Adimike

One Man's Indie Question #2

Hi, again,

It's been a busy week. I've earned a promotion at work, and am now the GM of the TLA stores, and my dad has been really sick. But, I promised I wouldn't flood the forum with questions, and frankly, I'd much rather read your responses.

In response to Question #1, I received some honest, but not entirely unsurprising answers, but the one that I found most interesting, because it is at the heart of any such effort to effect change, and I agree with is what Raul said in his post, and I quote...

I really believe that EDUCATION is the target both EMA and the iDEA group should be pointing their guns at. An ad campaign in the mainstream media, not just the specialty and high end video magazines coupled with "tech" segments in various talk and news will help you accomplish this.

Education is the answer here, not just a sales pitch. Education has detail and knowledge attached to it; sales pitches tend to be loud and slightly annoying. Indie video stores, especially those who have been around for years, are a great source of knowledge, and tend to lean to the side of sharing info and discovery, rather than the old "What's New, What's Good".

To that end, how intense should an education effort be? Remember, a customer who asks us to fill them in on new technology, is the same as the person who comes to this forum for answers; they don't wany any bullshit, and they wnat the razzle-dazzle to come from the HD or BluRay, not from the clerk.

Remember, also, that we would have time to educate them, but not unlimited time. To that end, what suggestions would you offer up to an indie retailer to educate their customer, as well as educate the people in their neighborhood, city, state? Should the education be one-on-one, or should the format do the talking? How keyed up should any printed materials be? Should the focus be a case of "which comes first...chicken and egg", in this case, the format or the content available and in the pipeline. And to that end, should the education be aimed at one particular format, or are we far enough away from a resolution of the "format wars" that the concept of a Hi-Def DVD player should take precedence over a specific format.

After all, we are also competing against VOD, digital downloads, etc, so is it a case of making sure that we keep them coming into the store, and just be prepared for any coming shift in the Hi-Def marketplace?

Thanks in advance,

Adrian

Adrian Hickman
IDEA Member
TLA Video, Philly

Raul Marquez,MD

Re: One Man's Indie Question #2

Adrian,

My two-cents here is as follows: (and I know this will sound somewhat radical)

DON'T SELECT ANY HIGH-DEF FORMAT AT FIRST!

Just focus on how great HD looks and sounds compared to standard definition DVD's. Make sure that Joe consumer realizes that the BEST image he's going to get for that new HD TV set he just bought will be using a High Def player (of which he will have two choices so far: BR and HD-DVD). GREAT IMAGE and GREAT SOUND was the MAIN REASON, at least IMHO, what made consumers move from VHS to DVD (and to some of us from Laserdisc to DVD).

Also, it would help if the price of Hi-Def discs was lowered, at least in this early stage. I know immediate corporate greed would be against this idea, but I feel that it would be to their advantage in the long run.

Again, just my 2 cents....

Cameron Yee

Re: One Man's Indie Question #2

I think there's a lot of confusion out there, and as one publication has done (I believe Popular Mechanics) attacking the myths or misconceptions would be helpful for people. I keep thinking of the woman from the EMA panel who thought that having a HD display made everything going into it HD, along with that stat that was getting thrown around that most people don't have HD programming and don't realize they don't!

Dan_Ohio

Re: One Man's Indie Question #2

Adrian,

I agree with Raul. I would suggest showing the difference between high def DVDs and DVDs. This could be done on a high def dvd and could be used as a training video. Here would be my suggestion on content:

1) Show the difference in video quality versus DVD(explain 1080i versus 1080p)
2) Show the difference in sound versus DVD
3) Show the difference in menus versus DVD

Now you have them and now it is time to give them the facts on the different formats

*** Forgive me if these are not accurate. I still have not found a good article with the differences and is updated.

4) HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray
4a) What is the same
4a.1) same supported video
4a.2) same supported sound
4a.3) both use the blue-laser technology
4a.4) both upconverts DVDs
4b) What are the key differences?
4b.1) Manufactures supporting HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray
4b.2) Studios supporting only one format HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray
4b.3) Disk capacity difference
4b.4) Current content differences HD-DVD flipper disc for extra cost
5) Recommendation
Decide what are your priorities and future plans
-- specific movies/studios
-- Plan on buying Playstation 3 or Xbox 360
-- specific manufacture
-- Are you going to hook up your player to the internet? HD-DVD content may require high speed internet access

By being up front on the facts will make your customers feel like you did not persuade them a specific way. I would not be happy if someone recommended an HD-DVD player and I planned on buying Disney movies.