Format war to end imminently?

[FrankJH]

*woosh*

Read what I said again.

If it was about consumer choice, everything would have been released on both formats for a couple of years and the choice made from sales figures...

That didn't happen, instead we had exclusive deals and so if people wanted to buy certain films, they had to buy a certain format.

Because of this, claims of higher sales are not indicative of consumer format choice in the slightest.

(petty insults dont help)

They still are whether they are the same film (ie comparing a transformers release on both formats if it happened) - the fact is more people bought br discs, for whatever reason - and in quite significant numbers also, so to me thats still consumer choice

At one time there were far more hd-dvd's available than br's and yet that never really got reflected in sales figures

Cant believe its so low, but its just too late. If they had done this months ago and also spent money on advertising (of which I have seen none) then they may have had a chance.
.

Agreed, if this had happened before Christmas we would be looking at a different scenario now - admittedly BR adverts arent that frequent but its still a lot better/ more frequant than hd-dvd ones which is where its failed dismally

 

[Dolph]

(petty insults dont help)

They still are whether they are the same film (ie comparing a transformers release on both formats if it happened) - the fact is more people bought br discs, for whatever reason - and in quite significant numbers also, so to me thats still consumer choice

It's consumer choice, but it's not based on the format. The consumer hasn't chosen the format, they've chosen the films in the vast majority of cases, so to claim the format the consumers wanted has won is simply not supported by the evidence. The consumer never really got a choice of formats in most cases, it was a case of working out which format had the most titles you wanted on, which isn't the same thing at all.

If I had to pick a format, at least until the 2.0 blu-ray profile came out, it would have been HD-DVD. With the 2.0 profile, Blu-ray has caught up with what was missing and swung the choice. The real choice wasn't based on the formats though, but the content available on that format.

At one time there were far more hd-dvd's available than br's and yet that never really got reflected in sales figures

It's not just the numbers, though, it's also the films themselves. If you release 10 films, of which 1 is one consumers want, you'll probably sell less overall than releasing 3 films that consumers want.

 

[Demon]

Thought I'd just mention that the HD-EP30 at £120 is a stonking deal.. trade in of *** HD-DVD's at CEX or similar recoups some cost (Approx £58), you could hire the entire HD-DVD catalogue from love-film and then still use it as a really good upscaling 1080p HDMI DVD player..

I am also of the opinion that this was never about what sales or what consumers wanted, the only people that seem to cling to that notion are oddly the ones that seem to think it was a 'war'.. and that there had to be only 1 format.. etc...

In this instance, choice is good for consumers...

 

[sunderland]

i would go for the ep35 at 190 as it upscales far better than the ep30 does,was reading a review the other day saying a standard dvd player with built in scaler was just as good as the ep30 at upscaling,will have a look for it and put it up

 

[FrankJH]

It's consumer choice, but it's not based on the format. The consumer hasn't chosen the format, they've chosen the films in the vast majority of cases, so to claim the format the consumers wanted has won is simply not supported by the evidence. The consumer never really got a choice of formats in most cases, it was a case of working out which format had the most titles you wanted on, which isn't the same thing at all.

If I had to pick a format, at least until the 2.0 blu-ray profile came out, it would have been HD-DVD. With the 2.0 profile, Blu-ray has caught up with what was missing and swung the choice. The real choice wasn't based on the formats though, but the content available on that format.



It's not just the numbers, though, it's also the films themselves. If you release 10 films, of which 1 is one consumers want, you'll probably sell less overall than releasing 3 films that consumers want.

The main part of your arguement is mute as most consumers are only interested in watching the film - not downloads from the net or PinP or anything else (as has been the case with DVD for years)

I still think the significant difference in sales (about double) suggests that its the format people wanted more than the films - a number of films/studios where producing on both, and still wayed in in BR favour)

At the end of the day few significant films (even if Star Wars and SSpeilberg films havent been released) where actually released on either format

If one of the studios had taken a punt on a really major film it could have made the difference.

 

[Dolph]

The main part of your arguement is mute as most consumers are only interested in watching the film - not downloads from the net or PinP or anything else (as has been the case with DVD for years)

That's not moot, that's the crux of my argument. If the main thing people are interested in is the film, and certain films are only available on certain formats, then the film availability, not the format, is what people are choosing.

There are more bigger BR exclusives than HD-DVD, so if you have to tie yourself to one format, most did to BR, rather than HD. The only big exclusive to HD was Transformers really.

I still think the significant difference in sales (about double) suggests that its the format people wanted more than the films - a number of films/studios where producing on both, and still wayed in in BR favour)

If you have a selection available on both, and an exclusive selection that favours one format, then where are most of the sales going to be?

At the end of the day few significant films (even if Star Wars and SSpeilberg films havent been released) where actually released on either format

If one of the studios had taken a punt on a really major film it could have made the difference.

True, but then there would be moaning (as per Transformers) if it's not the format people think it should be.

I think we're going to have to agree to differ on this one, but I stand by my view that consumers didn't choose either format, they chose the films released in that format, hence it's the studios dictating it, not the customer.