Pizza

Looks like the first sign that the end is near for WB titles on HD DVD. When you call up this title the following is posted: "Warner Bros. has announced plans to discontinue its support of the HD DVD format after May 31, 2008."
I was hoping to find a deal on this title, but I'm a little late. I wonder how long it will take for other titles to follow?

Quake1028

Or they are currently sold out. This happened a few weeks ago with The Kingdom and a few other discs. It will be back in no time, and has nothing to do at this point with Warner's decision.

Qui Gon Jim

It could. Didn't WB say they were not pressing new runs of the existing HD DVD titles?

Quake1028

Given how Amazon has displayed some titles in the past, I would tend to think this is just a stock issue at this point. I also find it hard to believe that Warner has run out of Casablanca's to send out.

Arpeggi

Down with OOP, yeah you know me!

True_Story1011

The real question is - Will they press it on BD?

I know that we've all had this conversation about 34203 times in the past.

But how many copies of :

The Searchers
Bullitt
The Getaway
Forbidden Planet
etc.

were even pressed?

10,000, 50,000 copies?

Gizmo

Pressed? How about sold...some as low as less then 1000 copies...

Quake1028

All I know is I have my copies of Casablanca, The Searchers & Forbidden Planet on my shelf, so I am good .

dan30oly

+1

kefrank

i would imagine the stock is just temporarily low/out because of the B2G1. this statement:
has been there since the Warner announcement for all Warner titles currently in and out of stock.

DVD Polizei

I do believe they are not pressing anymore catalog titles as of the beginning of this year. What they have is what they have.

Dane Marvin

Unless George Feltenstein was deliberately misinforming Bill Hunt of the Digital Bits, they will be pressing Casablanca on BD and releasing it this year. He even reported that The Adventures of Robin Hood would be among the first of the Warner classics currently exclusive to HD-DVD to make its way to BD this year.

rfduncan

RoboDad

Works for me, too!

Living Dead

Same here.

RoboDad

I can't find the reference, but I remember reading the same thing. The "exit strategy" that Warner was going to follow was that the titles that were already available on HD DVD would cease production immediately, but the titles already announced for the first half of the year would still see a release on HD DVD, although a delayed one.

Now, that doesn't mean that the Amazon situation indicates that there are no more Casablanca discs left. It could just be a restocking issue. But it does mean that when Warner's existing inventory runs out, that will be it.

DJ_Longfellow

Hmmm, interesting....now should I hang onto my sealed Casablanca....or trade it away...hmmmm.

kefrank

does anyone have a link for this? it's not in the warner press release and i haven't been able to find confirmation anywhere by doing a search.

RoboDad

I wish I could find it. I am fairly confident that I didn't imagine it, but you never know.

whotony

oh, how did you come about that info?

RoboDad

One of the saddest casualties of the format war have been some catalog titles. With potential customers split across both sides of the aisle, and most potential customers "waiting it out", there have been some catalog titles that have sold very poorly.

But I would really be very surprised if Casablanca was one of them. Was it?

cgray

it's here, post 34

DVD Polizei

In addition, when HD DVD buyers notice the time for delivery is around two weeks, or the title is currently OOS, but is backordered, is a direct sign the warehouses are being liquidated. In the DeepDiscount HD DVD sale, many titles aren't available now, and are backordered, meaning the studio warehouse is being sent an order. Amazon usually says a backordered title is available in "1 to 2 weeks" or something. But when they say "unavailable", I'm pretty sure you won't see it being sold direct from Amazon, ever again. But many other places sell it--not to mention the sellers on Amazon are selling Casablanca sealed and brand new, so it's no big deal at this point. And even if say, Amazon is notified of a recently discovered box found in a warehouse, I'm not sure Amazon is going to sell something like HD DVD after they say it's unavailable. But I could be wrong. And we'll see if Casablanca is available again. I still haven't bought the movie myself, and I dunno, I never was a fan of it per se. But if it looks rather nice, I might go ahead and find a copy somewhere.

Hell, I guarantee you, we will have situations where you or maybe I will be flipping through some "$4.99" titles at Best Buy or Wal-Mart or wherever, and we'll see an HD DVD title or two for the same price. There will be many "gems" to be found all over the US in retail establishments. Maybe even a Pan's Labyrinth or Zodiac for $4.99. Somebody will post they found one and I can almost hear HD DVD owners starting up their cars and all heading to a local Wal-Mart or Best Buy.

Might even check Goodwill later this year.

RoboDad

If I can pick up titles that cheap, I will definitely buy some (and share the knowledge with my fellow 'Talkers, of course ). And if there is a $49 clearance on one of the player models, like the A30, I might pick up one or two, just to have as spares. After all, while I do expect to replace a few of my HD DVDs with their eventual BD counterparts (assuming that there's enough of a reason to double dip), I imagine that most of what I already have will be hanging around for a long while, so I may as well make certain that I have something to play them on.

Quake1028

http://www.amazon.com/Casablanca-HD-...3548977&sr=1-2

This guy is pretty smart .