matome

^It was a regional, not national ad so it was only broadcast in certain areas. I saw it here in New York, second ad in the break after the Tom Petty gig at halftime.

Trevor

Exactly, why would Microsoft spend 45 billion on a niche product? HDM is never going to overtake standard DVD. Microsoft wants VOD.

The little money they put into HD DVD earlier was just to rile Sony.

dsa_shea

So I guess only some of the country got to see them fail miserably at their attempt to advertise HD-Dvd.

Qui Gon Jim

As opposed to the excellent branding BD got out there during what will be one of the most watched events in the history of TV.

If HD DVD gave away $100 ills in every disc, there is a contingent of Blu-heads that would spin it to be bad. It really is laughable.

I didn't see the commercial so I can't comment on if it was an Epic Fail or not.

MoviePage

Well as it turns out, that would have been appropriate all around, wouldn't it?

BravesMG

Isn't that the point?

dsa_shea

You don't go around hyping up an ad that you are going to run during the Super Bowl to then only show it in some markets. Besides, the ad was simply a restructured ad that they have been showing for months of last year. Toshiba obviously showed that they do not know what they are doing with their product. If they can't even get across basic promotion of their product it scares me to think about how they would actually support their products over the next 5-10 years had they been the HD format of the future. Instead of fighting the fight they basically punched themselves in the face.

Adam Tyner

The clip is up at High Def Digest.

Plenty of folks who've supported HD DVD have criticized this as a missed opportunity, so I don't think it's fair to paint those who are grousing with a blu brush.

bunkaroo

Forgetting about the BDA's frequent "we won" press releases in 2007, in terms of the contents of ad themselves, the Blu-Ray ads have always been better. Better produced, better content, flashier, etc. They're more eye-catching than Michael Imperioli. Not to mention, they had to rely on one of the most disappointing films of 2007 (Shrek 3) to sell their machine.

RichC2

I've never really seen the BD ads on TV before, only seen one or two HD DVD ones.

RoboDad

You know, making such pointless and incendiary comments does little to further your own objectivity and credibility.

namja

Please don't bait. Keep in mind that if someone takes this bait and posts something that results in a suspension, then you may also be suspended. Instigators will get similar treatment as those who break the rules as a result.


Same goes for you.


namja
Moderator, DVD Talk Forums

bunkaroo

I see them a lot because they are on HDnet constantly....in full HD.

dsa_shea

I wasn't trying to bait anyone. I did not get to see the ad because it was shown only in certain cities although I was looking forward to it. But after learning about the structure of the ad I was quite disappointed that this was what Toshiba had planned after several days of hype. Not trying to go off topic but even some of Sony's ads for the PS3 are just plain weird and fail miserably in trying to market the product and this is one reason why the PS3 hasn't sold very well in comparison to other systems. I'm not trying to be a PITA but I think I deserve the right to be at least a little critical of Toshiba after I have invested hundreds of dollars in their products over the last few months.

steebo777

I see them all the time on HDNet too, and they are way better than the Toshiba ones.

Qui Gon Jim

I totally agree.

Who "hyped up" this commercial other than a few fans? Aside from a mention here and there I don't remember this being such a big topic, and I certainly don't remember anyone saying this would save the format.

If Toshiba hyped the hell out of this, and it fell flat (which all their ads have), point me to the source and I will agree. HD DVD's vocal supporters do not speak for the company, no more than BD's rabid fans represent them (and it is a god damned good thing). By "hyped" I want to see repeated mention in different interviews, and not just an off hand mention that the fanbase ran with.

If your gripe is with a particular poster, then address them, not the company as a whole.

For the record, I watched the commercial (thanks Adam) and it was, as you said, pretty much an update to an ad they already had. As a matter of fact, we did "commercial bingo" for the game and I did fill in a PS3 space(shocked there wasn't an ad for this or Wii & XBox) but I never thought of filling a spot with HD DVD.

Qui Gon Jim

All I did was turn around what someone else said. If it was incindiary when I said it, then it shows that it was incindiary when dsa_shea posted it.

Spin is ridiculous. Let's deal in facts.

Peep

I'm not sure what your point is. That it's OK to repeat incindiary remarks?

If so, I'd have to disagree.

tonymontana313

Is it true that this was shown in standard definition? Some people on other forums are saying yes and others are saying no.

Adam Tyner

Since it was a regional ad, the answer looks to be "both", depending on which station aired it.

Josh Z

You are reading too much into one bad commercial. To be clear, this ad is a failure of the marketing firm that Toshiba hired to promote the product. It says nothing about how well Toshiba will support their products in the future. All it says is that they aren't very savvy about promoting themselves or their product, and hired the wrong firm to do that for them.

Don't confuse hype (for good or bad) with reality. If commercials were at all indicative of reality, New Coke would still be on store shelves and beloved by millions, and no local furniture stores would ever be able to stay in business.

Qui Gon Jim

Nope. If your comment sounds ridiculous when you replace HD DVD with BD and Toshiba for Sony (or vice versa) then it probably is just a worthless comment to begin with.

My comment was worthless to illustrate a point. What purpose did the original worthless comment serve?

bunkaroo

But on the flip side, a good product doesn't mean shit if people don't know about it.

RoboDad

So you are either saying that two wrongs DO make a right, or "what's good for the goose is good for the gander". If it's the former, then I don't really know what to say. Such an attitude seems wildly irrational to me. If it's the latter, then I would say it is more than a little hypocritical of you to complain about what anyone else says, or how they say it, if you are willing to make similar comments yourself.

Qui Gon Jim

Forget about it. My point is not coming across and it really doesn't matter to me. I am arguing over a commercial, and it just isn't worth it.

I agree, the commercial sucked.