Live from the Blu-ray press conference
by Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jan 7th 2008 at 7:58PM
So far so good, we finally got in and the stage is setup just like last time, same desk, same podium, same signs, lets see if the news is the same. They should be starting in a few minutes, but we'd bet anything it won't kick off on time.
5:04PM - It's getting quite, here we go!
Andy Parsons from - Blu-ray Disc Association/Pioneer takes the podium and kicks things off.
He introduces the panel which includes; Steve Beeks - Lionsgate, Ron Sanders - Warner Home Video, Bob Chapek - Walt Disney studios, David Bishop - Sony Pictures, and Danny Kaye - Twentieth Century Fox. Andy makes a joke about how Ron is the man who everyone actually wants to talk to, everyone laughs.
5:07PM - The first slide shows that every week and every month Blu-ray Disc outsold HD DVD, but we already knew that,
Andy. Next up is the global market, which is 2:1 as well or 66/34. Hardware sales which includes PS3 give them a 85% share internationally.
Studio market share is strongly in Blu-ray's favor, with 68.4% while HD DVD only has 22.8% exclusivity.
5:09PM - Danny Kaye from Fox takes the podium, and thanks Andy for "setting up the situation."
They are predicting to sell another 2 million stand-alone devices and 3 million PS3s. So by the end of 2008, they expect to have 10 million Blu-ray play back devices.
During 2007 there was about 170M in disc sales. But in 2008, they expect to see 1 billion -- man we wish we could remember what they were trying to hit last year.
Looking back at VHS and DVD sales through, they put up a nice chart which shows an inflection point, which they say happens about he same time, in the third or fourth year. This helps sustain growth in home entertainment.
5:13pm - David Bishop from Sony pictures takes the podium and points out that the PS3 will continue to use bundled titles to help tell everyone that the PS3 is a Blu-ray player. Up until now the focus as been on early adopters, but now they are moving on to everyone, and that is what interactive features are all about.
5:16pm - David reminds us of all the interactive features we saw earlier today and goes on repeating what we already saw.
5:19pm - Bob Chapek, from Walt Disney, takes the podium and brings up all the issues we know too well about confusion about HDTV.
The BDA has been setting in store demos, educational discs. The most successful was the Disney magical Blu-ray tour. Now for a video of the reaction of the magical Blu-ray tour. A story from khcw.com is being shown on the big screens. Bob says there are plenty of clips like this from all over the country, but we don't remember seeing one before.
The tour kicks off again in Toronto, then goes to Nashville, Denver, Palm Beach Fl, as well as a few other markets. We leaves by wishing us a happy "blu" year and introduces Ron Sanders from Warner.
5:25PM - Ron says 2008 started out pretty exciting for Blu-ray. He gives a summary of the advertising during 2007, including our favorite channel, HDNet. More recently "The Future is Blu" and "I do blu" campaigns were also touted. "The Future is blu" commercial is shown, which we've all seen a few times.
Awareness has climbed to 80% of those surveyed, say they know the brand.
5:28PM - Steve Beeks, president of Lionsgate takes the podium to finish it off. Goes over the goals of the BDA, which is expected to be a watershed year in the adoption of Blu-ray. He is very confident that the market has decided. Steve is really driving home the same stats that he seems to believe really prove the format war is over. He quotes the LA Times, which evidently proclaimed the "format war is over." Blah, blah, blah lots of the same, look at the past, we all need to work together -- ok, Steve, we get it. Again he says "the consumers have made the choice" and that the end of the format war is clear and in the word of Tommy Lasorda, "go blu."
Questions time!
Q. The problem is the price of the machine, who can afford the price of the machines, what are you going to do to reduce the price?
A. Andy reminds us that pricing is up to individual companies, not up to the BDA. He says we don't do coupons, in fact we try to sneak up on everyone else.
Q. Bill from the Digital Bits asks Does Warners decision decision carry over to new line and HBO, and does the switch have anything to do with BD+.
A. No, not really, it was the consumer choice.
Q. Any chance there will be a HD DVD trade in program for Blu-ray.
A. David Bishop, said not at this time.
Q. How will you try to educate consumers that early adopters can't take advantage of new features?
A. Andy says bonus view is new, but prefers not to call it profile 1.1. He goes on to explain that in the DVD world the same thing happened, and people are accustomed to technology developing and the functionality of their players doesn't change. The name "bonus view" is to help them know its a new feature so people can check the disc before they bring it home.
Q. How will you educate smaller markets?
A. We will as soon as we can, but we are starting with the larger market.
Q. Can we start talking about the Blu-ray recorders.
A. Again, Andy says it's up to the manufacturers, and the DVR is very popular.
A. He says to see Universal now and if we all asked they might change their mind.
Q. What if Toshiba, Universal and Paramount don't go blu. How do you convince consumers the war is over?
A. The market will decide.
Q. Was there a Warner pay off?
A. Ron says "I wish". He says any pay off would've been a drop in the bucket so the decision was not related to any payoffs.
Q. How about a DVD/Blu-ray combo disc?
A. Danny says not to sacrifice space or technology so if you really have to, they could bundle a DVD.
Q. With Blu-ray the aparent winner, are we going to see more catalogue titles?
A. Bob says Song of the South won't be covered here today, but one of the pinnacle moments was when we decided to bring out Snow White, which signaled it was mass market, since this was a most cherished title. This time they are releasing Snow White this October. "And what's the price point Bob?" "Wow" -- and as a result we know where this is going. David Bishop says most of the panel lived through DVD and just like that, they look at the core and try to release products that are valuable to them.
Q. Will region coding be made any clearer on the packages, given that it isn't clear, there is the risk that if someone is traveling they could buy the wrong title. Andy says he's waiting for the question. What do the lawyers say abou this? Using this to prevent trading freely internationally?
A. Andy "Ron you what to handle this?" Ron says, "no" "Does anyone want to take it or take it offline, "that's what happened last year, "David says, "ok we'll solve it next year."
Q. Any chance of Direct stream digital?
A. Andy says the spec is already created and they don't want to break it. But we wonder how this is different then adding BD Live now?
Q. DBStalk.com Tom Robertson, is it a global exclusivity?
A. Ron says "yes"
That's it no more question, Andy thanks us for coming.
5:07PM - The first slide shows that every week and every month Blu-ray Disc outsold HD DVD, but we already knew that,
Andy. Next up is the global market, which is 2:1 as well or 66/34. Hardware sales which includes PS3 give them a 85% share internationally.
Studio market share is strongly in Blu-ray's favor, with 68.4% while HD DVD only has 22.8% exclusivity.
5:09PM - Danny Kaye from Fox takes the podium, and thanks Andy for "setting up the situation."
They are predicting to sell another 2 million stand-alone devices and 3 million PS3s. So by the end of 2008, they expect to have 10 million Blu-ray play back devices.
During 2007 there was about 170M in disc sales. But in 2008, they expect to see 1 billion -- man we wish we could remember what they were trying to hit last year.
Looking back at VHS and DVD sales through, they put up a nice chart which shows an inflection point, which they say happens about he same time, in the third or fourth year. This helps sustain growth in home entertainment.
5:13pm - David Bishop from Sony pictures takes the podium and points out that the PS3 will continue to use bundled titles to help tell everyone that the PS3 is a Blu-ray player. Up until now the focus as been on early adopters, but now they are moving on to everyone, and that is what interactive features are all about.
5:16pm - David reminds us of all the interactive features we saw earlier today and goes on repeating what we already saw.
5:19pm - Bob Chapek, from Walt Disney, takes the podium and brings up all the issues we know too well about confusion about HDTV.
The BDA has been setting in store demos, educational discs. The most successful was the Disney magical Blu-ray tour. Now for a video of the reaction of the magical Blu-ray tour. A story from khcw.com is being shown on the big screens. Bob says there are plenty of clips like this from all over the country, but we don't remember seeing one before.
The tour kicks off again in Toronto, then goes to Nashville, Denver, Palm Beach Fl, as well as a few other markets. We leaves by wishing us a happy "blu" year and introduces Ron Sanders from Warner.
5:25PM - Ron says 2008 started out pretty exciting for Blu-ray. He gives a summary of the advertising during 2007, including our favorite channel, HDNet. More recently "The Future is Blu" and "I do blu" campaigns were also touted. "The Future is blu" commercial is shown, which we've all seen a few times.
Awareness has climbed to 80% of those surveyed, say they know the brand.
Questions time!
Q. The problem is the price of the machine, who can afford the price of the machines, what are you going to do to reduce the price?
A. Andy reminds us that pricing is up to individual companies, not up to the BDA. He says we don't do coupons, in fact we try to sneak up on everyone else.
Q. Bill from the Digital Bits asks Does Warners decision decision carry over to new line and HBO, and does the switch have anything to do with BD+.
A. No, not really, it was the consumer choice.
Q. Any chance there will be a HD DVD trade in program for Blu-ray.
A. David Bishop, said not at this time.
Q. How will you try to educate consumers that early adopters can't take advantage of new features?
A. Andy says bonus view is new, but prefers not to call it profile 1.1. He goes on to explain that in the DVD world the same thing happened, and people are accustomed to technology developing and the functionality of their players doesn't change. The name "bonus view" is to help them know its a new feature so people can check the disc before they bring it home.
Q. How will you educate smaller markets?
A. We will as soon as we can, but we are starting with the larger market.
Q. Can we start talking about the Blu-ray recorders.
A. Again, Andy says it's up to the manufacturers, and the DVR is very popular.
A. He says to see Universal now and if we all asked they might change their mind.
Q. What if Toshiba, Universal and Paramount don't go blu. How do you convince consumers the war is over?
A. The market will decide.
Q. Was there a Warner pay off?
A. Ron says "I wish". He says any pay off would've been a drop in the bucket so the decision was not related to any payoffs.
Q. How about a DVD/Blu-ray combo disc?
A. Danny says not to sacrifice space or technology so if you really have to, they could bundle a DVD.
Q. With Blu-ray the aparent winner, are we going to see more catalogue titles?
A. Bob says Song of the South won't be covered here today, but one of the pinnacle moments was when we decided to bring out Snow White, which signaled it was mass market, since this was a most cherished title. This time they are releasing Snow White this October. "And what's the price point Bob?" "Wow" -- and as a result we know where this is going. David Bishop says most of the panel lived through DVD and just like that, they look at the core and try to release products that are valuable to them.
Q. Will region coding be made any clearer on the packages, given that it isn't clear, there is the risk that if someone is traveling they could buy the wrong title. Andy says he's waiting for the question. What do the lawyers say abou this? Using this to prevent trading freely internationally?
A. Andy "Ron you what to handle this?" Ron says, "no" "Does anyone want to take it or take it offline, "that's what happened last year, "David says, "ok we'll solve it next year."
Q. Any chance of Direct stream digital?
A. Andy says the spec is already created and they don't want to break it. But we wonder how this is different then adding BD Live now?
Q. DBStalk.com Tom Robertson, is it a global exclusivity?
A. Ron says "yes"
That's it no more question, Andy thanks us for coming.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jeeverz @ Jan 7th 2008 8:01PM
i personally think blu ray jus took the industry with Warner Bros.
James Cameron @ Jan 7th 2008 11:04PM
What happen Engadget? We need video or live feed! It will save you a heck of a time from typing.
kingofwale @ Jan 7th 2008 8:02PM
wouldn't it be funny (and yet arrogant, of course) for them to have a mock funeral for HD-DVD at the beginning of the conference? ;)
Stewie @ Jan 7th 2008 8:03PM
It would be funny but unprofessional, so they won't do it.
Ed @ Jan 7th 2008 9:46PM
It would be almost as funny as when Steve Jobs did it.
Ignacio @ Jan 7th 2008 10:27PM
"It would be almost as funny as when Steve Jobs did it."
Except he was doing a mock funeral for one of the company's *own* products ;)
(Mac OS 9, replaced by Mac OS X)
bpmarkowitz @ Jan 7th 2008 10:35PM
@ Ed
Steve Jobs did it for his company's own program (OS 9), not someone else's.
mills.edward @ Jan 8th 2008 9:00AM
To be fair, would you actually put it past Apple to do a mock funeral for Vista at the start of a keynote? For unprofessional advertising campaigns, Apple take the biscuit.
Alex @ Jan 7th 2008 8:03PM
Yeah, for HD-DVD to come back would be incredible. Blu is the winner in this war.
j.d.ripper @ Jan 8th 2008 6:55AM
This is the real reason blu ray is winning :
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2287/2134935923_34a2238f21_b.jpg
You put a girl like this this dancing in your booth :-) and over at HD DVD there are just 4 guys in suites.
(just kidding, just the girl at the blu ray booth is for real)
mushyho @ Jan 7th 2008 8:05PM
blu-ray FTW!!!! =D ya im a BR fanboy...
Sushi @ Jan 7th 2008 8:07PM
We noticed -_-
Ben @ Jan 7th 2008 8:40PM
Strange, I thought the correct acronym for Blu-Ray was BD....I guess i must not be a Blu-Ray fanboy
mushyho @ Jan 7th 2008 8:47PM
ok fine im not a Blu-ray fanboy...but i like BD better than HD DVD =D
Jagster @ Jan 7th 2008 9:32PM
DRM fan are you? I thought that we are supposed to oppose the formats that are the most DRM constrained? But in this case, it seems some people are willing to bend over and take it for no good reason. HD-DVD is the consumer choice, Blu-Ray is the content providers choice.
mushyho @ Jan 7th 2008 9:45PM
actually i was hoping blu-ray wont DRM the hell out of BD...but if they do..i guess they already are, but they should get rid of it like Sony BMG is for their music, but its Sony...seeing how everything they have is proprietary...BD is bound to be DRM-ed, and its not like the Content Providers arent going to force HD-DVD to not DRM the crapp out of HD-DVD...content providers WANT DRM...no matter what format it is...but thats what i think...just my opinion ....what you guys think?
Markus @ Jan 7th 2008 8:12PM
I love the Toronto Blu-rays.
Rupesh Varghese @ Jan 7th 2008 9:03PM
its the blu jays genius
Saty @ Jan 7th 2008 9:24PM
Hey Rupesh, you really are a complete f*cking idiot, aren't you?
Daniel @ Jan 7th 2008 9:40PM
the blu-rays suck! go tampa bay devil-jays!
Norock @ Jan 8th 2008 12:21AM
They're just the "jays" now, haven't you heard? :P
http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=tb
kingofwale @ Jan 7th 2008 8:14PM
only 10 million Blu-Ray playback players at the end of 08? Is that US only? because PS3 has already sold 9 million units worldwide at this point.
Stewie @ Jan 7th 2008 8:20PM
Yes just in the US. As of now 8.83 million PS3 sold, will break 9 million by friday when this weeks Americas and Japans sales go up.
Stewie @ Jan 7th 2008 8:20PM
SOrry for double posting but wanted to provide the VG sales website:
http://www.vgchartz.com/
caleb @ Jan 8th 2008 10:56AM
@stewie: Nice site. Off topic, any clue what caused the PS3 sale spike in March '07?
Time studios @ Jan 7th 2008 8:16PM
LOL HD-DVD just got Shafted By Blu-Ray lolz, no1 likes HD--dvd and there isn't much demand for it either!
AJ in the East Bay @ Jan 7th 2008 8:19PM
Well I like HD DVD and up until the Warner announcement there was demand for it. Sony just admitted that they have to pack in a movie in the PS3s to remind people that the PS3 is a movie player, LOL.
hemmy @ Jan 7th 2008 8:27PM
@AJ
And that should be a troubling thought to anyone who had hope for HDDVD, if the PS3 helped put Blu-ray over the top with only a small fraction of ppl aware it even played BD movies, what happens when people are enlightened with 10 million units out there?
Doug @ Jan 7th 2008 8:36PM
Anybody that is pro-consumer rather than pro-MPAA favors HD-DVD over Blu-ray. Looking at the specs of the two, Blu was obviously designed by a company that is trying to protect its intellectual property, not serve the consumer. HD-DVD has some similar protections in place, but it is considerably more consumer friendly. If it weren't for the (alleged) $500 million payoff to Warner by the Blu folks, the consumer might have actually had a chance to win this war.
HedonismBot @ Jan 7th 2008 9:03PM
Oh, for the love of...
Doug, read this post, or go back and read the initial post on Warner going Blu. There was no payoff. Warner has denied it repeatedly. The only documented payoff I've seen so far was to Paramount, for $150M, in order for them to go HD exclusively for 18 months. (That's $833,000/mo., incidentally).
Dave Zohn @ Jan 7th 2008 8:22PM
If you want to find out who will win the blu-ray vs. hdDVD war, just look at vhs vs. beta. If you rely on the specs, beta was the better choice, just like blu-ray. So why didn't that emerge on top? Because of the porn industry. Yes, you heard me correctly, the porn industry. Beta was too expensive to use, thus the use of vhs. Now tell me, what looks nicer on paper, blu-ray or hdDVD? The answer: Blu-Ray. Finally, which format is the porno industry backing today? If you guessed hdDVD you're right. History tends to repeat itself, so look for Hi-Def DVD to emerge on top.
Ryan @ Jan 7th 2008 8:26PM
The difference this time is that porn is readily available for home use now, which it wasn't during the vhs/beta war. Porn is a non-issue this time around.
Spider1981 @ Jan 7th 2008 8:24PM
Uhhh... there is porn on Blu-Ray. Thanks for playing.
Also, this isnt 1984. People get there porn on the internet.
dammenion @ Jan 7th 2008 8:24PM
Well considering that Porn is also on BD, plus today people get their fix from the net your statement seems misguided.
YourMother @ Jan 7th 2008 8:26PM
Hmm... Actually the porn industry is using Blu-Ray. I guess you didn't get that memo.
munim @ Jan 7th 2008 8:27PM
Except everyone downloads porn now. And porn doesn't look good in HD.
Steve @ Jan 7th 2008 8:28PM
Yeah, because we all want to see scars from breast implants in HD.
When the choice was porn on VHS vs. porn in dirty semen filled theater, winner: VHS
Now, expensive HD porn vs. free internet porn, winner: duh!
hemmy @ Jan 7th 2008 8:31PM
There's a ton of porn on Blu-ray in Japan, and the guys behind Pirates (p0rn) on Blu-ray are kinda surprised it's selling well beyond their expectations, here in the States.
I'm surprised people are paying for pr0n, actually. But, I digress :)
Michael @ Jan 7th 2008 8:41PM
Wow man, you say this like it's new news! You're only about 6 months late with this. People thought the same thing you just said, but then when the porn on HD DVD wasn't that big of a deal and when Blu-ray started getting porn too, it stopped mattering.
Plus, cheaper doesn't matter. It matters which one makes the studios more money. Warner decided that it made more money from the more expensive Blu-ray because it sold more. The high price to get started with Blu-ray no longer mattered. Plus, the "higher price" for Blu-ray was only because there were higher start up costs. Once everything is set up, then each movie created costs less and less to make.
HD DVD is dead, and I'm an HD DVD fan boy. It's just the way it is. Warner's switch to Blu-ray killed HD DVD and there is no way to resurrect it. Paramount and Universal can't hold the format up on their own. They will soon give in to the way of the Blu.
FK @ Jan 7th 2008 9:34PM
I just want in on replying to Dave Zohn as it seems I am guaranteed "Highest Ranked".
TheChork @ Jan 7th 2008 10:52PM
maybe you should look a little deeper and you'd find out that vivid entertainment actually changed their mind and decided to release Pirates on Blu-ray as well as HDDVD because of the extensive outcry of all the BD fanboys that love their porn! when you get reactions like that, lets see how long it'll take til the porn industry takes notice, huh?
quandmeme @ Jan 7th 2008 8:30PM
Those slides are awful. I work in the legal field so I don't have mad skills, but I think I could keep my content off of the logo area. Why isn't the month by month on a graph!
Aren't these people into media and graphics.
Poor show.
BTW, all I want is a standard, I don't care who wins, I just want a winner, now.
Ed @ Jan 7th 2008 9:53PM
This looks infinitely more boring than sony's main conference.
navstar @ Jan 7th 2008 8:44PM
Guess what? They BOTH lose! HD downloads on Netflix FTW!
kyoseki @ Jan 7th 2008 8:50PM
Yeah, that's great if you don't mind watching it on your computer monitor or have a spare PC to hook up to your tv.
Slightly less than advantageous for the non super geeky out there.
Hell, I'm super geeky and even I can't be bothered to figure out how to connect my computer to my home theater.
Michael @ Jan 7th 2008 8:52PM
@Kyoseki
Actually, I believe they are referring to the new Netflix box you attach directly to your TV and stream from the internet. No computer needed to view (only to pick what you want to view).
kyoseki @ Jan 7th 2008 9:02PM
Aha, ok, my bad, I wasn't aware that thing was actually available yet.
I'm still less than convinced about HD content delivery over the internet though, I like having a physical disc. I like paying for the movie once and then watching it as often as I like, the Xbox Live model of paying $6 every time I want to watch an HD movie (and having to wait 10-20 minutes for the damned thing to buffer) is not my idea of a good time.
How are Netflix planning on addressing the bandwidth costs of high frequency movie rental? Are they planning on only allowing you to watch certain numbers of movies per month based on your membership level?
MCW @ Jan 7th 2008 10:12PM
It's based on your subscription price. I believe if you are on the 2 out at a time plan, you have 14 hours of viewing time available (Right now, the set top box isn't out yet, I imagine they'll be changing Watch Instantly quite a bit before it's release, as far as video quality - near DVD at the moment - and how many hours you get per month) for the month, and it resets monthly.
I love Netflix. Can't wait to see what they come up with next.
Jeeverz @ Jan 7th 2008 8:35PM
im actually disappointed that blu ray is winning. I have been HD DVD the whole time, because they always had that better movies
Ben @ Jan 7th 2008 9:22PM
are you serious blu-ray always in my opinion had the best and latest movies sure HD DVD did too but not as many