http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
But HD hurt themselves from the start. First, don't give your product a generic brand name. When most people think of "hd" they think of a technology not a brand. Blue Ray stands out, HDdvd does not. Second, speaking of standing out, don't package your product in dull brown cases that fade into the background when your competition has bright "look at me" blue cases. HD's marketing team needs to find a McDonalds to flip burgers in. Maybe they could handle that without screwing it up.

Then again, I had to wonder what was going on when nearly every time I walked into a store the Blue Ray display was right out front, big and bold. You couldn't miss it. The HD display, on the other hand, was usually behind all that with no fanfare at all. It was almost as if these retailers were pushing one over the other.]]>Feb 9th 2008 10:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 1:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
I refuse to buy anything Sony has corrupted - so if Blu-ray wins this one, it looks like I'll be getting my content OTA, or not at all.]]>Jan 5th 2008 11:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
Zip drives for the win.]]>Jan 5th 2008 12:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
CD, DVD, Floppy were all backed by Sony. BluRay is not the first time Sony has succeeded in bringing a successful format to the market place.]]>Jan 5th 2008 2:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 7th 2008 2:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
CD was competing with the most successful audio format at the time (audio cassette), which enjoyed nearly 100% market share dominance.

DVD was competing with the most successful video format at the time (VHS), which enjoyed nearly 100% market share dominance.

If you're point was to state that DVD and CD was revolutionary, just remember that the challenge back in the 80's was to convince critics that they should ditch their tried and true analog players for the new technology. And, for that, Sony deserves the credit. ]]>Jan 14th 2008 9:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
Is anyone else stunned by how fast this came in light of the Warner Bro. announcement?! The death knell is sounding for HD-DVD louder and louder by the minute here people, I'm amazed. Oh well, I have both format players.]]>Jan 4th 2008 11:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 12:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 12:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
Does this mean an external Blu-Ray drive for the 360? lol... ]]>Jan 5th 2008 12:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/just to note: flash drives are getting cheaper and already surpass the speed of discs in transfer rate and especially access/seek time]]>Jan 5th 2008 3:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
Microsoft know they need to diversify in the face of inevitable change and embrace new 'gateways' 'hubs' 'self-created standards' 'portals' etc, because 'owning one' is like being able to print money.]]>Jan 5th 2008 6:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 5:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 9th 2008 9:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
Right now, HDDVD players are under $200 for non entry level models. BD players are at least twice to two and a half times that for similarly spec'd models. Regardless of one studio going HD or BD exclusive if the players are too expensive for anyone other than early adopters, then the format is going to die.

Then there's China and CH-DVD, which is China's domestic market only answer to HD-DVD. The CH-DVD media is pressed on the same presses as HD-DVD and DVD media, and the players are built on the same assembly lines as HD-DVD and DVD players, using the same components. It's a bit of a ripoff of HD-DVD, being just different enough to avoid crackdowns by the WTO for IP infringement, but it means that China will be able to crank out tens of millions of cheap HD-DVD players for the west, and equal numbers of CH-DVD players for China's home market. Unless Blu Ray can bring their player prices down, which their stance on royalty payments suggests they're unwilling to do, then China, and thus Wal Mart, Target, Tessco, and other major retailers will give consumers the choice of dirt cheap HDDVD hardware to buy.

The Asian market is as large as Europe and the US combined. If China can supply HD-DVD players to them at sub $100 prices, then Warner, Fox, Disney and company will be forced to jump back on the HDDVD wagon.]]>Jan 4th 2008 10:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 11:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Google product search yields the lowest price for a BD-P1400 as $261 (rounding up to the nearest dollar)
And the Sony S300 (hardly a fair comparison, since it's an old model) is $270, also on Google product search.

Where are you finding these sub $200 prices?

Incidentally, the Toshiba HD-A3 is $184 for the cheapest retailer on Google product search.

So they're inching prices down, but they're still well above HDDVD player prices.

And do you see the BD consortium making a deal with Chinese manufacturers to mass produce BD decks for cheap? Doesn't seem very likely to me.]]>Jan 4th 2008 11:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
Blu Ray has a considerably higher potential storage limit.

PS3's put Blu Ray players in more homes than any other HD optical disk playback device.

IT WAS OBVIOUS.

Where it went wrong was Microsoft not putting an HDDVD drive in the 360. After that it was all downhill.

I'm suprised HDDVD lasted this long in fact. I thought it would fizzle out like a bad fart.

Now Apple is planning to use Blu Ray drives? (cause they HATE MS)?

I thout Apple choosing Blu Ray would have been the final nail in HDDVD's heart. Now with WARNER going that way???? HDDVD has been shot 12 times in the head and disemboweled and set on fire.]]>Jan 4th 2008 11:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
Does Sony and company have the financial resources to get into a protracted format war with Microsoft and the rest? Given Microsoft having shown that they're entirely willing to blow billions (with a "B") and lose their ass on an entire generation of hardware (the original X-Box) in order to solidify their presence, and dominance in the market. Microsoft alone has $40B+ in liquid cash that they're just sitting on. Sony has been taking it on the chin in their music business unit and the PS3, Sony Pictures Entertainment is holding it's own, and SOE is the sole bright spot, showing a profit.

And, as I said, the United States is not the center of the universe, and this little speedbump only concerns the US, not the entire world. China alone will account for more sales of players than the US will, even with most of it's population living in medieval conditions. Then there's the rest of Southeast and Central Asia. They follow where China leads. China is throwing their weight behind the faster cheaper option: CH-DVD and HD-DVD.

As for Sony, I really don't have any strong feelings one way or the other. They're simply repeating history, ala Betamax.

This fight is FAR from over. ]]>Jan 4th 2008 11:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 12:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Seriously...comparing it with CH-DVD...with this do you really have the moral quality to call everyone else fanboy?]]>Jan 5th 2008 12:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/"The success or failure of both formats will not be decided solely on US sales"


actually... you should probably hope that it is, as hd-dvd is getting the beating of a lifetime throughout the rest of the world. NA is the only continent that had somewhat close (although still massive sales lead) sales for hd-dvd. ]]>Jan 5th 2008 12:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
I always thought Blu-Ray was the format that had more potential.

As for cheap chinese Blu-Ray players, I think it will eventually happen, just as it did with DVD players.

It's not that HD-DVD is a bad format. It's the fact there Tohsiba and Sony decided to compete instead of working together.

Anyone remember the DiVX disc? Granted, it had it's share of "what the hell were they thinking?" when it had to call home each time you wanted to watch a released title. HD-DVD obviously doesn't have that yoke to deal with. But it was a second format. And once it was out of the way, DVD took off even more than it had before. And studios that bet their farm on that format (Disney) eventually released everything in DVD format.

The same will be true once one of these formats goes away. At the moment, it looks as though that would be HD-DVD. And if that is the format that gets buried, then the exclusive HD-DVD titles will be released on Blu-Ray.]]>Jan 5th 2008 12:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 2:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 2:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
Are you saying that people will still be buying cheap movie players
from China just because its cheap even if they dont have any movies
to play? Didn't the article that we just read says that the majority
of the movie companies are siding to Blu-ray. Are you expecting
people to only watch Chinese subtitled movies bought from Ebay? Dont
get me wrong..Im trying to make sense of what you just said.
]]>Jan 5th 2008 4:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
I hope just for consumers' sake that there's a clear winner by 2009. I haven't bought a high-def player yet, my upscaling DVD play is doing me fine.]]>Jan 5th 2008 5:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 2:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Ever heard of similes and metaphors..."he's a rock", "he's like a rock"..."it'd be like sony...."]]>Jan 5th 2008 9:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 12:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 2:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 11:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 5th 2008 2:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
Oh well. At least the war is ending, and with AnyDVD, it'll be alright I guess. Grr Sony, you finally got a standard w/o Phillips holding your hand.]]>Jan 6th 2008 6:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/Jan 4th 2008 10:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/
im tired of it all already and i dont want to buy any more hd dvd's anymore regardless if its superior or not *harry potter and 300* just because i know that warner is going blu. i mean whats the point. they better just cut their losses now and get out of it.]]>Jan 4th 2008 10:30PM