Europe's online source of news, data & analysis for professionals involved in packaged media and new delivery technologies
An industry executive speaks
In a series of Q&As, professionals in all facets of the packaged media industry share their views of things past, present and yet to come. It' the turn of PANOS BIDAS, General Manager of Authorwave Creations, based in Athens, Greece.
Where do you see your company's comparative advantage or uniqueness in this crowded marketplace?
We always target clients' demands, being first to provide new services based on the latest technology, priced as competitively as possible.
Amongst the range of services you offers, which one grew over the past two years and which one diminished?
We experience a small growth in blu-ray authoring as the DVD authoring business keeps declining.
The non-home entertainment, corporate market is very substantial as far as DVD is concerned, rarely mentioned in statistics. Do you service this market segment as well?
We are not providing services for that area yet as there is not a big market here.
One hears alarmist opinions about the rapid demise of packaged media in the face of online delivery. What is your view as to how long discs will be around? And how to you plan this transition?
I believe that packaged media will never stay out of the picture as CDs and even vinyl records still exist. But online will surely become dominant in the next ten years - at least in major markets as the US and Western Europe. We are planning to keep providing subtitling and encoding services for packaged media.
The unexpectedly rapid fall in price of Blu-ray discs, early in the commercialisation of the format, makes the economics of BD replication and authoring very challenging, especially in view of the heavy investment required. What needs to happen to make it a viable, long-term business for independents?
To be a long-term format - at least in Greece - independents must invest in cheaper software and use HD material from files or HDCAMs in order to reduce the costs.
Do you think Blu-ray discs will eventually replace DVDs completely or will they only partially replace them, becoming a niche, albeit big?
For home entertainment in the next ten years I think DVD will be replaced by online SD content or HD and Blu-ray.
Do you see the arrival of 3D as the shot of adrenaline the Blu-ray disc format badly needs to progress in the market, or do you think consumers will make a success of Blu-ray irrespective of whether 3D develops?
3D is another marketing trick in order to sell new equipment and make major companies richer. I do not think 3D is well standardised and it has a lot of problems to be solved until it successfully enters the home entertainment. The high definition quality by itself can be the USP for Blu-ray and make the difference from DVD.
Do you think 3D is here to stay or consumer interest in stereoscopy will be temporary?
To stay or not to stay, that is a question for the 3D manufacturers that cannot decide whether to go for a system with glasses or without glasses.
Do you think the consumer take-up of 3D depends on the arrival of glasses-free autostereoscopic systems. If yes, how many years do you believe consumers will have to wait for a high-quality glasses-free system to match the existing shutter glasses 3D solutions?
For me glasses are a big drawback. If there were glasses-free TV system then, yes, Blu-ray will have another strong card compared to SD and DVD.
Diversification is claimed to be the best way of staying afloat in the face of market uncertainty. How do you see your company's range of services evolving over the next 2 to 5 years?
We are adding new services and we will keep strengthening our presence in the next five years as the local market is getting smaller and new markets must be approached.
Contact: www.authorwave.com
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On predicting the future
Predicting the future, let alone the future of packaged media, is a perilous exercise, and possibly counter-productive, as the exercise closes doors rather than keep them open, argues JEAN-LUC RENAUD, DVD Intelligence publisher. Consider that: Apple was left nearly for dead 15 years ago. Today, it became the world's most valuable technology company, topping Microsoft.
Le cinéma est une invention sans avenir (the cinema is an invention without any future) famously claimed the Lumière Brothers some 120 years ago. Well. The cinématographe grew into a big business, even bigger in times of economic crisis when people have little money to spend on any other business.
The advent of radio, then television, was to kill the cinema. With a plethora of digital TV channels, a huge DVD market, a wealth of online delivery options, a massive counterfeit underworld and illegal downloading on a large scale, cinema box office last year broke records!
The telephone was said to have no future when it came about. Today, 5 billion handsets are in use worldwide. People prioritize mobile phones over drinking water in many Third World countries.
No-one predicted the arrival of the iPod only one year before it broke loose in an unsuspecting market. Even fewer predicted it was going to revolutionise the economics of music distribution. Likewise, no-one saw the iPhone coming and even fewer forecast the birth of the developers' industry it ignited. And it changed the concept of mobile phone.
Make no mistake, the iPad will have a profound impact on the publishing world. It will bring new players, and smaller, perhaps more creative content creators.
And who predicted the revival of vinyl?
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