fpnovak wrote:Blu-ray has inferior software and now they have less motivation to improve upon it.
Right - because Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, etc. don't compete with each other and they don't like to make a profit from selling electronics. And there is no competition from satellite, cable and internet downloads.
And my Sony PS3 doesn't have any software issues - it's BD 2.0 and works flawlessly.
If Phil is still reading this thread, I just want you to know you are on the money and I, for one, basically support what you've been saying. In the last 40 years, the "Justice Department" and Congress have all but given up any attempt to enforce the Sherman and Clayton Acts. We have numerous Oligopolys that are for all practical purposes, monopolys. If you think that the market place is setting gas prices, you have your head in the sand, for example.
Personally, I think we have gotten away from the issue that I tried to raise in the first place. We, as consumers, were taken to the cleaners. I think you have never considered, for example, that of the million plus folks who purchased HD-DVD players, only a very few were privy to "inside" information about how tenuous their purchase really was. Most of them had no clue that the plug might be pulled any day as most of us did! They bought their players, got their free movies and thought they'd gotten a helluva deal.
And my original point was, that Warners Brothers (and mostly likely even Toshiba) knew before Christmas that they were going to pull the plug. Certainly WB did - else tell me why, after Toshiba outsold Sony units by, what, several hundred thousand? during the holidays, would they make that momentous decision after selling so many movies?
Could it have been to unload the big inventory of discs? And players on a gullible and far more innocent public than you and I? Not those nice folks.......
There are any number of deals involved in this whole fiasco that suggest restraint of trade - two of the biggest corporations in the world - one of them a virtual monopoly in its field - were involved. We know that money changed hands. And sadly, none of this seems to bother most of you.
Phil is right. This goes WAY BEYOND high definition movie discs. This is just one small example of no one in authority even taking a look at what has all the potential of a restraint of trade suit. "Deregulation" and refusal to investigate anything are just Congress's way of saying, "Don't bother me with all this technical crap, I'm interested in the more vital issues - like getting re-elected....."
Sorry about the politics, but that's some of what this is all about.
Something tells me we wouldn't be having these discussions if HD-DVD had won. And that may have happened if Microsoft had used the HD DVD drive in the Xbox like Sony did with BD and the PS3. But they didn't, so here we are.
There are 3 problems with the anti-trust accusation:
1) Toshiba, the party that suffered the most damages, pulled out of the market on their own and isn't looking to sue. That leaves the consumer who bought HD DVD players and movies - but then who would they sue? It would have to be Toshiba for pulling the plug. Consumers would sue Toshiba and then Toshiba could turn around and sue the studios or Sony.
2) You can't prove anti-trust violations just because the studios decided to go with BD and not HD-DVD. The studios are free to publish any format and any material that they want to (or not). Sony and Toshiba are free to market their products to the studios (including reduced pricing, marketing support, etc.). Paying a company to carry your products exclusively is not illegal. Coke and Pepsi do it all the time with restaurants. It's just marketing.
If Sony, e.g., told Target that they could not sell Sony electronics, movies and games in their stores unless they agreed to carry BD exclusively - that's illegal. But if they offered Target $10M in advertising support if they agreed to carry BD exclusively then it's up to Target to decide if that's a good business move or not. The fact that some studios were publishing both formats confirms there was no exclusivity requirement for BD.
3) Damages. If it was proven that Sony engaged in illegal practices that led to the demise of HD DVD, then perhaps consumers and Toshiba could receive some monetary compensation. Beyond that, however, there is no way to reinstate competition. The court cannot order Toshiba to start making HD DVD players nor can they order the studios to start producing HD DVDs. That would be like ordering Taco Bell to start carrying Coke and Wendy's to start carrying Pepsi.
Come to think of it - maybe we should start an anti-trust investigation into Coke since the vast majority of fast food restaurants (at least in Atlanta) serve Coke products exclusively. Then we can force Wendy's and McDonalds to carry 2 sets of fountains.
Beyond that, however, there is no way to reinstate competition. The court cannot order Toshiba to start making HD DVD players nor can they order the studios to start producing HD DVDs.
I don't believe anyone has even suggested this.
There is no longer any kind of equitable solution even if someone could prove collusion, restraint of trade, whathaveyou. We're all basically peeing in the wind - Wasting our time arguing as Phil has already pointed out. None of you seem willing to even concede that there might have been some skulldugery involved and I guess that's about the most any of us could have expected anyway. I can't help but think if the shoe were on the other foot, you might have a somewhat different view - I mean other than, that's just American business.
Mostly since the Regan era, we have seen a steady reduction in regulation. Of course that regulation got there for a reason, but hey, what is history for if not exploitation and manipulation and to be forgotten. So we get less and less regulation, and get more and more exploitation. Enrons, the present oil trading, Savings and Loan debacles, media conglomeration and the dearth of investigative news, near collapse of the American banking/bond systems due to mortgage system and so on. I personally believe we have lost ethical compasses due to lack of regulation and opportunism run amok. The HDM situation may or may not have fit in this chaos, it all has become fuzzy enought it is nearly impossible to tell what is right and what is wrong.
Like the tobacco situation (in the past??), and global warming (and others), enough fraud perpetrated on the information tableau and half the audience looses the ability to make intelligent decisions. And we all loose for it.
I wish I had a position on the HDM argument, I mean I got financially toasted - but at least this argument does have a strong rationale that one way or another we needed to narrow the burden on the sellers and buyers.
jerfilm wrote:I can't help but think if the shoe were on the other foot, you might have a somewhat different view - I mean other than, that's just American business.
Actually, I didn't have a dog in the hunt either way - I didn't buy a PS3 until February, and I would have bought it for gaming regardless of who won the war. But I NEVER saw the viability of having 2 formats long term. It just doesn't make business sense for the studios.
Perhaps the initial conclusion that HD DVD and BD sales were slow because consumers were waiting for the war to end and a winner to be declared were off base. Maybe they were slow all along because consumers were happy with DVDs and upconverting DVD players and cable/satellite DVRs recording HD movies.
Besides - how many consumers have a sound system capable of showcasing Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA AND can hear (and care about) the difference?
there is even more on other threads...