Video Game Empire

(ps: It’s been a long time since the update has been broken, and I don’t even have the feeling of coding! After sitting for a whole night, I wrote and deleted, and then I wrote 2,000 words like squeezing toothpaste. Sorry! Fight for it to explode in the last seven or eight days of this month!)

Akio Morita and his Sony thought they had found the right development path and wanted to take the lead in the competition by integrating content "software" and electronic "hardware".

But the actual effect of this approach is actually very limited. Even if Sony acquired Columbia Pictures, there are still MGM, Paramount, Warner, Universal, and Disney.

The original Lianmei Company of the Eighth High School was acquired by MGM and died out in 1981, but Hollywood has a bunch of second-tier film companies such as Summit Entertainment, New Line Pictures, Lionsgate Pictures, Miramax Pictures, etc. Hope to add to the first tier.

Therefore, even after Sony annexed Columbia Pictures, although it can obtain the copyright of nearly 5,000 films, including some classic Oscar-winning films, it is impossible for it to truly control the entire copyright of Hollywood. Just buying Columbia Pictures would cost Sony $45 billion.

Among the eight giants, Columbia Pictures is not ranked high in market value. You must know that the Columbia Film Company in the early 1980s even fell into bankruptcy for a time. Fortunately, the acquisition of Coca-Cola Company brought a lot of cash, 7◆, ww≧w. Only in recent years has it had the opportunity to turn the salted fish over.

Of course, if Sony wants to control the copyright of the entire Hollywood, it does not necessarily have to include all film companies. Not to mention that it would require nearly 100 billion US dollars of funds. The U.S. government and American society will never tolerate such a thing.

In fact, Sony only needs to sign exclusive agreements for video rights with major film companies for a period of time. For example, Oriental Commercial Corporation has previously reached similar agreements with Hong Kong film giants such as Golden Harvest and Xinyicheng.

But the size of the Hollywood film industry is far from what Hong Kong films can match. Revenue from North American video rights generated by new films every year. up to billions of dollars. What's more, this is a long-term benefit, and the price you pay for exclusive copyright is naturally much higher.

In another time and space, the two camps, led by Sony and Toshiba, did vigorously win over major Hollywood filmmakers when they were fighting for DVD standards. The two major alliances have thrown a lot of money to acquire film rights, but neither of them has been able to completely round it up.

As a result, Hollywood, which made a big profit in the video copyright fee in the bidding of the two major leagues, was exhausted and unable to continue throwing money. Immediately came out to mediate strongly, forcing the DVD format of the two camps to be compatible.

The eight giants of Hollywood have already firmly controlled the North American and even the entire Western film market. The situation in the emerging Asian film market is quite different. Although Hong Kong films have swept the entire East Asian market in recent years, Hong Kong film companies have very little control over the market.

Even Hong Kong film giants like Golden Harvest and Xinyicheng do not have strong overseas distribution capabilities. They basically sell their films directly to overseas filmmakers. So the Oriental Commercial Company only needs to pay a little more. It is easy to achieve content monopoly. In the end, the anti-customer is the main one.

And this so-called "slightly more cost" is actually relative to the level of developed countries in Europe and America. In recent years, the production cost of Hong Kong movies has begun to rise, but if it can reach 20 million Hong Kong dollars, it can definitely be regarded as a big production. And if the 20 million Hong Kong dollars is converted into US dollars, it is only 2.5 million, which can only be regarded as a low-cost movie in Hollywood.

The investment of the film company in the production cost is determined based on the estimated box office revenue of the film, and it is necessary to ensure that it can pay back the cost. So although Hong Kong movies sell very well in the East Asian market, its box office is far from comparable to the North American market. You must know that the box office in the entire North American market accounts for almost one-third of the total box office in the world.

But the Oriental Group, which is backed by Oriental Commercial Corporation. It is a world-class electronics giant. An extra payment of 10 million or even 100 million Hong Kong dollars is a drizzle for the Oriental Group. But other filmmakers in Asia do not have this confidence. The Asian market in the 1980s was, at most, a small pond for the Oriental Group after Japan was removed.

It uses mental arithmetic without intention, and it is definitely a crushing effect. Once the potential of the Asian market is developed, it will not be difficult to sell millions of vcd players every year. But compared to the European and American markets with higher consumption levels, this is still insignificant!

At most, vcd is just an appetizer for this feast, and future dvd is the real main course. After all, the European and American markets are the most important markets in the world, and vcd can only be regarded as a stepping stone for Dongfang Group to enter the home video market.

Of course, the barriers to entry in the European and American markets are much higher than those in the Asian market. For example, controlling piracy is a very difficult issue. But Li Xuan's head is reborn with a halo, so naturally there is no way to solve it. Many times he actually just needs to copy the ready-made countermeasures in another time and space.

In order to control piracy, Sony in another time and space deliberately used a partition strategy when formulating the DVD standard. The global market is divided into 8 regions, for example, the United States corresponds to the d1 region, and Japan and Europe correspond to the d2 region. And each area of ​​DVD has different technological standards, such as the configuration of audio tracks and subtitles. In this way, DVD players in each region can only play DVDs with their own corresponding region codes.

Although the vcd standard has just been launched, the upgraded version of the super vcd standard of the Oriental Research Institute has actually entered the later stage of improvement. According to the timetable set by the Oriental Research Institute, the super vcd will be launched in one to two years.

Super vcd will be a transition product between vcd and dvd. Its resolution will reach 350 lines, which is about 100 lines higher than the mainstream video recorders on the market. It will be the pioneer of Oriental Group to enter the home video market in Europe and America ~www.readwn.com~ In the future super vcd standard, Oriental Group, as a responsible international enterprise, will naturally cater to the needs of European and American countries for copyright protection. As for the current vcd, technological progress always takes a certain amount of time!

Of course, objective technological progress has a very limited effect on curbing piracy. In another time and space, in the DVD standard developed by Sony, China is specifically listed as the 6th area to be dealt with separately, but this does not prevent the spread of piracy in China.

Outside the d1 to d8 areas, the great Chinese cottage manufacturers have specially developed the d9 area. The so-called d9 version of dvd refers to the dvd video discs produced by domestic pirate manufacturers based on the length of each official version from d1 to d8 area and re-edited.

For example, later generations of Sony have a technology. If you copy it illegally, there will be jams in many of the passages in the middle. So this requires stitching through multiple versions of the screen. Moreover, the DVD subtitles of the foreign version are in foreign languages, so it needs to be replaced with Chinese subtitles.

Many hardcover DVD versions will also include many scenes and shooting footage that were not available in theatrical releases. What's more, the editing scales in different regions are different, so the content of the film will be different to a certain extent. Based on these rich materials, the cottage factory can even edit the genuine DVDs produced by domestic companies such as Zhongkai and Zhonglu.

So unbelievable things have happened in China. Companies with genuine distribution rights did not choose to make DVDs by themselves, but simply pirated the content already produced by cottage companies! (To be continued.)