Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008 - (Page 31)

www.homemediamagazine.com NEWS “We wish they would go away,” Forster said. Russ Crupnick, VP and senior industry analyst for The NPD Group, added, “[Some consumers] still don’t know the format war is over, so they went with the upconverter with the lower price.” Blu-ray players without BD Live are also still being sold, possibly adding to consumer confusion. Wal-Mart has introduced the first sub-$300 standalone Blu-ray player. However, it’s not BD Live-enabled. Takac said that doesn’t matter. “The public doesn’t know the difference,” he said. “And I don’t think [the lack of cheaper Profile 2.0 players] has really hurt sales.” Education apparently is still a problem, but one that will be solved over time, panelists agreed. “I think the whole idea of word of mouth [is] once consumers get it, they’re hooked,” Crupnick said. “You’ve got a huge base of evangelists out there. … Now how do you use that on-the-street evangelism to get people into stores?” Takac said education in the stores is the place to start. As for the cost of Blu-ray Discs, he added that consumers would eventually see DVD prices, once the household penetration hits a certain point. “When DVD hit a penetration rate of 25% for hardware, that’s when software got below $20,” Takac said. Studios Are Looking at a Big Q4 for Blu-ray Continued from page 12 the sellthrough market, “due to the sheer amount of players out there.” For now though, the standalone players remain expensive, and cheap upconverting DVD players are being pitched to consumers instead. Warner Sets a Date for BD Live Continued from page 12 Antonellis said picture-in-picture, ringtones, deleted scenes, screeners and related online exclusives were originally earmarked for HD DVD. She said studios will be dialed into consumer habits based in large part on the information they submit during the registration process included with each Blu-ray title. The executive believes consumer adoption of BD Live will be faster than it was for enhanced features on standard DVD due to the heightened awareness of interactive video games. “I think it has the ability to compete [with MySpace and YouTube] for a user’s time because you are taking them online and you’re able to create a community that we have never been able to do before,” she said. “That’s huge for us.” The executive envisions in the near future being able to harness the online chat room activity surrounding the upcoming “Batman” movie, The Dark Knight. “Think about what we could do with Batman Begins,” Antonellis said. The executive said BD Live removes numerous challenges studios face attempting to bring a movie to home entertainment, including enhanced content, navigation and creative clearances. She said the format allows Warner to create templates in advance that can be added to the disc with future content derived directly from the Internet. “That’s a game-changer as it relates to the supply chain, production of our titles,” Antonellis said. She said Warner would use BD Live to send out notices to consumers about special online events, where talent would be available at a specific date and time. “These are exclusive opportunities that can be offered through this small community that is created with these [Profile 2.0] players,” Antonellis said. “We are no longer limited by finite capacity on the disc.” 31 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.selectionvideo.com http://www.selectionvideo.com

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Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008 Contents News In Focus TV DVD Cine Mercado Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008

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