HD DVD group cancels CES press conference in wake of Warner announcement: daaamn
by Ryan Block 
posted Jan 4th 2008 at 10:14PM
Update: Toshiba, masters of the HD DVD format, just issued a press release expressing their "particular disappointment" with Warner, also implying that the move to go Blu-ray exclusive is actually in breach of contract. The particularly depressing release is also posted after the break.
Update 2: Doing a little victory dance of its own, Blu-ray is touting its CES presence as "Best Booth of All Time". No, not at all puerile. Nyah.
--snip (cancellation email)--
Notice of CES Press Conference Cancellation by North American HD DVD Promotion Group
Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference scheduled for Sunday, January 6th at 8:30 p.m. in the Wynn Hotel. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps. We believe the consumer continues to benefit from HD DVD's commitment to quality and affordability – a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format.
We'll continue to keep you updated on new developments around HD DVD.
--end-
--snip (the release of disappointment, PR cousin to the walk of shame)--
Toshiba's Comment on Announcement from Warner Bros. Entertainment of Its Exclusive Support for Blu-ray Disc Format
TOKYO, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba is quite surprised by Warner
Bros.' decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, despite the fact
that there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning
the support of HD DVD. As central members of the DVD Forum, we have long
maintained a close partnership with Warner Bros. We worked closely together
to help standardize the first-generation DVD format as well as to define
and shape HD DVD as its next-generation successor.
We were particularly disappointed that this decision was made in spite
of the significant momentum HD DVD has gained in the US market as well as
other regions in 2007. HD DVD players and PCs have outsold Blu-ray in the
US market in 2007.
We will assess the potential impact of this announcement with the other
HD DVD partner companies and evaluate potential next steps. We remain firm
in our belief that HD DVD is the format best suited to the wants and needs
of the consumer.
--end--
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
impakt @ Jan 4th 2008 10:32PM
Toshiba will instead announce a new Blu-ray player. The Betamax II.
nihillasohen @ Jan 4th 2008 10:29PM
Drama Drama Drama :)
haldol @ Jan 4th 2008 10:33PM
Guys, Warner is going to change their decision to only make boo-rays. We gotta buy more HD DVDs like planet earth. I already got one copy, and I'm planning to buy another HD DVD later this month. C'mon guys, HD DVD is good for us consumers, cuz we aren't all richy rich snobs like boo-ray fanboys. I bought the $100 A2 and I love it guys. It is really sharp in terms of resolution and I think it's got all the 1080 pixels. Or is it 1920 pixels? I wuz always confused bout that. NE wayz... guys, please buy HD DVDs cuz HD DVD will be back if we can persuade Warner that HD DVD is the superior format. And I think we can win the Nielson sales week sometime in the next few months. Thanks guys! HD DVD forever! Boo for boo-ray!
Antec747 @ Jan 4th 2008 10:35PM
give it up dude. HDDVD is dead.
EQC @ Jan 4th 2008 11:38PM
is haldol even serious? the strange, poorly-thought-out logic combined with writing full of "come on guys" and "we can do it" sounds like some stereotype cheerleader from 1987.
vahdyx @ Jan 5th 2008 12:12AM
all i have to say is richy richy or not, if you would have choose blu-ray to begin with you wouldn't have wasted your money. See that's how the rich stay rich, they don't waste their money on stupid purchases like HD DVD. Dumb poory poors, don't know how to spend money.
Gremlin @ Jan 5th 2008 3:29AM
Say "guys" a few more times.
locke6854 @ Jan 5th 2008 2:05PM
obviously this is an attempt at humor.. first clue being the name "haldol" as a play on h4ldol. Because he's low ranked, it looks like a bunch of you took him seriously.
JapTastic @ Jan 6th 2008 1:03AM
HD DVD has never won any neilson ratings. Bluray discs outsell HD DVD almost 2-1, and have for the entire span. If you count PS3's, there are millions more Bluray players than HD players in the world. I use my ps3 for Blurays all the time. It's over....face it.
TrentD @ Jan 10th 2008 8:25AM
JapTastic, you're as ignorant as most BD fanboys. Until the PS3 came out, HD DVD dominated the sales rankings. That was a period of about six months, in 2006.
Yes, I know BD is dominating now, but making foolish comments like you just did reflects badly on PS3 fanboys everywhere. :)
TrentD @ Jan 10th 2008 8:25AM
JapTastic, you're as ignorant as most BD fanboys. Until the PS3 came out, HD DVD dominated the sales rankings. That was a period of about six months, in 2006.
Yes, I know BD is dominating now, but making foolish comments like you just did reflects badly on PS3 fanboys everywhere. :)
longhairbilly @ Jan 4th 2008 10:33PM
As a HD DVD owner this is not comforting.. I mean, show up and fake it.
MI @ Jan 5th 2008 2:48PM
But that's what they've been doing for the last several months. Let's just drop the illusions and get on with a single/unified format world.
JayHDDVD @ Jan 4th 2008 10:41PM
Hahaha here we go with the As the World Turns Soap Opera stuff. Breach of Contract... get the WWE involved!
It's over for HD DVD, there I said it.
Leroy Vargas @ Jan 7th 2008 2:16PM
Oh yes, let's see what Vince McMahon has to say regarding this format war... All WWE Wrestlemanias on Blu-ray (well, at least those aired on HD-PPV format) - how would that look like? [P.S. I am not a hard-core WWE fan, but most of my friends are, so I talk on behalf of them, including those who haven't yet decided on a format.]
nihillasohen @ Jan 4th 2008 10:43PM
I think that they cancelled to avoid the obvious question "where do you go from here?" I'm pretty sure that warner going red might have been there only trump card.
BleedingLoverofUrination @ Jan 4th 2008 10:46PM
Just days before CES 2008, Warner Home Video has announced that they
are going to stop supporting HD-DVD and support the Blu-Ray format
exclusively. There are rumors that this decision was made after Sony
paid Warner 1.8 billion dollars to sign an exclusive contract, one of
the largest payoffs yet (the second largest being 150 million to
Paramount and Dreamworks to go HD-DVD exclusively.)
Warner's official response, however, was:
"In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will
release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc
format beginning later this year" it was announced today by Barry
Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President,
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.
After August 2007, Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony said that the Blu-
Ray format was in a stalemate. "It's a difficult fight. We were trying
to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount
changed sides," Howard Stringer told the AP.
Blu-Ray was winning the HD format war in North America and Asia, but
not Europe, until the Dreamworks/Paramount buyout.
Many consider this new Warner Home Video buyout to be the end of the
format war completely.
kcmurphy88 @ Jan 4th 2008 10:49PM
Toshiba, Warner, the BDA and the rest of the industry, should be thinking more about how they win back the customers that just got screwed, rather than acting like children.
I don't think they realize just how badly this is all going to play among the general public, who are being forced into this HD thing, mostly unwillingly.
There is enough fear among consumers without giant companies paying other giant companies jillions of dollars to abandon their customer base.
The Beta war ended because the marketplace decided. It wasn't because someone paid Warner or Paramount off to not release on Beta. One could accept that. But this ended in a corporate boardroom.
What are they going to do for their customers???
av8or @ Jan 5th 2008 12:06AM
you bought into a format during a format war, you knew the risks associated with that
you can't expect to get recompense because the format you committed to is possibly on its way out, your player will still be serviceable as an upconverting dvd player, its not suddenly going to become a doorstop...
and why is everyone not getting that warner didn't take a pay off?? its clearly stated in the other article on here http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/04/the-real-reason-why-warner-went-blu/
HP @ Jan 5th 2008 12:08AM
I did picked up a Toshiba HD DVD player this Christmas, but I hold no ill will against Toshiba. They built a solid unit, made it incredibly afforadble, offered a pretty good line-up, although I would have liked to have had Fox or Disney titles too. And only because Warner is attempting to force us to switch to Blu-Ray am I holding some contempt for them only. I really don't appreciate a company telling me what consumers want, instead of listening to their customers. I could understand if the format was selling less and less, but it has been gaining momentum. There are more stand HD DVD players than stand alone Blu-Ray players out there. And don't get me wrong, I don't want to see either side lose. I want to see both sides succeed. Why is it such a problem to publish titles in both formats? Why can't I choose the HD player that I want to use, and have them support it?
Warner made a shocking move on the eve of CES, and now there's no HD DVD press conference. Seems to me Warner's announcement was not only ill timed, but released just as HD was gaining traction. Maximum damage to Toshiba. Not to mention others. If I'm not mistaken, HP was about to offer a new Windows PC that includes a blu-ray/hd-dvd/dvd combo drive for under $1000.
At least when Betamax died out, or Laser Disc, they were given a full chance. It was consumers that choose their fate, not Warner Bros. Even UMD which, I thought was a misconceived format, is still around.
This move changes my entire impression of Warner. I'm not sure I want to support them if they want to turn their backs on a growing market just so they can force everyone to a single format. Shame on you Warner. Shame on you.
Ryan @ Jan 5th 2008 11:32AM
av8or,
You believe they didn't take a payout? How can anyone trust them when they said they were staying neutral? They obviously don't care about many of their consumers. I'm sure there are many people that decided to buy an HD DVD player when numerous execs said they were going to stay neutral.
This may be a war but damages were done by direct lies from that corporation. They should have said nothing instead of lying.
kcmurphy88 @ Jan 5th 2008 12:42PM
This isn't about right or wrong or who owes what. It's not even about people who bought the wrong format. It's about getting THEIR old customers to be YOUR new customers. It's about making the people watching from the sidelines feel like it's safe to get in.
The best way to do that is for the industry to rapidly convert to one format, now that blu-ray has won. To do that you need to replace all the old stuff with new stuff.
It's not like there's a lot of stuff to replace. At MOST there were 3 million HD DVD discs sold. Replacing them with Blu-ray versions would cost maybe $50 million. Especially easy for Warner. A pittance to these companies.
Even if you didn't replace the players it would go a long way towards closing down the war and ending misused feelings among customers.
When satellite companies merge, or cable companies buy out other cable companies, they tend to replace all the equipment. Why should this corporate decision be any different?
Anthony Butler @ Jan 4th 2008 10:50PM
this is very sad news
Matt @ Jan 4th 2008 10:54PM
Wow, well, I have both but preferred blu-ray so this is good news. I cant wait to buy all the liquidated HD-DVDs.
severian00 @ Jan 4th 2008 11:03PM
Maybe that's where the 500 million comes in. Not only does it give Warner a nice money hat, but pays the cost of any breach of contract suit that is filed by Toshiba.
MI @ Jan 5th 2008 2:52PM
Their contract apparently runs through May, hence the delay of abandoning the format till then.
misterhearn @ Jan 4th 2008 11:09PM
This is bad news, I still dont think HD DVD is dead
Paramount & Dreamworks sold their souls for a jelly roll
However Warner Bros sold their soul to the devil
BR fanboys are running wild like Hulkamania in the 80s
The HD DVD camp needs to pull a rabbit outta the hat and fast!
Sangohan2 @ Jan 4th 2008 11:23PM
The only way Toshiba could stop Sony and the Blu-ray to win this war right now would be.... to buy out Sony :)
carl @ Jan 5th 2008 12:39AM
It is so obvious who is the fanboy and who isnt lol...
Sean @ Jan 4th 2008 11:26PM
Well, Toshiba has till May 2K8 to make something happen. Doubt it though, it was fun while it lasted (I have both machines).
digason @ Jan 4th 2008 11:27PM
I don't really see any implications of a breach of contract. My personal conclusion from what I see it that the "various contracts in place between our companies" expire in or around May when Warner is ending support. It makes sense since that would be about the right time for a two year contract to have lapsed.
Benny @ Jan 8th 2008 12:20PM
You must remember that Toshiba has sold, and continues to sell(or at least try)expensive laptops which have the HD DVD technology included. The statement that it released lays the blame entirely on Warner Bros et alia since 'there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning the support of HD DVD' If the contracts to which they are refering run out in May 2008, then it would be reasonable to expect them to inform potential customers of this prior to investing large sums in these machines.
snookie @ Jan 4th 2008 11:28PM
Ah, who gives a crap... blue ray IS better and worth it. HD is cheap enough anyone can have it. So what if HDDVD is dead, you can get a HDDVD player for a 100 bucks at walmart, its not like its all that much of a loss to the consumer to have both.
Ty Warner78 @ Jan 5th 2008 3:17AM
You are an idiot. HD-DVD was the superior format. Blu-Ray is just crappy old mpeg2 rehash. BD is inferior to HD-DVD. This is terrible news to consumers. Sony just makes idiot fanboys like you rebuy what is essentially the same as the dvd release just because it comes in a blu-cheese box and costs an arm and leg.
Luis @ Jan 9th 2008 10:33PM
@TyWarner
Blu Ray movies have for some time used the same encoding (VC-1 AVC H.264 Mpeg4??) that HD DVD uses. Only the first few titles on Blu Ray used that older compression codec.
Anthony Butler @ Jan 4th 2008 11:32PM
maybe Toshiba can buy out Warner brothers, I heard they were struggling :)
MegaZone @ Jan 4th 2008 11:39PM
I think the BDA should swoop in and pick up the tab for the room and the food and drink at the Wynn, and hold a wake for HD DVD! That'd be priceless!
Ken @ Jan 5th 2008 12:10AM
I don't care who wins...as long as someone wins!
Who is with me?
JimC @ Jan 5th 2008 12:45AM
Uh I think the writing is on the wall, HDDVD can end its misery now or go down scratching and clawing, either way, it is inevitable....
phatbuddha @ Jan 5th 2008 1:24AM
Amen!
taker @ Jan 5th 2008 12:31AM
I think I smell congressional hearing on Studios and the blu-ray in the air
kcmurphy88 @ Jan 5th 2008 12:54PM
Depends how annoyed those million HD DVD owners are. And how unresponsive the studios and manufacturers are to the war's end.
As I've said, the best move is for Universal, Paramount and Toshiba to kill HD DVD quickly, and for the industry as a whole to lighten the blow to consumers by at least exchanging the discs for blu-ray copies.
It's in everyone's interest to stop the bleeding, clear HD DVDs off the shelves and out of the homes and have everyone join the happy blu-ray universe.
A happy customer is a good customer.
will @ Jan 5th 2008 12:33AM
i know michael bay is happy
carl @ Jan 5th 2008 12:33AM
You see, no matter how many Standalone HD-DVD Players or HD-DVD enabled PC's they sell, it all counts on the sale. And at the very end of the day..Blu-ray moves more discs than HD-DVD.
Ty Warner78 @ Jan 5th 2008 3:17AM
Blu-cheese sells more because sony force fed it to playstaion buyers. See the ps3 is tanking but if it sells 100,000 units that means a big deal in the format war.
If microsoft had not been greedy and gave an hd-dvd drive to 360 owners. This way Blu-balls would have been over a long time ago and decided by the consumer.
It is unfortunate that the board rooms and corporate raiding have decided this and not the consumer. Hd-dvd was the superior format.
oudabashian @ Jan 5th 2008 12:38AM
@ Ken
Unless something very DRASTIC takes place from now to the end of May. Someone has won, and it is Blu-ray. I have always felt that Warner had the future of the Format War in their hands. They are that important. Whichever format it decided to back exclusively would have won. If Warner, Universal, Paramount were all exclusive to HD DVD over an extended period of time, then HD DVD would have won. Specialy considering the price differences in players. Victory is just a little easier when they choose Blu, since they have deeper studio support, and HD DVD needed WB even more then Blu did. All she wrote...
mntwister @ Jan 5th 2008 12:51AM
Of course there was money involved, we can be sure they were getting offers from both sides. From a business standpoint, how many stories have we read about consumers waiting out the format war? While Warner was clearly making more money than any other studio right now, they were definately thinking about the future and stopping this format war as fast as they could. The entire year 2007 every week was won by blu-ray including the Transformers week and the Bourne week with the BOGO Amazon and Best Buy sale and the $98 players.
I have to say I think Toshiba has done an excellent job promoting the format. But clearly Sony was very smart including a blu-ray drive into the PS3 andusing blu-ray technology for the games. I predict 2008 not only blu-ray as total winner, but also huge sales for the PS3.
impressme @ Jan 5th 2008 1:12AM
Well sorry Warner, it looks like I'll be boycotting anything released by you from now and into the future. That will include movies released in theater, on DVD, and Blu-ray. Actually, add HD-DVD to that list too. You won't get a dime from me.
Farewell to you!!
Darth_Tubbie @ Jan 5th 2008 2:02AM
Or at least WB releases the next Batman movie.
JimC @ Jan 5th 2008 2:32AM
LOL, all .00001% heartbreak they will feel I'm sure...