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[PS3Scene]

Warner Goes Blu-ray Exclusive Posted by XanTium | 4-1-2008 17:05 EST

From the press release: In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. "Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers." Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008. "Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices," said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today's decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner." "A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future.

[mduga]

This is bad news for me!!!  I just purchased a HD-DVD player last week.  Might be returning it now.

[Quest]

maybe ms should by warner, and make some changes in the management ;-)

[Ranger72]

This is huge. Now Blu-ray has nearly 75% of the studios exclusively. The end of the format "war" is finally in sight.

[majik655]

"Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience.


What a bunch of B*LL SH*t

Consumers have CLEARLY chosen   I don't think so..

Guess I will be one of the FEW left over not buying warner bros.
since it is clear consumers have chosen blue ray.

[Dav5049915]

in response to consumer demand?  or sony demand?

i will NEVER buy a bluray dvd or dvd player.


lol  i joined exactly a year ago.  and today is my first post

This post has been edited by Dav5049915: Jan 4 2008, 11:53 PM

[warmaster_670]

QUOTE(majik655 @ Jan 4 2008, 06:26 PM)

"Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience.
What a bunch of B*LL SH*t

Consumers have CLEARLY chosen   I don't think so..

Guess I will be one of the FEW left over not buying warner bros.
since it is clear consumers have chosen blue ray.

ya bull indeed, BRs only been outselling hddvd since pretty much when it came out

[Andronicus]

Well I guess the question is, will MS make a blue-ray add on in  a year or two, or just wait until the Xbox3 comes out?

Even though PS3 sales have sucked, I think that including the blueray player in the PS3 is what tipped the scales.  Just look at market penetration.  How many people have acctualy bought a stand alone Hi Def player?  I don't know anyone.

[zequal]

QUOTE(majik655 @ Jan 5 2008, 01:26 AM)

"Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience.


What a bunch of B*LL SH*t

why is that BS? warner may have seen that their hd-dvd's aint selling as good as their blu-ray's

[Andronicus]

I just checked out BestBuy.ca.  
The cheepest Blue-ray stand-alone player:  $450
The cheepest HD-DVD stand-alone player:  $350

I had always thougth that the HD-DVD players were WAY cheeper, but turns out they are only slightly cheeper.

If, like the recent artical posted on XBS suggested, sony drops the price of their players to below $200, even at a loss, then the war will be officialy over.

[fhsasbvp]

All that really matters is that microsoft is now going to have to put a dual format player in their super xbox 360 II Turbo Ultimate Collectors Edition or whatever it'll be called.

[warmaster_670]

QUOTE(fhsasbvp @ Jan 4 2008, 06:39 PM)

All that really matters is that microsoft is now going to have to put a dual format player in their super xbox 360 II Turbo Ultimate Collectors Edition or whatever it'll be called.

best name ever

[Ninja Sniper X]

All I can say is, damn

[DeMoN_DARREN]

Shame that, HD-DVD is just better...  Well, fuck, market cornered again

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(Andronicus @ Jan 4 2008, 06:38 PM)

I just checked out BestBuy.ca.  
The cheepest Blue-ray stand-alone player:  $450
The cheepest HD-DVD stand-alone player:  $350

I had always thougth that the HD-DVD players were WAY cheeper, but turns out they are only slightly cheeper.

If, like the recent artical posted on XBS suggested, sony drops the price of their players to below $200, even at a loss, then the war will be officialy over.

The HD-A2 was selling for $99 before christmas in the US
The HD-A3 was selling for $199 before christmas in the US

each came with 10 HD-DVDs for free with purchase
300, the Bourne Supremacy, 5 more from a select list and 3 more from pretty much anything in the store (save box sets).

HD-DVDs are cheaper... if the cheapest you could find is $350 then they either jack up the price in Canada or they're simply out of stock of the cheap ones.

The cheapest Stand Alone Blu-Ray player I've seen is also $450 though.