Blockbuster to favor Blu-ray HD discs over DVD format (1 Viewer)

[JonZ]

I havent been into a Blockbuster prob in about a decade.

 

[ppltd]

Same here. It was a great HD release, before all of the HD and BD BS.

 

[ppltd]

Deleted. Duplicate Post

 

[ppltd]

David, I suppose most of of here know that if it story gives the HD foramt a little plus, you will find a way to comment negatively on it. I personally could care less if you and your buddies don't want to watch a movie on your laptop. Why would you think any one would want to use a Laptop screen as a home theater? But as a traveler, I will be delighted to be able to take my collection with me. Don't like it, don't buy it. No one is holding a gun to your head.

 

[Jason Roer]

David,

I'll second that as a frequent traveler it is nice to be able to take movies with me. I certainly wouldn't watch on my laptop at home though. However, there are many college students who use a laptop or desktop as their sole means to watch a movie while living in dorms.

And as far as why Netflix is probably happy with BB for their decision - well - have you been noticing how many HD-DVD owners or even duel format owners have stated here and elswhere they've either jumped ship, or will jump ship at BB and go to Netflix?

Cheers,

Jason

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

No they won't. Nearly all of Toshiba's laptops feature screens with native resolutions of 1280x800 to 1440x900. Their expensive 'multimedia' laptops have 1680x1050 resolution. I couldn't find a single Toshiba laptop that could support 1080p resolution.

And the number of PS3's hooked up to HDTV's is probably a lot higher than you think, especially going from what MS said the attachrate for the 360 and HDTV's was. (I can't find that exact number at the moment)

Lastly, Toshiba isn't even near the top Laptop seller. Dell, HP and Gateway are the top 3 for 2006 in the US and Dell only ships 3.5m annually. Globally, Acer just replaced Toshiba at number 3 with Dell and HP at #2and #1. HP said they will have a dualformat drive and Dell has their laptops with Blu-ray drives. Acer also mentioned having both BD and HD equipped laptops but that was over a year ago. Yet with all these drives coming in laptops I don't think it will much if any affect on the format war, especially when compared to the PS3 which is a full featured BD player for your home entertainment system.

 

[Paul Arnette]

And have you or they noticed how that will make BB's decision essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy? They're pretty much guaranteeing BB reduces the visibility of their choosen/preferred format to the general public. The real damage that BB decision causes HD DVD is the psychological effect it has on the fence-sitters.

 

[Jason Roer]

I have noticed that and that's why I haven't jumped ship. I will remain at BB and continue with my 3 at a time plan renting HD-DVDs exclusively. I have made a phone call and have sent them an e-mail about the situation stating I was upset at their decision - gave my reasons - and told them I'd be staying with them and showing them there was an HD-DVD market. Hopefully enough people will do the same - enough to make them reconsider their decision. Certainly the 50,000 HD-DVD players sold over the past few weeks will need software.

Cheers,

Jason

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Hey everybody (Doug, Thomas etc.)

I didn't mean to condemn the notion of using a laptop for portable movie-watching when traveling.

Of course. I've watched my share of movies when traveling on my laptop too.

I only meant to poke a little fun at the suggestion (what it seemed in the original post) that putting the HD DVD drive in laptops will somehow affect the outcome of this format war (comparing the sales of PS3s (which people can use for viewing BD in their HT systems) to Toshiba's HD DVD drives in laptops seemed to make this presumption).

 

[John Berggren]

Especially considering that Dell will be loading Blu Ray drives into their hardware, as will Apple. I suspect they have a greater sales base than Toshiba on the computer front.

 

[Jim_K]

Thomas I'm not getting your point, what I'm saying is leaving BB as some kind of statement/protest to them would be ineffectual.

This doesn't contradict my opinion that the BB decision is a big deal in the miniscule world of HD optical (for reasons I previously stated).

On a side note I've used Netflix for almost as long as they have been around so if you go that route they're not bad unless they deem you're getting to many rentals and "slow down" the shipments.

 

[John Berggren]

Of course we're also looking at 1700+ for each blu ray title that comes out, and the same 1700 not purchased on each HD-DVD title that comes out. That's apart from the media attention and visibility. This is assuming that Blockbuster will stock one copy of each Blu Ray title at each store. This is high on some titles and low on others, I'm sure. Considering the copy sales of each HD title of any format, 1700 units is a pretty big bump.

 

[PeterMano]

You know, no matter how many times I read this, its still cracking me up. How could anyone actually believe this could even remotely neutralize the ps3 argument.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I thought I read that all the new Toshiba's with the HD DVD drives would have 1080 screens, but I could be wrong.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

Dell probably has greater sales. I doubt Apple does. With apologizes to the owner of this forum, but Apple is still very much a niche with about 6% of the total computer market.

Doug

 

[Tim Glover]

Same here Thomas. I'm sure BB feels it's doing this in their best interest...just as I felt when I switched to Netflix. I also politely complained to the local BB manager. He was very polite and was also confused about this since HD DVD players were becoming more affordable.

 

[Paul Arnette]

Today I found out my Blockbuster has carried both BD and HD DVDs since November. I guess I might want to consider switching to Blockbuster.

 

[Tim Glover]

 

[DanR]

I know. It's just not going to happen.

 

[DanR]

I love to see people fighting the good fight.

Just get on with it already would ya folks. We are starting to see the writing on the wall...

More to come...