As a Sammy 5000 owner, only one thing bothers me regarding the Warner announcement.

My father always taught me that you deal with negativity head on. For Toshiba to cancel its press conference is in my opinion, a very poor decision! Show the people that you still have balls! Instead, Toshiba is acting like a confused child. This is exactly how Tylenol handled the scare 20 years ago. Instead of attacking the problem head on, they froze and reacted poorly...

There have been alot of rumors going around that Warner was going to go HD-DVD exclusive. If Warner had just recently changed its mind, and dropped a bomb shell, what do you expect HD-DVD to talk about?

I am glad you father taught you about negativity, but this is the real world and this is strickly busniess. Who knows, the meeting may have focused on Warner (and possibly FOX were rumored) to move towards HD-DVD. Then Warner purposefully informs everyone before the meeting that they are actually going blu-ray, to do the most damage possible to HD-DVD.

This is not a meeting about countries uniting peoples to go to war, this is about digital discs that play back pictures.

Confused child? What do you expect them to say? They will launch an air strike on Sony plants?

CES hasnt begin, maybe they have another announcement coming during the week.

You talk about negativity, but maybe you should talk about loyalty... at least give toshiba a few days to make a game plan.

This is hd-dvd and blu-ray. These are not at all very adopted formats. Now if Warner stated they would stop making STANDARD DVDS, now that is something I would expect some immediate critisisms. But more people own Wiis than both hd-dvds and blu-ray players combined.

Sure, give Toshiba a few days to formulate a game plan. I still feel at the end of the day however, that it was a tactical mistake to cancel the conference!

Sure, give Toshiba a few days to formulate a game plan. I still feel at the end of the day however, that it was a tactical mistake to cancel the conference!

Since Warner was a part of the conference, and with the development of the announcement just 2 days before the planned conference I think they needed to shut it down to figure out the best way to deal with this head on". THis was a BIG blow to the camp, but with Universal and Paramount still in the stable" they are far from dead. GIve it some time. I think they thought that Fox and Warner would be there partying with them, once the deal fell through they needed to re work EVERYTHING. I am not worried at all as these types of things happen I am thankful though that I have a player that I will be able to play either format no matter what.

DL,

I agree that Toshiba screwed up by whimping out.

That said, your Tylenol reference is way off. J&J's Tylenol Tampering response is well recognized as a business case study in what "TO DO" not what "NOT TO DO." They set the bar for how companies should react in a crisis.

While off topic, we need to keep all our facts straight.

http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/CSRfiles/crisis02.html

BG


As a Sammy 5000 owner, only one thing bothers me regarding the Warner announcement.

My father always taught me that you deal with negativity head on. For Toshiba to cancel its press conference is in my opinion, a very poor decision! Show the people that you still have balls! Instead, Toshiba is acting like a confused child. This is exactly how Tylenol handled the scare 20 years ago. Instead of attacking the problem head on, they froze and reacted poorly...

If 90% of the conference was going to be about Warner and Fox switching to HD DVD only, what else could they have done ?

Warner backstabbed all its customers by lying to them right up to Christmas and backstabbed the HD DVD group also, by going to the highest bidder at the last minute.

They can do a press release all they want about this not being a bidding war, that's exactly what it became and they played that card to the fullest by making both camps compete with each other for which one will give them the most money. They had been reportedly doing this for a few months, going back and forth between both camps in behind closed doors meetings.

My father always taught me that you deal with negativity head on. For Toshiba to cancel its press conference is in my opinion, a very poor decision! Show the people that you still have balls! Instead, Toshiba is acting like a confused child. ...

I think business is done so much by committee these days. Leaders are few and far between.

However, it is not possible for someone to re-write their entire press conference with a positive spin, and not have people realize it's all a charade.

Only statements backed up by something real is going to cut it in this environment. Give Toshiba a chance to regroup.

Now, if Toshiba continues its (near) silence, then they have simply lost by default, and didn't even give it a fight. The fact that they announced no new players, even an XA3 for a now-discontinued (in practice) XA2 flagship, has unfortunately signalled that they have no clue what they are going to do next.

They may simply decide with the other companies that they are going to bow out gracefully. They will have a transition time to not make it look like they abandoned the format, but they are doing essentially that by not fighting back. Being "disappointed" in Warner's decision, saying they are going to "talk to their partners", and announcing that they are going to sell more laptops with HDDVD drives is a strategy for surrender.

Hey, guys, how did Sony handle the beta - vhs lost? How did they react or what did they say or do? Maybe, also, how long did it take for them to recognize the lost... Maybe I'll learn from that and know what to expect...

Hey, guys, how did Sony handle the beta - vhs lost? How did they react or what did they say or do? Maybe, also, how long did it take for them to recognize the lost... Maybe I'll learn from that and know what to expect...


Sony handled the loss to VHS by marketing Beta to production companies and making more money off of Beta than JVC ever made off of VHS.

Sony never admitted that Beta lost, but that format war was seen as officially over when Sony started making VHS machines in 1988 some 13 years after the VHS-Beta Format war started. The last Beta player for n home use was made by Sony in 2002 and the last dedicated VHS machine was made in 2007.

The VHS-Beta war is not comparable to the HD DVD-BD war because of studio support. All studios supported VHS and Beta (well the porn industry favored VHS, but that is overblown) so consumers decided that format war. In the end the long tapes of VHS trumped Beta's superior PQ and features and when consumers went for VHS the studios followed the money. There has not YET been a time when all studios have supported Blu-ray or HD DVD much less both.

Sony handled the loss to VHS by marketing Beta to production companies and making more money off of Beta than JVC ever made off of VHS.

Sony never admitted that Beta lost, but that format war was seen as officially over when Sony started making VHS machines in 1988 some 13 years after the VHS-Beta Format war started. The last Beta player for n home use was made by Sony in 2002 and the last dedicated VHS machine was made in 2007.

The VHS-Beta war is not comparable to the HD DVD-BD war because of studio support. All studios supported VHS and Beta (well the porn industry favored VHS, but that is overblown) so consumers decided that format war. In the end the long tapes of VHS trumped Beta's superior PQ and features and when consumers went for VHS the studios followed the money. There has not YET been a time when all studios have supported Blu-ray or HD DVD much less both.

And this is why that "consumers chose..." line is utter crap. We didn't chose, we were forced to. We all know what would have happened if both formats had 100% studio support...

The biggest question I have is why is everyone so high on Blu Ray when it is not a finished format and so many problems arise with it. HD is a finished format and I have not had any problems with HD material. I am neutral but am much happier with HDDVD.

The biggest question I have is why is everyone so high on Blu Ray when it is not a finished format and so many problems arise with it. HD is a finished format and I have not had any problems with HD material. I am neutral but am much happier with HDDVD.

Because it is great now and only getting better. The players are consistently better then their HD counterparts (anectdotal or not this is hardly debated). They are starting to add the extra features (which still most people dont care about) and they can still add more. HD DVD was finished. They had no room to get better.

Hogwash...because the DVD format saw no improvements amirite?

Hogwash...because the DVD format saw no improvements amirite?

My 1st player bought in 1997 (DVP-S7000) can still play all the extra features from my 800+ DVD library. I was never forced into buying a new player just so I can enjoy those extras...

And yes, I know, I'm the only one on earth that do use the extra features :rolleyes:

The biggest question I have is why is everyone so high on Blu Ray when it is not a finished format and so many problems arise with it. HD is a finished format and I have not had any problems with HD material. I am neutral but am much happier with HDDVD.

Why ? Because Sony is a marketing bulldozer. Toshiba, not so much.

It's always the same story. The product that makes more sense is always the one booted out. And the one with a technologically ready solution is always marketed by morons. Customers are easily manipulated, even more so now with the ubiquity of the internet.

My 1st player bought in 1997 (DVP-S7000) can still play all the extra features from my 800+ DVD library. I was never forced into buying a new player just so I can enjoy those extras...

And yes, I know, I'm the only one on earth that do use the extra features :rolleyes:

Wow, S7000 was a legend then. I still have the S3000 (in basement). It was the later released Sony model - a stripped down version of the S7000. Same as what Samsung did with the UP5500 after releasing the UP5000. These were rock solid machines.

You bring back exciting times and good memories.

My 1st player bought in 1997 (DVP-S7000) can still play all the extra features from my 800+ DVD library. I was never forced into buying a new player just so I can enjoy those extras...

And yes, I know, I'm the only one on earth that do use the extra features :rolleyes:


I have that unit as well. Got it at Magnolia Hifi for $799.