Here in Fredericton, New Brunswick I've noticed the Futureshop and HMV stores have been stocking HD-DVD discs...
I'm surprised to hear you're having trouble finding them in Calgary though, I would imagine retailers out there have them as well. Keep looking, I guess...?
Jason many of us use Amazon.com. I got Serenity, The Thing and Robin Hood for an average price of $21.50 Cdn each. Check out the HD DVD/Blu Ray forum for further details at the Digital Home Canada theater.
Here in Winnipeg, it's relatively easy to find HD DVD and BD tiles. Best Buy, FS, and even Walmart all carry some or all titles. I even found V for Vendetta and M:I III at Walmart (but no players). It seems strange that it would be hard to find HD titles there. I lived in Banff for a year from '94 - '95, and I remember Calgary being a haven for laserdisc buffs. I bought my first player there, and there were two stores downtown that sold and rented almost every title. I even found a Japanese import LD of Pulp Fiction that was available a good 5 months before it was released on VHS. For a town that seemed to embrace upscale home theater products, finding HD media should be a snap.
I should rephrase that, I can find them, it's just such limited supply! I was at HMV tonight, and found very little, the HD-DVD section had maybe 40 titles? When I asked if they planned on getting deeper into the Blue-Ray and HD titles, I may as well have asked if I could punch him in the nuts...... He was completely confused.
Video and Sound that used to be on 4th Ave just off Center is gone, yeah that place had it all. The other one, I belive is called Laser Disc, and it's on 11th Avenue and 4th Street, I forgot about that place. Let' hope it's still there!
Yeah, some places are just clueless when it comes to this stuff. You just have to keep badgering them and buying stuff in hopes that they finally start to get it. They will keep stock if it gets sold.
I'm in Regina, and stock has always been plentiful at the local Best Buy, London Drugs and Wal*Mart. I have yet to find the HD DVD section in Future Shop, and A&B Sound closed down recently. The only real problem was finding an HD-A1, but London Drugs and Best Buy now have them in stock. My resolve is weakening.....
I've been purchasing from Amazon.com and there's is no place in Canada that can beat their prices. Most are $19.99US - 10% off (with the initial buy 3 get 10% off deal) with minimal shipping cost. There are no taxes being charged and are drop shipped so no other charges incurred. I sometimes think they ship from their Amazon.ca counterpart to Canada since I get them 2-3 days after the shipping notification.
So, those of you who are using Amazon are ordering through the .com site, and not the .ca Amazon? I thought that when you go to order through Amazon.com it redirects you to the Canadian site when it finds out your address is not in the U.S. I've looked at the prices for HD DVD titles on Amazon.ca, and I have to say they are pretty crappy. most are the same or much more expensive than buying them locally. For example, the M:I box set is listed on Amazon for $95.99, but Best Buy had it for $79.99. There are a few titles that are slightly cheaper, but not so huge that I would go through the hassle of ordering through them when I can just drive down the street and get the same title right now.
You can order DVD/CDs/HDDVDs/etc through Amazon.com and they will ship to Canada. You can logon using your .ca account to .com and it will use your Canadian shipping information. The electronics, clothing, etc. are not shipped outside the US. I think the items that .ca sells, you can order from .com. Some of the prices on .ca are just ridiculous.
I've been using Amazon.com for my HD DVD purchases, as they have better prices than Amazon.ca. When it comes to SD DVDs, I comparison shop between the two stores. I've held accounts at each store for some time. Sometimes the US version gives the better deal, and sometimes .ca gets the nod. But it's hard to beat Amazon.com for HD DVD prices... except for Superman Returns, where BestBuy.ca had everyone beat.
Here in Saskatoon, I've seen that WalMart has stocked a handful of both HD formats with decent pricing. London drugs has a number of them, but as usual their prices are not too tempting. Future Shop has just a few discs of each HD format out, and they now only seem to carry Samsung's BD player and no Toshiba HD DVD player (maybe because they recently had a big Sony promotion?).