Here is what I was thinking as I read another thread about the feeling that the general public must be confused to the point of backing away slowly and then maybe some running. Maybe lots of running.

Think about it. If you went back a couple years and attempted to launch HD to the masses, but as a practical joke, you decided to try and make it as complicated, confusing and put as many barriers up to limit adoption could you have possible come up with something better than we got?

I think they covered it pretty good. Very good actually. There should be prizes. I', having a hard time thinking of stuff they missed or is better than what the Blu-Ray and HD DVD folks have presented us. Its classic hahaa.

Just for fun, what can you think of that could have made this more confusing and/or limit adoption further. The point being that anything they didn't cover has got to be pretty out there.

This is no place for format wars this is a poke a little fun at the HD media launch in general, Maybe at the end we can have a top ten things they didn't think of.

For example off the top of my head in order to make it more confusing they missed out on:

1, Randomly labeling everything across both formats just to make absolutely sure that consumers have no idea what exactly they bought and what will play on it.

2, One or both of them could have launched one of those add campaigns where they don't actually tell you what they are advertising... Hmm wait, they may have covered that somewhat already.

3, I tried to think about something they could have done on specials and pricing, but frankly each of them have like 10 different specials, BOGO's, get 50 movies with a player each week, etc, I just cant top that... I don't have that club in my bag. Maybe no pricing and you just order them and they send you a box and a bill. Like a grown up surprise bag.

4, They definitely should have had the CEO's and other C level execs speaking to the media more. Those guys are jokes for sure.

Anyway, you try I gotta run. Happy Turkey day to everyone south of the border.

Cheers,

Richard

PS. See how I used for completely generic examples. I know you can do it.

1, Randomly labeling everything across both formats just to make absolutely sure that consumers have no idea what exactly they bought and what will play on it.

Actually they kinda did that with upscaling DVD players ;)


2, One or both of them could have launched one of those add campaigns where they don't actually tell you what they are advertising... Hmm wait, they may have covered that somewhat already.

Been there with the first PS3 spots.

3, I tried to think about something they could have done on specials and pricing, but frankly each of them have like 10 different specials, BOGO's, get 50 movies with a player each week, etc, I just cant top that... I don't have that club in my bag. Maybe no pricing and you just order them and they send you a box and a bill. Like a grown up surprise bag.

That would be a new one ;)

So far the whole next gen format issue went so terribly wrong and so crucial mistakes were made from both camps that the only thing i can imagine to make things worse right now would be Warner and Disney going HD VMD exclusive.

The truth is that if they wanted a new format that the general populace could easily understand and operate, they should'a stuck with D-VHS tapes....;)

the general populace are sheep.

Once these players get cheap enough they will buy them.

Why ? cause its cheap and its what other people have. Thats what happened to dvd

It's not just HDM, it's TV's, computers, cell phones, home networking/wireless etc.

More and more, people are finding that friend or family member they can go to for advice. You can find those advisers here on AVS.

The one thing they got right is price.

That alone will help drive adoption.

the general populace are sheep.


I bhah-lieve that.

Clearly this is not progressing with the light hearted approach I was hopping for lol.

Cheers

And I think Price is nuts. do I buy now or will there be an even better sale tomorrow etc lol. goes for both media and hardware

And I think Price is nuts. do I buy now or will there be an even better sale tomorrow etc lol. goes for both media and hardware

Yeah, when is there gonna be BOGO for decks? ;)

Okay, here's one:

You have a single studio decide to put all their films in a green case, and only differentiate what it plays on in small print on the back. They release the same film for both formats, both in a green case.

One thing they could do to confuse customers is:

* On combo discs, not make it absolutely clear just by glancing at the disc, which way up to put it in the player :)

* They could not make players & TVs that play back the content at the speed it is recorded at (so you get judder etc.) - I wonder if they do this on purpose so you have to keep upgrading so you don't get judder?

* They could make some formats capable of 24p, 25p, 50i & 60i but not 30p. They could make another format supposedly capable of 24/25/30p/50i/60i but not actually enable the output of UK frame rates at HD resolution. Or any higher than 30p at full hd res.

* They could not show the frame rate on the disc. They could confuse you different frame rates like 23.97, 23.976, 24.0. They could make it harder for consumers by making HDTVs that aren't capable of every frame rate/frame rate multiple imaginable.

* They could sell HD players that won't play region 1 standard definition discs.

* They could make the players incapable of resolutions higher than 1920x1080 or higher colour palettes than 11 million colours. They could have less controls and response time than standard definition players. They could have playback problems on titles that they don't have on SD-DVD. They could have lack of standardisation across user interfaces for titles and have lack of good user interfaces.

* They could convert between frame rates when releasing titles to reduce quality or because the players/TVs they are selling aren't capable of playback at the speed the content they are selling was recorded at.

* They could sell TVs that aren't capable of really great black levels. They could not have picture setup options in the players/most discs.

They could put an audio format on the discs that no player could play for a year. One studio could release all of its titles with this format, despite choosing those titles based on the demographics for the game console that still can't play that format.

One thing they could do to confuse customers is:

* They could sell TVs that aren't capable of really great black levels.

They already sell those. They are called LCDs. :D

You could come up with a format that you have to keep upgrading every year in order to play all the extras on a movie.
A couple of the studios should go VMD exclusive so that you need to buy three formats to have all movies in HD.

Okay, here's one:

You have a single studio decide to put all their films in a green case, and only differentiate what it plays on in small print on the back. They release the same film for both formats, both in a green case.

Green-Ray!

They already sell those. They are called LCDs. :D
You have plasma? Is it much better?

You could have them put out players with composite video out and only include a cable for composite video to make sure people are hooking their players up incorrectly. Nah, they wouldn't be that stupid.

the general populace are sheep.

Once these players get cheap enough they will buy them.

Why ? cause its cheap and its what other people have. Thats what happened to dvd
Not just cheap(affordable) but reliable with no lock ups, error codes on screen, periodic FW updates or washing/boiling discs(in rare cases) to just watch a movie.

I noticed over the weekend that more upconvert players were moved out of BestBuy and CircuitCity than HDM players.(Yes, I went to all stores Friday, Saturday(slow day/no crowds) and Sunday(busy as Friday))

IMO, people see the $199-399 HDM player price tag and kind of think about getting one or even put the player in their cart only to unload the player when they see the $19-35 price tag on the discs.

Also, Best Buy, Circuit City, Frys, Wal-Mart or Target didn't run any "affordable" sales on HDM discs this weekend. Of all weekends to run HDM disc sales, they should of did it this weekend when the players were on sale.

Not just cheap(affordable) but reliable with no lock ups, error codes on screen, periodic FW updates or washing/boiling discs(in rare cases) to just watch a movie.

I noticed over the weekend that more upconvert players were moved out of BestBuy and CircuitCity than HDM players.(Yes, I went to all stores Friday, Saturday(slow day/no crowds) and Sunday(busy as Friday))

IMO, people see the $199-399 HDM player price tag and kind of think about getting one or even put the player in their cart only to unload the player when they see the $19-35 price tag on the discs.

Also, Best Buy, Circuit City, Frys, Wal-Mart or Target didn't run any "affordable" sales on HDM discs this weekend. Of all weekends to run HDM disc sales, they should of did it this weekend when the players were on sale.

For the life of me I cannot understand why this happened. Did they not want people buying players to buy a bunch of movies (as opposed to 1 or 2) for these new players?

Very perplexing.:confused:

BOT

Label all HDM as the "Super Special Edition" with no other information on the case.

Price HDM so that sometimes the SSE disc will be cheaper than the SD versions.

Put a mandatory clock and ethernet port on all HDM players so that it can check that your copy is "Authentic" and has been "Officially" released. Reviewers would love this. :)

How about an HD DVD or Blu Ray/ VHS combo player with component out only. Now that's marketing;)

You could come up with a format that you have to keep upgrading every year....

They've already smashed that goal and moved beyond it. We need firmware upgrades every few weeks!

How about an HD DVD or Blu Ray/ VHS combo player with component out only. Now that's marketing;)
How about that most HD DVD and Blu-ray players only come with a composite(480i) cable in the box. :confused: