Warner Bros. Announcement at 2008 CES
by Pravin on December 20th, 2007 in news.
Those of you following the format war closely are probably already aware of all the speculation over Warner Bros. announcing their stance on the high-definition disc formats. Much of this hubbub began a few weeks ago when a Business Week article postulated what might happen if Warner chose sides instead of remaining neutral. As the story picked up steam, HD DVD haters assured everyone that Warner would make a major announcement in their favor at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January.
Just days after the Business Week article came out, nationally syndicated columnist, Don Lindich, received a very brief clarification from a Warner executive, who reiterated their neutral stance for the forseeable future. Two days later, another Warner executive from half way around the world in Australia echoed the same sentiments.
With CES just a couple of weeks away, Don Lindich again offers up the latest assurance that Warner is not going to do what the HD DVD haters think. Don is among the CES attendees who have received invitations to the HD DVD Promotional Group’s press conference at CES.
The invitation clearly lists Warner Home Video as one of the presenters, and Don was told by the PR agency handling the event that Warner is showing up to speak. You can see the invitation card for yourself and read more about it at his blog.
The momentum of the speculation about Warner had never abated in certain circles. One of the explanations given for the Warner executives’ comments is that the company would certainly never reveal their plans this far in advance, so it’s perfectly natural that they would issue those denials. Fair enough, but let’s not forget that a bazillion HD DVD players have been sold in the last few weeks, and that there’s a giant with a lot of software buying power about to be awakened in the weeks and months ahead. It would seem logical that if Warner was to choose a side, that they’d wait to see whether these new HD DVD customers materialized or not.
Detractors should also be reminded that Warner is one of the patent holders on HD DVD technology (and Blu-ray too), and this is not a decision they’d make casually. It’s highly likely that both sides are constantly wooing Warner for its exclusive affections, and offering a lot of appealing incentives to choose them or at least not to switch the “wrong” side. This must be awesome for Warner.
One thing that enthusiasts on both sides can agree on is that the January 6 press conference will be a big deal — although their fingers will be crossed for opposite reasons.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
So are the people who are totally for HD DVD, does that make them Blu Haters? I don’t think WB is going to be straight up honest on the situation of being neutral or not. That would be such a bold statement before the CES. I don’t think WB would go under the radar like Paramount; however I do believe that there has been to much speculation about them siding on one format that it’s bound to happen sometime in 2008. I don’t think consumers of only buying Blu ray would assume, and make up facts that WB would side with their preferred choice without having a little knowledge to back it up. That would just call people only buying HD DVD’s, Blu haters for thinking and speaking out loud over the internet about Disney going neutral, which isn’t at all going to happen anytime in the near future. I think this is a time for both formats to keep their fingers crossed.
December 20th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I just want to thank the editor of this site for all of this great info. Two weeks ago I knew absolutely nothing about HD DVD’s or Blu-Ray mostly because I have just returned from a deployment overseas and wasn’t keeping up to date on new technology so much. However, since then I devoted about 3 days to finding out as much as I could about the two formats and deciding which was better for ME and the answer was clearly HD DVD. I have since Purchased over 20 HD DVD’s using various sales I have found on this website or just from amazon.com, as well as purchased an HD DVD player (with the amazon sale including the 1 night free shipping I found on this website) for my father to get another person into the game. I am trying to do my part to help out HD DVD as I personally prefer this format and hope for it to win out (if one ever does win and dual-format players don’t just become MUCH cheaper)
To reiterate, thank you very much to the powers that be at this website. Not for spoon-feeding me my “own” opinion, but providing me with some information to help me form my own.
December 21st, 2007 at 1:27 am
Ryan, thanks for your kind words, and a much bigger thanks for your service!
Kris, I agree with you. Fans for either side are not automatically haters of the opposite. WB is likely to be a very interesting company to watch in 2008.
December 21st, 2007 at 3:52 am
Maybe it is just me, or maybe there really is a problem, with the production of BD-50s. I was checking another site hidefdigest.com and noticed a few (3) recent posts about Blu Disc replacements due to faulty Blu discs. Whats is most intriging to me is these discs are all recent releases, HP Goblet, Blade Runner, and Pirates. So it is not just one studio that is having problems with it, it is a couple.
But not to be biased I recently bought Bourne Ultimatim from Best Buy (BOGO thank you Pravin for the info a week in advance too!) and have had a problem with this disc too. I think the studios need to slow production just a bit and make sure our HD movies (HD DVD or Blu) are perfect, I mean I am paying a fair amount more for the HD version, shouldn’t I also be getting a product that works too? I understand that the technology is relatively new, but this is a bigger problem then they are letting on I think!
December 21st, 2007 at 7:29 am
I bet all of these defective discs – on both formats – will probably become very rare in another year. Reading up on the forums, we usually only get to hear about the complaints and from people looking for help, so it’s possible that things aren’t as bad as they seem. Or maybe they are, and this is just part of the growing pains associated with getting involved early.
January 1st, 2008 at 7:02 am
Although I make no claims as to what way Warner Brothers will go, I do believe Warner Brothers’ days of staying neutral are coming to an end and will make an announcement as to which format they will support at this years CES. Peace.