Major Blow For HD DVD (breaking!)

[jamen4]

AP Exclusive:
Blockbuster to favor Blu-ray HD discs over DVD format
By Gary Gentile / AP Business Writer
Article Launched: 06/17/2007 02:40:24 PM MDT

LOS ANGELES - Blockbuster Inc. will rent high-definition DVDs only in the Blu-ray format in 1,450 stores when it expands its high-def offerings next month, dealing a major blow to the rival HD DVD format.
The move, being announced Monday, could be the first step in resolving a format war that has kept confused consumers from rushing to buy new DVD players until they can determine which format will dominate the market.

Blockbuster has been renting both Blu-ray and HD DVD titles in 250 stores since late last year and found that consumers were choosing Blu-ray titles more than 70 percent of the time.

"The consumers are sending us a message. I can't ignore what I'm seeing," Matthew Smith, senior vice president of merchandising at Blockbuster, told The Associated Press.

Blockbuster will continue to rent HD DVD titles in the original 250 locations and online, the Dallas-based company said.

The decision was helped in large part by the lopsided availability of titles in Blu-ray, Smith said. All major studios except one

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are releasing films in Blu-ray, with several, including The Walt Disney Co., releasing exclusively in Blu-ray. Only Universal Studios, which is owned by General Electric Co., exclusively supports HD DVD.
Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., and Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Viacom Inc., release films in both formats.

"When you walk into a store and see all this product available in Blu-ray and there is less available on HD DVD, I think the consumer gets that," Smith said.

The rollout of Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 game console, which comes standard with a Blu-ray drive, also helped give the format momentum, Smith said.

Blockbuster's decision, while significant on it's own, could boost Blu-ray even more if other retailers follow suit.

"It will help shift the balance toward Blu-ray, clearly," said Richard Doherty, president of The Envisioneering Group, a research company.

The North American HD DVD Promotional Group said Blockbuster's decision was shortsighted and skewed by the success of films released by Blu-ray studios in the first three months of the year. The group said HD DVD has since gained momentum, selling more players and popular titles such as "The 40-Year Old Virgin" and "The Matrix" trilogy.

"I think trying to make a format decision using such a short time period is really not measuring what the consumer is saying," said Ken Graffeo, co-president of the group.

The two formats have been battling it out since they both hit the market last year. Studios hope the high-definition discs, with their sharper picture and more room for interactive special features and games, will replace standard definition DVDs.

The formats are incompatible and neither will play on standard DVD players, although standard DVDs can be viewed with either a Blu-ray or HD DVD player.

The Blu-ray camp has been helped by the release of such huge hits as "Casino Royale," ''Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Spider-Man" coming out exclusively in its format.

As the battle has unfolded, the price of the high-definition players needed to show the movies has plummeted. Toshiba Corp., the major supporter of HD DVD, is selling its player for $299 with a rebate, down from $499 when it first went on sale.

Sony, which is pushing Blu-ray, recently slashed the price of its player by more than half to $499. The player retailed for $1,000 when it first was introduced.

[elviento]

Umm.. great?

Heh.. I always used Netflix over Blockbuster Video.. but this can't be a good thing for HD DVD.

[Roshan]

wow this main impact is the

Blu-ray format in 1,450 stores when it expands its high-def offerings next month

talk about genearal knowledge or blu-ray becoming more common place

[ack_bak]

Wow. This is pretty big news. I think this is a pretty big blow to HD DVD and may help some people that are on the fence decide. Many people like to still rent movies from their local video store over places like Netflix.

Those are also a lot of lost sales for studios. Those are a lot of Blu-Ray copies that we being sold exclusively to Blockbuster...

I hope this mens Blu-Ray movies are coming to my local Blockbuster soon

[Space_Butler]

This will only cause more people to go to Netflix who want to watch HD-DVD's. If they want to cut HD-DVD out of the loop, that's their perogative, but it means many customers will simply shift over to Netflix. It sounds like they're fine with that, so no big deal.

I rent from Hollywood video anyway. I haven't set foot in a blockbuster in maybe 8 years now. Not to take anything away from this, just saying this does not impact me in any way shape or form.

[Blu Bear]

At moment; one store in Central Preston you can only get blu ray rentals. But I naturally thought store was not representative of the UK. So I amassuming same apply to UK.

Blu Blockbuster will not convince any studio to ditch Blu Ray.

[ack_bak]

Originally Posted by Space_Butler

This will only cause more people to go to Netflix who want to watch HD-DVD's. If they want to cut HD-DVD out of the loop, that's their perogative, but it means many customers will simply shift over to Netflix. It sounds like they're fine with that, so no big deal.

I rent from Hollywood video anyway. I haven't set foot in a blockbuster in maybe 8 years now. Not to take anything away from this, just saying this does not impact me in any way shape or form.

Good point regarding Netflix. I doubt they will choose sides as their CEO sits on the board for Microsoft.

But I can see Blockbuster's point. Both formats are expensive and are niche formats and Blu-Ray was capturing 70% of their rentals. Stocking both formats in almost 1500 stores seems crazy right now. When you factor in the PS3 trojan horse, it seems like a smart decision.

[elviento]

Originally Posted by Space_Butler

I haven't set foot in a blockbuster in maybe 8 years now. Not to take anything away from this, just saying this does not impact me in any way shape or form.

LOL!! Same here ;P

I stopped renting from Blockbuster almost a decade ago... and this will not affect me either, but I still think this could be sending out a message to J6P and the people who are not internet savvy that rent at B&M stores.

[Roshan]

blockbuster is still the biggest B&M renter?

[1080p]

My neighborhood Blockbuster had HD DVD and BD disc for rental since the end of December of last year and I never see anyone interested in either of them.
They also never seem to get all the new releases for either of them.

So I just rent them on-line anyway

[Delta88]

Bad news for hd-dvd.

[1080p]

Originally Posted by Delta88

Bad news for hd-dvd.

I don't think so, It may just turn out to be another game system they stopped carrying

Cool Frank Zapper avatar

[Roshan]

Realy the hd-dvd needed some good news this is not what they where hoping for. I know blu-ray need cheaper standalones (which should be coming). But with nothing much to look forwards to. What does the hd-dvd future hold (not including movies) that makes it better or gives it an advantage?

[polyh3dron]

Megaton Death Blow!

Spin away, HD DVD faithful!

[HomeTheatreFreak]

Originally Posted by elviento

LOL!! Same here ;P

I stopped renting from Blockbuster almost a decade ago... and this will not affect me either, but I still think this could be sending out a message to J6P and the people who are not internet savvy that rent at B&M stores.

Ditto, its been well over ten years since I have been into a blockbuster video store so it means jack to me. I also think that in general this announcment isnt as big as some are making it out to be. The rental business in general is the one in most danger of disapperaing of the face of the earth with on demand taking more and more of the market away every year. With AppleTV now on shelves and MSpushing thier HD on demand like crazy I really do think that while this announcment does have some weight, it just doesnt have as much weight as some are making it out to be.

Again the actual practice of driving to a blockbuster store and renting films is going the way of the do do so its not HD DVD that is in trouble of disappearing but Blockbuster itself.