I've been off in the tech forums arguing about HD.
First, let me say I know many have expressed anti-interest in Hi-def upgrading, and have no desire to buy HD-DVD or Blu-ray. This isn't intended to generate your scorn once again. I respect your choice.
But for those who may, These are my reasons HD-DVD will win the cult, horror, fringe and classics market, or at least put a second player in your house.
1) If Universal remains an HD-DVD only supporter, these are but few titles no classic horror-sci-fi collector is going to be without.
Frankenstein-and sequels
Dracula-and sequels
Bride of Frankenstein
The Mummy-and sequels
The Wolfman-and sequels
Hicthcock- Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, Frenzy, The Birds
Jaws
Several Hammer Films
Touch of Evil
Creature From The Black Lagoon
Sci-Fi This Island Earth, Tarantula, Incredible Shrinking Man.
2) Warner Brothers has the second largest holding of genre titles, and is releasing to both, though wasn't Robbin Hood and Casablanca HD-DVD only?
3) If it remains more economically feasible for the independent label to press HD-DVD rather than Blu-ray, these are the companies more likely to eventually release HD-DVD. Blu-ray would have to be out-selling by a very large margin on titles available in both formats for them to justify the expense, and the low-priority they would get on a factory's backlog.
Synapse, Blue Underground, BCI, Dark Sky, Kino, Image, Elite, No-Shame, Subversive, Fantoma, Flicker Alley, Severin, VCI, Casa Negra, Milestone, Mondo Maccabro, Barrel, Something Weird, Eureka, BFI, and Grindhouse.
4) Imports. The specialty buyer isn't afraid of Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon DE, or Xploited.com to get those elusive titles. You can already get The Fog (79) Elephant Man, King Kong (76), The Gift, Total Recall, and Basic Instinct on HD-DVD import. Currently US suppliers don't handle DVD imports because of PAL conversion, and regional encoding. These issues are not a problem with HD.
5) Collectors won't let go of all their DVDs, they know some stuff will never go HD-DVD, so who does the best up-conversion and is perceived to be more DVD friendly will make a difference. Right now that's not Sony/Blu-ray who has built an out with the old, and the hell with you image among collectors.
You may laugh at the market share this represents, but as the growth of HD-DVD/Blu-ray adoption inches along, this market may represent a lot of players. Genre collectors care about the films first and the technology second. They may see the difference between DVD and Hi-def, but not between HD-DVD and Blu-ray; and Sony's shaky first pressings have yet to lived down.
First, let me say I know many have expressed anti-interest in Hi-def upgrading, and have no desire to buy HD-DVD or Blu-ray. This isn't intended to generate your scorn once again. I respect your choice.
But for those who may, These are my reasons HD-DVD will win the cult, horror, fringe and classics market, or at least put a second player in your house.
1) If Universal remains an HD-DVD only supporter, these are but few titles no classic horror-sci-fi collector is going to be without.
Frankenstein-and sequels
Dracula-and sequels
Bride of Frankenstein
The Mummy-and sequels
The Wolfman-and sequels
Hicthcock- Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, Frenzy, The Birds
Jaws
Several Hammer Films
Touch of Evil
Creature From The Black Lagoon
Sci-Fi This Island Earth, Tarantula, Incredible Shrinking Man.
2) Warner Brothers has the second largest holding of genre titles, and is releasing to both, though wasn't Robbin Hood and Casablanca HD-DVD only?
3) If it remains more economically feasible for the independent label to press HD-DVD rather than Blu-ray, these are the companies more likely to eventually release HD-DVD. Blu-ray would have to be out-selling by a very large margin on titles available in both formats for them to justify the expense, and the low-priority they would get on a factory's backlog.
Synapse, Blue Underground, BCI, Dark Sky, Kino, Image, Elite, No-Shame, Subversive, Fantoma, Flicker Alley, Severin, VCI, Casa Negra, Milestone, Mondo Maccabro, Barrel, Something Weird, Eureka, BFI, and Grindhouse.
4) Imports. The specialty buyer isn't afraid of Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon DE, or Xploited.com to get those elusive titles. You can already get The Fog (79) Elephant Man, King Kong (76), The Gift, Total Recall, and Basic Instinct on HD-DVD import. Currently US suppliers don't handle DVD imports because of PAL conversion, and regional encoding. These issues are not a problem with HD.
5) Collectors won't let go of all their DVDs, they know some stuff will never go HD-DVD, so who does the best up-conversion and is perceived to be more DVD friendly will make a difference. Right now that's not Sony/Blu-ray who has built an out with the old, and the hell with you image among collectors.
You may laugh at the market share this represents, but as the growth of HD-DVD/Blu-ray adoption inches along, this market may represent a lot of players. Genre collectors care about the films first and the technology second. They may see the difference between DVD and Hi-def, but not between HD-DVD and Blu-ray; and Sony's shaky first pressings have yet to lived down.
