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Warner Brothers and Universal in joint Venture to keep physical media alive

Sales happen. And when they do, we'll post about them here. Noteworthy new releases too. And if you find the deal first, post it here so we all can benefit.
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Jamie
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Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2017 11:26 pm

Warner Brothers and Universal in joint Venture to keep physical media alive

Post by Jamie » Wed Jan 15, 2020 5:03 pm

Just read this article about Warner and Universal forming a joint venture to keep physical data alive.

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-t ... 11520-1000

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Pauven
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Re: Warner Brothers and Universal in joint Venture to keep physical media alive

Post by Pauven » Thu Jan 16, 2020 12:18 pm

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing it Jamie.

While it sounds promising, I've got a bad track record for interpreting these types of moves. For example, I finally jumped into the Hi-Def fray with HD-DVD thinking it was the obvious format winner, and 3 months later it was canned. I try to analyze these industry actions with a more critical eye these days.

I also read an interesting report this morning about what was "missing" at CES this year - and the report said that there were no new Blu-ray / UHD players announced at all, suggesting this is a dying market. That is definitely concerning. On the flip side, the new PlayStation 5 will actually have a UHD Blu-ray drive, something the PS4 lacked, and the new XBox Series X will still provide one as well, so there are at least two new UHD players coming in 2020, and these will see mass adoption. While these are not the type of players I use - I'm PC all the way - I do recognize that they are critical to the format surviving.

Perhaps most indicative is this partial quote from the linked article:

"This proposed joint venture with Universal gives us the best opportunity to … extend the lifespan of the format for our fans and consumers."

You typically don't talk about extending the lifespan of a young, vibrant, healthy product. This reads more as if death is coming, and they recognize this and are trying to delay it. While I appreciate the efforts, it concerns me all the same that the efforts are necessary.
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Jamie
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Re: Warner Brothers and Universal in joint Venture to keep physical media alive

Post by Jamie » Thu Jan 16, 2020 4:29 pm

I guess I am partially to blame for DVD, Blu-ray, and UHD players dying out. I haven't needed a dedicated player since buying into the HTPC market years ago. Everyone can say that the HTPC is dead which I have heard many times. I have a few friendly drives that I purchased a while back that I have on hand in case they start dying on their own. I have a buffalo player that I still use heavily and it's about 10 years old. As long as I have the fox, Mymovies, and CMC, I can entertain myself for a long to to come.

Jamie

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