Why We Did It: Warner Explains Its Move to Blu-ray (Interview)
Fri Jan 4, 2008 9:11PM EST
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Today Warner Bros. became the latest (and final) studio to pick a side in the high-def DVD battle. Until now, it was the only major studio left that was producing discs using both HD DVD and Blu-ray technology.
Warner Home Entertainment president Kevin Tsujihara spoke to a handful of us tech bloggers today to further explain why WB made the decision it did.
In a nutshell, Tsujihara said that WB had been "monitoring the [high-def] situation closely" and felt it was time to pick a side. The big problem? "Consumer confusion was beginning to happen even with standard-definition DVD," he said. "Both formats were having an impact that caused consumers to say, let's wait a bit to buy anything, even a standard-definition DVD. We were starting to see the worst of all worlds: No one was buying high-def and not buying standard-def either."
The argument that confusion between HD DVD and Blu-ray was causing people not to buy either high-def format has been with us for a while, but this is the first time I've heard anyone make the connection to declining regular DVD sales. It makes sense, though. If you, as a consumer, feel a (real) move to a new standard is imminent, you're not going to buy the old one. Industry-wide, total DVD sales fell 4.5 percent last year, a huge decline that has some insiders nervous.
Tsujihara said that, not including WB's blockbuster "Planet Earth" release, the company had already been selling 60 percent of its high-def titles in Blu-ray format in the U.S. But that figure was 70-plus percent in Europe and 90-plus percent in Japan.
In addressing the oft-rumored "marketing compensation" paid to studios for switching high-def sides (aka payola), Tsujihara laughed and joked that he had heard these rumors too and was anxious to see such a check. "It's not a bidding war," he said. "It's all about what's best strategically for us." That said, he curiously didn't outright state that no payment had been received by Warner for dumping HD DVD. Not that it matters, I suppose. All's fair in love and home video.
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7 Posted by ljbanner on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:54PM EDT Report Abuse
i have to agree with rogueist the masses had not had there chance to choose and for the true hd movie fans it is dissapointing that the industry has opted for a games consol format,who the heck do they think has been buying standard dvds all these years!not the consol owners!its us the movie nuts! so you know what? screw warner im just gonna keep buying hd dvds and support the companys that support us. money talks and thats what i will do with my money make it talk. who said you can not have 2 formatts selling exact same why should we choose make them do both! or is it cause sony wants all the pie. lets make them share for once
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8 Posted by ejc_99 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:52PM EDT Report Abuse
You cannot tell the difference between watching a Blu-ray or an HD-DVD. Both formats offer the same resolutions up to 1080p. In the long run, after increased sales bring prices down and newer generation hardware addresses early complaints of the players, we are left with nothing more than a capacity difference. So why would you want the format with a capacity of 15G/layer (HD-DVD) instead of 25G/layer (Blu)? I'd appreciate the extra space for features on movies or data storage for personal use. Go Blu-ray!
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9 Posted by dkubitfax on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:45PM EDT Report Abuse
The war is over - Sony finally won one. For me, I'd rather just play on the Wii in HiDef! More fun than sitting on my A--- and staring at the screen at reruns. Maybe that is why sales are down. There are only so many times you can slice and dice the same old movie. Now, the real battle is in the console world - one worth watching.
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10 Posted by shutrbug@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:21PM EDT Report Abuse
Well, since I bought my Toshiba HD-A3 for $160 with ten movies, I don't feel any compelling need to buy a BD player until it gets down to less than $50. Like ljbanner said, the HD DVD studios will get my purchases. I'll just rent the std def DVDs from the studios like Warner who went BD. They won't get any of my heard earned $s (maybe those from Netflix).
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11 Posted by bod.hi15 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:11PM EDT Report Abuse
Come on, blu-ray? I can find many reasons to get HD-DVD instead. One:due to a problem in blu-ray copy protection, there have been quite a few reports about people having problems playing Blu-ray discs. Two: it is crazy expensive (even if you say that it needs to be pricey to have HD, just look at much less expensive HDDVD) Three: It is not able to read DVD's a huge portion of the video medium. Four: If Sony supports it, you know it's bad.
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12 Posted by zipzap713 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 11:01PM EDT Report Abuse
Finally Warner Bros made their decision. Good thing they didn't decide to use their own HD format disk because that would have made everything very confusing. On a slightly different note, why do people think that HD DVD is different than Bluray in terms of a format? Bluray has nearly twice as much capacity as HDDVD, and Bluray is meant to be used a more multiuse disk (Gaming, Movies, Storage, etc). HDDVD was meant as a movie disk, not a multiformat disk. And what bod.hi15 said that Bluray players can't read DVD, is just wrong. All Bluray players CAN play DVDs. Now Bluray drives on the other hand, might not play dvds, but that is not a home theater player. I'm not a fan of either Sony nor Toshiba. I could care less who made it. All I know and care about is which format is better. Also the price may be rather expenisve now, but prices have been cut in half over the last year. They will probably drop even futher this year because as manufaturing is increased, prices drop. Amazing. For copy protection, who cares! Ways around this will be found, but as long as the player is hooked up to an HDTV, then the picture will be fine! Geez.
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13 Posted by carzman432000 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:19PM EDT Report Abuse
A few things I have gathered from all this HD versus BlueRay is that yes, BlueRay has more capacity, but really, who uses all that extra stuff on a regular basis? Secondly, Blueray is still MUCH higher priced. Lastly, if you look back on the video tape format war, it wasn't the best quality that won out, Betamax was a much better format. It came down to ease of use and available movies and playing time, and VHS won that war. It seems to me that instead of fighting over the format, Sony and Toshiba should make "dual" players and let the consumers decide which one they prefer. Until that time, I am perfectly happy watching my DVD collection uprez'd and seeing the movies I want to see on High Def PPV....
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14 Posted by ernestocasas1@verizon.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:55PM EDT Report Abuse
This is exactly what happend 25 years ago beta or vhs of course vhs won and stuck around 15 years or so, And that is the same battle going on today HD DVD or Blu Ray, Bluray is vhs and HD dvd is Beta, blu ray will be the format for the next 10 to 12 years, so go with Bluray Sony always wins in the end anyway with PS4 And PS5 in the near feature Sincerly Doc for "back to the future"
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15 Posted by urhit on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:28PM EDT Report Abuse
gooooo blu,the world is behind blu ray. well done sony for quality tech.
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16 Posted by enriquevaz1955 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:55PM EDT Report Abuse
Blue ray to expensive to make thus to expensive to buy, H DVD cheaper to make thus cheaper to buy, please support HD DVD better price.
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17 Posted by cjl1618@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:26PM EDT Report Abuse
AS long as I can get one of the Panasonic 150" plasma tv's, I'll gladly use whatever hidef DVD player I can get my mitts on.
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18 Posted by adam_yetsko on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:45PM EDT Report Abuse
if sony always wins and you are using the beta vhs comparison do you understand that sony created beta and it lost
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19 Posted by adam_yetsko on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:45PM EDT Report Abuse
if sony always wins and you are using the beta vhs comparison do you understand that sony created beta and it lost
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20 Posted by lovedreko on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:57PM EDT Report Abuse
blu-ray is a far better format its got twice the capacity, that they use for better audio and video quality.(hd-dvd doesnt have room for the new lossless audio tracks). and the only reason hd-dvd is so much cheaper is because they are dumping their products off on consumers to try and keep up in sales numbers with blu-ray. toshibas the only company that makes a standalone hd-dvd player, while blu ray has many choices in their standalones, from all the top names in the industry.
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21 Posted by rasincero on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:29PM EDT Report Abuse
It seems some people need to grow up. Just because you support one format type over another, it is no reason to fabricate stories about the deficiencies of the format you don't support. For instance, Blu-Ray is not "for games". That should be self-evident when consumers can buy Blu-Ray disks of movies and watch them. They are obviously not playing games. And talk of 'class-action' suits is downright ignorant. No movie studio is forced by law to sell their movies using a specific format. No law is broken. If a consumer is stupid enough to buy a HD-DVD player where he/she don't have any movies in that format, then that is their problem. Perhaps it would be smart if such a consumer would only buy HD-DVD movies? What a concept? If the selection of HD-DVD movies is not to his/her liking, then that's too bad. Some so-called "adults" need to grow up and live with the consequence of their decisions instead of trying to place blame on others and sue. Copy-protection is introduced by movie studios. This is true for all formats, regular DVDs, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD. If your player doesn't support it, the DVD/Blu-Ray/HD-DVD may not play. To suggest that only Blu-Ray has this problem is ludicrous.
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22 Posted by whbybel on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:44PM EDT Report Abuse
I cannot believe the traders of HD-DVD. The theoretical capacity, Scratch resistent Shielding and thickness, and the price of manufacturing HD are far better for everyone. I think this is anothe technology just like the Mini 1gig Cds that will have to go underground and make a comeback.. Just a small list of technology that failed in the last 5 years,USB monitors, Optical TV, Creative Zen, I had that one for 10 years before most even knew what an MP3 player was, DIVX, I just have one question for all those companies out there, Firewire anyone?
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23 Posted by smokinbettycrocker on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:30PM EDT Report Abuse
You know, these HD formats seem nice and all but to me that's not enough to get me to replace all 100+ of my standard DVDs! heck the movies I own - most weren't even filmed in HD! So what difference does it really make besides seeing celluoid artifacts more visibly ??? Unless you own PS3 or an XB360 -- I could see why you'd purchase the HD versions of films.
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24 Posted by zionways on Thu Sep 3, 2009 11:00PM EDT Report Abuse
Great debates with some intelligent analysis. either way the cost differences would become negligible within about 6 months (Blu-ray players are made by many companies already) Discs are already about comparable in price. More capacity allows for...MORE CAPACITY!! Isn't that what Hi Def is all about? Taking a visual image to excess? I personally enjoy looking at my HD TV when it looks its best. that's what Blu-Ray can do just a little bit better because it can store higher quality audio, video, and extra features (that I acknowledge I rarely find that enjoyable). the people that are bagging on Sony forget that its companies like Sony, Nokia, and Qualcomm that invest in R&D so that we consumers have better products in the long run. Let Sony make a little money now with the expensive players--Other comapnies like LG will soon rip off the technology and make it cheaper for those that decide on price. Either way, I'm glad to know which side of the fence to fall on now. I'll be looking for the $200 Blu-Ray player in the next 6 - 12 months.
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25 Posted by mcrljj@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:13PM EDT Report Abuse
After 25 years of selling and installing high end consumer electronics, it is still "interesting" to see formats that are not fully mature and not in the best interest of YOU, the consumer, pushed out into the market. Although I sell both formats, it is a matter of Fact that HD-DVD technically is a superior format...but for MONTHS it has been shamefull to see the local Bestbuys, Circuit Citys, Costcos, Sears, Targets and others slowly push HD-DVD players and displays to a corner, with BOTH Bestbuys and Sears in our area not even having the HD-DVD kiosks turned on, yet when it first came out HD-DVD is what they PUSHED to you the consumer. Yet these things come and go, just like Laser Discs, DAT, DCC, 8mm, MD, VHS-C, DVD-Audio, SACD, and many others...Blu-Ray may be here for now, but its replacement is already being developed and most of you already know it.
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6 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse
I still say that HD will win in the end. After talking with a ton of adult-type people (not kids) they all bought HD players this winter. Why? Because it is HD. They avoided anything labeled "Blue" or "BlueRay" like the plague. Why? "Oh, thats for games. I want something for my HDTV." In my area, HD outsold BD by a margin of 10 to 1. So although the studios are seeing money from the early adopters and gamers, the real crunch is soon to arrive when the adults who bought their HD players start shopping for HD titles. Studios had still better be producing titles on BOTH sides of the war for some time to come, or when it comes down to it, they will be hearing from several class action lawsuits from people who bought their HD players and now cant find anything to put in them. It was really really stupid for WB to actually chose a side so early on when the war itself is just beginning.