AfterDawn: News

Warner boss blasts Sony Corp

Warner Home Video president, Warren Lieberfarb, has slammed the strategy used by Sony Corp. to help the Blu-Ray Disc optical format compete with Toshiba's HD-DVD format. Warner, like Paramount, is being safe so far by planning to release movies in both formats. However, Lieberfarb believes that Sony has brought the format fight into the next generation console fight. With Microsoft's support behind HD-DVD, he is sort of right and you have to remember that BD being used in the PS3 console is a main reason for content companies to support Blu-ray.

"If I put Blu-Ray in PlayStation and I don't license it to Microsoft for Xbox and I get all the studios to only publish in PlayStation, I'll beat Microsoft in the next-generation games market," said Lieberfarb, speaking at the European Video Perspectives conference in Biarritz, France. "Hollywood blew it. They got duped," he claimed. "They could have created the format that optimised their creative interests. It looks like we lost, because there are six studios supporting Blu-Ray and only three supporting HD-DVD. We've been sucked into PlayStation versus Xbox."



He also has called upon the video industry to back HD-DVD and not Blu-ray. "Convergence is here, everything is digital, the Internet is going to deliver video, you are going to want to pass information from one device to another, and HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray is really the first battle in the issue of who controls the home," he added.

Source:
The Register

Written by: James Delahunty @ 8 Dec 2005 11:16

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• 35 comments

• gujujai

  This was no secreat.
  Since Sony announced Blue-Ray and Microsoft didn't support it, its was obious it will be come down to PS3 vs. Xbox360.
  If sony wins this war, which they look to be winning it is logical that people will rather buy PS3 than Xbox360 as it come with a Blue Ray player installed in it unlike Xbox360.
  I am not saying PS3 is betther than Xbox360, but it will be pretty close. So people will rather buy PS3 instead of buying Both Xbox360 and a Blue Ray player as they will need it to play Blue Ray DVD's and save some money.

  8.12.2005 15:32 #1

• sly_61019

  Why wouldn't Sony use their blu-ray technology in their ps3? Did Warner expect them to use HD-DVD?

  8.12.2005 18:11 #2

• arcanix

  Quote:We've been sucked into PlayStation versus Xbox. But xbox 360 doesn't even use hd-dvd.
  
  First I was excited when I heard about bluray, but when sony revealed that they will use mpeg2 in bluray movies I'm not so excited anymore.

  8.12.2005 21:42 #3

• lxhotboy

  Not really sure but i have heard that xbox 360 might be planning to eventuall release a add on for the 360 to allow the use of the hd dvd. Most of the companies are just trying to play it safe. Sony did hold a considerable lead over microsoft in the gaming industry and that is why most are choosing the blue ray. But honestly, we are getting ripped off. They should both be compatible.

  9.12.2005 01:32 #4

• arcanix

  Quote:Not really sure but i have heard that xbox 360 might be planning to eventuall release a add on for the 360 to allow the use of the hd dvd. Yes, but you can only watch movies with it, they don't release games on hd-dvd. They try to maintain games in dvd's so all xbox 360's can run all games without any additional devices.

  9.12.2005 02:07 #5

• solargame

  i heard that the HD-DVD can be played in regular dvd players, so an hd-dvd addon for ms, is very likely.

  9.12.2005 02:47 #6

• lxhotboy

  Good point arcanix, did not think about that. I did think about the hd issue though. If a developer wants to use the hd on the 360 with a games if might hurt sell b.c not everyone will have a hd with the 360. Same as the DVD and Hd dvd issue. What do you think??
  

  9.12.2005 04:12 #7

• vegeta66

  microsoft should have made all their 360's compatible with hd-dvd? I mean they are backing hd-dvd so why not? How is microsoft planing on beating sony? sony has had 2 very successful systems and microsoft has had none!the first xbox cant be considered a great system because it lacks good games most of all halo was good but thats the best game i've seen on it. i'm not saying that microsoft shouldn't make consoles they should its good for us sony fans! be cause if they weren't competing with sony!(look below)
  
  Less competition = less innovations = higher prices.

  9.12.2005 05:14 #8

• arcanix

  Quote: i heard that the HD-DVD can be played in regular dvd players, so an hd-dvd addon for ms, is very likely. Partly true. Dvd-players can't play actual hd-dvd's, but hd-dvd disc can have a regular dvd-layer in addition to hd-dvd layer (so it's playable on regular dvd-player, no hd-goodness though), or the other side of the disc will be hd and other one regular dvd.
  Quote:If a developer wants to use the hd on the 360 with a games if might hurt sell b.c not everyone will have a hd with the 360. It doesn't matter which media developers want to use, microsoft has strict rules about these things. One mandatory rule for developers is that all 360 games must support at least 720p resolution.

  9.12.2005 05:22 #9

• arcanix

  Quote: microsoft should have made all their 360's compatible with hd-dvd? I mean they are backing hd-dvd so why not? Hd-dvd's (drives and disc) cost more and the format is still in it's infancy. They had everything ready, so why wait any longer?
  Quote:the first xbox cant be considered a great system because it lacks good games most of all halo was good but thats the best game i've seen on it Well that's your opinion. Still over 20 million xbox's were sold. I had halo 1 & 2, didn't like them very much. But there were lots of other good games like jade empire, ninja gaiden, burnout series (yeah, it was on ps too, but was much better on xbox), fable...

  9.12.2005 05:28 #10

• vegeta66

  microsoft sold 21.9 million units since its release ps2 however has sold over 91 million " i never bought halo for xbox i bought it for pc so i really wouldn't know how good it was on xbox
  

  9.12.2005 06:19 #11

• arcanix

  Quote:ps2 however has sold over 91 million Actually ps2 has sold over 100 million units.

  9.12.2005 06:50 #12

• solargame

  @ vegeta, its nothing different really. the same game, different platform.

  9.12.2005 07:18 #13

• snige

  Er sorry but that is what you call COMPETITION you dumb ass. JEZ! How can Hollywood have been duped? neither format is even out yet. If you don't want to take sides then support both formats. I'm sure if the DVD forum had been told by the movie compaines that they would only support ONE new format than the HD-DVD Blu ray camps would have tried a bit harder to get a compromise and have one format or whtever.

  9.12.2005 08:23 #14

• Reasons?

  Just to be clear: HD-DVD discs cannot be played in a DVD player. HD-DVD/DVD Hybrid discs will have one side DVD and one side HD-DVD. When you stick it in your DVD player, you are playign a DVD disc.
  
  The way you put leads to confusion and huge amounts of 12 year old flaming. like ---- "blu-ray and sony sucks because HD-DVD works in the DVD player I have now, *insert various insults and flame statements here*"
  
  See what I'm saying :)

  9.12.2005 09:07 #15

• solargame

  thanks reasons. and if that is the case, fuck HD-DVD. Blu-Ray all the way.

  9.12.2005 09:23 #16

• robertmro

  What about Maxell's Holographic disc format? It beats both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray hands down. If it was up to me I would just wait for that.

  9.12.2005 10:04 #17

• arcanix

  Quote:Just to be clear: HD-DVD discs cannot be played in a DVD player. HD-DVD/DVD Hybrid discs will have one side DVD and one side HD-DVD. When you stick it in your DVD player, you are playign a DVD disc. Same thing as I said earlier:
  Quote:Dvd-players can't play actual hd-dvd's, but hd-dvd disc can have a regular dvd-layer in addition to hd-dvd layer (so it's playable on regular dvd-player, no hd-goodness though), or the other side of the disc will be hd and other one regular dvd. Like you can see, I heard that hd-dvd's could in fact have two layers, one hd and one regular. Maybe it would work if the layer closest to the surface was dvd, the "deeper" layer being hd. But this hd-dvd on one side and dvd on the other side would be what we will see on retail. So bye bye to artprints :p
  
  But why couldn't bluray also have a regular dvd on the other side? Maybe that's why hd-dvd disc are hyped to work on normal dvd-players, because dual layering hd & regular dvd is possible.
  

  9.12.2005 11:04 #18

• arcanix

  Quote:What about Maxell's Holographic disc format? It beats both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray hands down. If it was up to me I would just wait for that. Yeah, but it's even more of a prototype than hd-dvd and bluray. You'd have to wait for a long time before that thing goes retail (with a reasonable price).

  9.12.2005 11:10 #19

• Reasons?

  Layers of optical media are measured in nanometers and are unified as one disc.
  
  A hybrid disc, is dual sided, each side having all the layers to the respective media. They are separated by a anti-reflectant material.
  
  Layers implies a single side of a disc. Using correct terminology is very valuable. Especial since you cannot classify DVD as a layer in respects to optical media, DVD is the media, which consists of many layers.

  9.12.2005 14:50 #20

• freshguy

  Although Sony is not going bankrupt anytime soon, they left a lot of chips on the poker table over the past couple of decades that they probably should have raked in, considering the cards that they held. IMHO, this was due to two fatal flaws in their corporate personality. The first fatal flaw is greed. They have never been content with even the biggest piece of the pie. No, they will only settle for the whole thing so that they can maintain complete control but still sell small enough pieces to make a killing. At least that was the way that it was supposed to work. It looks to me like their proprietary ways have left them holding the bag for more than a few years. It seems like it could be so much easier for them if they could just learn to play nice. This is compounded by fatal flaw number two which is blind arrogance. They think that they are the master card sharks and everyone else is a bunch of dim-witted suckers. That's the attitude that has just recently left the corporate leadership trying to wipe off the egg from the companies' collective face. They are still facing questions about the unscrupulous methods they employed in the noble quest of protecting their intellectual property. Did they actually think that no one in the whole world could be smart enough to catch on to their little rootkit caper? Instead of being Solid Snake they were more like just plain snakes. That isn't something that the public, in general, will take very lightly.
  Yes, it's very true that they are always one of the leaders in new technology. What they fail to recognize is that technology is only part of the picture. There is a little something called marketing and strategy that has to be taken seriously. It seems that they should realize by now, that the other players are not going to just go away and let them have everything. Even Microsoft has always had Apple hanging around to grab a piece of pie when Bill wasn't watching.
  There is always going to be an alternative offered to your proprietary format. Even if your (fill in the blank) _____ player is the niftiest, people like to be given a choice and a good many of them will refuse your proprietary product just on principles alone. The concept of deciding an issue based on the common good of the industry is alien to Sony.
  Sony is a company whose employees are of the highest integrity. Without a doubt, the company is blessed with some of the smartest folks in the world. It is just sad, and a little ironic that they are held back by leaders with the two fatal flaws.

  9.12.2005 15:51 #21

• xhardc0re

  It is no secret that Sony's electronics business is being held together (with crazy glue & matchsticks!) by the PlayStation 2 fans. This is from Official U.S. PlayStation magazine #100, Pg. 34:
  "It's (Sonys) TV division has seen declining sles thanks to the success of competitors like Samsung, and its movie division is still being affected by the major box office slump...Games and game-related hardware accounted for an approximate 80 percent incrase in revenue over last year's numbers..."
  So of course Sony is calling in all their cards. If PS3 is not a huge success, Sony will face multi-billion $$ losses. The management is very concerned about Xbox360 & HD-DVD.

  10.12.2005 05:59 #22

• Reasons?

  You can't just walk around telling people how SOny makes their money. You could be, and probably are wrong. Sony has it's hand in everythign electronic, from computers to prfessional video transcoding and editing software, much less every other consuemr electronic out ther. Come on, I can't prove you worng because I don't have access to their fiscal year financial report, but I damn near garuntee you tay make their money on the avergae consumer goods like cameras laptops and DVD player, tv, damn, the list goes on.
  
  PS2 is a pretty small portion, less than 100 million people have them (100 million sold, how many broke or lost?) and that is small comapared to the billions of poeple with money to buy general consumer electronics.
  
  Now that I think of it, there is no damn way 100 million PS2 owners keep Sony alive, I would say it's the billion others who buy TVs, etc.

  10.12.2005 08:11 #23

• solargame

  in lamens terms to what Reasons? said was: Sony is a very Diverse company and if one thing fails, they got a huge line-up of other things that can suport them. and i keep hearing people complaining(especially the so called nintendo fan-boys) that sony is going bankrupt. if thats the case they would have been bankrupt by now. thats what everyone said about the psp. now psp is thriving and now its going to ps3. well, if thats how they think the same thing should be said to micro$oft. they lose $123 per xbox 360. but you dont see them filing for bankruptsy do you?

  10.12.2005 10:09 #24

• xhardc0re

  I was just posting what I saw in their own magazine. I'm sure they have lots of side businesses (some we don't know of) that make them millions. Their TV business is waaaaay down though, found that from Twice.com, which is the CE (consumer electronics) insider newsletter. Ehh maybe if they stopped wasting so much time & money on anti-m0dchip/homebrew develop they could spend more time on making $$ in general ;o

  10.12.2005 10:45 #25

• solargame

  i strongle agree with that.

  10.12.2005 11:25 #26

• snige

  In reply to xhardc0re's comment, Sony have helped Samsung become a major player in the plasma/LCD war by using Samsung panels for their TV's. Shame they use old out of date one's. Sony used to be king back the CRT days. But now they have completly lost the plot. I was Sony mad years back but now I wouldn't touch them for Home Cinema gear. They really are light years behind now. As I said their new flagship LCD uses Samsungs old panels. I know the extra chips eg Wega Engine can do wonders but seeing as the new TV has not got all that good reviews it goes to show they are way behind.
  
  And to back up Reasons? Sony have many fingers in many pies. The PS in small fry in terms of hardware money. Gaming may well be a Billon dollar industry but most of that is software. Look at how long it'll take MS to recoup the money spent on xbox and 360. Sony will need even more time.
  
  Anyway, back on track. NO-one has lost the format war yet so quit complaining. All you film compaines have £££££ so if you can back both and see who wins. Trouble is the consumer doesn't always back the right one. Betamax was WAY better.

  10.12.2005 14:17 #27

• freshguy

  You Sunk My Battleship!
  
  I may be wrong, but it doesn't look to me like either M$ or $ony will wind up leaving the other in the dust. You guys have already given some good reasons why the media format thing will not be a death sentence to either company. Also, when you look at this from a content point of view, it's probably going to be a pretty good battle between two great heavyweights. For the most part, pretty much anyone who owns a gaming console really doesn't give a dime about what movies they will be able to watch. What gamers really care about is what games are going to be available for them to play. I've gone with PS and PS2 the last 2 go rounds, but I really don't have a clue which of the 2 consoles I'm going to buy. Whichever one I do get, however, will have nothing with the storage media, outside of how it will affect the games that I'm going to be playing. Honestly, for several reasons, I'm only now really starting to get psyched for the new generation we are just starting. The first reason is because the first build of any console is the most buggy and also the most expensive. Another thing is that the game developers, as everyone knows, tend to have a certain learning curve for any new console. It seems to be sometime between the 1st and 2nd year that they really start getting the feel for it, and the games show definite improvements.
  I don't expect this generation to be very much different from the last 2 in those respects. That's kind of the trend that I am seeing. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I think that will carry over into the real reason the consoles exist, and that reason is the content of the games. Even though Sony still leads in market share, as well as 3rd party support, if you think about it -
  almost all of the best selling games are multi-platform. Sure, Sony has it's Metal Gear Solid, and XBox has it's Halo, but mega-publisher Electronic Arts still broadcasts their EA Sports on both systems.
  I even get a slight sense of deja vu when I think about Nintendo. Although it's not quite gotten to that point, but the Plumbers Union sort of reminds me a little of SEGA the last go round. The most intriguing thing about this new generation may not be which heavyweight is going to win, but it just might be the question of who will win the Revolution?
  

  http://profiles.excite.com/profiles/user_profile.jsp?unme=notsost...

  10.12.2005 14:27 #28

• bobsatguy

  Say guys,,let's look at the score card
  
  1 Beta vs. Vhs
  2 Music Disc vs. CD
  3. Memory stix vs. USB jump drive
  
  looks to me like sweep is coming, beta was better than vhs but sony manages (mis) to lose every format war they have been involved with.I'd put $$ on micro$oft & toshiba. after all, it's not about the best product,,marketing wins wars

  17.12.2005 17:09 #29

• Reasons?

  Sometimes th epast doesn't reflect the future, and technology is one of those departments. Blu-ray has too much support now and HD-DVD too little, Microsoft hasn't really even embraced a side yet, they are accepting compatability to both and might use HD-DVD.
  
  Oh, and, USB drives v. memory stick isn't a format war. Memory stick is the biggest camera memory format, because tha is it's purpose, and USB drives have their own, plugging into any computer straight up. Memory stick is thin and small and up to 4GB, USB drives are fat thumb size to 2-8GB or an external cases up to 500GB (single drive).

  17.12.2005 19:24 #30

• arcanix

  Quote:Memory stick is the biggest camera memory format No way. Secure digital or compact flash are the most used cards in cameras. Only sony's cameras have memorystick.

  18.12.2005 07:37 #31

• bobsatguy

  sony marketed memory stix for music, pix's, and as a moveable storage for there comp.s.

  18.12.2005 07:53 #32

• arcanix

  Quote: sony marketed memory stix for music, pix's, and as a moveable storage for there comp.s. All memorycards have the same option, so they all lost to usb stick? I don't even know anyone who uses those. But I do know camera and mp3-player users. So if we look at all memorycard sales against usb-sticks, then the memorycards have lost.

  18.12.2005 08:19 #33

• Reasons?

  Where do you get off comparing the two? One is ultra small with many capacities for cameras and Sony devices. The other is big stick you can plug straight into your comp. Can you plug a USB flash drive into a camera for phtos? No, they're two different things, no damn comparison.
  
  What does this have to do with this thread? Nothing.
  
  If there was a bettting parlar ont he next format none of you would put your money on HD-DVD, you just hate Sony. But alot of people would put their money on Blu-ray, just liek Fox has and so many other companies.
  
  More faith is in Blu-ray, and no one dares go for HD-DVD as much as they hate Sony, because they have a little common sense to see which way things are going.

  18.12.2005 08:51 #34

• snige

  I agree with reasons? HD DVD just seems a more powerfull format. Yeah I know it does fantastic things, but for me Blu Ray goes one step further. Like the 360, HD DVD it's not the future. More a big step. Blu Ray and PS3 seem to have the future in sight. I'm no Sony fan boy, they've just completely lost the way in Home Cinema equipment to which I have just spents ££££££'s on, none of which is made by Sony. I just want the best that I can afford.
  Plus, Blu Ray is Sony's baby but many other companies are commiting to it.
  but we shall see. If we the consumer are free to make the choice and having buy a new player hopefully Blu ray could win. However, we might not be given much of a choice. So many compainies will do anything to win and with it being so much cheaper to make HD DVD we might see Blu ray priced out of business. Shame. Yet again the best format might lose again.

  18.12.2005 09:29 #35