Warner Denies Plans to go Blu-Ray Exclusive

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In response to rumours whispered by members of the Blu-ray camp, Warner Home Video announced that it will not be ditching HD DVD for Blu-ray. Warner Brothers is currently the only major studio to support both Blu-ray and HD DVD; an exclusivity decision by them could finish off the HD war. As an HD DVD supporter, I honestly wanted these rumours to be true so that we could finally get a clear winner. On a similar note, I’m still waiting for Toshiba and Sony to start cutting the prices off their stand-alone HD players in time for the holidays. I doubt the war will end at the end of this year, but the sales numbers should tell us quite a bit on where the war is heading.

“Our position hasn’t changed and certainly any comments that were published in the U.S. were not intended to suggest that we had changed our stance. We support both formats and we have not made any decision towards that policy and nor are any such announcements planned or in the pipeline. In terms of the short-term scenarios around the Q4 sales results, Warner Brothers are always reviewing our strategies and we can’t say what might happen in five or ten years, but for now, there’s been no decision made to change course,” said Warner Brothers Home Video Australia and New Zealand managing director Roger Clarke.

News source: Xbit Laboratories

(1 reply) #1 +Coldgunner on 13 Dec 2007 - 01:01

cue boz...

:p

#1.1 American Ninja on 13 Dec 2007 - 01:05

Quote - (Coldgunner said @ #1)

lol

(2 replies) #2 williamhook on 13 Dec 2007 - 01:02

You're still waiting for Toshiba to drop the price on their HDDVD players? They're like.....$199. That's nothing, here in the UK, they start at £190!

#2.1 Slimy on 13 Dec 2007 - 03:21

Yes but those aren't Toshiba branded. All price drops thus far have been done by retail stores

#2.2 ThaCrip on 13 Dec 2007 - 04:07

$199 is still "to much" if you ask me... especially since you dont know if that format is going "to win" either.

i dont think sales of plays will skyrocket til there under 100 dollars... thats when they will start to fly off the shelves

i hope HD-DVD wins.... cause i hate this "exclusive" crap where some movies are on hd-dvd or there on blu-ray... we need "a standard" so ALL movies are on either hd-dvd or blu-ray instead of one or the other, like it is now

#3 Cormier6083 on 13 Dec 2007 - 01:58

Sweet Lord Jeezus can't someone win for God's sake?

#4 morgan99 on 13 Dec 2007 - 02:07

DVD FTW

#5 Galley on 13 Dec 2007 - 02:24

They're just denying it until the official announcement at CES 2008 on Jan. 8th.

(1 reply) #6 Intelman on 13 Dec 2007 - 03:18

HD DVD all the way, I love Bourne Ultimatum and Harry Potter on HD DVD.

#6.1 ThaCrip on 13 Dec 2007 - 04:11

Bourne Ultimatum was not as good as the first (Bourne Identity) of that trilogy... i thought it went downhill after the first one... although the third was probably better than the 2nd. but my main complaint about the third was that the camera movement was a joke especially in heavy action scenes constantly changing and you can barely see whats going on (alot of people complained about that on imdb.com to)

Bourne 1 = 8/10 (this was the stand out one of the three in my opinion)
Bourne 2 = 7/10
Bourne 3 = 7/10 (better than the second one overall)

#7 notuptome2004 on 13 Dec 2007 - 03:24

HD-DVD for me thank you very much. i wont buy an outdated player and that is what your getting with blu-ray outdated out the door non finished spec.

(1 reply) #8 OtRaS on 13 Dec 2007 - 08:46

What is the realistic time scale for this format dispute to end? It is getting very boring.

I just want HD movies in one format.

#8.1 TRC on 13 Dec 2007 - 17:02

If Warner would pick a side, any side, it would bring the end a lot closer. Just sitting on the fence is only dragging it out. I personally hope they go with HD DVD, but they probably want to wait and see how this holiday season goes.

(1 reply) #9 xploit1030 on 13 Dec 2007 - 17:18

Why any company would choose to "go exclusive" and lose out on potential customers is beyond me. Yes I'm sure they get a butt load of cash to do so (from the hardware makers) but that is a short term gain. I think every studio should support both and let the consumers decide.

#9.1 TSThomas on 13 Dec 2007 - 19:57

Quote - (xploit1030 said @ #9)

Thing is, if you choose both then consumers won't commit as they feel either format may die, thus wasting their money. Conversely by choosing one format the choice is clear for the consumer, but reduces sales early on as consumers mightn't choose "that" format.

It's a mess either way unless there's only a single format to begin with

i.e. HD DVD, Blu-Ray should have merged from the start or one should have conceded. No choice = No uncertainty

#10 TSThomas on 13 Dec 2007 - 19:13

Like I said a few days back... you can read posts stating Warner is going exclusive one way or the other

Apparently now it remains both.

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