Universal responds to silence
by Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jan 25th 2007 at 9:47PM
Universal's none announcements at CES has many people worried and while some in the HD DVD camp say it's nothing to worry about, that isn't making everyone feel better. Universal has told The Digital Bits that they plan to release 100 HD DVD tittles in 2007 including TV-shows like Battlestar Galactica. While the continued HD DVD support by Universal is great news for the HD DVD camp, we would like to have some release dates, but it appears that this will keep up the recent trend of studios to announce much later than we have come to expect with DVD.
Filed under: HD DVD
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Britboyj27 @ Jan 26th 2007 12:09AM
Battlestar Galactica on HD-DVD... Oh yes. Money already spent! :D Now, for some dates...
Daniel @ Jan 26th 2007 9:14PM
This just isn't enough for HD DVD, Universal's library just cannot compete with Disney, Fox/MGM, and Sony Pictures. And since all other studios are nuetral, how will they ever have more product available? Both formats will eventually cost the same (probably in mere months), and Blu-ray has the whole PS3 advantage. Now, I'm not biased toward any side, but if looking at industry support and product availability, it would seem Blu-ray will succeed. Yes, I know HD DVD currently has more titles available, but that will last approxiamently 2 more weeks. Ehh, looks like I need to buy a Blu-ray player. Glad I waited this long and didn't buy both.
Dozingo @ Jan 26th 2007 1:21AM
It's like the 80's when the movie people would release Laser Discs really slowly... I guess it is true that history repeats itself...
http://www.dozingo.com
Ben Hobbs @ Jan 26th 2007 7:48AM
Probably have set sales targets to hot throughout the year and dont want to blow their wad early.
zombieflanders @ Jan 26th 2007 8:54AM
General response, across the web at least, seems to be pretty light. Usually this has the usual places hopping, but they're either quiet or half-filled with disappointed prospective buyers. I'm sure the usual suspects (hmurchison, Xyzzy, etc.) will jump in with their declarations that the entire list is gold, but even if it were, they're still way behind Blu-ray. Sony has promised the same 100 discs this year, while Fox, Disney, and MGM have 40+ discs announced for the next two months alone, with no signs of slowing. With Weinstein's thin catalog, and averaging Uni's release rate to ~9 titles a month, HD DVD is rapidly falling behind in exclusives at an almost 2:1 rate. And that's *if* they reach their goal. HD DVD didn't hit their for 2006, and that was with several months head-start.
And 90% combos? Not sure that's a winning strategy. Considering that article from VB that stated name recognition isn't working in HD DVD's favor, the whole combo idea seems (to use a combo HD title) "half baked". So now, they're not only more expensive (i.e. at the price point of the higher-priced BDs), but they're confusing to customers.
zombieflanders @ Jan 26th 2007 8:59AM
I just noticed there's no Spielberg titles. I guess Universal feels stupid about pissing him off by not ponying up for Dreamworks, as his titles could have been a huge bonus.
Bochi @ Jan 26th 2007 9:09AM
If you want to bring people over to the format you could also release early. For example, how many hardcore fans would be tempted to get an HD DVD drive for their XBOX 360 if Battlestar Galactica came out on HD DVD 6 weeks earlier while DVD owners had to wait. The numbers may not be huge, but you now have another person invested in your format.
riverside_guy @ Jan 26th 2007 11:11AM
Uh, BSG has been running on UnHD for a while now; they seem to be running one half season behind the SciFi channel's SD broadcast (Season 3 starts this weekend in HD).
As is my practice, I encourage all to not buy into either format. That should force them a lot quicker to stop the dual format idiocy and get a single format standard worked out. I really care not which "side" is the idiot one that halted getting an agreement, the ONLY way we as consumers will benefit is to force these guys with our wallets.
John Miller @ Jan 26th 2007 1:57PM
Having the Hitchcock titles exclusive to HD DVD is huge for me. Between that and Warner Bros soon releasing on the rest of Kubrick's films on HD DVD (and Blu Ray), I'm happy with my choice of format. More studio support would be very welcome, but the core of my collection is covered HD DVD and I only had to spend $200 to get the 360 add-on.
hmurchison @ Jan 26th 2007 2:42PM
Zombieflanders you know me all too well ;)
http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/
In head to head battle on The Departed HD DVD is currently ahead in rank at #45 to the BD versions #67. This is important because it debunks "Combos aren't a winning strategy" also keep in mind the BD version has lossless audio.
We also see that HD DVD still has more shipping titles. Blu-ray has a huge release of titles scheduled until June but that doesn't really help the person that wants to buy movies NOW.
Spielberg and Lucas won't bring their titles out until there is a significant amount of players available in the millions. We might now see their crown jewels until 2009. I remember Spielberg being a little cool on DVD at its launch.
I agree with John. I'm looking forward to Hitchcock movies as well. Universal's catalog doesn't have a whole lot of recent Blockbusters but it is a deep catalog of solid movies spanning decades. I'm glad 100 movies are coming to HD DVD this year. I'm ready to purchase many.
zombieflanders @ Jan 27th 2007 4:42PM
"This is important because it debunks "Combos aren't a winning strategy" also keep in mind the BD version has lossless audio."
You might also have noticed that it's the only combo on the list. So, it's not really supporting your combo theory. It's also less within 20-30 on the rank, which means it's most likely selling only 1-2 copies more.
"We also see that HD DVD still has more shipping titles. Blu-ray has a huge release of titles scheduled until June but that doesn't really help the person that wants to buy movies NOW."
Wow, a lead of a whole 8 titles! Too bad in two weeks it's totally gone. And one week after that, Blu-ray is pulling ahead by at least 4-5 titles a month, assuming Universal actually jumps in with their estimated 7-8 titles per month.
Taz @ Jan 26th 2007 2:52PM
I don't really understand the reasoning behind DVD/HD combo discs. If they were the same price as DVD's, then yes - people would buy them to ease the transition from DVD to HD-DVD when they get their new player. But pricing them $10-$20 more expensive than their DVD counterparts alienates them from both DVD and HD-DVD camps.
There are HD-DVD's out there that I want to buy (Slither being one of them) that are considerably more expensive than either a DVD or HD-DVD alone. I'm already having a hard time justifying the $20 on a HD-DVD (Amazon price) over the $12-$14 of the equivalent DVD... but to pay $35 for a convenience that I neither want nor need? Screw that!
I bought my HD-DVD Xbox 360 addon back in November when it first came out... since then I have bought 2 discs (Batman and Serenity (not including the King Kong I got with the player)). This has had the effect of stopping me from buying DVD's that I want because I'm waiting for the HD-DVD version... but at the same time, I see many of the movies that I actually want coming out on BluRay. The uncertainty of the whole HiDef thing has actually left me spending less on movies that I would have, had there just been DVD.
Jason @ Jan 27th 2007 5:24AM
I sure wish Universal would get their act together and support BD already. BSG and Jurassic Park are 2 of my most wanted in HD. While I do have the 360 addon, I'm really not sure that hddvd will survive another year or two. Just go Blu-ray Universal, please.
bill @ Jan 26th 2007 9:32PM
Daniel is right.
It works both ways, if more people own a blu-ray and more blu-ray's are sold, univesal will have to go netural. The cheap stand-alone BD players are very close. The phillips BD player is going for $599 already. Not to metion a 20 gig ps3 goes for $499 a mere $100 more than the cheapest HD-DVD player, and it can do a lot more than the $399 Hd-DVD player(I know, there are no HDi like features on BD yet buttt...) Even at $200-$299 for an HD-DVD player; it's going to be a hard sell to consumers. Especially ones with a kid/kids who already want a PS3. I'm not a sony freak, but this is there 3rd HUGE format war, among trying to release other new formats along the way. Seems like they have a good stratigy this time.
Fredster @ Jan 27th 2007 12:36PM
Wohoo! This is good news! I'm really looking forward for new titles for HD-DVD camp. Only thing i'm probably still missing is Disney and Pixar on HD-DVD:)
Dave @ Jan 29th 2007 6:12AM
100 titles?
What for?
HD DVD is dead!
Percentage of total
Hi-Def sales:
Blu-ray (week): 65.46%
Blu-ray (month): 59.42%
HD DVD (week): 34.54%
HD DVD (month): 40.58%
http://www.dvdempire.com/index.asp?userid=99365290465177&tab_id=60&site_id=69&site_media_id=0
hokiewalrus @ Jan 29th 2007 10:18AM
Dude, way to leave out the last line of the stats:
Blu-Ray (Year): 43.72%
HD-DVD (Year): 56.28%
I don't think the war is over, at best I'd say it's still a wash.
Which sucks because at this point I just want SOMEONE to win, I don't really care who.