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Conspiracy theory?
https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=6914		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  allenwrench [ 11 Feb 2017, 02:54 ]
Post subject:  Conspiracy theory?
I recently picked up a lot of about of 150 hd-dvds, after giving each one a test spin I ended up with around 25 titles that wouldn't play. That's almost as bad as the discovision days. So I wonder if that high defect rate might really have nailed the lid on the format. We know what was told to the press. But I sure would of hated to have to tell the stockholders that there was still some technical problems with the discs themselves and expect a high return rate.
Author:  lons_vex [ 11 Feb 2017, 10:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
By coincidence, are all those 25 discs from Warner - made in U.S.A?
There was no technical problem really, there was a problem with
the factory or manufacture process Warner U.S.A. used.
It still could be a "conspiracy" though.
Maybe SONY was somehow involved...
Maybe they even used the same glue they used @ SONY DACD to make those LD rotters...
Author:  allenwrench [ 12 Feb 2017, 05:59 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
Half of them are WBs a couple of Paramounts and several inports manufacturer unknown. As of yet no mint-o-matic fo HD-DVDs.

If you were Walmart and people were returning just the WBs discs over and over again, it would have taken long for you to want to pull the plug, especially when the blu-rays seem to have been just fine.

Of course the flip side of all this is not all HD-DVDs are bad, at least not yet, and they can be had pretty cheaply. Bought a lot of 40 today for not so much. ;)
Author:  dumbchemist [ 12 Feb 2017, 10:22 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
allenwrench wrote:
I recently picked up a lot of about of 150 hd-dvds, after giving each one a test spin I ended up with around 25 titles that wouldn't play. That's almost as bad as the discovision days. So I wonder if that high defect rate might really have nailed the lid on the format. We know what was told to the press. But I sure would of hated to have to tell the stockholders that there was still some technical problems with the discs themselves and expect a high return rate.


You have experienced about a 17% failure rate. I have 37 discs with 3 bad ones. That is about an 8% failure rate. The HD-DVD manufacturers had a high failure rate. At this point in time, us HD-DVD collectors will just have to live it.
Author:  lons_vex [ 12 Feb 2017, 10:37 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
I have one rot HD-DVD in my collection (so far).
It is Blade Runner Final Cut by Warner U.S.A.
I am not checking my other discs all the time, but I could bet some
other Warner titles are not playing anymore either.
Author:  samaron [ 12 Feb 2017, 13:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
The format lasted two years. Not really enough time to iron out any potential "child diseases" with the manufacturing process. As mentioned, Warner seems to be the biggest culprit. I have a 100 or so HD-DVDs, only one have failed. Big surprise, it is a Warner disc. DVDs had issues in the beginning as well. I recall the local retailers used to give a VHS version of the movie as a replacement.
Author:  signofzeta [ 12 Feb 2017, 18:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
What exactly is the "conspiracy" theory here? That they self destructed to avoid paying to replace discs? That's crazy.

I assumed this would be about Sony colluding with studios, which did happen. I don't know how much of it was technically unethical though.
Author:  dumbchemist [ 12 Feb 2017, 20:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
signofzeta wrote:
What exactly is the "conspiracy" theory here? That they self destructed to avoid paying to replace discs? That's crazy.

I assumed this would be about Sony colluding with studios, which did happen. I don't know how much of it was technically unethical though.


I think what the author of this thread is talking about is the conspiracy that manufacturers create products that will fail after their warranty has expired. I don't take any credence in the therory. I attribute it to Murphy's Law.

I inspected my small collection of HD-DVD's and found quite a few with the WB emblem on their back. I guess I will have to play those movies to check for any ones that have turned "bad" since I got them. I have a DVD/HD-DVD combo disc of "300" that the HD-DVD side is unplayable. The DVD side is okay. This just shows that the technology to produce DVD is mature; but, the HD-DVD was still "growing up".
Author:  allenwrench [ 13 Feb 2017, 01:59 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
So thank you for your responses, maybe I should have titled the topic "The Chicken or the Egg".

It just seems crazy that they would pull the plug on a format that had already sold one million players in just two years.



Personally I bought a PS3 back in the day and rented most of my discs, when I started finding blu-rays cheap are started collecting.

About 3 years ago I picked up a hd-DVD player and now I'm 75% happy with the discs I find. :lol:
Author:  happycube [ 13 Feb 2017, 03:50 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
I think the rot issue only became big one HD-DVD died. But it would've been a nail in the coffin if the format war had continued for 2-3 more years.
Author:  signofzeta [ 13 Feb 2017, 05:36 ]
Post subject:  Re: Conspiracy theory?
On occasion there are some products literally designed to fail but on the whole it's almost unheard of. The reason being that usually anyone that obsessed with short term bottom line will be far too cheap to spend extra R&D money trying to build some secret fuse into something. No intelligent company would do it since if something causes the fuse to burn faster for some reason you risk possibly your entire company in the fall out.

In short, the only conspiracy was probably capitalism itself. WB cut the corners too close and the s**t fell apart, that's how it goes sometimes.
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