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BBC to continue dual format HD releases

Despite Warner's decision to go Blu-ray exclusive and the subsequent decisions by HBO and New Line to follow their parent company into HD exclusivity, many figured that the BBC, whose U.S. releases are distributed by Warner Bros., would follow suit.

A company spokesperson for BBC has announced however that the company will remain dual format for the time being and that they need to "evaluate the marketplace before committing to one format."



BBC also cited the remarkable sales of its "Planet Earth" box set, which sold well in both formats (but better in HD DVD than Blu-ray). The spokesman also explained they had high hopes for upcoming dual format HD titles already planned for 2008.

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Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 16 Jan 2008 18:34

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• 15 comments

• red2tango

  I don't understand why every time something has to do with HD formats, the topic sentence must be: "Despite Warner's decision to go Blu-ray exclusive". Yes we already know that they went exclusive, but that does not mean that everything is based on that.

  16.1.2008 19:17 #1

• sgriesch

  Originally posted by red2tango: I don't understand why every time something has to do with HD formats, the topic sentence must be: "Despite Warner's decision to go Blu-ray exclusive". Yes we already know that they went exclusive, but that does not mean that everything is based on that.
  That's true. Especially if you are making lots of money by being able to sell both formats.

  16.1.2008 19:35 #2

• hughjars

  Of course the BBC is going to stick with HD DVD - they sold the most discs (Planet Earth) on HD DVD.
  
  Warner don't do anything for 5mths.
  
  Plenty of time for the landscape to change in the meantime
  
  (Amazon USA have the HD A3, HD A30 & HD A35 HD DVD players at numbers 1, 2 & 3 in their best sellers listing right now).

  16.1.2008 20:11 #3

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by red2tango: I don't understand why every time something has to do with HD formats, the topic sentence must be: "Despite Warner's decision to go Blu-ray exclusive". Yes we already know that they went exclusive, but that does not mean that everything is based on that.It says "despite warner's decision" because warner is the parent company of BBC. Please keep your uninformed comments to yourself or read the article before commenting.

  16.1.2008 20:49 #4

• hughjars

  Originally posted by DVDBack23: It says "despite warner's decision" because warner is the parent company of BBC. - Well to be clear & strictly speaking that should be Warner are the parent company of 'BBC Video' and not the BBC as such.
  
  (unless there's been an incredibly secret privatisation they didn't tell us about!) :D

  16.1.2008 21:18 #5

• A_Klingon

  It's all so absolutely hilarious, of course. I won't touch - let alone invest - in either of the formats unless-and-until one of them beats the other into a senseless puddle of post-war goo.
  
  I get a kick out of all the posturing, ad-speak, "de-facto" declarations, predictions, debate, accusations, counter-accusations, press-releases, finger-pointing, sales-figures, innuendo, half-baked assumptions, late-breaking announcements, discussion panels, defections and outright lies. There was NEVER a good, day-time soap-opera like this one !!!
  
  Not even Beta vs VHS was this obtuse. (whatever obtuse means)
  
  One's gonna make it, and one's gonna fry. It's that simple. And the unfortunate sods who DO get tossed-up with the bean sprouts in the Chinese wok, will not have a soul to blame except for themselves and their blind, helpless greed.
  
  They had their chance; they blew it. They had their chance to get their collective s--t together and create a unified all-in-one standard that everyone could live with, and that they themselves could share global profit in. They had a chance to create a truly stellar, superior system. They had a chance to 'bury-the-corporate-hatchet' (preferebably not in each other's heads) and share technology with each other. They had a chance to NOT create bitter enemies with each other and, instead, become supportive allies.
  
  (God I love soap-boxing)...... :-)
  
  ....They had a chance to securely avoid the devastating, debilitating financial losses that ONE of them is surely going to suffer after all the nuclear dust settles. They had the chance to create consumer confidence in the exciting new reality that is now High Definition, and instead, alienated and confused them so badly that many don't even know which side of a disc is up anymore, and who the hell could blame them? The various technologies involved are so convoluted, so complex, (and STILL EVOLVING at this late-stage!), that they are fairly tripping over their own bloated weight.
  
  So did they try to get along with each other? Oh, nooooooo.... They had to have it ALL or nothing.
  
  Instead .......... what we have is all of this mindless, ongoing TRIPE. Frankly, I think they both deserve to lose.
  
  Two monolithic gladiators roamed our prehistoric Earth at one time - T-Rex, and (whatever other oversized lizard you can think of). Each had HUGE muscle (financial a$$ets), and both had brains the size of peas. (Sound familiar?) If one of these battling dinosaurs doesn't kill the other other off, then Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes (the consumer market) will.
  
  "WAY-TA-GO, GUYS !!!!!"
  
  We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programming.... :-)

  16.1.2008 21:22 #6

• red2tango

  Originally posted by hughjars: Of course the BBC is going to stick with HD DVD - they sold the most discs (Planet Earth) on HD DVD.
  
  Warner don't do anything for 5mths.
  
  Plenty of time for the landscape to change in the meantime
  
  (Amazon USA have the HD A3, HD A30 & HD A35 HD DVD players at numbers 1, 2 & 3 in their best sellers listing right now).It's also funny how you've been saying that for the past couple of months and you can't admit defeat. Get the facts straight Hughjars

  16.1.2008 21:47 #7

• DVDBack23

  Quote:Originally posted by DVDBack23: It says "despite warner's decision" because warner is the parent company of BBC. - Well to be clear & strictly speaking that should be Warner are the parent company of 'BBC Video' and not the BBC as such.
  
  (unless there's been an incredibly secret privatisation they didn't tell us about!) :DBBC video is correct hughjars, you caught my typo :)

  16.1.2008 22:55 #8

• ripxrush

  Yawn.....! Wake me when someone wins so i know who to give my $ to!...
  dumb asses! just figure it out you want your kids not to fight yet 2 grownup company's cant decide on a standard format!

  17.1.2008 03:30 #9

• hughjars

  Originally posted by red2tango: It's also funny how you've been saying that for the past couple of months and you can't admit defeat. - What "defeat"?
  
  Warner don't do anything for several months and this all remains very far from over.
  
  For as long as high def optical discs remain so far behind SD DVD this is a long way from settled.
  
  The Blu-ray fanclub all sneered at HD DVD's 40% share of the HDM market.....yet Blu-ray alone holds less than 3% of the total movie disc market.
  
  The Blu-ray fanclub should wake up from their own propaganda & stop being so hypocritical
  (and seeing as how you guys reckon you already won stop trying to hide behind HD DVD).
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: Get the facts straight Hughjars - Er, the "facts" I have given here are always "straight".
  
  As far as Warner goes I was telling the facts straight, they were indeed set to go HD DVD, right up until the very last moment
  (which no-one could have actually known - and if they claim otherwise they are either lying, deluded or the pro Blu-ray Warner CEO).

  17.1.2008 14:26 #10

• NexGen76

  Quote:BBC also cited the remarkable sales of its "Planet Earth" box set, which sold well in both formats (but better in HD DVD than Blu-ray). The spokesman also explained they had high hopes for upcoming dual format HD titles already planned for 2008.The reason the HD version of Planet Earth seen a huge boost because of Oprah show.She announced that Planet Earth was one of here top 10 gifts to get someone for Christmas.We all know that Oprah have a very Massive fan club so they follow what she said & didn't act on there own like always when it comes to Oprah fan club.
  
  
  Originally posted by hughjars: Of course the BBC is going to stick with HD DVD - they sold the most discs (Planet Earth) on HD DVD.
  
  Warner don't do anything for 5mths.
  
  Plenty of time for the landscape to change in the meantime
  
  (Amazon USA have the HD A3, HD A30 & HD A35 HD DVD players at numbers 1, 2 & 3 in their best sellers listing right now).BBC is a very small piece of the HD market so it would be in there best interest til everyone goes Blu by end of year great decision on there part.
  
  
  We are about to see the effect from Warner over the next 6 months there are watering down there HD-DVD catalog picking & choosing what they want to release & pushing all HD-DVD titles that are announced back three weeks to a month & alot of title canceled.
  
  
  We all know why HD-DVD is selling good on Amazon,this is nothing more than clearing out all stock.With Amazon not stocking HD-DVD player no where near to the amount from last year i would kill to see what there supply going to look like by next holidays(next to nothing).
  
  
  Originally posted by hughjars: Er, the "facts" I have given here are always "straight".
  
  As far as Warner goes I was telling the facts straight, they were indeed set to go HD DVD, right up until the very last momentIf this is facts & you want us to believe you,Show us some kind of proof if this is a fact.

  17.1.2008 15:00 #11

• MrMexican

  Either way hughjars tries to spinn the lies
  
  this is how it is so far
  
  Blue Ray has over %70 studio support.
  
  Hd dvd has over %30 studio support.
  
  
  Yes it can go either way but blue ray has more of a chance to end this format war.

  17.1.2008 17:03 #12

• red2tango

  wonder why toshiba has their players on sale?to get rid of them and make back some of the money their gonna lose from losing the format war.i mean come on the ppl that bought their hd-dvd players FOR THAT SPECIAL PRICE OF $99 got ripped off.i went it to bestbuy and they had a small bag with hd-dvd movies but all the racks had blu-ray movies on them.hell i even bought superbad on bluray.cant wait for my 5 free movies to come also.btw why are u comparing bluray to dvd all of a sudden hughjars?at first you compared BR to HDDVD saying that hd-dvd was the obvious winner but now that bluray is winning u are saying that it cant beat dvd?you're a sore loser.all i get from you is excuses.ofcourse bluray will succeed over dvd because movie studios will just end the dvd cycle after a clear hd winner is decided and a year passes same as vhs and dvd.and nextgen is right btw.

  17.1.2008 21:30 #13

• hughjars

  Originally posted by red2tango: wonder why toshiba has their players on sale? - Er, to sell them in larger numbers of course.
  
  Which is exactly what is happening.
  They are selling very nicely indeed.
  
  The Toshiba HD A3, HD A30 & HD A35 are currently number 1, 2 & 5 in the Amazon USA best selling chart for all DVD players.
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/ele...ref=pd_ts_e_nav
  
  In fact the HD A3 is the 6th best selling electrical item in the entire Amazon USA inventory.
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/ele...6587233-0382450
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: to get rid of them and make back some of the money their gonna lose from losing the format war. - Oh right, fortune telling, eh?
  have you got next week lotto numbers there while you're at it?
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: i mean come on the ppl that bought their hd-dvd players FOR THAT SPECIAL PRICE OF $99 got ripped off. - Oh really?
  
  People got an excellent upscaling SD DVD that also plays HD DVD & (depending on the deal) 5, 7 or 10 movies and you reckon that's bad value?!
  
  FFS, by all means prefer a side in this but try and keep the absurdly ridiculous nonsense to a minimum, eh?
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: i went it to bestbuy and they had a small bag with hd-dvd movies but all the racks had blu-ray movies on them. - Like anyone really buys too many movies off-line these days.
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: hell i even bought superbad on bluray. - Hmmm, I'm not sure I'd ave admitted that in public. :P
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: cant wait for my 5 free movies to come also. - Funnily enough my last 5 freebie HD DVDs came this week.
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: btw why are u comparing bluray to dvd all of a sudden hughjars? - I'd have thought that was obvious; if you guys are so convinced Blu-ray has already won then why are you hiding behind the HD DVD comparison still?
  
  Surely you ought to be trumpeting your preferred format's success against what was always the real target, SD DVD.
  
  Of course there'll be no such comparison made cos Blu-ray sales are minute (and have stayed minute) against SD DVD.
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: at first you compared BR to HDDVD saying that hd-dvd was the obvious winner but now that bluray is winning u are saying that it cant beat dvd? - Actually I do not agree Blu-ray are wining anything.
  The market is way too tiny to be drawing such premature conclusions.
  
  The BDA recently announced that movie disc sales totals in the (almost) 2 years these formats have been around amount to 6 million discs for Blu-ray and almost 3 million for HD DVD
  (when the total movie disc market was 750 million + last year alone).
  
  This is all 'drop in the ocean' stuff and even though Blu-ray's drop in the ocean is a little larger than HD DVD's they have quite clearly won nothing.
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: you're a sore loser. - No, I can just see beyond the shallow & superficial a little better than most of the Blu-ray fanclub.
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: all i get from you is excuses. - No. What you get are awkward facts that conflict with the usual Blu-ray BS & you do not enjoy seeing them.
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: ofcourse bluray will succeed over dvd - Oh right, back to the cyrstal ball gazing again, eh?
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: because movie studios will just end the dvd cycle after a clear hd winner is decided - Dream away.
  
  The simple truth is that if the public are buying SD DVD in the several hundreds of millions (as they currently are) no studio is going to risk or drop that (huge) revenue stream.
  
  Especially not for a high def format which has supposedly 'won a war' because (when it's broken down) it sold a couple of thousand more copies of some of their title(s) compared to the competing high def format
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: and a year passes - You've completely lost the plot if you seriously imagine there is the slighest chance of Blu-ray over-taking SD DVD in a year or even 2 years or 3 for that matter.
  
  Ib fact it's only recently (3 monthsback?) that both highdef formats combined passed the then current VHS sales numbers
  (seeing as you want to raise & consider VHS in this)
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: same as vhs and dvd. - It's nothing like the same.
  
  DVD offered a obvious convenience and a clear & obvious difference to VHS
  (a difference the public either say they do not see between SD DVD & high def or say they do not see as worth the premium Blu-ray want for it.
  HD DVD could get cheap enough fast enough & with the Twin disc it could slide in almost unnoticed as the DVD's successor, Blu-ray simply cannot get cheap enough fast enough & has nothing similar to the Twin disc to keep the SD DVD owner happy).
  
  Originally posted by red2tango: and nextgen is right btw. - Wow, that's really great.
  I bet that must be so heartening for him/her to know you think so.

  18.1.2008 21:18 #14

• borhan9

  Quote:A company spokesperson for BBC has announced however that the company will remain dual format for the time being and that they need to "evaluate the marketplace before committing to one format."
  
  BBC also cited the remarkable sales of its "Planet Earth" box set, which sold well in both formats (but better in HD DVD than Blu-ray). The spokesman also explained they had high hopes for upcoming dual format HD titles already planned for 2008.I like this these are very good reasons for staying with both formats for the time being. Although blu-ray has got the market share we do not have a definite winner yet and well as long as the BBC can afford bringing out both formats this is the way to go.

  15.2.2008 18:41 #15