Warner Home Video Prez: “We think this is a do-or-die time for Blu-ray”

Bravestime

I agree. Right now it the studios are looking for tomorrows cash cow and it appears to be blu-ray and DLs. This has let the cat out of the bag. At this point, how much confidence will the consumers have in DVDs future now, since we know that DVDs future may be very limited? I can see DVDs slowly dropping in sales due to this lack of confidence. On the flip side, people that know blu-ray have more confidence in it's future. For this reason, I see blu-ray steadily growing. Again though, the economy will only stunt it's growth.

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Louigi222

If Warner was making money with Blu-ray, I doubt if Mr Sanders would be saying what he said. Indeed. It's more likely that Warner is losing money on Blu and is deeply concerned more about DVD sales and declining profits as DVD represents a much larger revenue source for them than HDM. During these trying economic times, if you had to choose between the two formats, which one would you choose to rescue if it came to that?

Bravestime

Yes. I agree. The economy has changed this dramatically. It's quite obvious that the CEMs have noticed the need to drop player prices and have taken appropriate action. In order for blu-ray to really take off now, due to the current economy, the studios must lower the BD movie prices, IMO. Personally, I feel this is a no brainer because of the economy.

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bmore

WTF are you talking about? WB has had some of the biggest selling movies on bluray - 300, The Departed, Batman begins, Harry Potter, I am Legend, Troy, etc.

There is 0% chance they are losing money. You are sounding more and more kooky in your understanding of things...

venomxr8

good old hdf, gotta love it

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Louigi222

Yes....but don't you see. Any revenue from the titles you mentioned also would apply to standard DVD versions of these titles as well except you would perhaps multiply this amount by a factor of 10 or more!!!

hatt

Are you saying that if they make more money on product A v the money they made on product B that they are actually losing money on product B. That's interesting, if that is what your saying.

Louigi222

Would things could be so simple. No one knows the actual numbers except Warner as too whether they are actually making any profits from the Blu-ray format overall. We can only draw reasonable conclusions from facts as they present themselves. For instance, we know for a fact that Warner and other studios make huge profits from standard DVD sales but are very much concerned about lagging sales.
Mr Sanders, President of Warner Home Video, is not a happy camper (see the New York Times article). I suspect he's not happy with Blu and the way the article reads, has essentially given Blu an ultimatum....shit or get off the pot!!! It's going to very interesting as to how this whole business shakes out especially since I get no feeling that Blu-ray software titles are on their way down...not even during the holidays.

Lee Stewart

The Master Transfer Tape is shared between DVD and BD so you can consider it a wash - when trying to figure out what a title costs to get into the market.

1. We know that BD's cost more to press out than DVD's.

2. We don't know if the Glass Masters used to press out BD's will last as long as they do with DVD's. GM's by their design wear out.

3. There is more Authoring for BD. Is there a game embedded?

4. If a PIP is included - that also adds to the cost.

5. As does Web Enable features.

Sure - a studio sells 100K+ of a title. But what happens when they only sell 25K?

So the studios look at their expenses versus their gross revenue, add the two together - and that is the only way they know if they are making money or losing money.

bmore

This is amazing. The OP, a known troll, uses the word "ultimatum", and we have no less than two members (you and bruceames) that fall in line like sheep.
Do you know who mikemorel is?

It's amazing how much can be read into 3 little words from a CEO. If you believe every word that CEO's say I feel incredibly sorry for you and your apparent gullibility. HINT #1: They only say things to help THEIR OWN BOTTOM LINE! HINT #2: These things they say may or may NOT be true.

Toshiba said a SRT DVD player was coming this year - where is it?

Bluray talking heads said bluray would overtake DVD in 3 years. That hasn't happened.

WARNER bros. - yes the same WB in the article -said they would remain exclusive last year - HOW DID THAT TURN OUT? Your little A2 became useless quite quickly didn't it? 2 month after you bought it they sold the farm. How could they! CEOs never lie!

Yet now you believe their words carte blanche? I think you see WHAT YOU WANT TO see in their words.

You never know the motivations of individual corporations. They could be gesturing (i.e. bluffing) to gain attention. There are tons of reasons why they seem to be the ONLY studio that ever says things like this. You think that is an accident? Especially when others studios are on record as being "bullish"? Why the contradiction between studios? Why is WB always the one bellyaching? By coincidence? Please. Don't be so naive.

Do you own a bluray player? Or do you just have the $98 Walmart special A2?

Nikopol

http://www.tvpredictions.com/stringer110907.htm

Two months later HD DVD, the apparently so strong opponent, was effectively dead with the WB switch and discontinued only a short time afterwards. A fool who thinks that at the time of the stalemate comment these plans weren't being discussed in detail already.

So, yes please, nitpick each word of an exec, hold on to it for months, make it your bible for reading between the lines to find the truth.

Good old HDF.

hatt

You didn't answer my question. I have never seen anything saying that Warner is losing money on BD. If you have seen this, point to it. You brought up blah blah 10 to 1 blah blah, explain WTF you were saying. Is a smaller profit actually a loss?

DVD = huge profits and decreasing sales. BD = small profits and increasing sales. You think they are jumping off the BD boat with NO VIABLE ALTERNATIVE at this point. I know they are pushing for people just to record movies off of TNT but the DVR saturation just isn't there yet.

bruceames

Wow, you BD trolls really got your panties twisted up on this mikemorel guy. It's funny how the biggest antagonizers on this forum hate so much on this person for his posts on other forum(s), and just assume that he's a household name. I see nothing trollish in his post history here, but on the other hand your post history here, shall I say, certainly doesn't set an example of how not to troll.

As for the 'sheep' remark, is that how you characterize someone who agrees with another? WB issued an obvious ultimatum, but of course you think studios lie only when you disagree with what they have to say, right? WB never received compensation for dropping HD DVD because they said so, right?

bmore

Nothing trollish? Are you serious?

Notice he hasn't been back into this thread? 11 pages - where is he? Seems to be a hit and run thread - nothing trollish about that... 9 posts since 2007 - he gets banned from HDD and the next day comes here to further his agenda....yeah....nothing trollish at all....

Give it up bruce. You have to be blind not to see the truth. Wouldn't be the first time though...

An obvious ultimatum?

Let me ask you - last year WB said they were staying neutral - and then weeks later they went bluray exclusive. Surely they are a studio of sincere honesty and always keep their word...

You are a sucker if you believe anything a CEO says...you were head over heels in the SRT thread to - hoping and wishing along with the others for that mystical bluray killing machine. After all, the Toshiba CEO said so, right? How did that work out? That is just one example.

You and "the crew" here takes any anti-blu rumor and run to the hills with it. And time after time after time they come out to be dead wrong. History repeats itself I guess...

PFC5

I think what he is saying is that IF BD did not exist, all those BD sales would have likely been SD DVD sales anyway, but 10x greater.

There is some truth to that but I doubt the 10x part myself. Actually there WOULD likely be some x multiple though since people who are considering BD are likely reducing or eliminating the buying of SD DVDs during the transition. Raise your hand if while considering whether or not to buy into BD yourself if you stopped or severely slowed down buying SD DVDs. I know I did for the period leading up to both formats launch, and I am sure i am not alone.

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