The editorial staff of Blu-ray.com was in attendance at last night's Disney release party for
Cars and
Ratatouille. At that event, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment worldwide president Bob Chapek, delivered a stirring keynote aimed directly at backers of rival format, HD DVD while solidly reaffirming the industry's overwhelming support for the Blu-ray format.
Below you will find the complete transcript of Mr. Chapek's speech.
Bob Chapek remarks:
"Thank you very much.
We are extremely proud to unveil for you tonight the amazing Blu-ray editions of
Cars and
Ratatouille as they come at an important moment in the young life of the Blu-ray technology. The marriage of this amazing creative content with the revolutionary Blu-ray technology begins to fulfill the promise of what is possible when Disney Magic is paired with the ultimate next-generation technology. All across the world, almost every single day, we see more and more confirmation that Blu-ray will inevitably prevail as the high definition technology of choice, giving us the technological “palette” to create and recreate some of the greatest Disney movie experiences in an all new medium.
The choice I'm referring to is the choice of many. Let's start with the choice of consumers, where we've seen first hand that they are voting with their dollars amounting to an average ration of 2-1 in software sales in the US… and an even greater margin internationally. The margin is sure to grow as time moves on. Now let's examine retail where the choice is growing increasingly clear as earlier this year major retailers such as Blockbuster, Target, BJ's Clubs, Meijer and CompUSA have all signaled in one way or another… public announcements… shelf space allocation, etc… that Blu-ray is their preferred high definition choice. On an international stage, retailers like Carrefour and Auchon in Spain, Blockbuster in the UK, and Anttila in Finland, are all independently coming to the same conclusion as well. And if that's not enough, the Home Theater Specialists of America, the largest organization of home theater installers, have also named Blu-ray their “exclusive, next generation high definition format of choice.” Lastly, rather than supplying a list of the myriad of impressive film-makers in support of Blu-ray, let me just quote the words of Michael Bay himself, “As a director, my critical eye is that Blu-ray is where my money is…”
Blu-ray's dominance is becoming inevitable for one simple reason: The Blu-ray technology, and therefore the home entertainment experience, is superior. The most innovative and visionary companies in technology and entertainment understood Blu-ray's superiority from the outset. That's why our partners, which number over 170 companies worldwide, have been so committed to Blu-ray, and that is why Blu-ray has attracted such broad-based support throughout the entertainment and technology worlds. The Blu-ray technology is, quite simply, superior to any other high-def alternative because it is a “revolutionary,” not and “evolutionary” technology.
In short, Blu-ray will inevitably prevail because Blu-ray delivers what consumers want: True high definition picture without compromise, the best sound quality, the best choice in content, the most special features, and of course the most disc storage capacity. No tradeoffs. No compromises. No smoke and mirrors.
Finally, Blu-ray will prevail because the people of The Walt Disney Studios – along with our Blu-ray partners will not stand by idly with this revolutionary format, but will instead trumpet Blu-ray's technological superiority to the widest possible audience. Earlier this year, we, along with our good partners at Panasonic, launched the Disney Blu-ray mall tour. Together, we set out to educate consumers across the country to the realities of the world of high definition and I'm proud to point out that we have completed our 11th stop and that we are averaging 10,000 consumer visits per market. These consumers are becoming educated as to what true high definition really is and many are telling us that Blu-ray will be their choice. We are not going to be shy about extolling the advantages of Blu-ray, for we have the facts and consumer preference on our side.
In the end, Blu-ray's competition's attempts to sell less than the best will inevitably be trumped by what we stated from the very beginning: That the Blu-ray disc technology is not a half-step format that will sell consumers short – but rather, it is a revolutionary technology that will change the way we view movies for the long term. And we firmly believe that revolutionary technology, my friends, is indisputably, undeniably and inevitably Blu-ray.
The time is now upon us as an industry to do the right thing for the consumer. That right thing is to stop artificially prolonging this counter-production format war. The consumers are speaking loud and clear all over the world; and their choice in inevitable. It's inevitable that this industry's future, the preferred consumer future, the preferred film-maker future, and the preferred retail future is Blu-ray.
All of us at The Walt Disney Studios thank you again for celebrating the release of two outstanding films --
Cars and
Ratatouille -- on Blu-ray; and we hope you enjoy a great evening! Thank you."