[Ilka]

According to: http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html (compare to: http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html ).


A.t.m, Universal (as the premiere HD-DVD exclusive software provider) has 3 (count 'em, yes *three*) releases with dates ... as of today, that's from now until around April 24, or so ...


Any theories why? Are they just slow? Do they just wait a week or two before they announce? Are they going Warner's THD? Are they confused by the HD-DVD/AACS player hack? Are they about to release hundreds of titles? Are they waiting for BD+/ROM info.?

 

[theforce8686]

You havent been on here in a while have you? There are countless threads that discuss this very title. The BD fans say it is because Universal is going neutral soon. The HD fans say it is because Universal wants to wait till 2 o 3 weeks before to anounce the release. This thread will unfortunately probably get ugly soon.

 

[Sketcha]

That's a good question.

 

[builty]

If you were and studio, and you saw most of your movies appear on BitTo**ent as high def masters, would you release more content?

My guess is they are waiting for software player revocation or similar addressing of the AACS key grabbing.

 

[hmurchison]

If Universal hasn't made any formal announcements then there's an unlimited amount of reasons why they are doing what they are.


I won't offer any suggestions because that would be 1 of infinity but what I will say is that Universal was the studio spearheading the demo of HD DVD movies with Network/Web content. We do know that there are supposed to 300+ movies delivered this year on HD DVD and Universal figures to be a prominent studio in those numbers.

 

[gooki]



Quote:
Any theories why?

Common business practices. why announce future titles when you have current titles selling now? Some of the downsides of extended pre announcements are:


1) People hold of todays purchases to buy something in the future.

2) Continued pre exposure can cause customers to become disinterested in your product.

3) Your competetion knows what you are doing.

4) Corporate value can be lost when you don't meet your pre announced dates

 

[restart]

5) See post #4. They are not too happy.

 

[Tim Glover]

Kevin Collins from Microsoft in the Home Theater Forum Chat states he has seen Universal's List for 2007 and it's a great one.....Everyone breath in/out

 

[Issac Hunt]

There are surprisingly few reasons for Universal not announcing more titles.

1) They don't want to announce anything too far in advance.


Highly unlikely since this is exactly what they have been doing up until now on HD DVD and continue to do on DVD.

2) They're worried about the software loophole in PowerDVD.


Then why are other studios continuing to release software? Why are Universal releasing anything at all? This seems like more of a conspiracy theory, or a rod to beat the HD DVD extremists.

3) They've assessed their sales over the Christmas period, and have changed their plans accordingly.


Seems like the most likely explaination. It's common practice for most companies to carry out reviews of their strategies and examine their projections in light of real world data. Whether that means Universal will go neutral or simply release less aggressively for a while, who knows...

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

My sources are telling me three things:


1. That Universal is very diligent on authoring and mastering to get the highest level of image and audio quality and this takes time.


2. Universal will announce new HD DVD titles closer to the street dates to keep the title release information close to their vest.


3. We will see aggressive Universal title releases throughout 2007.


-Robert

 

[hmurchison]

Actually that makes little sense. In the presence of nothing there exists infinite possibilites. I'm not that creative but lets see how many reasons I can rail off in a few minutes.



1. Universal is working on improving their HDi interactive layer

2. They're waiting to announce many titles with networking.

3. They are going neutral

4. They are formulating a plan for what movies come next.

5. They cannot get their movies replicated fast enough.

6. They are stockpiling releases

7. They are awaiting a private release to the Press.

8. They are upgrading equipment

9. They are awaiting new encoders from Microsoft

10. They are concerned about Hacking attempts

11. They are pressing Twin Format in replacement of combos

12. They have changed their original release schedule dramatically

13. They are being bought out or merging with another studio



etc ad naseum. Y'all guess is as good as mine but it's doubtful that things can really be distilled down to a few basic issues unless you have inside knowledge.

 

[Issac Hunt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hmurchison /forum/post/0


Actually that makes little sense. In the presence of nothing there exists infinite possibilites. I'm not that creative but lets see how many reasons I can rail off in a few minutes.



1. Universal is working on improving their HDi interactive layer

2. They're waiting to announce many titles with networking.

3. They are going neutral

4. They are formulating a plan for what movies come next.

5. They cannot get their movies replicated fast enough.

6. They are stockpiling releases

7. They are awaiting a private release to the Press.

8. They are upgrading equipment

9. They are awaiting new encoders from Microsoft

10. They are concerned about Hacking attempts

11. They are pressing Twin Format in replacement of combos

12. They have changed their original release schedule dramatically

13. They are being bought out or merging with another studio



etc ad naseum. Y'all guess is as good as mine but it's doubtful that things can really be distilled down to a few basic issues unless you have inside knowledge.

Most of these can be distilled down to the same few ideas:

Technical issues with delivery (that apparently have only just become a problem all these months later) covers 5,8,9

Re-evaluating their release policy covers 3,11,12

Working to improve titles (whilst not releasing in the meantime) covers 1,2


The others are either outlandish or extremely unlikely. A studio merger without any press activity? When was the last time that happened?! Stockpiling releases? A common activity in all forms of movie release! Nah, there seem to be few potential reasons for Universal's lack of activity.

 

[BlackRiderX]

Probably because January is a pretty slow month IMO.


I'd expect more titles to be announced for Feb-March though as people like myself are stuck indoors due to weather these two months.

 

[Azumi]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DTV TiVo Dealer /forum/post/0



2. Universal will announce new HD DVD titles closer to the street dates to keep the title release information close to their vest.


-Robert

From our perspective, that looks a bit odd.


In Europe, the large studios have to provide retailers with preordering data 60 to 90 days before the street date. By "preordering data" I mean the EAN (UPC for you), the catalog number, retailer price, release date. Plus a bunch of other data which is kept confidential, like the number of copies to be printed, the theater-to-homevideo transform ratio, the retailer's sales goals, marketing info and so on...


If retailers are informed at the last minute, there's a good chance that some of them won't have enough time for marketing and to provide appropriate real estate sale slots, not to mention that it would be too late for the print campaigns. I was under the impression that this problems would be even more important in US, due to your geographicals challenges.


I'd think that the US retailers must have to be informed in advance. Then, if some info is embargoed to the public until a specific date, that's another matter.

 

[Deane Johnson]

I suspect it has to do with turmoil and disagreements in the executive ranks. Rumors in the industry are that someone at a high level may be out of work soon. I'm just guessing, but Universal is not acting in it's own best interests these days, and that could mean executive gridlock.

 

[mikemorel]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Deane Johnson /forum/post/0


I suspect it has to do with turmoil and disagreements in the executive ranks. Rumors in the industry are that someone at a high level may be out of work soon. I'm just guessing, but Universal is not acting in it's own best interests these days, and that could mean executive gridlock.

I agree with you. You are just guessing.

 

[Walt O]

Perhaps it's because Universal's HD releases are now appearing for download on the internet. As far as I know, the keys to PowerDVD 6.5 have not yet been revoked, so as soon as new releases come out, the keys for those new releases will be published and those titles will be ripped too. The list on a popular hacker site has the keys for a good percentage of HD DVD releases already. I'm amzed how fast this is spreading. Say what you will about Blu Ray being vunerable to the same type of attack, so far it has not happened.



Walt

 

[Azumi]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt O /forum/post/0


Perhaps it's because Universal's HD releases are now appearing for download on the internet. As far as I know, the keys to PowerDVD 6.5 have not yet been revoked, so as soon as new releases come out, the keys for those new releases will be published and those titles will be ripped too. The list on a popular hacker site has the keys for a good percentage of HD DVD releases already. I'm amzed how fast this is spreading. Say what you will about Blu Ray being vunerable to the same type of attack, so far it has not happened.

Walt

I'm surprised that Universal hasn't issued yet a global recall of all the titles whose security has been compromised.

 

[mikemorel]

From Kevin Collins' Chat - I posted it HERE .

Quote:
[kevincol] I have seen the list and it is very impressive, so there is nothing bad going on with Universal. you will be happy with what will happen in 2007!

One would think that would be "end of story"...

 

[Grubert]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mikemorel /forum/post/0


From Kevin Collins' Chat - I posted it HERE .


One would think that would be "end of story"...

Yes one would think that...


...if one wasn't aware that Kevin Collins is Director for HD DVD Spinning... I mean, HD DVD Jihad... I mean, Director for HD DVD Evangelism.

Sorry, but just because a Microsoft rep says that everything is a-okay, that isn't good enough for me.