Scott McPherson's Web Presence

OK, I have a confession to make.  A few weeks ago, I trumpeted the news about the coming victory by the Blu-Ray format in the high-definition DVD war over rival HD-DVD.

But then Toshiba went and cut their HD-DVD players by 50% across the board.  So I grabbed my Best Buy Reward Zone coupons (some $110 worth), and sprinted for my local Best Buy.  I bought the last $199 Toshiba A-30 HD-DVD player they had in stock for $89.95, basically.  And I haven't looked back.  It even came with 300 and the first Bourne movie, so I was set!  Plus, I got two free in-store, and five more free by mail.

And I will tell you that I think I am having more fun with HD-DVD than I am with Blu-Ray!  So I guess I feel a little like the guy who went over to Europe in 1946 and bought up as much real estate as possible. The Spoils of War include a half-price piece of very sophisticated equipment, plus outfits like Amazon.com and Best Buy have been running 50% or Buy One/Two, Get One Free deals on HD-DVDs.  So I have been stocking up on HD-DVD movie titles like, well, like I stock up for a bird flu pandemic.

What I have found from perusing high-definition Websites such as http://www.highdefdigest.com/ is that there are certain movies where the HD-DVD transfer and audio is actually superior to the Blu-Ray transfer.  Terminator 3 is the best example, but there are others.  And there are certain titles from Warner Brothers that are only on HD-DVD, even though the company makes discs in both formats.

Some are waiting until Paramount and Universal both wave the white flag and move to Blu-Ray.  And Paramount was a dual-format manufacturer up until last summer, when they went HD-DVD exclusive.  Bad decision.  But their misfortune can be your good fortune.  Universal, even if they decided today to go all Blu-Ray, can't encode their HD discs for BD for many months.  There is too much catalogue wrapped up in HD and all that remastering takes time.  So two major film studios are hitched to HD-DVD at least until the end of the year.

And that "end of the year" thing is key.  I will explain presently.  Here's a few little tips to Toshiba to try and hang in there longer on this format war.

First, keep the price of players low, low, low.  You have been dealt a possibly lethal setback by Netflix, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and others.  All of these companies are banking on Blu-Ray now over your format.  So continue to hit the format where it is most vulnerable: In the pocketbook. 

The economy is about to tank, which is very bad for consumer electronics manufacturers.  People are nonetheless sinking their dollars into HDTV at an accelerating rate.  Cable and even satellite software for that format is still scarce (but getting better).  The BD people think one format -- Blu-Ray -- should be the standard, and that is based on the money the Blu-Ray Cartel (read: Sony) is spending to sway minds. 

But people vote with their wallet, and they don't like being dictated to in terms of what format they should watch.  And they especially don't want to see prices stay artificially high for players and movies after the battle is won.  So, after shelling out thousands for that HDTV, if they can get an upconvert DVD player to make all those older DVDs shine, why not pay a few dollars more to get a legitimate HD player?  With Blu-Ray players still selling for upwards of $300, a sub-$150, full 1080P player with extremely impressive upconvert capabilities (I think my HD player may actually be a better upconvert player than my Samsung BD player, but I welcome differing opinions) will sell extremely well.  That's right, price the A-3 1080i player at $99, and the A-30 1080P player at $149.  And then tell the world how good its standard DVD upconvert capabilities are, plus it runs full HD movies too!

Second, keep the price of software -- the HD-DVD movies -- low, low, low.  Price them just slightly above the cost of a regular DVD.  And keep those dual-format DVDs coming.  Better yet, make them 2-disc sets, with the DVD on a separate disc.  Not everyone can have two HD players, and having a standard DVD plus the HD-DVD means standard DVD owners can invest in the upgrade later; or HD-DVD owners have an SD they can play in the bedroom player.

Third, get on the horn with Spielberg and get those HD versions of Jaws, Indiana Jones, etc. on the counter!  Imagine Jurassic Park on HD-DVD.  Or a younger Harrison Ford fighting against myriad Nazi villains.  I own King Kong on HD-DVD (my first purchase), and the picture quality is immaculate.  The Brontosaurus Stampede scene should sell out both any HDTV plus any HD-DVD player in a store.  It is reference-quality.  People want man-eating dinosaurs in their living rooms, stat!  Or man-eating sharks.  Or man-eating anything!  Also wanted in the worst way are HD versions of Saving Private Ryan, etc.  And memo to Peter Jackson:  How about the enhanced Kong on HD?  I wanna see that underwater creature in HD.  You know -- the sensational scene you cut from the theatrical version!

Fourth, remaster those old Universal Hitchcock movies.  All of them, from the 1950s on.  “Shadow of a Doubt,” “Rope,” “Rear Window,” “The Trouble With Harry,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Vertigo,” “Psycho,” “The Birds,” “Marnie,” and “Frenzy.”   I own Warners' Casablanca on HD-DVD, and it is like watching a new movie.  I also own Forbidden Planet on HD-DVD, and it looks dated but marvelous!  Old stuff sells.  People want classics in HD.

Plus, putting out all these blockbusters before holiday buying holiday season 2008 could save the franchise.  It might also prompt Warner Brothers to reconsider its decision and keep manufacturing HD-DVDs.

Fifth, make sure all studios are doing that picture-in-picture commentary thing on their discs.  That rocks!  And BD doesn't have anything comparable.

Sixth, make firmware upgrades available on certain movie titles.  Throw the firmware upgrade into certain big releases as a second disc, free of charge.  Make it easy, easy, easy to do a firmware upgrade.  Maybe even have some sort of routine where the software can check to make sure the firmware is current, and prompt the user to perform the upgrade now if they want, straight from the disc.  I think Sony does this with their PSP titles.

Finally, someone get the following message to Toshiba.

If indeed you are considering abandoning the format, as yesterday's Hollywood Reporter has theorized(http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ib77125d96b22e86027d0bfb0c25aa58d), then you owe it to the people who stuck out their necks -- and their wallets -- to make an affordable, quality combo HD/BD player NOW.  There are no reference-quality combo HD/BD units available today, and they are priced like Soviet space capsules.  Toshiba would do well to build a $300 combo unit to support the old user base and win fans from the new user base.  that might allow Universal and Paramount to continue to deliver HD-DVD films while transitioning to BD.

Now I am going to pop in Kong again.  Love to see those Brontosaurs fall off that cliff!