Walmart HD-DVD Impact (1 Viewer)

[Douglas Monce]

And you're right they don't have the lowest prices on everything. They have the lowest prices on things they think will get people in the door. If they decide that HD DVD will get people in the door they will pressure electronics companies and the movie studios to provide what Walmart wants.

I'm not saying that they will do it. In fact I doubt that HD DVD is something they will jump on unless a buyer at Walmart just has a wild hair. But they surely could do it if they wanted too.

Doug

 

[Tim Glover]

Wal-Mart Shopping List:

Milk
Bread
Chips
Cheese
The Matrix HD DVD

 

[Douglas Monce]

you forgot the toaster oven and the 6 pack of Hanes underwear.

 

[Cees Alons]

And that's the problem BD has to face. It only gets support from Warner and Paramount: the same studios that support HD DVD. And Sony of course.

The rest of the "support" does not look too concrete, really. Until today only two or three occasional releases. Which really needs to change if it's supposed to make a difference. The quality is there, the quantity hardly.

(Not speaking of supporting a lossless codec in practice.)


Cees

 

[Winman42]

Hmmm, lots of good points being bandied about. lets remember that Walmart sells a good amount of HD sets. And here in my suburb of LV, my tiny local BLOCKBUSTER rents a nice selection of both HD formats, not to mention Netflix.
They literally have 1 disc of each format for SALE, but have easily 35 different discs for rental, so purchases are not necessary at the moment.
WIn

 

[ppltd]

Retailers like Walmart pretty much have a large control over the manufacturers and distributers. It is the way retail works, especially when you are the largest retailer in the market.

 

[Ron-P]

None of the studios ever were. We all know that if these formats are around for a while they all start to support both, sans Sony supporting HD-DVD. Their loosing money if they don't.

But price is still a huge factor for the average joe adopting these formats, we really need to see prices drop by at least 50% before these formats go anywhere no matter if Wally sells a $99 HD-DVD or Blu-ray player.

 

[Chris S]

Not bad but I think we need to reevaluate your list.

Milk Beer
Bread Beer
Chips
Cheese
The Matrix HD DVD

 

[Dave H]

Cees,

I believe Fox and Disney have released quite a few Blu-ray titles (relative to the total number of all Blu-ray releases) and certainly more than Paramount has released. I haven't done a count on Paramount, but my guess is they are the weakest support to date?

With that being said, I've been quite disappointed in Fox and Paramount, but Disney seems to be doing a decent job with quantity (again, based on the context of overall releases. I wish BOTH formats had more quantity!).

I'm also disappointed with Warner - Blu-ray having been out for almost a year now offically - and we still have a fair number of non BD-J Warner titles still not even announced on Blu-ray. (This, in addition, to some Blu-ray titles not having lossless audio while the HD DVD version does has made me suspicious of Warner's Blu-ray support. I have no doubt they are biased for HD DVD.)

 

[Ron-P]

You mean, like this:



Milk Beer Ale
Bread Beer IPA
Chips
Cheese
The Matrix HD DVD

 

[Cees Alons]

Total of Fox 26 titles (available), only one announced for the next months.
Paramount approx. 32 titles, of which 11 announced for release within 2 or three months.

Paramount's support certainly isn't weaker in this respect.


Cees

 

[Rob_Walton]

are you saying fox have released 25 titles on bd, while paramount have released 21? announced titles can always change as we have seen...

 

[Cees Alons]

Yes.

It could. But Paramount is not in the habit.
The numbers were merely used to reply to the thought that Paramount's "support" was really much weaker, although I subscribe to Dave's remark that Fox and Paramount are a bit disappointing.

(Where's The Godfather in HD? )


Cees

 

[Rob_Walton]

has it ever been broadcast in highdef? it's been a while since i last watched it, but there were a number of stock footage shots which might be slightly jarring when set against the (at the time) freshly shot film. even in sd (pal) it wasn't too clever, though i love the film inspite of these little blemishes.

back on topic, it would be foolish to think walmart selling cheaper hd dvd players wouldn't have an impact on the us highdef format battle. how much of an impact will be determined by when they are released, how much they sell for, and what other players on either format have been released in the meantime. kinda feel like i'm stating the obvious, but what ya gonna do!

 

[Dave H]

How about Disney?

Still, based on what's actually available on the shelves today, Fox is ahead of Paramount.

 

[Rob Young]

And don't forget Fox titles are priced too high. Basic catalog titles at 28 bucks a pop at Amazon? Please.

I like the quality of the discs I have but IMO Fox is by far the worst of the studios releasing on these formats.

 

[Pete T C]

Not sure if this was the linked HTF front page article the OP referred to, but if not...

Wal-Mart Names HD DVD the Winner

http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback184.html

Snippet:

 

[BrettB]

You left this part off...


What's that saying about candy and nuts and having a Merry Christmas?

 

[John Berggren]

Still looking like the translation might be inaccurate. Probably don't want to hold our breath while we wait for a solid story on this.

 

[Ron-P]

No matter what Wally does Blu will not just roll over and die, not this far into the game. If this happens it will be interesting to see what Blu does to counter attack. Still, Wally does not have the power to make a format win, or lose.

The HD-DVD software needs to be priced 50% less then it is now before the majority of Wally shoppers start buying, that is what will drive this format to the finishing line, not low cost players. Most of your Wally shoppers aren't there to spend $25 on a movie, they can't afford it.