Universal Re-Affirms HD DVD Support

[jed]

Responding to published reports that its commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended, Universal has issued a new statement of support for HD DVD.

"Contrary to unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources, Universal's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format," said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group.

Graffeo's comments follow a report in yesterday's Variety that Universal's agreement to exclusively support HD DVD had ended and had not been renewed. The report went on to speculate that both Universal and Paramount could switch sides soon, ending the high-def format war instantly.

A Universal spokesperson told us this afternoon that the studio plans to issue new upcoming HD DVD title announcements in the near future.

The HD DVD Promotions Group is also said to be planning its own statement regarding the rumors of a Universal switch to format neutrality.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...D_Support/1362

[aaronwt]

Well at least that sounds like some good news.

[redfirebird2008]

Good news? I'm HD DVD exclusive at the moment but that is not good news. The only good thing about dragging the format war out is that maybe it'll force a price war in which I can get a Blu-ray player for much cheaper than I would. Still though, I think this is bad for HDM at this point.

[Spideybat]

Very good news!

[aaronwt]

The market is miniscule right now. It wll be years, if ever, before it gains wide acceptance.

[Jimbo976]

"current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format"

The events of the last few months have shown that "current plans" mean nothing and nowhere in that statement did he say they would not release movies on Blu-ray.

A whole lotta nothin'.

[galleren]

Well it's gonna be interesting to see the HD-DVD Promotions Group statement. Unless they have a studio exclusive or two to announce (which i seriously doubt will happen) they shouldn't really bother.

Time will tell if they are just as spiteful as many of the HD-DVD fanboys are. Imagine Hitler coming out his bunker in Berlin during the Russian assault, saying "We are still going strong and we have the resources to keep going, securing our victory in the end". Such a sad thought.

[JAG1977]

It's over, they're embarrasing themselves with transparent statements that don't contradict reports they will support Blu-ray AS WELL as HD-DVD.

[Liqwid]

I think I will be buying two Universal titles today, like I did for Paramount yesterday.

[redfirebird2008]

Originally Posted by aaronwt

The market is miniscule right now. It wll be years, if ever, before it gains wide acceptance.

I do agree there. Even though it's obvious that Blu-ray is/will be the winner of this format battle, I don't think Blu-ray will be able to overtake DVD unless they stop making upconverting players, and as someone else mentioned, put lower quality encodes on DVD's so that it's not as easy to upconvert them.

[Roshan]

How many hd dvd supporters think hd dvd will out right wn within 1-2 years?
They don't care about the consumer. HD dvd only shot of doing anything is just prolonging the war. Universal IF hd dvd cant win why support it?

[Blinx123]

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

"current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format"

The events of the last few months have shown that "current plans" mean nothing and nowhere in that statement did he say they would not release movies on Blu-ray.

A whole lotta nothin'.

You won't find a company not putting the "current" line in every announcement.

BTW: Albert Einstein is the one to blame for this. It's part of his Theorie Of Relativity.

[aaronwt]

I expect them to support BD at some point this year, but hopefully they continue to support HD DVD too.

[polyh3dron]

"Current plans" means no switch to BD right now, but possibly an hour from now, or tomorrow, or the next day, or a week from now.

[zombieflanders]

I'll just quote winstonshu:

Originally Posted by winstonshu

Not only is the word "current" conspicuously present in the statement, the word "exclusively" is conspicuously absent.