Walmart HD-DVD Impact (1 Viewer)

[Paul_Scott]

Look, I'm an HD DVD supporter- and would love to see that format thrive for the next ten years- but what seems to be eluding most people is that just having cheap players on the shelf is not enough.
They have to sell- and for that to happen, there has to be an apparent need in the Wal-mart shoppers mind for it.
If people here think that need is going to suddenly occur because there is a cheap player out there...well, good luck with that.
I just don't see it happening.

It certainly ups the chances that someone, with little to no previous enthsuasim for high fidelity a/v, will take a chance with the technology- but even then, that doesn't mean they will be transformed into consistent HD software purchasers.
I can just see one of these people now-
"y'know we just spent $200 to buy into this so-called High definition, and yet the movie looks even nosier in HD than my old $5.50 dvd does. Screw this, I knew it was a sham all the time."

More likely, the biggest impact this will have is with former Bd-only users, who decide to go neutral since the other side is now well within the realm of an impulse purchase, and Universal won't look to be going neutral anytime soon.
That I can definitely see happening, as I think the die-hards on both sides will become a distinct sub-minority in the future.

 

[Rob_Walton]

rob enderle? eek! the very same fella who's been predicting victory for one side or the other every couple of months it seems over the last year? as i remember it he last came out saying bd was going to win after their sales advantage was first revealed. the guy's shameless!

 

[Shane Martin]

this is walmart we are talking about. It's natty light, natty light, chips, cheese, matrix hd dvd(pan and scan of course)

 

[Tim Glover]

That article linked by Pete seems a bit heavy handed though. I think he also made some comments back in December that played out in opposite direction from Jan-Mar. ...

I think rabid fans should be more cautious...just like the premature BDA announcement in February, "Blu-ray Wins: War Over"...and this one, while not from the HD DVD group, could turn around and make him look like a complete idiot and won't be writing anymore.

My old football coach once told us..."It's never as bad as it seems or as good as it feels".

The one thing that does seem clear with Wal Mart's presence is that both formats are going to co-exist until either they join forces (unlikely)...or it becomes so evident that one should drop out. With manufacturers behind these formats and some very large egos....this is going to get even more interesting.

 

[Ryan-G]

I don't know, that all depends. I mean realistically, we're not talking the upper-middle-class and above market here, so the Wallmart market isn't guaranteed to have bought an HDTV. OTOH, advertised affordable prices might bring in those with HDTV's.

I dunno, I'm sticking with a driving force for Uni-Players. IMO, this goes both ways as far as selling those units, and I think it'll encourage purchases from people on the fence.

__________________________________________________ ______________

As far as Wallmart dictating terms goes, especially to Sony, that's pretty far-fetched. Wallmart's no major presence world-wide, and Sony's certainly not going to sacrifice the entire global market for Wallmart. Especially since Wallmart's primary demographic is the one least likely to own an HDTV. Maybe in a few years, Wallmart might have leverage when HDTV has an installed base down into the lower end of the market, but right now? It's kinda like the Dollar Store dictating terms. Sure alot of people go through those doors, but people that cost-conscious aren't likely to have alot of HDTV's yet.

Wallmart dictating terms hurts them alot more than Sony. Sony can happily shrug and stop shipping PS2 games to them. The installed base is already there, people will just head up to Best Buy or EB. Considering the video-game market's in the billions, I'm not real sure that's a gamble Wallmart wants to take.

Dictating terms to Fox and Disney could prove extremely difficult as well. Wallmart would have to be selling an enourmous amount of Players and Movies before they could consider approaching them considering those two studio's primary issue is Piracy. Taking greater piracy risks for low sales in HD-DVD isn't going to go over. Once again, Wallmart hurts itself more than anything else by threatening to stop carrying titles, people will go to a different store to buy those titles. Few people will shrug and say

"Well, Wallmart isn't carrying Pirates of the Caribbean 3, I don't want it then."

It's more likely those people will complain to management about not carrying it, and then go to another store, becoming annoyed with Wallmart.

Wallmart's big, and Wallmart sells alot of stuff, but Wallmart walks a thin line. Wallmart needs products to sell, and threatening product providers may very well have them walk away knowing people will go elsewhere to buy it, leaving Wallmart with less sales and facing upset Shareholders.

 

[Harpozep]

I was there today and bought Night at The Museum BR. Six bucks cheaper than BB, and I really don't care for either store, but they have put all the other places out of business that maybe would have been contenders in the HD arena.:frowning:

Anyway, The usual Wal Mart shoppers were there buying SD DVDs and making sure they got Full Frame :frowning: . Some of these folks had widescreen TVs and simply stretch the image to fill the screen

They do not want black bars on their TVs and find widescreen to often have black bars even on their widescreen TVs . They want the real estate they paid for FILLED with image. They do not care if it is distorted or if something is missing because of their choice. They simply want the screen filed.
Or as I say, "No pixel shall go unpunished!"

I have been trying to educate folks like this for years in my video store. Most will never "get it". I can't see some of these folks ever really understanding all this home theater stuff. They just want TV, and a big one at that.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Walmart shoppers buy $20 DVDs all the time. I don't why they wouldn't pay a few dollars more for an HD DVD, come to think of it $20 is what I pay for HD DVDs now. And at my walmart the only thing in the bargain bin are spanish language films.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

I think your underestimating Walmart shoppers. They are not all lower middle class. Where I live there is a Walmart in North Scottsdale (the Arizona equivalent of Beverly Hills) Every time I go there it's BMWs and Lexus cars in the lot. And if all their customers were in the lowest tax bracket they wouldn't be selling $2000 HDTVs. By the way Walmart is the largest seller of HDTVs in the U.S.

Also Walmart has retail outlets in almost every major country in the world. In England Walmart is called ASDA and they employ 150,000 people there. Walmart is the worlds largest retailer.

I doubt seriously that Sony would want to lose about 40% of its market by saying no to Walmart. We aren't just talking about DVD players and movies. We are talking about head phones, cd players, alarm clocks, cameras, everything with the Sony name on it.

Again I'm not saying that Walmart would ask Sony to release their films on HD DVD, but they surely have the power to do it if they wanted too.

Doug

 

[Cees Alons]

Perhaps they are planning to give a free HD DVD player with the more expensive HDTV's.


Cees

 

[Edwin-S]

To my shame, I have visited Wal-Mart a few times. Disc prices at the one I went to are not much different than disc prices at the local Future Shop. In some cases the Wal-Mart price was actually higher than at Future Shop.

 

[ppltd]

Doug, add to that one Hennesey Auto worked 300C in that parking lot. (My car). My woman lives on a arce in a 5000+ sq ft home in Scottsdale and makes me take her weerkly to that Walmart (I am assuming you mean the one on Frank Lloyd Wright and the 101). At any one time, he combined salaries of the shoppers probably comes close to the gross national product of some small countries.

 

[Jerome Grate]

What's interesting about that comment is that can actually happen. The impact would be phenomonal.

 

[Tim Glover]

Circuit City is already doing this now!

They are packaging a 50" Toshiba DLP with an HD-A2 and Installation by Firedog for $1499!

And they are also advertising $200 off of any Toshiba HD DVD player with the purchase of any Toshiba TV or HDTV!!!

Which brings the price of an HD-A2 to just $199...

 

[Chris S]

Adding more consumer confusion here too by placing Night at the Museum (Blu-ray title) as though it's playing on the HDTV with the HD-DVD player. :rolleyes

 

[Chris S]

Walmart needs Sony almost as much as they need Walmart. Sony is a highly recognizable brand which almost all Walmart shoppers would know. An unknown Chinese manufacturer would probably not have the same sell through power for them and people would likely shop elsewhere for those type products. Walmart is definitely not about to lose any sells they know they could make otherwise.

 

[Todd H]

You caught that too. As if consumer confusion wasn't bad enough.

 

[BrettB]

LMAO at Night at the Museum in the ad.

 

[Dave H]

The thing about Walmart is they do have the ability to sell HD DVD software at low prices with the their buying clout if they really choose to push HD DVD. As of today, I just can't see Walmart shoppers paying $20-30 for titles in HD which can be purchased in the $4.99 bin on SD DVD.....$200 HD DVD player or not.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Each Movie title, regardless of the media it is on, is a monopoly business. We home theater enthusiasts in our excitement over new technologies sometimes forget, that it is movies that we ultimately watch and cherish, while the media and or equipment used to display the movie is only secondary and it's importance is only limited to ensuring the best possible presentation. Thus even if Walmart shoppers had a 99% market share of movie sales, if one wanted to watch Spiderman, then the only way to do so is via a Sony/Columbia disc, be it DVD or Blu-Ray. Thus Walmart needs Sony as much as they need Walmart. Hypothetically if Walmart and Sony/Fox/Disney stopped doing business with each other, intially the studios will lose potential impulse and other sales of individual movie titles but in the long run Walmart will lose all of the business that they would have generated from titles like Spiderman/Cars and dare I say Star Wars. I would be willing to bet my life on it that Walmart would never be stupid enough to not carry Sony/Fox/Disney titles. Doea anyone really think if Walmart refused to carry the Blu-Ray discs of these studios that they would continue to supply Walmart with SD DVD versions of their movies. I think not.

 

[ChristopherG]

Sorry Sanjay, I am not intentionally picking on your posts. I haven't seen where Wallymart was planning to not sell BR discs - where did you see this news?

I am pretty sure that Wallymart would continue to sell BR discs even if they are selling "only" HD DVD HW.

Also - I think that if Walmart chose not to sell BR discs that they will continue to sell as many of the SD discs as they do now regardless of studio. Sony/Fox/Disney are not going to miss out on the thousands (tens of thousands?) of potential SD disc sales for the few hundred that BR is going to have initially.