[EX-CW] Interessante intervista alla Universal riguardo il Blue-Ray e la PS3 [UPDATE]

[Dick_Dastardly]

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/11112/12136/universal-confirms-no-plans-blu-ray.phtml

Ecco lo stralcio più significativo

Q: Do you see a time when Universal will release movies on both HD DVD and Blu-ray?

A: We have no plans to support Blu-ray. We want to be able to market all the great things HD DVD can offer consumers. We couldn't do this if we split our resources on two formats, hedged our bets and had to avoid over promoting features on one format so we wouldn't undercut the other format. HD DVD allows us to provide the type of quality and truly next generation experiences we need to get consumers to migrate from DVD.

Q: With the PS3 price cut meaning the console is now much more affordable, and one of the cheapest Blu-ray players on the market, how do you think this will affect Blu-ray adoption compared to HD DVD?

A: The PS3 is a gaming system first - even Sony will tell you this, and we believe consumers use gaming consoles to play games. Studies show that 70% of gamers don't even know that their console has a DVD playback option. What's important is that HD DVD owns the lead in dedicated CE player sales and maintains a 4:1 software attach rate over Blu-ray, meaning people are purchasing four times more HD DVD titles per HD DVD player than Blu-ray. Standalone players for HD DVD will be as low as $199 this holiday shopping season - maintaining HD DVD's clear cost advantage. The PS3 simply hasn't been the gamer changer Sony had hoped it would be.

Q: How much longer will Universal offer DVD versions of films for?

A: Right now the market for next generation formats is still in its infancy. DVD is still a critical part of Universal's business and our DVD plans remain unchanged. Additionally, DVD plays a critical role in our HD DVD efforts. We include a DVD version with our HD DVD day-in-date titles in the form of combo discs. This is a unique advantage of HD DVD – one disc with a standard definition version of the movie on one side, and an HD DVD version on the other side. If you think about it, most consumers will buy an HD DVD player and retire their DVD player to the bedroom or a side room, but they'll still want to take their HD disc and watch it throughout the house, or in the car. Only HD DVD offers this type of value.




La Universal è sicuramente una degli studios di maggiore appeal di Hollywood. Per dirvene una quest'anno il film che sta vendendo di più nel mercato dell'home entertaiment è loro: Transformers.
La loro decisione di non prendere in considerazione il Blue-Ray sottolinea ancora che il formato in HD è del tutto acerbo e che la situazione è lungi dall'essere definita...
Sul lato delle console è inutile dire che la decisione di SONY di far pagare agli utenti il Blue-Ray è stata una delle cause principali del flop della PS3. Certo che per i fan della SONY che vivono di certezze questa è una bella botta. 

[maxam]

Io ribadisco il concetto già espresso più volte.
La format war va ad esclusivo scapito dell'utente. DOVEVANO mettersi d'accordo nel trovare uno standard comune come nel caso si CD e DVD.

Se continua così, per gli appassionati di HT non resterà altra soluzione che doversi procurar due lettori (di cui uno gia acquistato con la PS3  )..... :ohno:

[Turrican3]

Il vero dramma IMHO sarebbe se i due formati in lizza si spartissero (grossomodo) equamente il mercato: finirebbe come per i giochi multy, con i centri commerciali pieni di titoli fotocopia con confezione blu e rossa?

Sul fronte HW se ho ben capito la faccenda è meno problematica dato che ci sono i lettori ibridi che leggono sia BR che HD-DVD.

[Dick_Dastardly]

Secondo me la prospettiva più terrorizzante è una riproposizione in versione "home entertaiment" della divisione dei formati video tra zone del mondo.

Non vorrei che un formato si imponesse in un continente ed un altro altrove...chessò Blue-Ray in Europa, HD-DVD in USA 

[Turrican3]

Anche questo sarebbe un bel problema... :boom:

[Biggy]

Io ribadisco il concetto già espresso più volte.
La format war va ad esclusivo scapito dell'utente. DOVEVANO mettersi d'accordo nel trovare uno standard comune come nel caso si CD e DVD.

Se continua così, per gli appassionati di HT non resterà altra soluzione che doversi procurar due lettori (di cui uno gia acquistato con la PS3  )..... :ohno:

Penso anch'io che andrà a finire così.

Prnederò Ps3 per i BR e per giocarci un paio di giochi, e l'HD DVD, che per ora (se non cambierò TV e\o home theatre), vista la penuria di porte HDMI (due ne ho : una per 360, una per Ps3), penso proprio sarà l'add-on per 360.

Da una parte HD DVD ha più qualità e convenienza.

Dall'altra Sony e le sue major cinematografioche impongono il Blu Ray.

Non c'è scampo.

[Dick_Dastardly]

Nuovo articolo che va nella stessa direzione:

Toshiba HD-DVD, The winner of format war?
Nov 8, 2007 09:34

Toshiba has sent all troops to the war field to make a pretty tough christmas for Sony's Blu-Ray. In a fantastic move by Toshiba, Walmart and BestBuy more than 90,000 HD-DVD players sold during last weekend.

Within three days, HD-DVD format significantly increased its installed base and sold nearly as many as the best-selling stand-alone Blu-ray DVD player has sold since its launch.

Toshiba A2 HD DVD was the 20th position on the Google's Hot Trends in thursday November 1st. Near 100,000 , $99 HD-DVD players sold on Nov 2. That's $200 less than Toshiba's $299 list price and $100 off retail pricing of $199. Sony's dominant Blu-ray standalone player,the BDP-S300, is $499 and has shipped about 100,000 since it bowed this summer.

The Format war began in christmas 2005 when Toshiba rejected the offer to work together with Sony. In January of 2007, BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) Declared victory over Toshiba HD-DVD.

BDA claimed that Blu-ray is the premiere high definition format of choice with 25 different companies having released Blu-ray related products and more than one million PlayStation 3s shipped to the U.S.

Considering PS3 stations sold in US and Europe and Asia, It seems that Blu-Ray is the winner of the fight and has outpaced HD-DVD with an order of 5 to 1.

But the fight has just begun!

In my opinion , Toshiba has the upper hand in the format war, although the number of installations of Blu-ray is much more than HD-DVD, but most of these installations are in form of Playstation 3.

Buying PS3 is not a sign of consumer interest in Blu-Ray. You should consider that sales of Toshiba HD-DVD standalone players outpaced Blu-ray units by nearly 5 times as many units and this number has increased during the last weekend.

Also Microsoft XBox 360 ,the big PS3 rival, is going to support HD-DVD. Microsoft is not going to integrate HD-DVD into XBox (Because of product price increase) but supports the HD-DVD format via an addon kit for XBox and is focusing on HD-DVD.

Kevin Collins, director in the Microsoft Consumer Media Technology Group said last week that the microsoft's decision to back HD-DVD was a result of purely pragmatic concerns such as lower disc manufacturing costs and mandated managed copying, which is supposed to make it possible to exercise some fair use rights without compromising DRM concerns.

At any case, this competition will not have a clear winner in the next months and anti-trust groups in the United States and elsewhere watch the battle carefully for signs of harm to the consumer.

20 years ago, the VHS-Betamax (JVC vs Sony) battle harmed consumers, as those who bought Betamax were later forced to buy new VHS machines.

The winner of this war by now are the consumers, as prices are driven down faster in an effort to attract buyers.


Ragazzi impressionante, per SONY sarebbe un disastro economico di proporzioni apocalittiche 

[Quelo]

The winner of this war by now are the consumers, as prices are driven down faster in an effort to attract buyers.[/b]

Ottimo, l'esatto opposto di quello che pensate voi  :ehsi:.

[Giulo75]

Ottimo, l'esatto opposto di quello che pensate voi  :ehsi:.

Boh...qui da noi BR e HD-DVD stanno sopra i 24,90 EURO con punte di 29,90.
Piu' che i lettori devono far scendere rapidamente i prezzi dei contenuti.

[Enomix]

infatti mai comprato uno, affitto quella poca roba che cè al block  :teach:

[Dick_Dastardly]

Quelo dipende quale formato si affermerà.
E' interessante far notare cmq che sebbene il blue-ray abbia ad oggi una base installata molto superiore all'HD-DVD, siano proprio le vendite di HD-DVD a dominare il mercato.

Questo semplicemente perchè i 2/3 di lettori Blue-Ray sono costituiti da PS3, ed a quanto pare ai possessori PS3 frega poco per ora di vedere film in HD, mentre chi compra un lettore HD-DVD sia come lettore a parte, che come add-on dell'XBOX 360, lo fa esclusivamente per vedere i film.  :ehsi:

[Turrican3]

Ottimo, l'esatto opposto di quello che pensate voi

"Voi" chi? :mmmm:

[Dick_Dastardly]

Ragazzi c'è un aggioramento abbastanz apreoccupante per la SONY

http://www.hidef.com/news-items/2083-warner-bros-let-their-blu-ray-license-expire.html#post4347

Word is getting around that WB let their Blu-Ray license expire last night. The cost is a mere 40k so I doubt money was the issue. As many of you know by know, WB will make a decision this quarter as to which to jump, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. To be frank, the comments from Dan Silverberg at WB can be taken either way but were also taken out of context by a Blu-Ray loving reporter. So beyond the interpretation of recent WB comments, let's look at the real reasons WB would choose HD-DVD over Blu-Ray.

1. WB has consistently put more support behind HD-DVD than Blu-Ray. Batman Begins and V for Vendetta are perfect examples of titles released on HD-DVD months before Blu-Ray. The Matrix is still ONLY available on HD-DVD because the Blu-Ray player profiles did not have mandatory support the advanced features of PiP and True HD. These features are mandatory on ALL HD-DVD stand-alone players.

2. Cost of Manufacturing - Blu-Ray yields are bad. Apparently 2 or 3 of 10 are good. The cost per disk is also high. Blu-Ray is over 5.00 per disk vs 1.00 to 1.50 for HD-DVD.

3. Cost of implementing interactive features such as PiP (overlay for commentary or tech specs/GPS like Miami Vice or Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift) and Web Interactivity is much cheaper. To program these features for Blu-Ray one must use a programmer who MUST write near a hundred lines or more of code. To implement HDi which is similar to HTML, one does not need to be a programmer which means less cost per disk.

4. Incompatibilities - Many early adopters of Blu-Ray will have issues with playback in the future due to Blu-Ray hardware being very different from manufacture to manufacture because the specs were not mandatory till TODAY. New players that are released after today will probably be ok but old players could see unexpected problems. Beware..

5. HD-DVD Player Price - We all know that player prices are dropping like crazy. Tomorrow the A2 can be had for 98.00 and you can buy the A2 from Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City and Walmart (starting Saturday) for under 200.00. LOW PRICES is ALWAYS the beginning of mass adoption and with most consumers not taking full advantage of their HDTV's, these cheap players are the perfect opportunity to acquire the latest and greatest for cheap.

6. WB has already said that Home Players sales are the sales that REALLY matter and that PS3 title sales cannot be predicted because you do not know how many PS3 owners will buy movies. When someone purchases an Toshiba HD-DVD or 360 HD-DVD Player you know those consumers WILL buy movies or they would NOT have made the purchase at all. The PS3 is a game machine first then Blu-Ray Player second. For Blu-Ray to make a huge dent with PS3 consumers would need to purchase more than one (PS3) or you will have people fighting over watching movies or playing games (in many households, not all). Nielson and other stat trackers do not count the PS3 as part of the Home Player sales.

Now, everyone is locked on the 2 to 1 software lead Blu-Ray has over HD-DVD. This means nothing when the format is FAR more expensive to produce content for and with the PS3 the Blu-Ray camps has like a 10+ to 1 hardware lead when it comes to players. With such a large hardware lead their lead should be much more but it is NOT as the PS3 is not really producing the numbers these studios expected. In fact, if it were not for the PS3, Blu-Ray would be dead ALREADY!

Considering all of these factors and reasons for WB to side with HD-DVD I would be VERY shocked if WB choose Blu-Ray over HD-DVD. I could be totally wrong but then again, logic generally prevails.

Azz se questo rumor si concretizza sono uccelli per diabetici per SONY  :boom:

[Quelo]

Sapete che qui a Roma cominciano a fare molte offerte allettanti per i lettori HD DVD (lettore più 5 film a 300 euri) e che la gente sta cominciando ad interessarsi?

[Dick_Dastardly]

Uè la peppa:

HD DVD player owners in Europe are snapping up more HD movies than their Blu-ray counterparts. That's according to the European HD DVD Promotional Group which today said that HD DVD owners buy, on average, 3.8 HD movies each, compared to just 0.6 movies sold per Blu ray player.

The figures were collated by independent research group GfK and, for once, they analyse the number of movies sold for all HD players including games consoles. Usually, the HD DVD camp likes to leave the Blu-ray-supported PS3 out of its stats. But it's obviously happy to include it when it's convenient.
HD DVD sells more movies?

"HD DVD not only offers all the picture and audio benefits of other HD formats, it also has the most affordable and feature-rich players on the market today. Unlike other HD formats, every player produced gives the consumer the same consistent HD performance and experience," said Alan Bell, chief technology officer at Paramount Pictures.
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The overall attach rate is highest in Spain, where HD DVD owners have bought an average of 5.7 movies per player, which is over 14 times the attach rate for Blu ray which is reportedly just 0.4 per player.
PS3 the key?

It's an amazing turn around in PR strategy for the HD DVD camp to suddenly include PS3 sales in its stats. In terms of player sales, Toshiba likes to say that the PS3 should not be counted as an HD player because gamers 'don't want to watch HD movies'.

But now, by including the PS3 in its stats - a product that by the HD DVD Group's own admission is going to be bought by people who have 'no interest in Blu-ray' - it makes the attach rate of Blu-ray movies per player appear artificially low. It's effectively diluting the Blu-ray Disc attach rate.

You have to admit, it's a clever marketing ploy. But a transparent one at that. The truth is that the numbers of HD movies being bought are still very small and both the HD DVD and the Blu-ray camps will seemingly say anything to score some cheap points.

Meanwhile, the HD war quietly rumbles on below the radar of the majority of UK citizens.

http://www.tech.co.uk/home-entertainment/video/dvd-hdd-players-and-receivers/blu-ray-and-hd-dvd/news/hd-dvd-slaps-blu-ray-with-new-sales-figures?articleid=1152054706

Ragazzi mi sa che la SONY 'sta inguaiata, per dirla alla Ciclope