I've got to think that Universal and Paramount are already planning to jump ship since we haven't heard a peep out of either studio. I mean we got vote of confidence statements from Fox ( not that it means much from them ) and other studios after the Paramount defection. Why nothing yet from at least Universal?

It is the weekend after all.

doh!!!

Well, WB got the "Weekend to Remember" off to a wild start so why couldn't Universal and Paramount keep the party going?

I have a bad feeling that us neutral owners will be dissapointed when/if Universal switches. Other than day/date stuff, why wouldn't they just rerelease all of the same catalog titles over the next two years? They would have a chance to resell the same stuff to a bigger market now.

Toshiba needs to do the right thing.
HD DVD cannot survive on 2 studios, besides even IF Paramont/Dreamworks is held to the contract until years end. Do you think they'll resign it? Nope. They are going Blu.

Universal will have no choice but to switch to BR.

Disney isn't switching to HD DVD, the deal apple made with sony pretty much garrentees that.
(Apple/Pixar/disney connection)

Fox laid their cards along with WB.

Whats left?

I loved HD DVD, it offered so much for a fair price. But it's now gone. Everyone needs to accept that. What toshiba should do is start making BR players that will also play peoples HD DVDs. It will be the only way to thank the people who supported them. Wasting more money ( Both Tosh's and Consumers ) to prolong a war they can't win is not worth it.

Not really because most of us who already own the titles on HD-Dvd and are smart will just keep what we have and only replace what is necessary. I have always preferred Blu-Ray over HD-Dvd but my HD-Dvds, Universal and all, are going nowhere. They will still get major rotation in my house.

Well said!! This is exactly what they should do. Toshiba would be smart to be the company that figures out how to manufacture and market an under $200 Blu-Ray player. Imagine them raking in the bucks off of their competition's idea.

If you think any studio made a move (paramount > HD DVD & WB > BR) without getting some compensation, you are dreaming.

Might not be a check, but it's something.

Depends on Sony's licensing costs to make Blu-ray players and whether they give Toshiba the kinds of subsidies we've seen elsewhere. If they are more consumer friendly, then yes, we may see Toshiba making inexpensive BD players.

That's not my point dsa. I meant maybe Universal won't release different catalog titles from what we have on Hd-dvd. Remember Universal has already dropped a key number of their catalog titles on Hd-dvd and now have a chance to sell them over on Blu-Ray before hitting the more valued titles (Hitchcock/Spielberg/Horror) ect ...

Why wouldn't they sit back, resell the same titles available to HD-dvd owners, and hold the key titles for a larger HD market?

When it's all said and done, Sony is not going to hold out a brand like Toshiba.

We have seen all this shit before.

Sega and Nintendo... Hello? Once heated rivals, Sega made games exclusive to nintendo for awhile.

Sony made VCRs...

If their is any doubt that Toshiba will make a BR player, well... I don't doubt it.
where there is money to made, electronics corps will be there!

The ultimate display of togetherness would be if Sony and the other Blu-Ray backers extended their hand to Toshiba and invited them to be a part of the Blu-Ray group. Offer Toshiba the opportunity to be a producer of Blu-Ray players in return for a quick and painless end to HD-Dvd.

1. Big thumbs down for Warner not announcing earlier. The J6Ps who bought those $99 dollar players and to buy discs all through the end of the year are going to be pretty mad. This is going to cause so much loss of good will that people will be so mad that they probably will not even bother with Blu-ray. I think this goes to show that Sony isn't the only one that is a money grubbing whore of a company.

2. WB needs to stop releasing discs in HD-DVD immediately. Why postpone the inevitable? A lot of us who frequent forums like this are in the know, but J6P will find out later this year and wonder why The Dark Knight isn't on HD-DVD. Once he does, he's going to be awfully mad. So to Warner please don't leave any bread crumbs, just take the whole loaf away now.

3. Universal and Paramount need to jump ship as fast as possible so that the war isn't prolonged further. I know Paramount may be hamstrung, but hopefully there was a golden parachute in that contract they signed. Honestly, I don't think Toshiba will hold them to that contract now.

4. About WB and Fox going HD-DVD exclusive is a load of bull. Simple reason is it would have prolonged the war and according to WB this would have totally destroyed mass adoption in their eyes. They wanted an end to the war and to bring only Fox with them would still not be the nail in the coffin that they would need. Nevermind the fact that it would take a long time for people to come around if they are already Blu.

5. Sales is what drove WB to go Blu. Pure and simple. Movie sales are a worldwide business. They can see internationally that BD has a pretty good lead. They have a fairly good lead here. Sales aren't just going to reverse overnight if they were to switch. They just won't. So you're looking at another 6-12 months before things start to change saleswise, and WB can see that switching to a losing format wouldn't be the smartest move. They felt that would stagnate sales further.

In the end, I think this is good for us and bad for us. While we might not see as many BOGO sales, cheap players sales, we will see a lot more titles released this year and that is a good thing.

Semi-joking...

Perhaps Ken Graffeo is busy prepping his resume?

fitprod

I see what you are saying now. Just hurry up and give us BTTF, E.T., Jaws, etc.

I'd expect Toshiba and it's partners to try and clean out some inventory before throwing their hands up. It is obvious by their CES cancellations that they are deciding what would be best to do in the short term. I have no doubt Toshiba will make a Blu-Ray player and I've always liked their hardware so I'm all for it.

I would happily buy a Toshiba combo player.

The XB1 perhaps?

hey, don't be stealing my ideas.

I too would gladly buy a Toshiba BR player... Then it can get along with my Toshiba HD-DVD player (not to mention my Toshiba HDTV). Last thing I want is a fight to break out.

Why not just use the popup menu and select it on the fly during the logo? Or are you worried you'll miss out on the amazing sound effects that play during the logo?

I think I'm going to try returning 7-10 unopened HD-DVDs to Future Shop tomorrow to get the BD versions. Most were purchased recently.

A single format can only be seen as a good thing. It's going to be like the early days of DVD all over again. BOGO (or even better) sales will continue, player prices will plummet, and there will be an avalanche of titles from large and small studios.

My hope is that now the industry can focus on
1) players that load as fast as SD and do not freeze or have major glitches
2) BD discs have - at a minimum - all of the extras on SD, and best - all in High Def format.
3) prices for discs come down. : ) I can wish, right?

Seriously, I think #1 and 2 is reasonable at this stage. to me, the existing players are just slightly above prototype/beta version. It seems that videophiles put up with this because of the benefit of high def, but it's time -imho - to produce a mature player that people can rely on.

And to have SD contain more content than it's BD counterpart is insane, especially considering the premium we pay for high def.

Let's not forget the battle was won, but not the war. The real war is SD vs High Def. There is still a chance the high def may not rise above niche levels if the quantity, quality and price isn't there.

Seems like Fox doesn't believe that second one is feasible... Why on earth would they not provide extras for some of those titles? Didn't they only have the PG-13 version of Live Free or Die Hard? There's no excuse for that. But maybe they'd like to be the Sony of double-dipping in the HD format.