January 23rd, 2008
Thousands Sign Online Petition to “Save HD-DVD”
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Anyone ever sign a petition at PetitionOnline.com? It’s a site that “provides free online hosting of public petitions for responsible public advocacy.” Once Warner Bros. said they were switching to Blu-ray only, a petition to save HD-DVD was opened by Tudor Cacenco, who says on the site:
Dear High Def movie fans, I’m starting this petition in order to support HD-DVD and hopefully save it, and to show Warner Brothers that the consumer has not “clearly” chosen Blu-Ray. Warner Brothers switched to Blu-Ray exclusive claiming that its the best thing for the consumer, but how about all the consumers that bought HD-DVD movies and hardware for the holidays, or all the loyal HD-DVD fans like myself that own Warner HD-DVDs? Warner just screwed them all.
At the time of this writing, the total number of signatures is 14,555. Not exactly a huge number, but something to make people take notice at least.
While when Warner Bros. originally made their statement that the consumer had chosen Blu-ray, it may not have been true, it may be true now. Two weeks ago, Blu-ray outsold HD DVD by six to one, as people may be beginning to realize HD-DVD could end up being the “new” Betamax.
On the other hand, BetaNews has an exclusive interview with Universal EVP Ken Graffeo, and he says HD DVD is here to stay.
If you’re interested in signing the petition, here’s the link.
Michael Forry says:
For the love of all things good a descent, let one of these formats DIE!
Early adopter? sux to be you. You KNEW there was no winner yet, but you decided to throw out money anyway rather than waiting. You lose. End of story.
HD-DVD SHOULD win, but for some reason (sony giving money to everyone and their uncle maybe?) it doesnt look like it will.
Lose already so we can get ALL movies on one format!
Mike
Only way HD-DVD should be saved is if all the studios agree that if it gets X number of unique signatures, they will all jump ship and kill blu-ray. wont happen, so just deal with blu-ray winning and sony making everything more expensive.
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:33 am
Kenvin says:
Dead is HD DVD.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:44 am
John says:
What I find really amusing in these articles concerning the ‘thousands’ signing the petition is that no one bothers to mention that a fairly large portion of the people who ’signed’ the petition are not HD DVD supporters but are, in fact, supporters of Blu Ray. View almost any page of the signatures and you’ll see what I mean - the Blu guys are actually quite funny - some of their ’signatures’ even direct you to the ‘Let HD DVD Die’ petition.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:10 am
Tom says:
If by large portion you mean maybe around 1 or 2%, then you are right. But that is about it at its highest level. But it does bring up the issue of reliability in online petitions. You notice not only fake names, aliases, and such, but also double entries and other factors that increase the numbers rather substantially when factored all together. That said, I have been watching this petition for a bit, and it has received a huge boost of public awareness in the last 48 hours which has resulted in substantial gains for their cause. A couple days ago, this was hovering at between 6000 and 8000, now it has almost broken 20000.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:23 am
bob says:
Buy a cut price HD-dvd player and watch DVD’s that are up-converted to 1080, then play a blu-ray and wonder why you wouldever pay 30$ for a blu-ray movie.
Movies are not shot with HD cameras fool, you are all being suckerd!
i think that people who think HD or blu-ray resolution is great are new to HD.
movies are shot on film then scanned into either hd-dvd or blu-ray format. they are no where near the resolution of HDTV.
I have a 70″ sony XBR and im telling you that HDTV is awsome, HD and blu ray movies are somewhere between DVD and HDTV. i certainly wont buy any. the up converted dvd’s look so good why would i bother?
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
regeya says:
bob: I find it interesting that you state that people are being suckered by BR and HD DVD, but say that upconverted dvds “look so good.” However, I’ll concede that, based on some of the transfers I’ve seen, many movies aren’t even up to snuff at 480p, considering how many movies have been shot @ 35mm under varying lighting conditions. When I see loads of grain on the DVD transfer of the Close Encounters special edition I certainly hope that Paramount sprung for good dust-busting on the BR release, otherwise you’re just paying for 5x the film grain!
btw, I have one of the cut-rate hd dvd players, and use it as an upconverter. I haven’t marveled at the opening credits of Star Wars: ANH in a long while. Thanks Toshiba! Not HD quality but looks awesome nonetheless.
Yeah, I’m one of the people who signed the petition, fully recognizing that it probably wouldn’t do a darn bit of good, and concede that maybe going with HD wouldn’t be so bad.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:20 pm
HD DVD KING says:
We endorse the Save HD-DVD! (Warner Brothers, The Consumer Has Not “Clearly” Chosen Blu-Ray) Petition to Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures.
Read the Save HD-DVD! (Warner Brothers, The Consumer Has Not “Clearly” Chosen Blu-Ray) Petition
Name Comments
23627 Total Signatures
January 24th, 2008 at 7:12 am
BDRand says:
In the end Sony will not have the last laugh. The big news is bypassing any and all disc media. HiDef downloads in under one minute are expected to be available before year’s end( 4 minute downloads are currently working). Downloads already available are outselling HD DVD/ BluRay combined !
Sony will be left holding the bag for all those “incentive” dollars they gave WB as WB and all other studios move on merrily to downloadable titles.
January 24th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
john says:
this guy bob says he has a 70 xbr… spends nearly 30K dollars on said tv… but doesn’t have the money for a blu ray player that is less than 1K .. sounds fishy to me oh and HD DVD is inferior to the amount of information that can be held on a disc.. so yes… its the new betamax…. only in this case… inferior in quality…
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:43 pm