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HD DVD Promotional Group offers little resistance to the latest Blu-ray victories

The HD DVD Promotional Group suffered two crippling blows yesterday. Early Monday morning, Netflix announced that it would become Blu-ray exclusive with regards to online high-definition movie rentals.

Monday afternoon, Best Buy announced that while it wouldn't drop HD DVD altogether, it would place more emphasis on Blu-ray and heavily promote that standard.

"Consumers have told us that they want us to help lead the way. We’ve listened to our customers, and we are responding. Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format," said Best Buy President and Chief Financial Officer Brian Dunn.

The HD DVD Promotional Group of course was not too happy to hear about the latest losses in the format war and offered up this rather tame response:

We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward. While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail.

Perhaps the HD DVD Promotional Group doesn't have any fight left. Toshiba already went to great lengths to cut the prices on its third-generation DVD players, but that obviously wasn't enough to stop the shift to Blu-ray. Toshiba's HD DVD commercial during the Super Bowl also didn't help to win over any new supporters.

However, maybe consumers can take solace in the fact that things may be finally winding down in the HD DVD versus Blu-ray battle. Studio support is lining up fervently behind Blu-ray, so the days of finding a high definition movie on HD DVD, but not on Blu-ray, may soon be over.

Early adopters of the HD DVD standard though may just be left with their existing HD DVD library and an excellent upscaling DVD player.

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A choice?
By Chaser on 2/12/2008 1:53:25 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
...while the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail.


Looks pretty grim for HD DVD. Even Toshiba is preparing to accept defeat.




RE: A choice?
By PAPutzback on 2/12/2008 1:57:33 PM , Rating: 1
I agree. I originally thought these two were going to coexist.

atleast I never bought into eather one yet so atleast now when the time coems and the players are affordable I won't have to make a decision.


RE: A choice?
By VoodooChicken on 2/12/2008 2:10:05 PM , Rating: 2
That's a lot of body blows all at once to HD DVD. I used the XBox add-on for an HTPC, so that library got built up before I installed a Blu-ray burner. I've pretty much gone with HD DVD over Blu-Ray if offered the choice on a specific title, but that was before all these other Blu-Ray specs becoming standard. Even now, my HD DVD library runs about 2:1 over Blu-Ray, and the only "dud" I have is probably King Kong which came with the Xbox drive.
I do like special features, and HD DVD got their act together first, so that's probably why I went that route. As for Blu-Ray, I still have to trade in my Pirates of the Caribbean for the fixed disc, and Weeds' menu gives me fits as well. But everything else seems okay. Still not much on "next gen" special features so far though.

THAT'S the only difference I've seen between the formats.

I'm fortunate that I don't feel any buyer's remorse getting as vested into HD DVD as I did. I'll still pick up the Kite Runner on that format when it comes out also. But when/if HD DVD finally dies out, I'm not worried my movies will suddenly stop playing, nor will I replace titles with Blu-Ray if they develop.


RE: A choice?
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 2/12/08, Rating: 0
RE: A choice?
By Owls on 2/12/2008 3:19:45 PM , Rating: 2
Not only that but prices need to come down on the players too. Sadly, not having HD-DVD around to keep prices in check might actually be worse in the long run. I guess we'll have to see.


RE: A choice?
By Denigrate on 2/12/2008 3:23:17 PM , Rating: 3
Yup, because having one standard on DVD's kept the price sky high.


RE: A choice?
By Owls on 2/12/08, Rating: 0
RE: A choice?
By JustTom on 2/12/2008 4:06:59 PM , Rating: 5
For most consumers there is a competing format, standard DVD. At this point very few people care about any hi-def standard. If Blu-ray keeps prices on hardware and software high it will slow down its adoption rate significantly.


RE: A choice?
By MaulBall789 on 2/12/2008 6:19:03 PM , Rating: 5
Talk about dense. Competing MANUFACTURERS are what brings down prices on a common format. The different companies that make bluray players compete against one another to drive down prices.

Competing formats only lead to consumer confusion (disillusion), slower adoption rates for each format, slower market penetration. The quicker you can achieve market saturation the faster the prices come down.

Hey, I wonder why both HD formats combined still only sell a mere tiny fraction of overall video content? Oh that's right. The masses didn't want to buy into either format til there was a winner.

I don't own either format yet. At least now the later adopters can justify leaning in one direction.


RE: A choice?
By overzealot on 2/12/2008 9:02:07 PM , Rating: 2
Or maybe they still run SD TVs, think DVDs are good enough for them, find the price of Blu-Ray players exorbitant etc.

The fact that there are two formats doesn't really factor into most peoples minds, sales reps always say "Blu-Ray is going to win".


RE: A choice?
By Targon on 2/13/2008 8:53:24 AM , Rating: 1
Sales reps are told to push a given product based on profit margin. Blu-Ray players are more expensive, and as such, provide a higher profit margin to stores. Best Buy is good about pushing products that are not necessarily the best for what the consumer wants/needs.


RE: A choice?
By killerroach on 2/13/2008 8:42:24 AM , Rating: 2
And you also seem to forget some basic economics. Blu-Ray is a standard, not a product. With only one standard, it means more companies are competing in the Blu-Ray market, which will only serve to lower prices.

Then again, arguing economic principles on a tech forum is like trying to espouse the virtues of import beer on a college campus... nobody has the background, and nobody seems particularly interested :)


RE: A choice?
By tjr508 on 2/12/2008 9:48:17 PM , Rating: 1
There was never one standard dvd... they just were slightly more similar than the two we have now.

All a BD victory will mean for consumers in the long run is slightly less expensive players than dual players (very slightly) and much more expensive media.


RE: A choice?
By Gyres01 on 2/13/2008 12:08:43 PM , Rating: 2
I agree, there are dozens of choices for almost every product on the market....why are we forced with just one for HD movies?? If I have a choice between a regular dvd player that upscales for 60 bucks or a blu-ray for 400 bucks NO thanks.....call me when it hits 75..........


RE: A choice?
By theflux on 2/12/2008 3:44:08 PM , Rating: 2
quote:

BR needs to hurry up with those damn BR2.0 players.<


You mean hurry up with *another* BR2.0 player. There is already a very capable one that I've owned for over a year.


RE: A choice?
By TomZ on 2/12/2008 4:10:08 PM , Rating: 2
Profile 2.0 players are expected to ship end of 2008. So you must be talking about your plans to upgrade your PS3 when that upgrade becomes available.


RE: A choice?
By SavagePotato on 2/12/2008 4:39:14 PM , Rating: 2
The Panasonic bd-50 is profile 2.0 and will handle every type of audio format including dts-ma.

It is supposed to be out this spring not by the end of 2008, It may even already be out in Europe.


RE: A choice?
By theflux on 2/12/2008 5:14:37 PM , Rating: 2
I am talking about the PS3, and the update has been promised for this year, so I'm feeling really good about my investment. I'm puzzled by anyone who claims to be interested in Blu-ray, but says they are holding off for a 2.0 player. They could buy a PS3 today and start enjoying HDM today. More often then not the people who say they are waiting for a Profile 2.0 player don't have much interest at all, and are just trying to make a cheap shot at the profile issue (which was a stupid one, but has been well covered).


RE: A choice?
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 2/12/2008 5:43:28 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I'm puzzled by anyone who claims to be interested in Blu-ray, but says they are holding off for a 2.0 player. They could buy a PS3 today and start enjoying HDM today.

Or they don't want to purchase a PS3? PS3 is a great option, if I wanted to play PS3 games as well. If I'm just watching Blu-Ray theres no need to buy a PS3 just for that, seems kind of a waste.

quote:
More often then not the people who say they are waiting for a Profile 2.0 player don't have much interest at all, and are just trying to make a cheap shot at the profile issue (which was a stupid one, but has been well covered).

Or I want the same capabilities I currently enjoy on my HD-DVD player?