Chat Transcript - Microsoft's Kevin Collins on The Home Theater Forum

Click here to learn more about anamorphic widescreen!

Site created 12/15/97.

page created: 1/16/07

Chat Transcript:
Microsoft's Kevin Collins on HTF

The following is a complete transcript of the on-line chat on the subject of HD-DVD with Microsoft's Kevin Collins, held on Monday, January 15th on The Home Theater Forum. Thanks to Ron Epstein, Parker Clack, Robert Crawford and everyone at HTF for all their hard work, and for providing the transcript for all to read. Enjoy!

Home Theater Forum
https://www.hometheaterforum.com

Subject: Live Chat with Kevin Collins
Date: Monday, July 15, 2007

[RonEpstein] Good Evening everyone. Thanks for taking time out to be with us this evening. Joining us is Kevin Collins, Director of HD DVD Evangelism at Microsoft.

[RonEpstein] Hello Kevin....

[kevincol] hello. How many people made it to CES?

[ParkerClack] We didn't make it out to CES this year.

[RonEpstein] Kevin, both Parker and I were out at Cedia last year and had the opportunity to visit the HD-DVD experience on wheels. Are you still involved with that?

[kevincol] Yes, I have been doing press activities with the HD DVD Mobile Experience

[RonEpstein] What are some of the upcoming dates and locations for the HD-DVD experience?

[kevincol] We have been to 13 cities thus far. The HD DVD Promotion Group is deciding where the HD DVD Mobile Experience will go next. Right now it is schedule to be in Miami at the SuperBowl. It was very successfull in driving awarness around HD DVD.

[RonEpstein] Excellent timing! I am sure you guys will be a huge hit down there.

[kevincol] Well, the Superbowl is one of the premier events that is done in HD, so much of the audience is aware of that. We hope to illustrate how those attendees can take best advantage of their HDTV at home with HDDVD

[RonEpstein] I am going to open the floor to questions if anyone here is interested in asking a question.

[Yumbo] When/can the 360 be upgraded for VGA picture, and audio greater than standard 5.1?

[kevincol] The XBox 360 can do 1080P output over VGA today with the latest firmware upgrade. That upgrade can occur over XBox live or the XBox.COM site to make an ISO image.

[Yumbo] does that firmware correct the known VGA issues?

[kevincol] The Xbox 360, if not using AACS protected content, can also output 1080p over component. Otherwise AACS restricts component to 1080i. However, when going to a 1080P display, that is pretty much irrlevant. The XBox 360 HD DVD update addresses issues up through the end of November. There will be another update coming out in the near future.

[Yumbo] great...am the only HD DVD retailer in Fiji, via the 360.

[kevincol] Glad to see you are supporting HD DVD there. I have been to Fiji before to do scuba diving and enjoyed my time there!

[Yumbo] Cool, just did snorkling in Modriki where Cast Away was shot - fish and coral right on the beach. Do you know if that HD Scape Sea disc has decent shots of Fiji coral?

[kevincol] My copy of HD Scape Sea is still on back order from Amazon.COM and I do not get check discs from that content provider.

[kevincol] I have every shipping copy of HD DVD and some more... :)

[Yumbo] have ordered the sampler. HD DVD sound on 360 - any planned updates for that to Plus or TrueHD?

[kevincol] Well, the XBox 360 HD DVD player decodes both Dobly Digital Plus and Dolby True HD as those are both required to be decoded by the HD DVD video specification. However, in order to transport either of those codecs would require a HDMI connector

[Yumbo] so, any plans for HDMI?

[kevincol] The XBox team is closely monitoring customer requests to determine if there will be HDMI in the future of Xbox.

[Cees_Alons] Hello Kevin. Great to have you here. HD DVD has had a great launch, generally speaking, as compared to its rival format. In what way, in your opinion, was that launch facilitated by characteristics of the format itself? Or its specifications? Or was it mainly (or solely) due to the efforts and great quality of the products of the supporting studios?

[kevincol] there are a number of things that make HD DVD unique. I believe the format was sucsseful because: 1) The discs can used existing replicators, thus a larger perecentage of content producers can produce content on a wide variety of disc formats at a very affordable cost. 2) The interactivity hardware features are only guaranteed on HD DVD players. They are not optional. For instance, great titles like Batman Begins, Harry Potter IV, V For Vendetta, Tokyo Drift and Miami Vice only have this next level of interactivity like PIP, graphics and additional sound. It's those new features that take HD DVD beyond what DVD could ever offer and those features are only shipping on HD DVD because HD DVD is the only format to have the necessary hardware on all players.

[kevincol] I also think that the studios wound up using an advanced video codec for HD DVD, vs MPEG-2 and that really helped cement that HD DVD has great picture quality. I know my first experience with Fifth Element was very disheartening vs great picture quality titles like Casablanca, Batman Begins, and The Hulk. If you have not had the opportunity to see Casablanca or The Hulk on HD DVD, I highly encourage you to check those two out.

[Cees_Alons] Thanks Kevin. (Have almost all titles you mentioned)

[DaveMoritz] Hello Kevin,First I would like to welcome you to Home Theater Forum and thank you for being involved in this chat on HD-DVD.I would like to know if the HD-DVD players will decode DTS-HD anytime soon especially for people who will not be buying new receivers with HDMI 1.3. And are there any plans to offer HD-DVD titles using DTS-HD this year?

[kevincol] DTS HD is decoded in HD DVD today. I think you are referring to DTS HD MA (Master Audio). DTS HD MA is an optional codec for HD DVD. The HD DVD titles that are being shipped by Studio Canal in Europe have DTS HD MA in them but I am not currently aware of any manufacturor that is including it to be decoded in a HD DVD Player at this point in time. Thus the best sound coming out would be DTS HD with those European HD DVD titles. DTS HD MA is the lossless audio codec, basically the same as Dolby True HD. Since both are losslees audio codeds, there is no difference between then in terms of sound quality

[AaronSchneiderman] Hi Kevin. Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. I am not sure you have an answer for this but I was wondering if we expect any news on the software front soon? Announced titles have been light for quite some time.

[kevincol] Hi Aaron, glad to be here. Can you be more specific on the software you are referring to? Are you referring to movies or to something elese? If you are referring to HD DVD titles coming out, then there is some good news that was discussed at CES from the HD DVD promotion group

[AaronSchneiderman] Specifically additional studio support...I guess if that was happening we would have heard something at CES.

[kevincol] For instance, the Matrix trilogy will be coming out this year from WHV, Star Trek will be exclusive to HD DVD this year, Babel and The Good Shepherd. All in all there will be over 600 HD DVD titles by EOY.

[RonEpstein] That's pretty incredible!

[kevincol] Also, don't forget that HD DVD does NOT have region control, so you can get really good titles from Japan and Europe and play them on your HD DVD player in the US. For instance, The Rambo series is out from Studio Canal in Europe along with Basic Instinct. In the US, these are BD titles.

[AaronSchneiderman] How long will that last? Is regional coding coming?

[RonEpstein] Kevin, the studios really haven't ramped up efforts to put region control preventives in place?

[kevincol] Region coding has been discussed in the DVD Forum Steering Committe, but nothing is currently being done about it. It is in an investigation phase. There are 20 companines on the DVD Forum Steering committe and many oppose region coding. Also, there is no way to back retrofit the existing HD DVD players to enforce region coding. So, this is another advantage of HD DVD over the other formats.

[DaveMoritz] There seems to be a low number of lossless titles for HD-DVD while Blu-ray has been offering a constant flow of lossless titles. I honestly feel that HD-DVD needs to start offering a lot more lossless titles to compete. Do you know if we will be seeing a lot more lossless titles coming out this year?

[kevincol] Well, I assume that you are referring to lossless on BD as PCM uncompressed audio vs Dolby True HD.

[DaveMoritz] Dolby True HD

[kevincol] Warner looks many times at how good the original sound track is to determine what type of audio they will provide. Universal has been hearing customer feedback and has stated that they intend to do Dolby True HD in future titles. So, I expect to see more Dolby True HD titles coming out. SPE has been the primary BD company doing uncompressed audio. Others have been doing some DTS HD MA, but keep in mind that until you have a BD player that is HDMI v1.3 compliant and purchase a new Pre/Pro or AVR that also has HDMI v1.3 and at DTS HD MA decoder that you can't enjoy that sound. Why exactly more WHV titles have not continued to come out in Dolby True HD is something that we would need to ask directly of WHV. They have about 15 out now.

[BrettGallman] When you mentioned Star Trek earlier, were you referring to the feature films or the TV series only?

[kevincol] It is my understanding from the HD DVD group that it will be the feature films

[Yumbo] Please convey to 360 team that HDMI will do wonders for uptake and that PS3 will have a hard time in our non-region markets.

[kevincol] I will pass that on to them. I see them alot... they are always interested in customer feedback.

[Yumbo] intended question was for new movie releases from Universal. Is there a feedback channel for titles?

[kevincol] If you are referring to requests for new HD DVD titles from Universal, I can find out if there is a specific email address to be able to send requests.

[kevincol] They have alot of cool HD DVD titles coming out in 2007! However, I am particularly anxious to be getting The Matrix from Warner!!!!

[Yumbo] what are the international plans like, specifically Australia? Are you linked to them? or just USA?

[kevincol] I am not aware, nor have I worked with the distributors in Australia. I primarly work with the US content providers, then European and then Japanese. However, you can have all the ones that we have here in Europe, Japan and Europe! :)

[Yumbo] is pricing strictly a studio thing?

[kevincol] Pricing for HD DVD titles is strictly controlled by the studios, however, many stores in the US have less then MSRP. For instance, Fry's (a US West coast retailer) sells many HD DVD titles for $19.99 USD. Costco.com sell many for $19.99 USD also Fry's on certain Friday's has some titles for $14.99.

[Cees_Alons] Kevin, I live in Amsterdam (Europe) and next to more than 50 HD DVD titles from the US, I bought Harry Potter from here. I was happy I could play it on the imported Toshiba player. Now my question is: will HD DVD generally be the same format across former region boundaries (e.g. NOT 50 fps + audio speed-up in PAL-country), I'm happy with what you already said about the region coding. (and second: as far as you know will HP come to HD DVD in the States too?

[kevincol] The Studio Canal HD DVD titles are all done at 24FPS, since all the HD TV's that are being sold in Europe support 60hz/FPS. The main difference between US HD DVD titles and European HD DVD tiltes will be the available language tracks. The HP IV title that is only available locally in the UK is the same title that will be in the US. For instance, you can see the FBI warning on it, which is a clear indicator that it was the US title.

[Cees_Alons] I see. There are some rumours that speedup was found on some titles. Is that true (except TV series)?

[kevincol] Keep in mind that a European content provider can do 25FPS, but that then means they have to deal with the audio issues. Microsoft is hoping that other European HD DVD content providers will stick with 24FPS for film based content. All Studio Canal HD DVD titles in Europe are 24FPS.

[kevincol] Harry Potter was announced for the states at the HD DVD PRG press event at CES. Since I have the UK version, I always think that it is available! :) BTW, the PQ on HP IV is incredible!

[ChrisS] What are Microsoft thoughts on Warner's new Total HD discs?

[kevincol] From a HD DVD perspective, we are very excited about the potential of THD. Assuming it is price competitive, we only see upside for HD DVD with THD. For instance, if you have a THD disc in your hand and have not bought a player yet, wouldn't you get the one that is $499 vs the one that is $999? We think that disc will help highlight the cost advantages. Also, if you look at existing HD DVD titles from WHV that are also on BD, you will see some big differences, for instance -- Dolby Digital Plus vs Dolby Digital, Zoom, title timeline and bookmarking. These are on HD DVD because of the hardware support for those features that are not mandatory on BD players.

[ChrisS] Are you afraid of any metric loss in relation to units sold? I.e. Hard to tell which format might be selling better?

[kevincol] I think that if THD goes to a wide number of studios attach rate will be determined by player sales and how those discs are driving players sales to determine which side of the disc the consumer is playing. Right now the $499 second gen TSB players and the $199 XBox 360 HD DVD drive are selling like hot cakes.

[Cees_Alons] Kevin, can I put the famous (or infamous) 51 Gb question... is it true? Will it arrive soon? Would it become part of the HD DVD specs?

[kevincol] The DVD Forum has a number of WG's (working groups) that focus on different areas. WG-1 was the working group that I worked and continue to work on in regards to the HD DVD-Video specification. There is another WG that I do not participate on that is currently looking at 45gb HD DVD discs and that is progressing. TSB found a way to do 17gb layers and will introduce that technology into the DVD Forum WG to study it and determine if it can become and official specification for HD DVD. At this point it has not yet been introduced to the WG, so outside of what was announced at the HD DVD Press Event, I don't have any further data. The TCG (Technical Coordinating Group) is meeting this week in Japan. I am not attending as I am on vacation (can't you tell:)). I expect some discussion around the 51gb format to continue at the TCG this week in Tokyo. My colleague is currently there.

[Efrain_Lopez] My question is in regards to the Weinstein titles. Do you have an update on the problems and potential fix from either the disc or hardware side?

[kevincol] I have been on some email threads with TWC and I have heard that they plan on addressing the issues that are there for loading times, etc. I do not have the final plans on if they have determined what has happened to cause that though.

[ParkerClack] Will the new Microsoft stand alone HD DVD player work on a HTPC via USB without a bunch of new software/hardware upgrades?

[kevincol] In regards to the XBox HD DVD drive working in a PC.... there have been many reports on the Internet that this does work. And I have played with it my self with my TSB Quosmio NB and was able to get it to work. However, due to the requirements of a HTPC and the software to play it back, Microsoft is not officially supporting the XBox HD DVD drive to work in a HTPC. It was thoroghly tested to work only with a XBox 360 console unit.

[DaveMoritz] This is about the 51 gig disc to but is aimed at the hardware side of it. I realize that the new triple layer 51 gig discs will most likely not be out until the end of the year. But will these new discs play in existing HD-DVD players? And if not will there be a firmware update that will allow the players to play the 51gig discs?

[kevincol] That is a great question and currently there is not a known answer until it is vetted through the WG that is currently investigating 45gb HD DVD.

[Yumbo] What is your take on the different resolutions?

[kevincol] All HD DVD movies titles are encoded at 1080P/24FPS. Obviously 1080 has twice the pixels of 720, so the picture on a 1080P display will look better. In regards to 1080i vs 1080p output, since all HD DVD movie titles are encode at 1080P/24FPS. There is no discernable difference on a player that outputs 1080i vs 1080p to a 1080P display. This is best illustrated on the HD DVD Mobile Experience were we have the Marantz 1080P PJ using the first Gen TSB HD DVD player at 1080i. I also added in a DVDO VP50 to output 48FPS to the Marantz. Ron, I beleive, saw this on the HD DVD mobile experience when it was in Seattle. I am a very picky HT enthusiast and the picture in the HD DVD mobile experience is the best I have seen anywhere.

[Yumbo] more feedback - the warner promo on discs uses a terrible looking Matrix clip. The Universal multi studio one on Universal DVDs is great

[kevincol] I believe that WHV is planning on revamping their promo's.

[Cees_Alons] For me, personally, some of the more awkward aspects of the BD+ specs dimmed my original enthusiasm for BD. Is there ever any chance (risk) that the more gruesome ones will be incorporated in the HD DVD spec too (e.g. "license revocation")?

[kevincol] The DVD Forum evaluated the technology used in BD+. It comes from another third party. That technology was rejected by the DVD Forum, so there is little to no chance that something like it would come into HD DVD. However, keep in mind that copy protection in HD DVD is solely done from AACS, a completely seperate orginization from the DVD Forum.

[Cees_Alons] Of course none of us is planning illegal activities, but a functionality like that could also be involed by a plain error. Which would be a nuissance, to say the least.

[kevincol] AACS also evaluated the technology in BD+ and did not feel that it added any benefit to the AACS feature set.

[Efrain_Lopez] Image and Eaglerock have titles out on HD DVD, but so far there hasn't been anything from pledged studios Magnolia (which announced titles for May '06) and BCI/Brentwood (titles announced for Sept. 06). Do you have an update with regards to independent studios/distributers and their work on HD DVD?

[kevincol] There is a a Magnolia title coming out on HD DVD. The title name escapes me at this very moment, but I saw it on display at CES. Let me try to remember what that title was. Maybe it was the Enron title that I saw a CES for HD DVD.

[Efrain_Lopez] Architect was announced for simultaneous BD/HDDVD/DVD/theatre release (dec. 5th 2006 release), but they announced about 5-10 titles last year (including Enron, but never showed up).

[kevincol] there are alot of content providers that are evaluating HD DVD and the great economics behind it. However, I cannot talk about additional studios that might be coming on to also support HD DVD at this time. The HD DVD PRG is working very hard on this and I belive that we will see some good news moving forward for additional studio support. Keep in mind that as of today, there are still more HD DVD titles availalbe in the US then BD titles.

[Efrain_Lopez] I'm happy with the independent/Bandai/porn support coming though, thanks.

[kevincol] 154 HD DVD titles can be bought in the US today vs 136 BD titles!

[kevincol] a great site to check this is: https://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/

[Yumbo] With the apparent AACs workaround in the last month, will we be affected on certain titles being prevented with future playback? It's preventing me purchasing some titles.

[kevincol] AACS was designed from the beginning to be recoverable and renewable. While I have not seen an official response from AACS, they are still investigating this, it appears that a software player was able to get a key from a HD DVD title. This was not a hack of AACS, but a breach of a player. with software players, regardless if they are HD DVD or BD, AACS requires that they have their key renewed every 90 days. In this instance, if the software player was breached, the key will have to be renewed and that would be when the player is corrected. However, I don't have the specifics on this. Where ever there is a problem, AACS can recover and renew to keep moving forward. If anything, this is or will be a good test of those capabilities of AACS.

[Yumbo] so I can play my discs safely?

[kevincol] yes, you can play all your HD DVD discs safely

[DaveMoritz] Other than Onkyo do you know of any other companies that will be offering HD-DVD players this year? I currently own a Toshiba HD-A1 and am looking forward to upgrading it to a HDMI 1.3 player using better components and one that is a higher end piece of equipment and one that boots up quicker as well. I have been happy with my HD-DVD player so far but am thinking of the future and going beyond 5.1 audio.

[kevincol] Meridian announced at CES for HD DVD. There are others that will announce, I just can't say them here. There were alot of deals done at CES... :)

[ChrisS] Amazon.com sales statistics are commonly batted about when discussing software sales numbers. Are you familiar with these statistics and how close do you believe they accurately represent the entire HD buying market?

[kevincol] The aggregated data from https://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/, which is Amazon.COM data is an important part of the overall picture. It does not, obivously, represent retail data, which is also important.

[ChrisS] would you say its relatively close?

[kevincol] One needs to have data from both retail and online. So, while Amazon.com is not 100% representative of the total market, it is an important indicator.

[Efrain_Lopez] Hi again, will the HD DVD North American Group expand beyond the current companies, or are there plans to expand marketing this year?

[kevincol] the HD DVD PRG NA is expanding. We are working on an additional tier and will be announcing new member companies in that tier soon.

[Yumbo] What is your take on DVD COMBO titles? Is it possible to have 2 disc releases instead of double sided ones?

[kevincol] It is up to the content providers to determine how they want to release their discs. For instance, Paramount has done three releases in two disc sets (Reds, MI:3 and World Trade Center), but WHV and Universal have stuck to combo discs for the majority of day and date titles.

[Yumbo] A significant number of buyers prefer double sided discs - or will there be a hybrid single sided version soon ala SACD? Or will they become moot with THD?

[kevincol] at this time, the studios are still evaluating what consumers prefer the most. there are alot of consumers that like the HD DVD Combo discs and then there are others that don't. The studios are gathering all those stats and right now evaluating all the data from consumers. Also, right now the marketplace is largely early adopters and what is important to early adopters might not be as important or more important to the general public. So the verdict is still out on what the content provider will utlimately do.

[RAF] Hi Kevin. Getting back to the audio codec question. I currently have an XA-1 running to HDMI 1.1 on my Denon 3806. I'm listening to lossless now but you said that you need HDMI 1.3 to get full audio benefit.If the player does the decoding then why?

[kevincol] I need to clarify then. HD DVD decodes DD+ and DTHD in the player. this is a guaranteed feature that allows for mixing in the player and PIP to be decoded and mixed at the lossless audio state and then output as PCM.

[kevincol] However, if you are going to use a optional codec, like DTS HD MA, then you would need to have a HDMI v1.3 at the player and the AVR - Pre/Pro and the appropriate decoder there. Also you would not be able to mix dual video streams (i.e. PIP) as that can only occur at the player. This is one of the biggest audio advantages that HD DVD offers over any other format.

[RAF] So I'm O.K. for DD+ and DTHD but not for "future" codecs. Which are these?

[kevincol] there are no "future" codecs. There are three that can be played (LPCM, DTS HD, DTS HD, DD+ and DTHD). Anything else would require a change to the HD DVD-Video specification.

[RAF] Thanks for clarifying this. My current pre/pro is an intermediary and within a year or two I should have 1.3 at both ends.

[kevincol] I am using the Anthem D2 as my new Pre/Pro and I have no need to be upgrading it... :)

[DaveMoritz] One of the things that Fox has done with there BR packaging is to give the video codex information with the bit rate information and if it's a single layer or dual layer disc. Is this kind of information something that might be included on future HD-DVD titles? While it is not vital it is just nice information to have on the back of the case.

[kevincol] that's a great question.... I have seen that also and thought it was useful. I have also spoke with WHV and Universal about it. I will forward this request to them also as I personally think it is a benefit for the consumer to know what video codec was used. For instance one might have second thoughts with a MPEG-2 encoded title over an AVC or VC-1 encoded title.

[Cees_Alons] Kevin, You mentioned limitations of HD DVD playback on a PC (in relation to the XBox add-on). What can we expect from the HD DVD format on our PC's? Mainly data discs?

[kevincol] Well, if you have the proper GPU and CPU, there is no reason why a PC can't be a great playback mechanism for HD DVD. TSB, HP, Niveus, Samsung, Gateway, Asus, Acer and other all do HD DVD player back on their PC's or NB's. I have the TSB and Acer NB for HD DVD play back and they all do a great job.

[kevincol] i have always been a fan of HTPC playback as I can control my refresh rate/ FPS. I have always played DVD's back via a HTPC at 72hz/FPS for my Sony G70. I also use my TSB NB for playback to my Sony G70. However, I just moved to a new house and am building a new HT and will probably go with the Maratnz PJ.

[AaronSchneiderman] Are there any hard numbers on actual player sales X-Box add on and stand alones?

[kevincol] As of the end of 2006, there were 175K HD DVD Players SOLD, not shipped, but sold. That is all TSB HD DVD players and XBox HD DVD drives

[AaronSchneiderman] Do we have any indication of BD's success?

[kevincol] This is the third CES that BD has declared that they have won and that HD DVD is dead. I find that quite amusing. HD DVD has the cheapest players, the most titles currently shipping, the most interactive fetures, players that have the most hardware features (i.e. networking, memory and secondary video decoder), the costs to replicat the disc are substantially cheaper and can be done by more then just one replicator, but HD DVD is supposedly dead. Everything that I see shows HD DVD still winning.

[Yumbo] is there promotional we as retailers can use?

[kevincol] The HD DVD PRG NA marketing committe is looking at discs and collateral to provider to retailers to do HD DVD advertising. As of right now, there is not anything publicly available. I am on the HD DVD PRG NA marketing committe and will bring your request back up.

[kevincol] Questions for all of you as follows....

[kevincol] I would like to know how many people have a 1st gen TSB HD DVD player, 2nd gen HD DVD player, Xbox 360 HD DVD drive or a HD DVD PC

[RonEpstein] HD-A1 for me

[ChrisS] 1st gen TSB player

[Yumbo] 360 x2

[Efrain_Lopez] I have and HD-A1.

[DaveMoritz] HD-A1 here

[AaronSchneiderman] HD-A1 x 2

[RAF] XA-1 and Xbox360 HD add on

[ParkerClack] I am going to be buying an HD DVD drive for my HTPC at some point.

[kevincol] and then I would like to know the count of HD DVD titles that everyone has

[ChrisS] 12 titles

[RonEpstein] 20 HD-DVD titles

[DaveMoritz] 37 HD-DVD Titles

[AaronSchneiderman] 118 HD DVD titles

[Gary] HD A1, 38 titles

[Cees_Alons] Toshiba HD-A1 counting my HD DVDs....

[Efrain_Lopez] 40+ titles

[Yumbo] 20 titles in 2 months

[RAF] 30 HD-DVD titles and 15 Blu-ray (PS3 player)

[Cees_Alons] 53 HD DVDs, 3 BDs (but no player - yet?)

[kevincol] and the last question would be how many people also own any type of BD player?

[RonEpstein] No Blu-Ray

[Gary] No

[AaronSchneiderman] PS3 60G just purchased friday

[Yumbo] NO PLANS FOR BD

[ChrisS] PS3 owner

[DaveMoritz] Currently saving for a Panasonic

[Efrain_Lopez] No Blu-ray (and no plans)

[DaveMoritz] 13 BR Titles so far, 37 HD-DVD

[kevincol] excellent!!! Thanks for the feedback.

[RonEpstein] Okay, the two final questions for this evening....

[Gary] Hi Kevin, thank you for your time. Can we read anything in to Universal's relative silence on titles at CES?

[kevincol] Universal announced "The Good Shepherd" and "Babel" They have a slew of titles that will be coming out in 2007.

[Bits Editor's Note - Babel is a Paramount title, coming on 2/20 on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc.]

[Gary] I think we were expefting a lot more!

[kevincol] I have seen the list and it is very impressive, so there is nothing bad going on with Universal. you will be happy with what will happen in 2007! :)

[Gary] Very cool. Any word on Jaws?

[kevincol] I have not seen Jaws being tossed around for 2007, but even the information that I have changes on a month to month basis.

[Yumbo] just a reminder: don't forget the Universal title request feedback contact please! imdvd@ifiji.com or post on HTF, thanks!

[RonEpstein] Parker and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Collins for his time this evening.

[kevincol] it was a pleasure speaking with fellow HT enthusiasts!

[ParkerClack] We also thank Kevin's wife for putting up with this chat while at the same time moving into a new home.

[Cees_Alons] With HD one feels like in 1997 when DVD first came to our homes: it's an exciting experience once again. Many thanks to your company, your group and you yourself for participating in that development. Thank you, Kevin, for being here!

[kevincol] you are very welcome!

[RonEpstein] You guys can find more great information at: https://www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com

[RAF] See you again in the 18 wheeler at CEDIA 2007, Kevin. Thanks for everything!

[RonEpstein] We will see you in Denver in September!

[Efrain_Lopez] Thanks, I'll continue to buy HD DVD titles for the time being. Good luck in 2007 with your tour. Hopefully the 18-wheeler promotion continues strong, I know it's gets buzz going in the media.

Session Close: Mon Jan 15 22:00:59 2007

Copyright 2000-2007 Home Theater Forum. Reader may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale or in any way exploit any of the content of transcript, in whole or in part, without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder.

----END----