for a switch to happen. Just my opinion of course.

There's no evidence that money has changed hands. It's not unreasonable that promotional benefits are promised, but the actual value may be quite different. The switch may include relief of the real costs of BD50 production that Sony may have given away free until now.

There is no evidence that money has changed hands, just circumstantial evidence There is also no evidence that Blu ray incurs higher development or production costs. Unless your talking about pennies a disc for Br-50. If you have any evidence to the contrary, please share. Otherwise I say BS.

Oh, and for the record the OP is quoting Bob Enderele's latest article, he is also known as the the so called IT journalist/Microsoft stooge.

Given enough money Disney probably could be bought and Toshiba certainly would have the motive to do that considering they have already spent $100 million to get a studio to stop supporting Blu-ray. Still I rather doubt they have the spare cash to give a few hundred million to Disney and I think that is what would be required for a switch to happen. Just my opinion of course.
Keep repeating stuff that has been formally and categorically denounced - I'm sure you'll fool a few people.

This effort to make people think that MS paid off the studios is just a BD ploy to try to limit the massive damage this has inflicted on the credibility of the BD format.

As long as Disney stays Blu-Ray exclusive, they are effectively handing HD DVD disc sales over to Paramount and Dreamworks. If HDM sales ever amount to more than pocket change for these companies, I'd expect Disney to go format-neutral just so that they can compete face-to-face and to stop Paramount and Dreamworks from taking all the HD DVD pie.

Keep repeating stuff that has been formally and categorically denounced - I'm sure you'll fool a few people.

This effort to make people think that MS paid off the studios is just a BD ploy to try to limit the massive damage this has inflicted on the credibility of the BD format.

How did they get Paramount executives to tell the NY Times and Wall Street Journal that there were cash and other incentives involved? That sneaky Sony!

Region coding is also available on HD DVD right? Just not switch on.

Nope, region coding is not in HD DVD. There was talk about possibly putting it in for awhile, but that died out.

Disney recently announced a big mall tour showcasing Blu-ray, so I doubt they'll switch.

Disney recently announced a big mall tour showcasing Blu-ray, so I doubt they'll switch.

A can of red spray paint and an HD-DVD stencil and we're good to go. Seriously, how is THAT justification they won't switch? Paramount had BR discs ready to go, and they pulled them just like that. A "mall tour" will keep Disney on Blu's side? Really? Seriously?

rdjam, there is a lot of evidence that Paramount was paid $100 million to drop support for Blu-ray and that Dreamworks was paid $50 million to exclusively support HD DVD. As for it being formally denounced which insiders officially said that such a deal did not happen and would you mind posting exactly what they said? Also note that I said nothing about Microsoft and I have no idea which company, or companies, did this though I think it is possible that Toshiba could have done this alone.

A can of red spray paint and an HD-DVD stencil and we're good to go. Seriously, how is THAT justification they won't switch? Paramount had BR discs ready to go, and they pulled them just like that. A "mall tour" will keep Disney on Blu's side? Really? Seriously?

LOL! You're only looking at what's right in front of your face. Clearly, this is a well-thought-out marketing campaign, demonstrating Disney's commitment to Blu-ray. Doing something as drastic as switching sides isn't done overnight. I'm not saying Disney will never switch, but I wouldn't expect a switch to happen anytime soon. That's what I'm saying. I would say at the minimum, Disney's committed through this holiday season. And I don't think Disney will ever abandon Blu-ray, unless it is in fact dead. At worst, Disney will go neutral.

Disney and any of the studio's will do what is in their best interest financially. ONLY SONY Studios as part of the Sony empire will do what is best for BD. All of these studio's have obligations to their shareholders and will have to answer as to if they have made the best Financial decisions. I think we will see more moves from BD exclusive to neutral . Sony based a lot on having the PS3 be a overwhelming success, and have a much higher bd titles sold per PS3 than the market is seeing. It is not lost on the studios to look at how many low cost HD dvd players Toshiba needs to sell, vs how many PS3's Sony will need to sell to continue to out sell HD. Draw the curves and the financial cost to Toshiba to move significantly ahead is far less than Sony to keep its lead.

The studios are looking at Title sales per unit sold

Hell no Disney won't switch to hd dvd. Steve Jobs is the largest individual shareholder and he doesn't like Microsoft.

rdjam, there is a lot of evidence that Paramount was paid $100 million to drop support for Blu-ray and that Dreamworks was paid $50 million to exclusively support HD DVD. As for it being formally denounced which insiders officially said that such a deal did not happen and would you mind posting exactly what they said? Also note that I said nothing about Microsoft and I have no idea which company, or companies, did this though I think it is possible that Toshiba could have done this alone.
"a lot of evidence"? Please link this evidence of which you speak...

Aparently, it was Sony's PR company that first broke the "story" that MS paid $150 million for this, which was immediately and categorically denied. The papers simply ran with the story before they realized it was untrue.

At this point, I think the only way to stop the slurs and insinuations is to file a lawsuit against those who started and propogated the story.

That oughta do it...

Hell no Disney won't switch to hd dvd. Steve Jobs is the largest individual shareholder and he doesn't like Microsoft.
I forgot about Jobs. Maybe this was the "political reason" for Disney to ditch HD DVD.

There is no evidence that money has changed hands, just circumstantial evidence There is also no evidence that Blu ray incurs higher development or production costs. Unless your talking about pennies a disc for Br-50. If you have any evidence to the contrary, please share. Otherwise I say BS.

Oh, and for the record the OP is quoting Bob Enderele's latest article, he is also known as the the so called IT journalist/Microsoft stooge.
There is no circumstantial evidence either. Have you seen a bulge in their bank accounts? Has anyone other than two anonymous (possibly adversely affected) sources claim first hand knowledge?

The private replicators can't even get prices for BD-50's. Geez

We've had more than our share of "journalist" BD mouthpieces around here, it's refreshing to hear one that's not.

WILL UNIVERSAL SWITCH NOW?!?!

stfu hd dvd fanboys

I forgot about Jobs. Maybe this was the "political reason" for Disney to ditch HD DVD.

That sounds political, but I wonder if that's what the author in OP meant? He says the BoD may question the BD decision, but Jobs is on the BoD. Also the BD decision was made by Disney before Jobs came on.

I'll give you a hint. The first word is "Region" and the second? "Coding".
:D

Like DRM wonder if Disney has any clue that it will be hacked anyway............what am I saying? With Jobs on the board it's likely they're still not certain what region coding is.

"a lot of evidence"? Please link this evidence of which you speak...

Aparently, it was Sony's PR company that first broke the "story" that MS paid $150 million for this, which was immediately and categorically denied. The papers simply ran with the story before they realized it was untrue.

At this point, I think the only way to stop the slurs and insinuations is to file a lawsuit against those who started and propogated the story.

That oughta do it...

It was stated in the NYT article that 2 Viacom sources indicated the pay off. What is funny is that you guys seriously think no money switched hands.

I thought you were joking at first, then the sad realization came over me that some of you have actually talked yourselves into believing that Para just "had a change of heart":D

I think some of you are so delusional, that if someone had a photo of Bill Gates handing the Para CEO a giant stack of cash, you might actually say that "unless you can prove otherwise, Bill was just buying a million copies of Transformers on HD DVD"

It was stated in the NYT article that 2 Viacom sources indicated the pay off. What is funny is that you guys seriously think no money switched hands.
If true, we should see "moving on" notices from Viacom for a couple execs, but equally, there could be future considerations of some different value.

Remember that Wally Mart is the largest retailer of DVDs.

IF the rumored Chinese HD DVD players are coming to WM (with their demand for discs to play) I don't think Disney can remain exclusively blu.

Hell no Disney won't switch to hd dvd. Steve Jobs is the largest individual shareholder and he doesn't like Microsoft.
And yet he took a nice loan from Gates - to the tune of $110 million.

It's all about the $$$$ - given enough likes/dislikes has little to do with it.

Will Disney switch? No, can't see it.
Remember that Wally Mart is the largest retailer of DVDs.

IF the rumored Chinese HD DVD players are coming to WM (with their demand for discs to play) I don't think Disney can remain exclusively blu.
It is the "topic" we've missed, haven't discussed. Very strange combination going on here. We have CEDIA coming up - might be some hardware announcements........AND........Paramount drops a bomb. Do they know something about the fall lineup? Who might be getting into the hardware arena?

"Region coding is also available on HD DVD right? Just not switch on."

Nope it is currently not part of the HD-DVD spec. For HD-DVD to have region coding they would have to re do the spec makes discs with region coding and make hardware that enabled it. It's not going to happen for HD-DVD which is a good thing.

And yet he took a nice loan from Gates - to the tune of $110 million.


There was no 'loan' from Microsoft, Apple caught Microsoft ripping off Apple code/IP and nailed them for it.

It was either pay up now or pay up more after losing in court.

I would not count on region coding being that important for Disney.

Recent trends from Disney DVD releases show that they get released worlwide day and date.

There is no circumstantial evidence either. Have you seen a bulge in their bank accounts? Has anyone other than two anonymous (possibly adversely affected) sources claim first hand knowledge?

The private replicators can't even get prices for BD-50's. Geez

We've had more than our share of "journalist" BD mouthpieces around here, it's refreshing to hear one that's not.

The circumstantial evidence is a respected paper quoting 2 Viacom employees, Microsoft's very timid denial, and the less than convincing justifications given by Paramount for the decision. The same allegations of payoffs against the BRG have been made. Did you believe those? I belive both sides have back room deals going. Not much we can do about it.

How do you know private replicators can't get quotes on BD-50?
There is a new Blu Ray replication plant in Washington state specifically catering to independents. Don't know if they do bd-50 or not, but its new, so they should.

I have to disagree with you on the author, Rob Enderele he has no credibility as an objective journalist, in my view. Anything that in anyway rivals Microsoft products or Microsoft's view of the world, gets the distortion treatment from him, especially Apple, and lately Sony.

I'll give you a hint. The first word is "Region" and the second? "Coding".
Doesn't Bridge to Terabithia work with non-region A players? What's up with that?

All Disney titles marked region "A" cannot be used in non-region A players. However Disney have started to release multi-region discs (A,B,C).
Source: http://80.161.213.38:81/

How do you know private replicators can't get quotes on BD-50? There is a new Blu Ray replication plant in Washington state specifically catering to independents. Don't know if they do bd-50 or not, but its new, so they should.
BD-25 near as anyone know........but then who really knows anything these days.