The Twelve Biggest Industry Mistakes of the Digital Age

[westcott]

I actually learned a lot from writing this article.

I love the "McDonaldization" line.

Seems to sum up the entire "Digital Age" and half the people that grew up in this culture.

Great article!!! Thanks.

 

[CaW]

Issue #7 (sour grapes... I think so)

• HD DVD was the first player to market by 3 months

And it was a POS. Not much more than a mass produced prototype. Its design reeked of 1970s bulky VCRs

• HD DVD was a completed spec and had Internet connectivity out of the gate, almost 2 years before Blu-ray released BD-Live (Profile 2.0) players with Internet features.

How many HD DVDs actually used these features? It was nothing more than a talking point.

• HD DVD came to market at just $499. The Samsung BD-P1000 hit the market at $999.

And the 20G and 60G PS3s hit the market later that year at $499 and $599 respectively. At the same time BD never lost a week in software sales after the PS3 was released. And the big reason the HD DVD player was only $499, THEY LACKED STUDIO SUPPORT compared to Blu-ray.

• HD DVD discs cost less to manufacture and used existing disc presses, slightly adapted; disc manufacturers could switch their plants almost overnight to manufacture HD DVDs.

Again, a BS talking point. Were these savings ever passed onto consumers? No. Sounds to me Clint like you drank a lot of the Kool Aid Amir and his MSFT gang were serving over at AVS.

• HD DVD was region-free

And this hurt HD DVD getting studio support. The studio system still has staggered release dates world wide. BD did reduce the number of regions, but the studios still want some control and add to the fact that specific titles are not distributed by the same studio in different markets.


Here is why BD won:
1. Content, Content, Content. BD had Disney, Fox and Sony exclusively. So when you added dual support studios Warner and Paramount at the beginning the only Blu holdout was Universal. HD DVD never had anymore than their initial 3 studios: Paramount, Warner and Universal.
2. 50GB and superior bandwidth which allowed for
3. Lossless audio (sure HD DVD had it too, but it usually was a bone that was thrown to users once in a while). Nearly every BD title I have purchased since December of 2006 has a lossless track (PCM, dts-HDMA or DolbyTrueHD).
4. The PS3... for as much as every MS fanboi loves to snipe at it. The PS3 won the war for Blu. I knew a number of users, myself included that were very excited over the concept of next gen console that was also a next gen movie player in one box. And hats off to Sony for making sure the PS3 was the best BD player on the market for a period of time when it was critical to helping the format. Remember the PS3 was upgraded to make many of the BS profile issues moot. It was the first HD player of either format to offer true 24p playback. If I would have bought a HD DVD player that could actually output 24p, it would not have been significantly less than the PS3. The PS3 was upgraded to 1.1, then 2.0 and they have also since added dts-HDMA to BD playback. Sure it was expensive at the time, but look at this way the 360w/20G HD at the time was $400. Add the $200 HD DVD drive and then the $100 wireless adaptor.... Hmmm that cost more than the 60G PS3.

Again HD DVD lost fair and square. And as far as money getting thrown around, I think the only evidence we have in the format war is that TOSHIBA threw money at Paramount to get them to drop Blu-ray.

I think the bigger issue is that the whole format war could have been avoided in the eleventh hour much like Toshiba and Sony avoided one years ago that led to a universal DVD. Instead Toshiba banked on the support of MSFT to swing the war for them. Too bad so sad... to me the more capable format won.

Sure I know Audioholics was excited by the $100 HD DVD, but it was 'one-day' closeout sale of last year's model.

 

[westcott]

Issue #7 (sour grapes... I think so)

• HD DVD was the first player to market by 3 months

And it was a POS. Not much more than a mass produced prototype. Its design reeked of 1970s bulky VCRs

• HD DVD was a completed spec and had Internet connectivity out of the gate, almost 2 years before Blu-ray released BD-Live (Profile 2.0) players with Internet features.

How many HD DVDs actually used these features? It was nothing more than a talking point.

• HD DVD came to market at just $499. The Samsung BD-P1000 hit the market at $999.

And the 20G and 60G PS3s hit the market later that year at $499 and $599 respectively. At the same time BD never lost a week in software sales after the PS3 was released. And the big reason the HD DVD player was only $499, THEY LACKED STUDIO SUPPORT compared to Blu-ray.

• HD DVD discs cost less to manufacture and used existing disc presses, slightly adapted; disc manufacturers could switch their plants almost overnight to manufacture HD DVDs.

Again, a BS talking point. Were these savings ever passed onto consumers? No. Sounds to me Clint like you drank a lot of the Kool Aid Amir and his MSFT gang were serving over at AVS.

• HD DVD was region-free

And this hurt HD DVD getting studio support. The studio system still has staggered release dates world wide. BD did reduce the number of regions, but the studios still want some control and add to the fact that specific titles are not distributed by the same studio in different markets.


Here is why BD won:
1. Content, Content, Content. BD had Disney, Fox and Sony exclusively. So when you added dual support studios Warner and Paramount at the beginning the only Blu holdout was Universal. HD DVD never had anymore than their initial 3 studios: Paramount, Warner and Universal.
2. 50GB and superior bandwidth which allowed for
3. Lossless audio (sure HD DVD had it too, but it usually was a bone that was thrown to users once in a while). Nearly every BD title I have purchased since December of 2006 has a lossless track (PCM, dts-HDMA or DolbyTrueHD).
4. The PS3... for as much as every MS fanboi loves to snipe at it. The PS3 won the war for Blu. I knew a number of users, myself included that were very excited over the concept of next gen console that was also a next gen movie player in one box. And hats off to Sony for making sure the PS3 was the best BD player on the market for a period of time when it was critical to helping the format. Remember the PS3 was upgraded to make many of the BS profile issues moot. It was the first HD player of either format to offer true 24p playback. If I would have bought a HD DVD player that could actually output 24p, it would not have been significantly less than the PS3. The PS3 was upgraded to 1.1, then 2.0 and they have also since added dts-HDMA to BD playback. Sure it was expensive at the time, but look at this way the 360w/20G HD at the time was $400. Add the $200 HD DVD drive and then the $100 wireless adaptor.... Hmmm that cost more than the 60G PS3.

Again HD DVD lost fair and square. And as far as money getting thrown around, I think the only evidence we have in the format war is that TOSHIBA threw money at Paramount to get them to drop Blu-ray.

I think the bigger issue is that the whole format war could have been avoided in the eleventh hour much like Toshiba and Sony avoided one years ago that led to a universal DVD. Instead Toshiba banked on the support of MSFT to swing the war for them. Too bad so sad... to me the more capable format won.

Sure I know Audioholics was excited by the $100 HD DVD, but it was 'one-day' closeout sale of last year's model.

Boy, did you miss the point of the article.

I will reiterate it for you. The technology that may have a better solution and come to market first doesn't always win. Politics and money are usually the deciding factor, unfortunately.

Go play your BR discs on your PS3 and come back when you can pronounce Realta.

 

[CaW]

Boy, did you miss the point of the article.

I will reiterate it for you. The technology that may have a better solution and come to market first doesn't always win. Politics and money are usually the deciding factor, unfortunately.

Go play your BR discs on your PS3 and come back when you can pronounce Realta.

Yeah I enjoy watching it on 1080UB projector mated with my 100-inch screen along with 7.1 on my THX Ultra2 certified amp for bad@ss lossless sound.

Realta.... is that pronounced 'you're a ********'

BTW I have moved on. I no longer use my PS3 except for games. I am now using a Panasonic for BD playback.

Let's get this straight.... HD DVD was not a better solution if your prerequisite was the best audio and video available. Again about 95% of my BD library of 150 titles has lossless audio.

Don't act like Toshiba was a noble company that lost to evil corporate giants. Toshiba knew their back was against the wall and they should have never followed through to market. All this BS about a 'complete' spec was just a BS talking point. The majority of early adopter BD users were using the PS3... so it became a moot point as the PS3 BD player met the 'complete' spec.

You lost! Get over it.

 

[Audioholics]

SOMEONE is definitely a loser here. Bitter much?

 

[bandphan]

Yeah I enjoy watching it on 1080UB projector mated with my 100-inch screen along with 7.1 on my THX Ultra2 certified amp for bad@ss lossless sound.

Realta.... is that pronounced 'you're a ********'

BTW I have moved on. I no longer use my PS3 except for games. I am now using a Panasonic for BD playback.

Let's get this straight.... HD DVD was not a better solution if your prerequisite was the best audio and video available. Again about 95% of my BD library of 150 titles has lossless audio.

Don't act like Toshiba was a noble company that lost to evil corporate giants. Toshiba knew their back was against the wall and they should have never followed through to market. All this BS about a 'complete' spec was just a BS talking point. The majority of early adopter BD users were using the PS3... so it became a moot point as the PS3 BD player met the 'complete' spec.

You lost! Get over it.

 

[CaW]

SOMEONE is definitely a loser here. Bitter much?

Clint,

I hope you are not referring to me. I was merely pointing out the flipside of the BD v. HD DVD arguement.

And then someone attacks me with a smug comment regarding pronouncing Realta which is totally useless if your primary source is BD. Realta is just a scaling/de-interlacing algorithm. It's good, but nothing is going to magically bring data back that has already been thrown away.

All this has shown is that some are still bitter over the HD DVD/BD format war. It has been eighteen months since Toshiba pulled the plug... move on.

CaW

 

[Electone]

Clint,

I hope you are not referring to me. I was merely pointing out the flipside of the BD v. HD DVD arguement.

And then someone attacks me with a smug comment regarding pronouncing Realta which is totally useless if your primary source is BD. Realta is just a scaling/de-interlacing algorithm. It's good, but nothing is going to magically bring data back that has already been thrown away.

All this has shown is that some are still bitter over the HD DVD/BD format war. It has been eighteen months since Toshiba pulled the plug... move on.

CaW

Funny how someone with 3 whole posts suddenly shows up to re-ignite the hi-def format war again. Do you Blu-boys lurch in all the forums on the internet? Go back to digitalbits or Blu-ray.com where you belong.

 

[CaW]

Funny how someone with 3 whole posts suddenly shows up to re-ignite the hi-def format war again. Do you Blu-boys lurch in all the forums on the internet? Go back to digitalbits or Blu-ray.com where you belong.

No I am not here to fan the flames. I was merely presenting a flipside why some consumers actually preferred BD over HD DVD. BTW, it was enough of them that Blu consistently won sales after the PS3 was released.

But I guess to you guys it will always be the evil corporate giants that slammed the door shut on HD DVD. Watch out for the black helicopters outside of your window while you are at it.

In reality Toshiba made the same mistake Sony did with Beta many years ago, they tried to go it alone. At least this time IMHO, the better format won. More storage space... higher bandwidth... in the end leads to better quality.

 

[aberkowitz]

Clint,

I like your list, but one item that I wished you had mentioned was the failure of Tivo. Not the concept of the product of DVR/PVR/Tivo, but of the actual company. One of the most popular business school cases for marketing these days is about Tivo's total failure to take advantage of introducing a "new to the world" product by utilizing a shoddy marketing strategy, by not educating consumers on exactly what their product "did" (this includes not educating sales people at the big box stores which were selling their products), by pricing themselves totally out of the market with ridiculously high equipment prices (even for a new product), and the biggest sin of all- a refusal to license their technology out to other manufacturers and to cable providers until it was way too late.

Most people don't realize this, but up through the first half of 2008 the company had never made money in any quarter, and were deep into the red for the life of the company. In fact, the only significant money they've made over the life of the company was driven by a $90 million settlement against Echostar.

Amazing for a company that pretty much revolutionized the way people watch TV today...

 

[Frans]

An enjoyable article. Thumbs up! No, make that two. Ooh no, I was already in plural mode. I really like your insights about the SACD format.