Letter to Toshiba: To beat out Blu-Ray completely this is what should be done!

Studio Support · 01-28-2008, 11:48 PM

Hi, Nicole Lawler

I love your article on TOSHIBA DEPLOYS NEW HD DVD MARKETING INITIATIVES BASED ON STRONG FOURTH QUARTER UNIT SALES.

Quote:

I am really hoping this is not too little too late. I completely support & defend HD DVD everywhere I go and on forums etc. I believe the consumer has the “RIGHT” to choose which Hi Def Format they want to purchase. In my most honest opinion, Price is KING period. But there is a problem I am sure you are aware of, and that is false Blu-Ray advertisements & HD DVD negativity via bad propaganda & rumours etc.

Can anything be done about all these misleading article, review sites & news media with their opinionated articles, non-factual and baseless rumours along with spineless propaganda to further cut the legs from under HD DVD?

I really think Toshiba and Microsoft both together should completely purchase a Hollywood Studio just as Sony has in the past. (We all know Sony wants to rule the world right ). This should really give HD DVD the back bone it needs to defeat all these false rumours going around which is starting to drive me and many others nuts.

I refuse to buy an expensive obsolete profile plagued Blu-Ray player when HD DVD offers full specifications at an extremely affordable price.

I am sure Toshiba has an extremely smart marketing team working away to Help promote HD DVD, but I am afraid they are going to have to start playing dirty, just as the Blu-Ray Disc Association has been doing ever since the Blu-Ray release. Reason is there method of advertising & aggression is actually getting them something in return and that is retailers & studios support etc. Warner Bros. Clearly made the wrong choice and we need to prove it to them.

I am not one to ramble but hear my advice along with 1,000’s up on 1,000's of others which I’ve been reading up on all over forums, news groups & co-workers etc.. To beat out Blu-Ray completely this is what should be done:

1) You “MUST 100%” Secure Universal/Paramount/DreamWorks/The Weinstein Company. Convince The Weinstein Company by incentives to start releasing Catalogue & new titles on HD DVD. (I read that this studio should not be included as an HD DVD backed studio because they don’t release movies on HD DVD anymore. Let’s change that ASAP. We need them BAD.)

2) Try to convince 1) Disney & even 2) First Look Studios to go HD DVD exclusive by any means possible to make it happen regardless of how much it will cost. (WE NEED ANOTHER MAJOR STUDIO ASAP) We need them to help even out the odds. Disney is strong with great family titles (HD DVD & Disney = The Right Demographic of people that will purchase the cheaper priced HD DVD players etc.) and First Look Studios should be an easy catch and would give HD DVD a little more much needed momentum. They have great titles, I’ve seen them.

3) Try and SECURE 1) Wal-Mart USA & CANADA & 2) Best Buy USA & Canada. If you have to Pay BIG $$$ Money $$$ because they can either make HD DVD win regardless of studio support or they can break HD DVD. Try to get an exclusive contract with them and aggressively tell them why HD DVD is the better valued Hi Def format. This is a MUST. And if you secure Disney, it would really help out a lot.

4) TLTwin (Triple Layer Twin) HD DVD/SD DVD on one side. This should truly prevent Retailers from reducing HD DVD stock and from others that will no longer stock HD DVD movies which is happening as I write this. One of these TLTwin discs sell and Blu-Ray can kiss their average goodbye. Though you must keep prices extremely competitive. Woolworth dropped HD DVD in favour of Blu-Ray due to the Warner announcement etc.

5) TL51GB (Triple Layer 51GB) HD DVD’s – We need these discs ASAP – Right Now - ASAP (Let’s get rid of this Blu-Ray has more storage BS so it’s better nonsense, because people believe it in an aggressive way even though it’s not true. I’ve seen on Hi def Digest that the 15GB Resident Evil HD DVD vs. 50GB Resident Evil Blu-Ray and both were 90% identical in Picture Quality & 100% identical in Sound Quality.)

6) HD DVD movie prices should be competitive vs. SD DVD not Blu-Ray. I know it’s going to costs a lot of money, but if and when HD DVD beats out Blu-Ray it would have greatly paid off in a big way. If you have to compensate studios for the extra cost, then so be it, do it ASAP. I’ve heard people defend HD DVD by saying that HD DVD is cheaper to produce, then why aren’t the HD DVD movies showing that cheaper price tag?

7) Microsoft needs to help Toshiba & HD DVD more aggressively. It would be nice if the two bought 1 or 2 Hollywood studios, just to put Sony it their place and certify HD DVD’s success.

8) Last but not least, bundle an HD DVD player with every Toshiba HDTV sold. Make this a mandatory commitment. Try to even get other HDTV manufactures to bundle HD DVD players with their brands of HDTV’s. Wal-Mart would be a great place to start HD DVD & HDTV bundles due to the much cheaper HDTV prices. This IMO is a WIN WIN situation and can give HD DVD a much needed boost.

Some of this is my advice and the majority is from various people 1,000’s upon 1,000’s which I’ve broken down. There are a lot of HD DVD owners that are leaving HD DVD for Blu-Ray, and we need to stop them ASAP.

Hope you greatly consider the above.
Thank You For Your Time & Patience

I speak for all HD DVD supporting people in the world.

VHSHD · 01-29-2008, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Studio Support

Hi, Nicole Lawler

I love your article on TOSHIBA DEPLOYS NEW HD DVD MARKETING INITIATIVES BASED ON STRONG FOURTH QUARTER UNIT SALES.

+1

The_Omega_Man · 01-29-2008, 03:07 AM

Even though some of the suggestions, may not be economically feasible or wise given the current state of financial affairs of some movie studios, I have to agree on most what the OP quoted.

oblioman · 01-29-2008, 03:29 AM

Disagree. What "false" advertisments have been generated and aired by Sony, or BD? If the OP truly supports the "let the consumer choose" phrase, why is the OP so deadset on the demolition of BD? Just because the majority of studio support is backing BD does not take away the consumer choice. It merely limits the choices available per format. The consumer still has a choice.

The_Omega_Man · 01-29-2008, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oblioman

Disagree. What "false" advertisments have been generated and aired by Sony, or BD? If the OP truly supports the "let the consumer choose" phrase, why is the OP so deadset on the demolition of BD? Just because the majority of studio support is backing BD does not take away the consumer choice. It merely limits the choices available per format. The consumer still has a choice.

Agreed in principle. However, if as you state, the choices are being intentionally limited, do you really have a choice or just the controlled perception of having a choice?

oblioman · 01-29-2008, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Omega_Man

Agreed in principle. However, if as you state, the choices are being intentionally limited, do you really have a choice or just the controlled perception of having a choice?

Yes we do have a choice. To buy or not to buy. That is our choice. No where did me say that our choices were "intentionally" limited, but merely limited as to what format we chose to purchase. To infer that our choice is intential is up to the consumer, and what is available to them. As far as me can see, as a consumer, me purchases will go towards what is not only available, but also to me liking.

pearl-drum-man · 01-29-2008, 05:37 AM

Easy to buy/buy off studios and retailers when you don't have to write the check

If they did buy off retailers, then what about the "RIGHT" of those who want to choose Blu-ray?

I get the impression that MS has taken a step back from the war, so Toshiba may be more on their own than we know.

mshulman · 01-29-2008, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oblioman

Disagree. What "false" advertisments have been generated and aired by Sony, or BD?

It looks like they have now corrected it, but the BDA site has a FAQ on the differences between HD DVD and Blu-ray. Up until recently, one differences they listed was that Blu-ray was 1080P and HD DVD 1080i.

Sony (and I'm sure others) also omit some important information. How about info on the profiles? Just go to Sony's site and look at the BDP-S300. It doesn't list what profile it is anywhere that I could find. So for someone that knows nothing about Blu-ray but has heard its cool and is high def, they aren't getting all the info they need to make an intelligent purchase.

Chris Gerhard · 01-29-2008, 06:27 AM

The worse it gets for HD DVD, the funnier the plans are. That letter is a hoot and it is nice that Toshiba knows that he speaks for all HD DVD supporting people in the world.

Quote:

I speak for all HD DVD supporting people in the world.

This whole thing is so silly, the market can't sustain two formats so one needs to go. The decision has been made and Toshiba will have no choice but to give up. What a joke this is becoming.

Chris

kkozma · 01-29-2008, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oblioman

Disagree. What "false" advertisments have been generated and aired by Sony, or BD? If the OP truly supports the "let the consumer choose" phrase, why is the OP so deadset on the demolition of BD? Just because the majority of studio support is backing BD does not take away the consumer choice. It merely limits the choices available per format. The consumer still has a choice.

Have you not seen the Blu-ray commercial where one guys says, my buddy has HD DVD, but Blu-ray just BLOWS it away.

Or their primary marketing campaign? Beyond High Definition? Uhh it is?

Deja Vu · 01-29-2008, 08:08 AM

I own both formats and support HD DVD! Why? Because there was no freedom to fairly choose. Sony tied up most of the studio support and CE manufacturers support with no doubt certain promises and incentives. If you sold product "X" and I had a similar competing product and I offered the major retailers or manufacturers incentives to only sell or manufacture my product thus cutting off production and distribution for your product you'd be pretty unhappy. You might even argue that these practices hurt competition and a free market system!

Does HD DVD have any hope at this stage? Not really! Right now it is on life support and it will take radical intervention to save it. Either buying a studio out right or buying its support is what is needed.

Cheers,

Grant

tcarcio · 01-29-2008, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

The worse it gets for HD DVD, the funnier the plans are. That letter is a hoot and it is nice that Toshiba knows that he speaks for all HD DVD supporting people in the world.

This whole thing is so silly, the market can't sustain two formats so one needs to go. The decision has been made and Toshiba will have no choice but to give up. What a joke this is becoming.

Chris

The decision has been made by who? Sony? Consumers that want a dedicated player have chosen HD. I know a few PS3 owners that don't even buy movies and I believe the estimate of people who buy the PS3 and use it for movies is under 25% where as the people who buy HD are 100% buying it to watch movies. I still think both can survive and if all studios went neutral we would not have this mess.

mshulman · 01-29-2008, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcarcio

The decision has been made by who? Sony? Consumers that want a dedicated player have chosen HD. I know a few PS3 owners that don't even buy movies and I believe the estimate of people who buy the PS3 and use it for movies is under 25% where as the people who buy HD are 100% buying it to watch movies. I still think both can survive and if all studios went neutral we would not have this mess.

I'm sure Chris's next response will be to point out the software sales. Clearly that shows consumers want blu-ray over HD DVD. It can't be the fact that PS3 has blu-ray built in and if someone owns something they are likely to use it.

Do people with Sony computers and camcorders prefer the sony memory stick? Or is it perhaps that they use it because that's what's built in?

Do people prefer to pay $50 a month for Xbox live? Or do they own an xbox 360 and want to play online and therefore need to subscribe to it?

Consumers haven't chosen anything yet. Sales of blu-ray are better. Studio support is definetely better. As long as Universal, Paramount, Dreamworks and Toshiba continue to support it, this isn't over - no matter how much these blu-ray owners would like it to be.

Apple has clearly lost in the PC battle. Maybe people should just stop buying Mac's altogether? Or, similiar to HD DVD, maybe Mac buyers see that the Mac is a better value, suits their needs and has more to offer than the competition?

Chris Gerhard · 01-29-2008, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcarcio

The decision has been made by who? Sony? Consumers that want a dedicated player have chosen HD. I know a few PS3 owners that don't even buy movies and I believe the estimate of people who buy the PS3 and use it for movies is under 25% where as the people who buy HD are 100% buying it to watch movies. I still think both can survive and if all studios went neutral we would not have this mess.

What would be the reason for all studios to go neutral? HD DVD excluded several studios by design without allowing for the option of single region coding and greater than AACS copy protection. Do you think Fox has released all titles with single region coding for the heck of it? Do you think Fox has done that because that is what Fox wanted to do and it is their legal right to do so? The decision has been made by hardware manufacturers, software providers, consumers, and now retailers are moving in the same direction. All relevant groups everywhere in the world have chosen Blu-ray by preferring Blu-ray by a majority. No group was even close, all groups chose Blu-ray by a signficant percentage including consumers. The stubborn group here that can't see the obvious is included in the tiny insignificant minority that disagrees.

Chris

mshulman · 01-29-2008, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

What would be the reason for all studios to go neutral? HD DVD excluded several studios by design without allowing for the option of single region coding and greater than AACS copy protection. Do you think Fox has released all titles with single region coding for the heck of it? Do you think Fox has done that because that is what Fox wanted to do and it is their legal right to do so? The decision has been made by hardware manufacturers, software providers, consumers, and now retailers are moving in the same direction. All relevant groups everywhere in the world have chosen Blu-ray by preferring Blu-ray by a majority. No group was even close, all groups chose Blu-ray by a signficant percentage including consumers. The stubborn group here that can't see the obvious is included in the tiny insignificant minority that disagrees.

Chris

Since when did consumers choose blu-ray? As I pointed out above - why would anyone who bought a PS3 for gaming alone, buy an HD DVD player before giving blu-ray a try?

So in your opinion, because they have a PS3 and decided to see what blu-ray was about, they CHOSE blu-ray? Sounds more like Sony chose for them.

I find your logic to be quite interesting

01-29-2008, 03:07 AM	#3
The_Omega_Man Don't touch the remote! Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Encino,CA Posts: 3,431	Even though some of the suggestions, may not be economically feasible or wise given the current state of financial affairs of some movie studios, I have to agree on most what the OP quoted. __________________ Lvng Rm Sony KF50WE610 HDTV D* HR-21 HD DVR XA2 HD DVD Onkyo TX-NR905 JVC HR-S3500U S-VHS Hrmony One Energy Encore 5.1 Spkr Mstr Bdrm Tosh 46XF550U HDTV XA2 HD DVD D* HR-21 HD DVR Onkyo TX-SR606 Hrmony 659 Polk 5.1 Spkr Office Samy LNS3252D HDTV D* HR-20 HD DVR A2 HD DVD Sony RDR-HX715 DVD Rec. Fisher FVH-4910 VHS Onkyo TX-SR674 Psyclone PSC47 HDMI Sw. Hrmony 550 Polk RM6750 5.1 Spkr Gst Rm Samy UN46B7100 HDTV D* HR10 HD DVR XBOX360 Elite+HD DVD PS3 60GB Onkyo TX-SR704 Energy C-7 Spkr Hrmony 880

01-29-2008, 05:37 AM	#7
pearl-drum-man High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 647	Easy to buy/buy off studios and retailers when you don't have to write the check If they did buy off retailers, then what about the "RIGHT" of those who want to choose Blu-ray? I get the impression that MS has taken a step back from the war, so Toshiba may be more on their own than we know. __________________ Samsung 32" LCD LN-S3238D Toshiba HD D2 Yamaha YHT-390BL 5.1 HTiB Samsung DVD-VR375 DVD recorder/VCR Xbox 360

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01-29-2008, 03:29 AM	#4
oblioman OTIS,,me hero Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Someville TN Posts: 4,554	Disagree. What "false" advertisments have been generated and aired by Sony, or BD? If the OP truly supports the "let the consumer choose" phrase, why is the OP so deadset on the demolition of BD? Just because the majority of studio support is backing BD does not take away the consumer choice. It merely limits the choices available per format. The consumer still has a choice.

01-29-2008, 08:08 AM	#11
Deja Vu We Are Right (WAR) ! Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Great White North Posts: 612	I own both formats and support HD DVD! Why? Because there was no freedom to fairly choose. Sony tied up most of the studio support and CE manufacturers support with no doubt certain promises and incentives. If you sold product "X" and I had a similar competing product and I offered the major retailers or manufacturers incentives to only sell or manufacture my product thus cutting off production and distribution for your product you'd be pretty unhappy. You might even argue that these practices hurt competition and a free market system! Does HD DVD have any hope at this stage? Not really! Right now it is on life support and it will take radical intervention to save it. Either buying a studio out right or buying its support is what is needed. Cheers, Grant