Sony/BDA et. al is anxious to kill HD DVD outright ASAP... I highly doubt their exclusivity agreements would afford studios the freedom to do what you suggest.
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Could HD DVD thrive on 3rd-party labels?
When I used to collect laserdisc, more than half of the titles I owned were properties optioned by third-party labels like Image, Pioneer, Criterion. Major studios still held the rights to the films themselves, but allowed them to be sub-contracted for laser releases.
The upshot of this that companies (like Image in particular) were putting out stuff that studios, in many cases didn't even deem viable for a VHS release.
Is it conceivable for this to happen on HD DVD, as the studios seem in no hurry to put out the oddball stuff in small runs?
The upshot of this that companies (like Image in particular) were putting out stuff that studios, in many cases didn't even deem viable for a VHS release.
Is it conceivable for this to happen on HD DVD, as the studios seem in no hurry to put out the oddball stuff in small runs?
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no
Quote:
Could HD DVD thrive on 3rd-party labels?
no
Not a chance.
Do you really think that any of the Blu-ray studios would let this happen with any of their titles....regardless of how "oddball" they are?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Ramzyk /forum/post/12890370
When I used to collect laserdisc, more than half of the titles I owned were properties optioned by third-party labels like Image, Pioneer, Criterion. Major studios still held the rights to the films themselves, but allowed them to be sub-contracted for laser releases.
The upshot of this that companies (like Image in particular) were putting out stuff that studios, in many cases didn't even deem viable for a VHS release.
Is it conceivable for this to happen on HD DVD, as the studios seem in no hurry to put out the oddball stuff in small runs?
Not a chance.
Do you really think that any of the Blu-ray studios would let this happen with any of their titles....regardless of how "oddball" they are?
There is also entities like BBC saying they are happy with HD DVD sales. Even within the labels that support HD DVD there are titles they would be in no hurry to deal with that a smaller label has more experience making a profit on. I'm not talking about Fox coughing up ALIEN or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobRob /forum/post/12890406
Sony/BDA et. al is anxious to kill HD DVD outright ASAP... I highly doubt their exclusivity agreements would afford studios the freedom to do what you suggest.
There is also entities like BBC saying they are happy with HD DVD sales. Even within the labels that support HD DVD there are titles they would be in no hurry to deal with that a smaller label has more experience making a profit on. I'm not talking about Fox coughing up ALIEN or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.
Nope. Blu-ray has a lot of smaller companies already, including Image and Magnolia, and that list will grow by June.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Ramzyk /forum/post/12890370
The upshot of this that companies (like Image in particular) were putting out stuff that studios, in many cases didn't even deem viable for a VHS release.
Is it conceivable for this to happen on HD DVD, as the studios seem in no hurry to put out the oddball stuff in small runs?
Nope. Blu-ray has a lot of smaller companies already, including Image and Magnolia, and that list will grow by June.
No, HD-DVD can't survive in this way. Small distributors will go with the winner, not the loser of this "format war." The costs of Blu-Ray will go down and the sales gap between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will continue to grow, both for software and hardware. There's no probability whatsoever that a distributor like Criterion will wake up tomorrow and decide to support the HD format that is supoorted by a single CE manufacturer, two wavering studios, has a fraction of the installed hardware base, and has lost the last 50+ weeks on Nielsen.
This strikes me as about as likely as Las Vegas seeing a lot of new money on Green Bay to win the Super Bowl in two weeks.
This strikes me as about as likely as Las Vegas seeing a lot of new money on Green Bay to win the Super Bowl in two weeks.
I really depends on why they support Blu-ray.
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Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin /forum/post/12890483
Not a chance.
Do you really think that any of the Blu-ray studios would let this happen with any of their titles?
I really depends on why they support Blu-ray.
I think this is very possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Ramzyk /forum/post/12890370
When I used to collect laserdisc, more than half of the titles I owned were properties optioned by third-party labels like Image, Pioneer, Criterion. Major studios still held the rights to the films themselves, but allowed them to be sub-contracted for laser releases.
The upshot of this that companies (like Image in particular) were putting out stuff that studios, in many cases didn't even deem viable for a VHS release.
Is it conceivable for this to happen on HD DVD, as the studios seem in no hurry to put out the oddball stuff in small runs?
I think this is very possible.
Lawrence of Arabia is owned by Sony (Columbia/Tri-Star), not Fox!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Ramzyk /forum/post/12890488
There is also entities like BBC saying they are happy with HD DVD sales. Even within the labels that support HD DVD there are titles they would be in no hurry to deal with that a smaller label has more experience making a profit on. I'm not talking about Fox coughing up ALIEN or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.
Lawrence of Arabia is owned by Sony (Columbia/Tri-Star), not Fox!
Does it?
I can't see any reason why any of the Blu-ray studios would support Blu-ray for a reason that would also lead them to allow another company to release "oddball" titles on a format that they do not support.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Ramzyk /forum/post/12890513
I really depends on why they support Blu-ray.
Does it?
I can't see any reason why any of the Blu-ray studios would support Blu-ray for a reason that would also lead them to allow another company to release "oddball" titles on a format that they do not support.
I can see HD DVD having a small niche market.
Lets face it; it lost the format war and it has no chance to become the next format.
But it can live like SACD; a niche format for usually small labels to release their content.
The authoring is becoming cheap; the infrastructure is there because of similarity to DVD production and also as the technology goes forward and becomes cheap the HD DVD can become a plus feature of some DVD players.
IMO, HD DVD has a better chance than SACD to live on.
But the bigger picture is for Blu-ray.
Lets face it; it lost the format war and it has no chance to become the next format.
But it can live like SACD; a niche format for usually small labels to release their content.
The authoring is becoming cheap; the infrastructure is there because of similarity to DVD production and also as the technology goes forward and becomes cheap the HD DVD can become a plus feature of some DVD players.
IMO, HD DVD has a better chance than SACD to live on.
But the bigger picture is for Blu-ray.
Warner has the distribution rights for the BBC in the U.S. so don't expect any new BBC content on HD-DVD.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Ramzyk /forum/post/12890488
There is also entities like BBC saying they are happy with HD DVD sales. Even within the labels that support HD DVD there are titles they would be in no hurry to deal with that a smaller label has more experience making a profit on. I'm not talking about Fox coughing up ALIEN or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.
Warner has the distribution rights for the BBC in the U.S. so don't expect any new BBC content on HD-DVD.
Criterion has already said they are sitting out the format war and will release on the winner when there is one. If Blu-ray is the winner (and it's looking like a fait accompli at this point), they will get Criterion.
Image is Blu-ray.
Pioneer is now Geneon Entertainment and they are Blu-ray in Japan, which implies Blu-ray in America if they ever release in America ever again (they recently shuttered Geneon Entertainment USA and are looking for 3rd party distributors again). In fact all the anime studios in Japan are Blu-ray, if you have any interest at all in anime it's going to be Blu-ray or no anime for you going forward.
Image is Blu-ray.
Pioneer is now Geneon Entertainment and they are Blu-ray in Japan, which implies Blu-ray in America if they ever release in America ever again (they recently shuttered Geneon Entertainment USA and are looking for 3rd party distributors again). In fact all the anime studios in Japan are Blu-ray, if you have any interest at all in anime it's going to be Blu-ray or no anime for you going forward.
Tim,
I know you have a lot invested with HD DVD and are a big fan of the format, but you need to accept the inevitable. Seriously. Nothing is going to save HD DVD.
I know you have a lot invested with HD DVD and are a big fan of the format, but you need to accept the inevitable. Seriously. Nothing is going to save HD DVD.
I doubt that HD DVD could "thrive" from third party labels since I haven't seen them announce anything for either HD format so far. Maybe we will see some small indie titles come out for HD DVD since Microsoft is funding that but I don't see that having much of an effect on the format war.
The only exclusive agreement I know of that has a good amount of evidence for it is the 18 month $150 million deal with Paramount to go HD DVD exclusive. That was reported on by the NYT, WSJ, and Business Weekly.
The problem with that though is that will those small labels avoid the much larger Blu-ray market? Personally speaking I don't see much happening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobRob /forum/post/12890406
I highly doubt their exclusivity agreements would afford studios the freedom to do what you suggest.
The only exclusive agreement I know of that has a good amount of evidence for it is the 18 month $150 million deal with Paramount to go HD DVD exclusive. That was reported on by the NYT, WSJ, and Business Weekly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wakashizuma /forum/post/12890563
I can see HD DVD having a small niche market.
Lets face it; it lost the format war and it has no chance to become the next format.
But it can live like SACD; a niche format for usually small labels to release their content.
The problem with that though is that will those small labels avoid the much larger Blu-ray market? Personally speaking I don't see much happening.
Did I say they would avoid the Blu-ray market? No!
Many small labels are producing SACDs; does that mean they are avoiding the much larger CD market?
HD DVD has everything that SACD had and then some; so it's a possibility that it might become a niche format.
The replication is easy (the Hybrid SACDs which account for the majority are not common). The authoring is easy using available codecs (SACD needs DSD which is rare for the most part) and HD DVD started with more affordable players than SACD (SACD's first player was $5000).
Nobody is going to ignore Blu-ray, but small labels can produce small amounts of HD DVD especially when the infrastructure is already established.
My 2 cents
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Paul /forum/post/12890746
I doubt that HD DVD could "thrive" from third party labels since I haven't seen them announce anything for either HD format so far. Maybe we will see some small indie titles come out for HD DVD since Microsoft is funding that but I don't see that having much of an effect on the format war.
The only exclusive agreement I know of that has a good amount of evidence for it is the 18 month $150 million deal with Paramount to go HD DVD exclusive. That was reported on by the NYT, WSJ, and Business Weekly.
The problem with that though is that will those small labels avoid the much larger Blu-ray market? Personally speaking I don't see much happening.
Did I say they would avoid the Blu-ray market? No!
Many small labels are producing SACDs; does that mean they are avoiding the much larger CD market?
HD DVD has everything that SACD had and then some; so it's a possibility that it might become a niche format.
The replication is easy (the Hybrid SACDs which account for the majority are not common). The authoring is easy using available codecs (SACD needs DSD which is rare for the most part) and HD DVD started with more affordable players than SACD (SACD's first player was $5000).
Nobody is going to ignore Blu-ray, but small labels can produce small amounts of HD DVD especially when the infrastructure is already established.
My 2 cents
I don't really see anything in this thread that states why anyone would prefer HD DVD, say next year, assuming that Blu-ray has been acknowledged the winner by again hypothetically Q3 this year.
Laserdisc was an enthusiast's format, both before and after VHS at retail became common, and offered far more than VHS did in terms of PQ and AQ. Once BD becomes established as the incumbent in our scenario, can you tell me what HD DVD could offer to make up for the limited number of players? Mastering won't be cheaper enough, and retail will be reluctant to carry HD DVDs.
Imagine if, a year after Beta was acknowledged as losing, an indie had to choose formats: VHS costs a little more, say, but retailers are dropping Beta, and you are wondering how many of the Beta units sold have already been disconnect and stashed. Then you see that retailers aren't carrying a lot of Beta, only the hits, and you see that their VHS selection is bigger.
I see this as one more thread about a solution looking for a problem. I agree that Toshiba will look for a niche like this, but in the end standards benefit everyone. The success of DVD after it killed DivX demonstrates that.
Laserdisc was an enthusiast's format, both before and after VHS at retail became common, and offered far more than VHS did in terms of PQ and AQ. Once BD becomes established as the incumbent in our scenario, can you tell me what HD DVD could offer to make up for the limited number of players? Mastering won't be cheaper enough, and retail will be reluctant to carry HD DVDs.
Imagine if, a year after Beta was acknowledged as losing, an indie had to choose formats: VHS costs a little more, say, but retailers are dropping Beta, and you are wondering how many of the Beta units sold have already been disconnect and stashed. Then you see that retailers aren't carrying a lot of Beta, only the hits, and you see that their VHS selection is bigger.
I see this as one more thread about a solution looking for a problem. I agree that Toshiba will look for a niche like this, but in the end standards benefit everyone. The success of DVD after it killed DivX demonstrates that.
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