Coral

I'm just surprised his website is still around. I mean, how many people are actually sourcing disc news in 2020? His site traffic must be a small fraction of what it was 20 years ago... or even 10 years ago. But, yeah - his tirade/bias during the whole Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war was a total turnoff and I never went back to his site. He came off like a total dick.

E Unit

You still even commenting on it is a testament you can’t let it go. Whether or not of Hunt’s input way back then, blu would have still prevailed. It didn’t hinge on him. But hey, hurt is hurt.

bunkaroo

And nearly 14 years later you’re still sore. Comical.

I don’t think DigitalBits is very relevant at all and I don’t think they were swaying a bunch of people back then either. I don’t think he’s nearly as important as he might think himself or others make him out to be.

I’m also a little confused as to why he was supposed to be impartial. He had his preference and stumped for his preference. He’s glad Blu-ray won out and so am I.

The actual real press in this country haven’t been impartial and unbiased for quite some time. Not sure why Bill Hunt is the devil because he picked a side in a format war.

Josh-da-man

1. I'm surprised TheDigitalBits is still around. Seems like its primary purpose -- announcing upcoming titles, news, reviews -- is now being served up on social media. And, on top of that, they way the market has contracted, there's not much to announce these days. TDB used to be a daily stop for me, but I don't think I've been to the site in eight or nine years.

2. Considering the way HD-DVDs are rotting, I think we dodged a bullet with that format.

milo bloom

I follow him on Facebook, and I still find out about titles from there because the traffic here isn't as strong as it used to be.

I don't get the hate for him, he's always been clear to say which are rumors and which are actual announcements.

Josh Z

As someone who still receives abuse from Blu-ray fanboys for having been product neutral during the HD format war, I can assure you that the "winners" of that war are far more butthurt, petty, and hold grudges far longer than the "losers."

This really doesn't need to be re-litigated now, so I'll just point you to an old thread on this forum that explained why his actions were a clear conflict of interest.

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/hd-talk/50...s-blu-ray.html

bunkaroo

I won't debate that at all - he wasn't impartial. But he owned his site and pushed his opinion. I don't recall if he claimed to be impartial and acted otherwise. If so, that makes him untrustworthy to say the least, and he exposed himself as a likely shill. But what should the penalty have been? No one could take his site from him for not being a respectable blogger. Pull ad dollars? Perhaps, but I doubt that would have shut him down since he was already allegedly getting benefits from the BDA.

From what I can tell many people didn't like him, and his backing Blu-ray made him more unlikable. But so what? Does anyone here really think he had a significant impact on the outcome of the format war?

PS: Thanks for the walk down memory lane with that link - exciting times!

John Galt

It's sad reading back through that thread and realizing how commonplace this type of shit is on the internet now ("sponsored" bloggers, influencers hawking products, etc), and it's almost an accepted practice now.

bluetoast

Wow....you’re right. even the word “payola” - I basically forgot that word existed and yet that concept is so commonplace now.

morriscroy

Insider information is only good if it can be independently verified. (ie. Such as the research Woodward & Bernstein had to do to vet the insider information disclosed by "deep throat").

Especially to determine whether something is deliberate disinformation or "counter intelligence".

Alan Smithee

What's wrong with taking a side in a format war, especially favoring the one that actually was better?

Josh Z

What you say is true. However, one difference is that those sponsored bloggers have to disclose that they are paid for their endorsements. Sadly, the media culture we're in now has deteriorated so badly that most of their readers/viewers simply don't care.

My kids sometimes watch crap on YouTube in which child influencers unbox and "review" toys. Those videos usually end with a voiceover in a gleeful tone stating, "[Company name] paid me and helped me create this video. Thanks, [company name]!" Like it's a point of pride they got paid to shill the product.

Again, see that thread linked above.

Dan

at least they're disclosing that stuff now. Yeah, it's still shitty/lame how some of them skirt around the fact that some of their videos are sponsored, but at least it's there for those who are paying attention. At the very least, I think the sponsorship needs to be mentioned in the first 30 seconds, and not at the very end. But otherwise, pick your battles, I say.

On topic... I still think it sucks that Disney is being very conservative with their catalog releases, as I think this kind of thing could negatively affect everyone else releasing on the format. Less Disney/Fox titles on the shelves (ha! shelves... remember those?) means less exposure for the other titles. Same for online browsing.
Could be 4K disc has no future, not even as a niche, much like 3D BD. At least I can still back up the ones I have with my UHD-friendly optical drive.

John Galt

That's what I meant by it's an accepted practice. I have a few Gen Zers in my professional network and I bring up things like that (and click bait media titles), and their response is just "so what?". They don't even remember a time when things like that were impartial, so they don't see any problem with people taking bribes to hawk shitty products.

John Galt

I think UHD will be the last physical format, but I don't see it having no future. 3D declined because there is no hardware left to buy. I don't see studios putting a large investment into UHD due to the cost and hassle of producing and shipping inventory, dealing with a supply chain, just to satisfy the handful of us who still care about having the best A/V quality. I just hope they maintain and in some cases increase their willingness to license out the rights to the smaller companies where the investment and risk/reward makes more sense.

Josh Z

Just because people are willing to overlook the problem at this moment in time doesn't make it right or accepable. Eventually, there will be another shift in our media culture and people will start to reject things they condone now.

orangerunner

I recall Roger Ebert wrote an essay about his experience with studios attempting to wine-and-dine him in order to sway his opinion of a film. Apparently he never accepted any studio invitations to premieres and only went to special press screenings with other members of the press or simply bought a ticket at the box office like everyone else.

You would always see glowing reviews of crappy films with quotable zingers in the advertisements from certain members of the "press" that you know took the payola.

Josh-da-man

If Roger Ebert won't give shitty movies good reviews, David Manning will!

fujishig

These days you can just cut and paste the one guy on twitter who liked your movie and put it on your poster (heck, it could very well be a fake account, who would know?). It's completely ridiculous to me that it's come to that, though.

Michael Corvin

Yeah those unboxing videos and toy vids directed at kids are nothing more than paid commercials. Kinda disappointing that so many kids are hooked on them. I'm sure when they all start out they're "legit" since they're paying for said toys, but once the company is sending you shit weekly to review, you're just a glorious infomercial host.

orangerunner

I don't think anyone required too much foresight to realize the internet would evolve into free speech run amok with no rules or regulations.

JeffTheAlpaca

Strange since Disney never has any of their physicasl media on sale and they charger higher prices compared to the other studios.

Will they still release the signature edition blu-rays? I know most of them or none got 4k releases.

I think Jungle Book and Fantasia are still on the list for signature releases and so far no release dates

orangerunner

I think this has always been by design to give their customers the sense their products are *premium* products. If Disney had an over-run of a product they would rather shred them and throw them away than markdown the discs and de-value their brand.

John Galt

Anyone listen in on their earnings call today to see if they mentioned their plans for physical media?

dex14