Blockbuster Responds! (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy Conrad]

Link Removed

Blockbuster Responds!
The rental giant has listened to the DVD community's outcry and will begin stocking widescreen DVDs!
2002-01-12
An IGN DVD reader emailed us right before publish tonight with an MP3 attached to their email. The file was a recording of an answering machine message from Blockbuster video about the whole widescreen issue.
I will not post the MP3 here because it contains a phone number of a Blockbuster rep and I don't want to deluge him with countless calls, but here is a transcript of the call:
"...after complaints concerning the fact that we do not carry widescreen DVDs in our stores and I am calling to let you know that we will be changing that policy.
Going forward with the February buy, we will make every effort to buy the widescreen version in addition to pan & scan versions on all DVDs that are released that we are actually buying. "

We did it, we did it! YAY!

 

[TyC]

 

[Steve Felix]

Hope they're actually committed; it would be nice to lift the boycott.

 

[Dave H]

This sounds great. But, like everything else, I'll believe it when I see it my local Blockbuster.

 

[Frank Anderson]

we will make every effort to buy the widescreen version

Shouldn't be that hard to do... I do it all the time.

 

[SteveGon]

Now if only Hollywood Video would follow suit...

 

[David Lambert]

YAY! GOOD SHOW!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

HOME THEATER FORUM IS A FORCE TO BE REKONED WITH!! WE DID IT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, TAKE A BOW!!

 

[Romier S]

Awesome news!!

 

[Bill Crosthwait]

Sweet

 

[John Kilduff]

Direct hit! Victory for OAR!

We know the score!

Sincerely,

John "Full Metal Jacket is on Encore. Great movie!" Kilduff

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Ah yes, I can rent without guilt. At least over widescreen. Now rental pricing, that's a different story.:

(

 

[JasonKrol]

and Im sure if Blockbuster does indeed follow-up on this, then Hollywood (Video) would be stupid not to do the same very shortly after...

 

[Raine Linton]

This is great news! Together we CAN make a difference!

 

[Rob Lutter]

 

[AaronMK]

That would be great. I won't have to drive four times the distance to rent a movie anymore.

 

[AdrianJ]

I'll believe it when I see it. Here is a section of the response that I got from Blockbuster about carrying widescreen DVDs.

The movie studios determine whether or not to release their DVDs in standard (full-screen) or wide-screen versions. It is our preference, and the preference of our customers that because of the versatility and storage capacity of DVD technology, DVDs include both versions on one disc. In the past, when the studios have chosen to release separate standard and wide-screen version DVDs, it has caused confusion amongst our customers. To minimize our customer dissatisfaction, we have chosen to carry only one version of a title on DVD, and our research has shown that more customers prefer the standard than the wide-screen version

To which I say, what research??

 

[Keith Paynter]

Jolly good show!

 

[Scott Strang]

I wouldn't start patting ourselves on the back yet. As good as this news sounds, the real news will be in the months ahead when we do into Blockbuster stores and find more OAR releases.

That response looks more like a "form letter" response with standard BS. If someone were to send a letter to them complaining about there being too much violence in some of their movies for rent, I bet the response would be the same.

We all know what powers Blockbuster; J6P. J6P doesn't want OAR and they don't want to learn any different.

OTOH, I'd be thrilled to see this work in our favor.

 

[Sean Conklin]

That's great news! HTF IS a force to be reckoned with!

Now let's get after those studio's that are putting out the P&S only DVD's!

Looks like we may have won a battle here, now let's keep up the fight and win the war against P&S ONLY releases! I believe eventually we can win this war!