Warner Exclusivity: Good Or Bad?

[Rasczak]

Well Warner's decision to go Blu-ray exclusive has certainly turned the high def war on it's head. Whilst HD DVD still sports three exclusive studios there now must be questions over it's future. Time will tell on that but I'm interested to see whether forum users think the move is positive or negative? And this seems to divide down into two areas. Firstly the adoption rates - many here have been concerned that with two formats the average consumer would be put off from buying into high def. Secondly, and probably of more concern to those here, is what will happen to disc quality - picture, audio and special features?

Personally I see things as having taken a turn for the worse. I don't see how having one format will really help adoption figures - I think it's too early for the average consumer to buy into high def yet so I'm not sure the format war was putting that many off. But on the disc quality side I am extremely disappointed - Warner were a big support of TrueHD soundtracks on HD DVD and we are slowly starting to see receivers that accept bitstream out. With the move to Blu-ray we will now see the trend towards PCM.

I guess we'll see how things pan out - it'll be interesting to come back to this thread two years from now and see what has happened.

[sdb123]

Would it be an idea to add a poll to the thread?

EDIT: I see it's now been added...

[Abbeygoo]

It will also be interesting to see how this decision affects sales of hardware as the BluRay loving PS3 may well take advantage .....

[featherhall]

really need to see how it pans out. One thing for sure is that I wont be buying any new HDDVD's until I am convinced otherwise.
I also doubt I will buy Blueray as well (a PS3),

I am seriously peeved off, and probably will now just probably leave the HD format war (as it has become) completely until such times as a clear winner is confirmed. As usual, it is us early adopters who make new technology progress and win but lose out in the end.

Maybe a knee jerk reaction, but I honestly feel that I will no longer buy into this scene at all now until there is a clear winner. I have just counted, and I have 40 (FORTY) HDDVD's. I may as well have bent over in hindsight. Home entertainment - Bahhh

[Abbeygoo]

Get them all on the classifieds now for a tenner each and buy yourself a PS3

[BenchyUK]

It's bad for me becuase i'm a HD-DVD owner but good because we do need there to be only 1 format

[Dave H]

being a PS3 owner I think it is a great move.
I have over 50 Blu Rays and want to buy a few HD exclusive films as well.
so the sooner we have one format the better.

Dave.

[Rasczak]

Originally Posted by Dave H

being a PS3 owner I think it is a great move.
I have over 50 Blu Rays and want to buy a few HD exclusive films as well.

Dave, the thread/poll isn't about what is best personally for each of us - it's whether we think we will see a positive/negative effect on adoption and/or disc quality.

[robfjonesuk]

I believe it is a good thing. I own both formats but have been holding back on buying discs until as I didn't want to end up with loads of discs that would end up sitting on a shelf once I got rid of my 360/PS3. Surely this is something that has been affecting many other people as well and perhaps even stopping them from joining in on the HD bandwagon.

[Rasczak]

Originally Posted by robfjonesuk

I believe it is a good thing. I own both formats but have been holding back on buying discs until as I didn't want to end up with loads of discs that would end up sitting on a shelf once I got rid of my 360/PS3.

The thing is though - the fact that, subject to a HD DVD comeback, we are now looking at a single format doesn't necessarily guarantee anymore likelihood of adoption than before. Infact as player prices and functionality will no longer be pushed by HD DVD it might be hampered further.

[chelsea.tone]

This is great news for ALL, everyone should welcome it

Tony

[fluffrick]

Well, it's forcing our hands pretty much. I don't know that it's a good thing, particularly given the negative aspects of the Blu-Ray format (inconsistant and unpredictable region coding, discs with great storage capacities which still can't port over the special features that we get on SD DVD, etc) but it makes the decision somewhat more straightforward for floating voters.

I have a bunch of Warner back catalogue films in my (now thankfully) slender HD DVD collection, so I guess that I'll be continuing to buy their classics on BD when I pick up a player.

From my perspective, the format war appears to have been decided, but I know that others will disagree on this...

[elicash73]

Originally Posted by Rasczak

The thing is though - the fact that, subject to a HD DVD comeback, we are now looking at a single format doesn't necessarily guarantee anymore likelihood of adoption than before. Infact as player prices and functionality will no longer be pushed by HD DVD it might be hampered further.

Why would Sony, or either side for that matter, spend all this time or money to eliminate their rival only to stay in phase #1. Of course they are going to bring it to the consumer.

Sony have said it themselves; they are still in early-adopter phase. Its not a question of whether Sony are prepared to win the hearts and minds of average consumers but a question of whether the consumers want to listen. Time will tell on that one but I know of many sensible people who were sitting on the fence until one format had been declared.

If there is a big market for HDM, prices will fall naturally as they did with DVD.

[Pincho Paxton]

I don't understand why the poll is so targetted on Disc Quality.. I don't think the disc quality is part of the equation at all. In about 500 posts nobody has hardly mentioned disc quality. Disc quality is part of the natural progression of HD.

[nero0410]

It's not really very fair, as a vast majority of consumers cant afford to have hd dvd and bluray, so one or the other formats will miss out on their faveorite films if they already have one or the other.

Just forces me to wait for the winner if I were to ever go down the hd or bluray path

tris