Netflix says “Hey Dumb Studio Execs!”
Posted in Home Theater by Ben on April 30th, 2006 
OK, maybe Netflix was a little more diplomatic! But that is essentially what Netflix just said to the Movie Studio Execs. CEO of Netflix Reed Hastings says to the movie studio executives in a recent earnings conference call.
Mr. Hastings said that the studios should put their entire movie catalog on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray. That way consumers will feel confident in upgrading.
I think that is a very smart statement. Right now consumers are holding off on upgrading to high definition DVD because they don’t know which of the two competeing standards, Blu-Ray or HD-DVD are going to win the battle. No one wants to end up owning a Betamax when VHS ends up winning the battle!
Heck right now, I’m afraid to buy ANY DVD. Even a movie on a standard DVD. Just this past week I was going to buy King Kong but I thought to myself, why buy it now if I’m just going to throw out the DVD in a year when I convert to HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.
If the studio executives would commit to putting their entire catalog on both formats, the best format would win.
As it stands now most of the studios have selected one format or the other. Most have decided to support either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD but not both. So if your favorite movie is on Blu-Ray, which are you going to buy? Right? Its goign to be based on some arbitrary factor like which movie studio’s movies do you like most. Hey you like Warner Brothers movies? Well which format does Warner support?
Thats NOT the way our technology decisions should be made. They should be made based on which technology is best, which is cheapest, which has the best features, etc. NOT based on which movie studios pick which format.
What do you think?
- Ben Fitts
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