Rumor, strong one, about WB going HD DVD exclusive and possible Disney neutral

[evilchris]

Should pan out by Friday otherwise was BS...

Studios are recognizing that HD DVD has a 5x greater attach rate than BD. BD's "2:1" sales lead ( miniscule total sales numbers ) is impressing no one given the staggering difference in installed base.

[superklye]

For srs? Do you have any links? I haven't gone to AVS all day...

EDIT: Just went over to AVS and saw that BeatBoy was spreading a bunch of stuff around. Nice. $225 million for WB to go HD DVD? Sweet deal.

[evilchris]

When you consider BD's player installed base, studio support, PS3 fanboy support, retailer buyouts etc... their sales #'s are pathetic. HD DVD has shown it SELLS hard, just need more players out there.

[superklye]

But this doesn't make any sense. HD DUD is dead lol

[evilchris]

I am thoroughly enjoying reading all the BD fanboys posts on AVS, crying about " HD DVD needs to buy support huhhuhuhuhuh hu derr uhh hddudh"

HD DVD simply decided to play Sony's game in the mud with them, and is better than them at it.

I hope Microsoft gets more involved. Microsoft could buy and sell Sony's ass 20x over in cash.

[Arioch]

I just wish one format would win out over the other soon.

[nekrosoft13]

I really wish HD-DVD would win this war.

BD victory will be bad for everyone.

[betterdan]

I hope this turns out to be true.

[Tygerwoody]

I need a high def player. I honestly hope this pans out so they can stick an fork in BD. If not... I have to wait longer to decide what to buy. :o

[evilchris]

I need a high def player. I honestly hope this pans out so they can stick an fork in BD. If not... I have to wait longer to decide what to buy. :o

Ill sell you a low use HD-A2 for under 200 bucks as soon as the G3 high end Tosh launches

[Mr_LoL]

That Beatboy guy is full of crap. He speculates and none of it ever comes true. He got all the Blu Ray fans hopes up by posting a thread saying there was a big announcement coming in 24 hours. The thread has now been deleted.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=895169

[superklye]

I know I'm not the only one who believes that even if EVERY studio switched to HD DVD, Sony/Columbia/Tristar would continue releasing exclusively on Blu-ray as long as they possibly could.

[mullet]

I know I'm not the only one who believes that even if EVERY studio switched to HD DVD, Sony/Columbia/Tristar would continue releasing exclusively on Blu-ray as long as they possibly could.

Till the money ran out.

[Lyme]

Till the money ran out.

Microsoft has more money in cash than Sony does, no clue about Toshiba.

[evilchris]

Microsoft has more money in cash than Sony does, no clue about Toshiba.

Sony is bleeding money left and right. They've never had a lot of cash. Recently they ruined their TV division by closing most of the US plants which produced the best displays in the world. Production has been moved to Mexico and poor quality is already being recognized in the 2007 lineup.

If Microsoft gets more involved there is nothing Sony can do.


Microsoft currently has 21 BILLION DOLLARS cash in the freaking bank, and ZERO debt:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=msft


Sony has 2.9 billion cash in the bank, and 10 BILLION DEBT! lol

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=sne

[superklye]

Microsoft has more money in cash than Sony does, no clue about Toshiba.
I can't find the post over at AVS now (and it's really bothering me) but they had stats comparing MS and Sony and if MS wanted to end this war now, they could with barely breaking a sweat.

I believe this data said MS has an annual profit of about $14 billion and has $34 billion cash on hand whereas Sony's annual profit was about $0.5 billion and they have maybe $4 billion cash on hand.

I could be wrong on the Sony numbers, but they were drops in the bucket compared to MS.

EDIT: Hmm...my memory is probably wrong and whoever posted that info at AVS was also off a bit. Thanks for those links, Chris. :)

[evilchris]

It's always hilarious when people think Sony has anything on Microsoft financially. Hell, look at Microsoft's profit margin compared to Sony's, lol. It's always assumed that since PS2 sold well, Sony's doing great! Not so. Sony has a freaking 1.88% profit margin. Nice management.

[Tygerwoody]

Ill sell you a low use HD-A2 for under 200 bucks as soon as the G3 high end Tosh launches
I thought the new HD-A2's have sold for 200 bucks at times?

[evilchris]

I thought the new HD-A2's have sold for 200 bucks at times?
$249ish right now

[-=Gib-McFragger=-]

Ill sell you a low use HD-A2 for under 200 bucks as soon as the G3 high end Tosh launchesI might consider that A2 myself. I love my A1, but I have time to go out for lunch after turning it on before it boots up and is ready to read a disc. That and it's the size of a Mack Truck.

[AthlonXP1800]

Microsoft has more money in cash than Sony does, no clue about Toshiba.

Toshiba financial data (http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/ir/en/finance/index.htm)

Toshiba has made $1.1 billion profit and $9.95 billion in debt. But I am not sure how much cash Toshiba now have in the bank as the company is in negative cash flow, they may have about $5.9bn cash in overdraft at the bank.

[Lyme]

Thanks for the link. Toshiba isn't doing as bad as one might think from that link. By digging deeper you will find that they had net income of $13,533,260,000.00 (American funds) and operating costs of $172,211,000.00 (American funds). The reason for their reduction in free cash flow was from the purchase of Westinghouse.

[Rakeesh]

Toshiba didn't buy Westinghouse, rather they have licensed the name from Westinghouse to sell their TV's under. The Westinghouse brand is quickly becoming a "name brand" for TV's as well.

Lot of history behind Westinghouse actually. Founded in 1886, first company to sell A/C units, first company to sell automatic elevators, and they've done business in numerous markets including firearms, nuclear energy, avionics, and banking.

[AthlonXP1800]

Thanks for the link. Toshiba isn't doing as bad as one might think from that link. By digging deeper you will find that they had net income of $13,533,260,000.00 (American funds) and operating costs of $172,211,000.00 (American funds). The reason for their reduction in free cash flow was from the purchase of Westinghouse.

Uhhh I dont know how you get the figures from but both these figures are seemed not right. I used xe.com (http://www.xe.com) to converted the Japan Yen to US Dollars to give me the most up to date accurate figures:

Live rates at 2007.08.24 11:04:16 UTC

Japan Yen
1 JPY = 0.00863295 USD

United States Dollars
1 USD = 115.835 JPY

Toshiba's 2007 net income is 137,429 million yen x 0.00863295 = $1,186,417,685.55, that $1.1bn US dollar for 2007 net income (profit).

Toshiba's 2007 operating income cost is 258,364 million yen x 0.00863295 = $2,230,443,493.80, that $2.2bn US dollar.

[AthlonXP1800]

The rumor about Warner go HD-DVD exclusive on Friday had been denied by Warner.

Warner Denies Rumors of Shift in High-Def Strategy (http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Industry_Trends/Warner/Warner_Denies_Rumors_of_Shift_in_High-Def_Strategy/896)