Retailers make room for Blu-ray

With Warner Brothers jumping on board the Blu-ray bandwagon, studios and consumer electronics manufacturers aren't the only ones starting to think about the end to the so-called war between the two supposed "next-gen" optical movie formats. Retailers, who have consistently said they don't expect to see a serious market as long as both formats are around, are starting to in anticipation of a Blu-ray victory.

Mark Higgins of Trans World Entertainment, which operates more than 800 F.Y.E. stores in the U.S., told Video Business �We are waiting to hear more about what [HD DVD] hardware manufacturers decide to do, but I think one thing we can all agree on as retailers, is that consumer confusion is leading to a delay in buying a format."

He added �They don�t want to buy into another BetaMax. As retailers, we need to simplify things for the consumers as much as we can with merchandising one format. We don�t want to be biased, but that is clearly the direction that high-def production looks to be going.�

Of course not everyone is as confident that a Blu-ray victory is ineveitable, and some companies are hedging their bets to ensure maximum profit from both products.

�We�ve always tried to educate people about what is going on in the two camps,� Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas said. �Obviously, [Warner going BD-only] is the latest news. The �blue shirts� are up to date on the latest developments, but it would be irresponsible to tell them [the war] is over when it�s not yet.�

DVDEmpire editorial director Shannon Nutt added "Although it looks like the writing may be on the wall, DVDEmpire will continue to push both formats equally until our customers show there is no longer any demand for one format or the other.�

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Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 21 Jan 2008 0:12

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41 comments

samshizze

HD-DVD should just give in. Why continue to push a format that is going to lose and become useless? Guess they dont care about the customer very much. Sucks that all those people who bought the HD player for Xbox360 will have to buy a Bluray player in the near future. Good thing I bought a PS3 instead :)

21.1.2008 00:49 #1

_H06_

finally a member i can agree with, i wouldnt be suprised if HD-DVD pulled the plug in one week

21.1.2008 01:07 #2

Bladerz05

lol and jobbs said blu-ray was a failed format not too long ago....hah how about another failed crapple product like the ipod touch. anyways thats off topic, i seriously doubt hd-dvd will become the next betamax just purely for the reason of dual format players, warner will take their side, universal will take theirs, and in the end the consumer still gets there high definition disc

21.1.2008 01:41 #3

ZeusAV

I've noticed many retailers in my local area increasing the size of their BR shelf space at the expense of HD-DVD.

Wal-Mart has almost double the space for BR compared to HDDVD
The same is true for the Hollywood video and Blockbuster in my area
Target has double the space for BR as well
Best Buy and Circuit City still have about the same for each format

21.1.2008 02:16 #4

xtago

I take it this is from a website that uses quotes from an interview?

Because HD-DVD is just about dead in the US market.

This week Blu-Ray did 82% sales compared to 18% HD-DVD sales the sales for HD-DVD have gone down majorly plus a lot of people who bought a HD-DVD player have been returning them in droves.

The Warner Bros market means Blu-Ray owns 80% of the retail market in the US now.
All the Studios in Germany have gone Blu-Ray.
Japan have publicly stated they are Blu-Ray only.
Australia is 95+% Blu-Ray market.

So I'd hardly say there's a format war.

21.1.2008 03:20 #5

hughjars

That headline should read 'High St. retailers make way.....'
On-line retailers have plentiful stocks of HD DVD movies
(which, I might add and in contrast to all the 'fire-sale' BS, they are not selling off particularly cheaply either).

Oh there's a format war alright......you only have to look at the comments of the Blu-ray fanclub desperately trying to talk up their preferred format & talk over anyone else that dares say different.
(what a give-away)

Traditional shops might not have a massive HD DVD presence
(but then again it's all relative, the Blu-ray section in every shop I've ever seen with one is an extremely tiny fraction of the total space compared to the SD DVD section).

But so what?

I, like just about everyone I know (even those with a Blu-ray player) buy on-line these days and save a small fortune and buy where there is always stock of what I want available.

Blu-ray may well be the bigger presence in the old & dying form of retailing but I doubt it matters too much.

HD DVD can be found cheaper and in far wider & bigger stock on-line.

Sorry to disappoint the Blu-ray fanclub but HD DVD will be here next week, it'll be here next month & it'll be here next year and the year after that.
It isn't going away.

Some of the younger members might care to consider this;
2 years into the 1st video tape format wars VHS was pronounced dead
(and by the same people - only then it was Sony's Betamax product).....

......and look what happened there.

21.1.2008 08:11 #6

chaos_zzz

Originally posted by hughjars: That headline should read 'High St. retailers make way.....'
On-line retailers have plentiful stocks of HD DVD movies
(which, I might add and in contrast to all the 'fire-sale' BS, they are not selling off particularly cheaply either).

Oh there's a format war alright......you only have to look at the comments of the Blu-ray fanclub desperately trying to talk up their preferred format & talk over anyone else that dares say different.
(what a give-away)

Traditional shops might not have a massive HD DVD presence
(but then again it's all relative, the Blu-ray section in every shop I've ever seen with one is an extremely tiny fraction of the total space compared to the SD DVD section).

But so what?

I, like just about everyone I know (even those with a Blu-ray player) buy on-line these days and save a small fortune and buy where there is always stock of what I want available.

Blu-ray may well be the bigger presence in the old & dying form of retailing but I doubt it matters too much.

HD DVD can be found cheaper and in far wider & bigger stock on-line.

Sorry to disappoint the Blu-ray fanclub but HD DVD will be here next week, it'll be here next month & it'll be here next year and the year after that.
It isn't going away.

Some of the younger members might care to consider this;
2 years into the 1st video tape format wars VHS was pronounced dead
(and by the same people - only then it was Sony's Betamax product).....

......and look what happened there.

dude sony won get over it

21.1.2008 10:20 #7

iamgq

21.1.2008 10:21 #8

spydah

hughjar's i have to give it to you. You have stuck to your guns on this. If nobody havent told you definitely have a future as a reporter or news caster of some sort. But on to the topic. I have been to about 7 stores over the weekend in my area and all of which have tried to sale me Blu-ray stuff. I asked 2 of the sales reps what did they prefer they all said Blu-ray. They agreed with most people on here about HD-DVD being a dying source for HD movies. I think they should stick with the plans to sell HD-DVD movies via download. Thats a market they may be profitable in if they market and sell it at a good price.

21.1.2008 10:30 #9

vinny13

21.1.2008 10:59 #10

OhCrap

21.1.2008 11:30 #11

llongtheD

Its kinda fun to listen to all the sony/PS3 fanboys go on about Blueray now. These will be the same idiots complaining when they can't make "backups" of their movies, or when they find out their player isn't compatible with one of Sony's latest "protection schemes." HD DVD is dead, I'll agree with them there however. Congrats guys, you picked a format that will limit your rights as a consumer.

21.1.2008 11:38 #12

NexGen76

85:15 Nielsen/VideoScan Weekly Sales Numbers
Nielsen/VideoScan Numbers ending January 13th

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ques...2008/index.php

WE: BD-85% HDD-15% YTD: BD-74% HDD-26% SI: BD-63% HDD-37%

Looking at the Nielsen/VideoScan numbers & see that its a clear picture that BD is going to be the next media to rival SD-DVD.This isn't anything new retailers have been making extra room for BD since last summer.The numbers spoke the truth thats all they had to look at.I don't see why anyone that backed HD-DVD was shocked. How much clearer the picture could have been ?

Originally posted by llongtheD: Its kinda fun to listen to all the sony/PS3 fanboys go on about Blueray now. These will be the same idiots complaining when they can't make "backups" of their movies, or when they find out their player isn't compatible with one of Sony's latest "protection schemes." HD DVD is dead, I'll agree with them there however. Congrats guys, you picked a format that will limit your rights as a consumer.What reason would anyone have to back there disc up? BD comes with a coating that protect them from scratches & etc.....So whats the reason to backup disc now ? Since BD+ launched BDA only had one issue with two disc which was the first two that launched Fantastic 4:Rise of the silver surfer & Day after tomorrow.Those issues was resolved with firmware a fix since then there have been 22 BD+ disc on the market with no issue what so ever so i guess this put to rest all the BS about BD+ shutting down players which i find a very weak & laughable excuse.

21.1.2008 11:43 #13

DXR88

Heh. DVD had a scrach resistant coating too so did cd's. Whats worse is blu-ray has smaller pits smaller pits mean littler scatches to screw up the disc. back-ups are more important now than they have ever been.

Copy Protection doesnt phase me this BD+ is nothing more than a hardwire protection. people are just afraid of it because software hacks on it wont work. all it means is that. it stops average joe.

21.1.2008 12:36 #14

spydah

Originally posted by DXR88: Heh. DVD had a scrach resistant coating too so did cd's. Whats worse is blu-ray has smaller pits smaller pits mean littler scatches to screw up the disc. back-ups are more important now than they have ever been.

Copy Protection doesnt phase me this BD+ is nothing more than a hardwire protection. people are just afraid of it because software hacks on it wont work. all it means is that. it stops average joe.
I agree there are still plenty of ways around the whole coping issue with Blu-ray and HD-dvd. I dont see it as a issue for myself. I think the more BLu-ray is on the market the easier it will be to use various softwares to backup your movies. Just give it time.

21.1.2008 13:09 #15

NexGen76

Originally posted by DXR88: Heh. DVD had a scrach resistant coating too so did cd's. Whats worse is blu-ray has smaller pits smaller pits mean littler scatches to screw up the disc. back-ups are more important now than they have ever been.

Copy Protection doesnt phase me this BD+ is nothing more than a hardwire protection. people are just afraid of it because software hacks on it wont work. all it means is that. it stops average joe.Your right DVD did have a scratch resistant coating but nowhere near the protection that BD has on it.Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5jEbZt6AIQ

Glad im not the only one that doesn't have a issue with BD+.

21.1.2008 13:29 #16

DXR88

I hope so Nexgen76 There gona need like clear titanium on the back of that thing.

i was sceptical of BD+ at first know i now how it works, what it does
and how to break it. simply put if you go for the level 3 hardware protection turn it off, level 1 becomes crippled useless, then level 2 wich is AACS has been defeated shouldent be no problim.

21.1.2008 13:47 #17

samshizze

I remember reading some interview with Bill Gates. Where he says hes not bothered at all by the fact that HD-DVD may lose the format war. He believes in time, both will be obsolete and everyone will get their movies from downloading at lightning speeds on the internet. Would search for the link, but gotta go to work soon.

21.1.2008 13:54 #18

Bladerz05

21.1.2008 14:53 #19

redux79

At this point the idea of backing up blu-ray is rather redundant. The blank media is too expensive and there are several other stumbling blocks that prevent anyone from copying or playing a copy of a blu-ray discs. The only option in the foreseeable future is to have an htpc capable of displaying 1080p, along with a whole hell of a lot of hard drive space. This in the end stops the average consumer from even attempting to backup blu-ray.

Yes actual physical backups of a movie are important; I never lend out or trust anyone with my sd originals. The same thing goes for cd's if someone wants to borrow one I�ll gladly lend out my backups. Sure enough when my backup is returned there's any combination of soda/yager/potato chip grease and of course the scratches and gouges on what was a spotless clean disc the last time I saw it. Yes you can clean it and it will still play, but you�re still glad that it's not your original.

My point being if and when blu-ray becomes main stream I don't want to have to be an a-hole to my friends that take less than stellar care of their media. Everyone knows someone who has all their dvd's, games, and cd's stacked in random piles throughout their house/apartment. I've fixed dozens of pc/console games, dvd's/cd's with my skip doctor automax, and just as many were beyond repair.

21.1.2008 15:38 #20

_H06_

Quote:Everyone knows someone who has all their dvd's, games, and cd's stacked in random piles throughout their house/apartment. I've fixed dozens of pc/console games, dvd's/cd's with my skip doctor automax, and just as many were beyond repair.well thats why blu-ray has a protective layer, so it wont get scrached that easily

21.1.2008 15:50 #21

redux79

Quote:well thats why blu-ray has a protective layer, so it wont get scrached that easilyEven if the new protective layer is more scratch resistant I'll still be hesitant to lend out originals. I'm not sure if it's the multiple layers or the protective coating but neither hd-dvd nor blu-ray can be resurfaced, it essentially kills the disc completely. Although I highly doubt blu-ray is any more scratch resistant than other media I'll give it the benefit of the doubt until it's been around for a while longer.

21.1.2008 16:08 #22

DXR88

Nexgen76 i watched The YT Vid Not impressed you see. first things first he got 10-15 seconds into the movie then he did some more tests. another thing is he never Scratched The laser Starting point so you would have seen nothing the first 10-i5 seconds into it.

21.1.2008 16:12 #23

OhCrap

Originally posted by llongtheD: Its kinda fun to listen to all the sony/PS3 fanboys go on about Blueray now. These will be the same idiots complaining when they can't make "backups" of their movies, or when they find out their player isn't compatible with one of Sony's latest "protection schemes." HD DVD is dead, I'll agree with them there however. Congrats guys, you picked a format that will limit your rights as a consumer.You can't freely copy dvd's now without have some sort of decryption program like anydvd. So why would BD be any different? There will always be ways to get around drm. I'm not saying it won't be harder since the newer players are expected to have their firmware updated regularly. That's one of the reasons we have sites like this. Studios aren't ever going to sell you a movie on dvd or what ever and say "here do whatever you want to with it".

21.1.2008 17:06 #24

DXR88

HD-dvd used the block by block incryption scheme + AACS

also modding you blu-ray player like a game console doesnt sound to far fecthed at the moment. it may be you will have to do just that. think about it.

21.1.2008 17:17 #25

vurbal

21.1.2008 17:19 #26

ste0087

I think i'll just stick with sd-dvd's for now and wait a couple of years

21.1.2008 17:50 #27

NexGen76

Quote:Originally posted by hughjars: That headline should read 'High St. retailers make way.....'
On-line retailers have plentiful stocks of HD DVD movies
(which, I might add and in contrast to all the 'fire-sale' BS, they are not selling off particularly cheaply either).
Bull. The headline is completely accurate. The story is about what's being stocked in brick and mortar establishments, which is moving further toward Blu-ray on the whole. Online retailers don't have "shelf space" in the retail sense.It really getting out of hand people telling staff members they need to change there headlines.They don't make the news they just report it how it was received.If people got a issue with the headlines they should click the links that are on every article & report it to the source they got it from.

Have anyone seen this rumor right here?

New evidence that Paramount is going Blu?

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/21/new...t-is-going-blu/

21.1.2008 18:16 #28

club42

Oh no blue-ray one. I guess I'll have to take all of my HD-DVD's and go jump off a cliff. Sounds funner than reading page after page of "I told
you so".

21.1.2008 18:36 #29

hughjars

Originally posted by nextgen76: It really getting out of hand people telling staff members they need to change there headlines. - Jeeezus wept but you really have no shame.

Did you do a couple of 'I'm only alarmed & concerned, no really' PMs about it as well?

I didn't "tell" anyone what to do, actually.

I made a comment about how the story only applies to B&M retailers, which is 100% correct.

Originally posted by nextgen76: Have anyone seen this rumor right here?

New evidence that Paramount is going Blu? - Even the Blu-est fanboys on engadget don't think it amounts to much (which is saying something).

Clearly you do (which is also saying something).

21.1.2008 19:09 #30

NexGen76

Originally posted by hughjars: - Even the Blu-est fanboys on engadget don't think it amounts to much (which is saying something).

Clearly you do (which is also saying something).Your right a rumor is a rumor but this rumor has started to take shape because a N4G member made a call to Amazon & this is what they said & on top of that they added two more BD for release.But if its false i don't have any issue with that because i know in a matter of time there going to become BDA members again.

Quote:UPDATE 1: 2 more titles have been added to amazon: Failure to Launch and Freedom Writers.

UPDATE 2: One of the members on this site was helpful enough to contact amazon about the listings and he got the following reply:

"We have checked our website and confirm that the DVDs you are
mentioned are scheduled to release in March.

Our editorial staff are constantly working on increasing the information we provide about each item as it becomes available to us. However, the information currently displayed on the product's information page is all that has so far been made available to us from the manufacturer."There might be something to this....

http://www.n4g.com/industrynews/News-102283.aspx

21.1.2008 19:20 #31

camaro17

well i jumped on the blu-boat, i cant wait to get more blu-rays, picked up sunshine yesterday, and i want to watch it but i gotta study for exams, god damn exams, the hell with them, i got blu-rays to watch.

Peace

98% of America brought sexy back.
If you were part of the 2% that was already sexy,
add this to your sig

21.1.2008 19:27 #32

vurbal

Just for the record, I have no problem with anyone criticizing my work here or anywhere else. When I get something wrong, and occasionally I do, I'll be the first to admit it and make corrections as appropriate. However, I'm equally prepared to defend what I've written.

I haven't taken either side in this silly format war because, quite frankly, neither camp has taken my side. As soon as someone has a product worth buying I'll be ready to buy. Until then I have no qualms about sitting on the sidelines taking potshots at both of them.

21.1.2008 19:48 #33

eatsushi

Here's another one:

Quote:
Major Chicagoland retailer drops HD DVD support

By Mark Raby
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 13:04

Joliet (IL) - Grant's Appliances, one of the top 30 electronics retailers in the US, has joined the growing list of stores that have gotten rid of HD DVD and decided to promote Blu-ray exclusively.

According to a source at Grant's, the entire chain has stopped ordering new HD DVD supply, and the existing inventory has already been depleted.http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/35721/117/

22.1.2008 16:47 #34

hughjars

Originally posted by nextgen76: Have anyone seen this rumor right here?

New evidence that Paramount is going Blu?

" target="_blank">http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/21/new...ng-blu/

- No, it isn't.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/23/ama...ed-erroneously/

23.1.2008 13:50 #35

FredBun

both overpriced, both suck at that price.

27.1.2008 07:41 #36

Nephilim

Quote:both overpriced, both suck at that price.
You rock Fred :)

27.1.2008 20:23 #37

club42

Maybe Toshiba and Sony should join forces, have major studios switch sides every couple of months, and watch the sheep go back and forth buying which ever one they think is going to win.

28.1.2008 09:29 #38

juankerr

...and another one, this time in the UK:

http://www.t3.com/news/woolworths-blu-ray?=35152

Quote:Woolworths backs Blu-Ray

The move comes after Blu-Ray outsold its rival in Woolies by a massive 10 to 1 over Christmas. The retailer is now the biggest seller of the format in the UK, with sales rising a massive 40% every month.

All 820 Woolworths stores here in the UK will get a Blu-Ray chart, as well as a back catalogue section.

28.1.2008 13:26 #39

glasssd

And CC

28.1.2008 13:58 #40

borhan9

At least now they know wat format to invest in to make profit for each other.

17.2.2008 17:36 #41

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