Wal-Mart To Carry Blu-ray Only, Third Strike Against HD DVD This Week
What a week. With announcements by movie rental company Netflix, Best Buy, and today Wal-Mart, the defections from HD DVD have been coming fast and furious. And with each new announcement of support for Blu-ray, HD DVD's fate appears sealed to become another disc format to join the annals of history.
Calling the current state of affairs for HD DVD a deathwatch is just a formality: That would imply that at some point, the plug will be pulled, and HD DVD will be no more. And indeed, Toshiba--the only volume manufacturer of consumer players--has yet to state outright that it will no longer manufacture HD DVD players (last known word from Toshiba: the company was "re-evaluating" its position).
One has to wonder just when Toshiba is going to make a call that it's lost enough money on the format. In the past, Toshiba has recorded approximately $300 to $400 million dollars per quarter to its HD DVD promotions; in its most recent earnings statement, Toshiba didn't mention anything about its HD DVD-related expenditures.
Just as Warner Bros made the decision that turned the momentum in favor of Blu-ray, Toshiba will ultimately make the decision that makes the call on HD DVD. Toshiba, not the HD DVD Promotion Group, which has for so long been stumping in favor of the format. Because if--once--Toshiba pulls support for the format, effectively, the format is done with. Currently, the dual-format players from LG and Samsung represent a mere 6 percent of the overall market. Microsoft's external HD DVD drive for Xbox 360 is an option no one will need if movies aren't coming out on HD DVD.
Should Toshiba decide to go with a dual-format machine, though, then this mess could drag on for however long Universal and Paramount choose to prolong it. Presumably, as I've written before, at some point market econonmics will require those movie studios to step up and offer Blu-ray Discs, because consumers will want it, and their shareholders will demand it. But those kinds of market economics remain a ways away.
Still, with both Best Buy and Wal-Mart (including the company's Sam's Club warehouse stores) ditching HD DVD, the economics of maintaining HD DVD at all are difficult to justify. Best Buy and Wal-Mart are retail juggernauts: Together, they represent more than 50 percent of the market, and Wal-Mart alone is the world's largest retailer. Without those companies behind a technology, it seems implausible that mass-market consumers will adopt a format.
I hear that the Wal-Mart announcement won't be the last big retailer statement in support of Blu-ray. I won't be surprised to hear more news to that effect in the coming weeks. Nor will I be surprised to see rock-bottom specials on HD DVD titles and players in weeks to come.
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There is still a market for HD DVD just as there is for Mac computers. PC's have over 90% of the computer market,yet Macs are still around. We also have DVD+ and DVD- blank disks. HD DVD is the more advanced format hi-def DVD and has standard DVD on the flipside meaning you can play an HD DVD disk in a standard DVD player if you can't afford an HD player yet. There were no dual format players back in the Beta-VHS war, Today you can buy a Fujitsu,Toshiba or HP laptop/computer with an HD DVD-ROM drive and buy a separate Blu-ray player and have the best of both worlds. Or buy an Xbox with the optional HD player and a Sony PSP with Blu-ray. Or get a Samsung or LG dual format player. But most people I know are content with standard DVD. Just visit any Wal-Mart and see how many people are going thru the bargain bin of standard DVD movies. Standard DVD is still king in sales.
Just my opinion, but I'm beginning to get fed up with companies making technology that is not compatible with older technologies. So everyone who purchased a DVD player recently (home, portable and car) now will have to go out and buy another one to be able to play the Blu ray movies because places like walmart and blockbuster are now going blu ray only and you can't play a blu ray on a non blu ray player (if I understand correctly). I wasn't particularly enamored with DVD's (they scratch, they break, etc...) but dumped my VHS's which worked well,to buy several DVD players , which still works fine, to NOW have to go out and buy a BLU RAY? (so that in 3 yrs someone will make something else that won't play blu ray that everyone will say they only carry so that I have to buy something else. I think I'm becoming AMISH and they can invent all the new things they want to to make us keep buying.
In reaction to StanDup's Comment. The answer is NO you will not "have" to buy blu-ray discs. Blu Ray (and HD-DVD) are formats that outut Hi-Definition Picture and Sound. You only need to use Blu Ray Discs/Players on HD-TVs, because these TVs are able to accept the High Definition signal. If you play a Blu-Ray (or HDDVD) disc on a standard definition TV or monitor, you will notice VERY little difference in picture quality.
Your DVD's will always look and play fine on Standard definition TV's, and there will be a wide selection of Standard DVD's for many years to come.
Wal Mart and Other retailers will still carry regular DVD format discs for years to come, because there is (and will be) a huge demand for standard DVD format.
In reaction to StanDup's Comment. The answer is NO you will not "have" to buy blu-ray discs. Blu Ray (and HD-DVD) are formats that outut Hi-Definition Picture and Sound. You only need to use Blu Ray Discs/Players on HD-TVs, because these TVs are able to accept the High Definition signal. If you play a Blu-Ray (or HDDVD) disc on a standard definition TV or monitor, you will notice VERY little difference in picture quality.
Your DVD's will always look and play fine on Standard definition TV's, and there will be a wide selection of Standard DVD's for many years to come.
Wal Mart and Other retailers will still carry regular DVD format discs for years to come, because there is (and will be) a huge demand for standard DVD format.