Warner Goes Blu-ray Exclusive

[Koenig]

One of the main reasons I find that HD-DVD struggled was because of it's name. When I worked at an electronics dept. a few months ago, HD-DVD caused a lot of customers to be unhappy. I kept having customers buy HD-DVD's thinking that they were simply hi def versions of existing DVD movies that would still play in their existing DVD players. Needless to say, they returned to us unhappily. Now granted, most of these customers weren't very tech-savvy, but if HD-DVD wants to go mainstream, it needs the support the John Q Public. Blu-Ray distanced itself from the "DVD" name, thus, everyone that knows anything about Blu-Ray, knows that it's different from DVD and can't be played in a regular DVD player. People who buy Blu-Ray know what they're getting, while HD-DVD caused a lot of confusion.

[cvrefugee]

I don't think the marketing did anything. Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD account for so little sales, I'm not sure how "consumer marketing" had any bearing on this outcome. Let me tell you what I've seen in the past 18 months:

1. HD-DVD outsells Blu-Ray in players and movies until the PS3 is released. Since the sales of the PS3 is included into stand-alone player statistics for Blu-Ray, they easily overtake HD-DVD.

2. Blu-Ray is more popular with the movie studios, since their DRM is more restrictive than that of HD-DVD. Payoffs probably occurred as well, helping Blu-Ray secure exclusive deals with the studios.

3. Even though the HD-DVD represents a more economical choice for the consumer and the production lines (as GTV V6 pointed out), the movie studios have decided upon a format that is contrary to these benefits.

[chilicoke]

I don't think the marketing did anything. Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD account for so little sales, I'm not sure how "consumer marketing" had any bearing on this outcome. Let me tell you what I've seen in the past 18 months

I believe just the opposite. When a product (or format) is new (the reason for low sales), it all depends on marketing to create public awareness (target market) and hopefully expand. A product is not going to sell itself, you have to grab people's attention and make sure they understand what it does, what makes it special, and why they should spend their hard-earn cash on it. Without marketing you are isolating yourself from the biggest group of consumers.

3. Even though the HD-DVD represents a more economical choice for the consumer and the production lines (as GTV V6 pointed out), the movie studios have decided upon a format that is contrary to these benefits.

Can you honestly blame the studios? They invested money in their movies just like how manufactures/replicator invest in their equipments. Disc manufacturing/replicating market exists because of studios' contents, they (the studios) seek profit just like you, me, or any business would and have every right to make decisions that benefit them the most. It doesn't get any simpler than this, they produced the movies, consumers buy their movies. If consumers don't buy their movies, they go out of business.

Warner made their decision because they sold more movies on Blu-ray then HD-DVD. Do you really think they should have gone HD instead because of those "benefits" you mentioned? Warner going Blu puts more (exclusive) studio support behind one format than going HD exclusive, hopefully this will cause a ripple effect (we are already seeing the influence on some studios) and end this format war sooner.

In the short-run, Blu-ray equipment upgrade cost might cut into revenue for some individual companies (like the one compact GTV V6 works at), but in the long-run (and as a whole), ending this format war sooner and standardizing one format will (IMO) be more economical and beneficial to both customers and the industry.

[Cobol74]

^ Yes, it looks like the war is over and BluRay has won - we can all go home now.