Home Media Magazine - March 2-8, 2008 - (Page 12) COMMENTARY www.homemediamagazine.com THE BUZZ BY THE STAFF OF HOME THEATER FORUM Blu-ray’s Battle Has Only Just Begun he costly format war between Toshiba’s HD DVD and Sony’s Blu-ray Disc has come to an end. Blu-ray has emerged from the fray victorious, while HD DVD has unceremoniously left the field. So Blu-ray will naturally assume the mantle of DVD’s heir-apparent, right? Maybe. But the reality is the war with HD DVD was just a battle. There are still tough times ahead for Blu-ray, as the real war for market dominance against DVD is just beginning. In order to overcome the tremendous inertia of DVD, Blu-ray has to offer buyers something new and innovative. Short of having price parity with DVD, it needs to wow consumers in a way it currently doesn’t. With low-cost up-converting players available, Bluray offers very little practical improvement over DVD T IN ORDER TO OVERCOME THE TREMENDOUS INERTIA OF DVD, BLU-RAY HAS TO OFFER BUYERS SOMETHING NEW AND INNOVATIVE. IT NEEDS TO WOW CONSUMERS IN A WAY IT CURRENTLY DOESN’T. for the average consumer. It is banking on its super high-quality audio and video, but the cost of entry for these improvements isn’t cheap. With the retail pricing of some bare-bones discs around $40 and full-profile standalone players costing $500 (all added to the price of an HDTV), the format is strictly for eager enthusiasts. For the wider public, the numbers just don’t add up yet. Consumers need to feel it’s worth the premium to buy into the format. If the studios are smart, they will focus on the value proposition by expanding the format’s largely Visit Home Theater Forum at www.hometheaterforum.com. untapped potential as a fully interactive experience, while reducing prices to lure new buyers. Likewise, Blu-ray player manufacturers must begin reducing hardware prices. If Blu-ray can offer creative features and a quality viewing experience at a reasonable price, it has a shot, but it must move fast since there is only a brief window to succeed thanks to the hovering threat of cheap highdefinition Web downloads. For now the format’s future is still uncertain, and the eyes of many will be closely scrutinizing its direction over the coming months. Any wrong step could still see it consigned to the scrap heap of dead formats that have tried valiantly and failed. Any doubts? Just ask Toshiba. READERS’ FORUM I The following letter is in response to John Latchem’s article “‘Martian Child’ Snipped for Dove Foundation” (HM Feb. 3-9, 2008), about New Line Home Entertainment editing some of the off-color language out of The Martian Child to garner the Dove Foundation Seal of Approval. I The following letter is in response to Chris Tribbey’s article “CompUSA Shutting Down” (HM Dec. 16-22, 2007), about CompUSA closing down its last stores during the holiday season. T H EY SA ID IT “YOU CAN GET UP, FREEZE IT, GET A CAN OF BEER AND COME BACK.” A Fond Farewell to CompUSA? It couldn’t happen to a nicer company — CompUSA, the sleazy electronics retailer known for being the doorway to Rebate Hell, deceptive advertising, bait-and-switch merchandising tactics, and no store stock of loss leaders. OK, so Tower Records is gone, Good Guys is gone, CompUSA is gone. Who’s next? Circuit City gets my vote. Peter Bock West Linn, Ore. I The following letter is in response to Stephanie Prange’s editorial “An Inconvenient Truth About Packaging” (HM Dec. 2-8, 2007), which advocated minimizing packaging to maximize shelf space and green-friendly practices. New Line Pandering Is a Shame While I can understand wanting the Dove Foundation Seal of Approval (because they are a good foundation), to reverse engineer and re-edit a film for a reason other than a special director’s cut, once it has been released theatrically, is really self-serving. In the case of Martian Child, the easy dismissal of the lines of dialogue as “not important” missed the point completely. Why was the dialogue allowed in this particular film, if it wasn’t important or wanted? I don’t recall an ad campaign that promoted using the Lord’s name in vain as a reason to go see the film. Now, we have an ad campaign that takes a created property and fits a need to have an approval symbol on the front. I actually saw this film in theaters, and aside from a bad case of “Lifetime-itis” (watching a film in a theater that you know would be much more apropos on the Lifetime Channel, and not paying $10 for it), I don’t remember anything about the dialogue as shocking. In fact, I really can’t remember anything about the dialogue at all. TLA Video takes great pride in offering the original uncut versions of films and director’s cuts when available. The customer can decide what they want. But in this case, a minor use of some words caused New Line to alter a created product. That pandering is a shame. Does the deletion of a few lines of dialogue make the film any better? No, but it does tell me not to waste my money twice. I know my customer base. Allow me the right to make the decision on which DVD version to carry, and if you only want to offer a slightly sanitized version, allow me the right to order accordingly, but don’t make the decision, after the fact, for me. What might The Golden Compass look like on DVD? Adrian Hickman TLA Video General Manager/Buyer Ridley Scott, director of American Gangster, on the pleasures of watching the extended cut on DVD. “YOU CAN’T QUITE PIN DOWN ONE MURDERER.” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group, on the combination of factors that killed HD DVD. Slim-case Packaging a Bonus I wholeheartedly agree that the industry needs to create packaging that would help enthusiasts with limited shelf space. Being a loyal DVDer (and a film/DVD critic to boot), I must say that the new slim-case packaging that has slowly been seeping onto the marketplace is a big plus. I am slowly (re)buying those DVDs that come out in the slim case packaging as they save me plenty of space — to illustrate what I mean, I own more than 2,500 titles and have since run out of wall space. I plan on contacting the studios and voicing my opinion on these slim-cases — as they have become a godsend. I like them better than some of those double-feature DVDs that have been on the street (e.g. some of the MGM “Midnight Movies” titles). While the condensing of DVDs into one package helps, it sure as heck hurts my alphabetizing when there are two vastly separate titles on the disc. Youssef Kdiry The Moonstar Odyssey Group New York We Want to Hear From You! Please send letters to: Editor, Home Media Magazine 201 East Sandpointe Ave., Suite 500 Santa Ana, CA 92707 E-mail: HomeMediaMagazine@questex.com Fax: 714.338.6712 Include name, business address (city and state) and telephone number. Letters are subject to editing. Join Us Online: www.homemediamagazine.com Visit our Web site to participate in discussion boards and weekly polls on the latest industry issues. 12 Home Media Magazine March 2–8, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.hometheaterforum.com http://www.homemediamagazine.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.