Paramount Back to Blu-ray Says Financial Times

[Woochifer]

Another of HD-DVD's dominoes is about to fall. According to the Financial Times, Paramount is going to exercise an out clause in its HD-DVD contract and go back to Blu-ray. Supposedly, one of Paramount's out clauses allows them to drop HD-DVD if Warner drops the format. No word on whether Dreamworks has a similar out clause in its contract, which was signed at the same time as Paramount's. (The two studios are very tightly linked since Paramount is Dreamworks' home video distributor)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea637496-bd8d-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

If this turns out to be true, then I think HD-DVD is finished. This is not the same situation that we had last summer with two neutral studios, three exclusively backing Blu-ray, and one exclusively backing HD-DVD. If Paramount goes and takes Dreamworks along, then HD-DVD's studio support is almost negligible. The market would line up with five studios exclusively backing Blu-ray and only Universal left backing HD-DVD.

Last year, Blu-ray had over 80% studio support and HD-DVD had about 50% studio support (based on box office numbers). If Paramount moves back to Blu-ray, then Blu-ray's studio support goes back to about 80%, but HD-DVD's studio support drops well below 20%. Universal was already under a lot of pressure before last summer, and without any neutral studios remaining, I doubt they will remain a HD-DVD holdout for much longer.

[Feanor]

Another of HD-DVD's dominoes is about to fall. According to the Financial Times, Paramount is going to exercise an out clause in its HD-DVD contract and go back to Blu-ray
...
Last year, Blu-ray had over 80% studio support and HD-DVD had about 50% studio support (based on box office numbers). If Paramount moves back to Blu-ray, then Blu-ray's studio support goes back to about 80%, but HD-DVD's studio support drops well below 20%. Universal was already under a lot of pressure before last summer, and without any neutral studios remaining, I doubt they will remain a HD-DVD holdout for much longer.

Nothing like one, standard format -- and the really great news I haven't spent a cent so far. :thumbsup:

[Mr Peabody]

Yip, if this comes about you can just about stick a fork in it.

[Woochifer]

Well, not so fast! I guess that nothing has happened just yet. Paramount has now denied that they are dropping HD-DVD.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aQMGgh2LV_bU&refer=japan

But, if it's indeed true that Paramount has an out clause in their HD-DVD contract, then obviously this can still happen well before their 18-month window expires. Personally, I thought that Universal was the likeliest of the current HD-DVD studios to go Blu-ray, since there are multiple reports of them touring Blu-ray replicating facilities. As it stands, HD-DVD is still on life support with no one ready to pull the plug just yet.

[Mr Peabody]

Did you notice how that prior story effected Toshiba and Sony stocks? I didn't even really consider that aspect of it.

[pixelthis]

Did you notice how that prior story effected Toshiba and Sony stocks? I didn't even really consider that aspect of it.

Audiophiles rarely do.
they swim in a sea dominated by large corporations, what those corporations decide
quite often determines what will wind up on an audio enthusiasts shelf.
Even if you have a trendy handmade preamp with gold knobs, etc, the company that made it had to just about use off the shelf parts.
But how much effort do you have invested in keeping up with what they do?
Indeed HDDVD is now folding like a cheap lawn chair under hulk hogan, but this is just
the current incident in the long slow meltdown of HDDVD .
Anybody that keeps up knows that everybody in industry, electronics, computers,
hollywood, you name it, have declared their support for Blu-ray almost exclusively.
So much so that I imagine that the bloodbath Toshiba is facing has already been factored into their stock.
Thisd is why I try to keep up at least a little with the business side of this hobby,
and this is why I have championed Blu, BECAUSE TWO FORMATS ARE JUST CONFUSING THE AVERAGE JOE, and in the long term that hurts us videophiles
and audiophiles, because, like it or not, if theres no mass support for a format,
then its going to be really expensive, or nonexsistent.
We PQ freaks ride on a sea of mass market stuff, our stuff may be "better", but it derives from the parts used to make Joe sixpacks HTIB and his flat screen:1:

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Well, not so fast! I guess that nothing has happened just yet. Paramount has now denied that they are dropping HD-DVD.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aQMGgh2LV_bU&refer=japan

But, if it's indeed true that Paramount has an out clause in their HD-DVD contract, then obviously this can still happen well before their 18-month window expires. Personally, I thought that Universal was the likeliest of the current HD-DVD studios to go Blu-ray, since there are multiple reports of them touring Blu-ray replicating facilities. As it stands, HD-DVD is still on life support with no one ready to pull the plug just yet.

So you get a much clearer picture. Universal contract with HD DVD is up at the end of January. Word in Hollywood THIS day is that they will go to bluray as soon as this contract is up.

Paramount is also going blu as well. Negotiations are happening on both fronts as we type. These things do not happen overnight. From what I am getting from my friends at Paramount, they are not happy with Toshiba right now. There were three promises that the HD DVD PG made to Paramount/Dreamworks for their support.

1. A bluray exclusive studio will switch to HD DVD
2. A bluray exclusive manufacturer will design and manufacture a HD DVD using a in house design
3. Warner will switch to HD DVD exclusive.

None of these three things can to fruition, hence Paramounts dissapointment with Toshiba and the HD DVD PG. So as you can see, all of those public comments made by Paramount executives after they went HD DVD exclusive were not true at all.