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Another Opinion - On the Matter of the HD DVD Petition...
By Terry Paullin
Correspondent
Posted on January 28, 2008
Category: HD DVD & Blu-ray
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So you want to petition Warner and let them know you still want HD-DVD.........and you've got 12,000 signatures..................really?

What are you guys thinking?!!

How many HD DVD players were sold? 750,000......1,000,000? Doesn't matter the number, if it were 1,000,000 and I'm a Warner Exec, I would EXPECT 1,000,000 names on the petition and not one less. Not new news! OF COURSE everyone that has an HD-DVD player wants to see content continue from all possible sources. No mind-reading required there. But this was never about wondering which format the Consumer wanted. It's all about making a return on the investment already sunk. Clearly, John Q. Public was conflicted, sitting on the sidelines waiting for a winner, while neither side was capitalizing on their investment. The only way to win (make any ROI) was to ensure a winner. So Sony wrote the big check, and now they are the winner. End of game.

The only thing sillier than the Warner petition was the guy who wanted to petition Toshiba - to kill the format. Believe me, I was the one in the HD-DVD Promotion Group's booth before CES opened, calibrating 22 Toshiba monitors. Those who stayed for the party had faces longer than a Lindsay Lohan rap sheet. Trust me, they heard the bells toll.

If you must petition somebody, petition Sony to give all those disgruntled a $100 trade-in on a Blu-Ray player, since they put you in this box. If you bought an XA2, hang on to it as a decent upconverting NTSC player. Otherwise, stack your orphans in the closet, next to the D-VHS player, the Sony Elcaset and the Quadraphonic sound decoder.

Petition for Consumer Justice...a quaint idea, but very, very naive.

Posted by Terry Paullin, January 28, 2008 10:29 AM

Reader Commentary

See Forum Topic: Another Opinion - On the Matter of the HD DVD Petition... (40 replies)
Jan 28, 12:38pm
Doesn't matter the number, if it were 1,000,000 and I'm a Warner Exec, I would EXPECT 1,000,000 names on the petition and not one less. It's a good thing you are NOT a Warner Exec, becau
Jan 28, 1:00pm
Petition for Consumer Justice...a quaint idea, but very, very naive Wrong, Mr. Paullin, I've been petitioning for consumer justice most successfully for 40 years (although I do agree with you that Warner is not the
Jan 28, 1:04pm
Question: How do you piss off a million people?
Jan 28, 4:43pm
The count is now up to 30,000...++
Jan 28, 6:27pm
So is it a good idea to buy an HD-DVD player now, and start scooping up HD-DVDs? The A35 is under $250 @ Amazon
Jan 29, 2:39am
Its currently $129 at Costco, with five free HD DVDs. That also includes an HDMI cable, which effectively matches the previous $98 deal of several months ago. Its a no brainer to buy if you would benefit even with only a quality upconversion DVD player.
Jan 29, 4:52am
First, for anyone looking for a link the the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/SAVEHDD/petition.html He states: "Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name an
Jan 29, 5:52am
Jordanm, It's hard for anyone else to say what the "right" value proposition is for YOU. Turns out there are about 1,000 titles out there currently, some of which are foreign, documentarys and concert videos. Still, there are 7 or 800 "normal" movies.
Jan 29, 6:08am
Bob, Of course you never get 100% on a petition. You took me too literally. I only meant to say that no one at Warner (or Sony) expects any HD-DVD owner to be happy with this situation. That said, there's no turning back. They got what they want and 1
Jan 29, 6:11am
"OK, so the chances of the Petition changing Warner's position are next to nothing; still the consumer should have the right to express their feelings to the company. ... OR is it a case of trying to say, freedom of expression shouldn't be allowed. Too
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About Terry Paullin

After 25+ years as a Silicon Valley Executive, most recently as President and C.O.O. of Crosscheck, Mr. Paullin decided to follow his passion to the emerging Home Theatre industry. In 1994 he formed Front Row Cinema to design, build and calibrate Home Theatres for private residences. Nearly 600 theatres later, he remains engaged in the Industry in the following ways.

Builds dedicated (single purpose) Home Theatres and “Theatre Environments” (rooms used for other purposes as well).

Teaches Imaging Science and other courses for the Imaging Science Foundation. Mr. Paullin has taught CEDIA accredited classes to the installation community at both AVAD and ADI.

Consults to Industry on the topic of Imaging Science (Pioneer, Optima, In-Focus and several others under non-disclosure). Mr. Paullin has served on the Board of two companies and the Advisory committee of two others.

Has written articles/product reviews for major industry publications, including Widescreen Review, The Perfect Vision, The Ultimate Guide to A/V, WIRED magazine and CEPro and has maintained a monthly column (One Installer’s Opinion) in Widescreen Review for the past eight years.

Mr. Paullin has a B.S.E.E. degree from Long Beach State University

Performs ISF monitor calibrations for private individuals.
Mr. Paullin also maintains 3 theatres in his home for testing, comparison, performance verification, and reference viewing.