Blockbuster will announce today, Monday, June 18 2007 that it will only carry Blue-ray discs when it expands the operation beyond the initial 250 stores used for a few months in a test program.

Washington, D.C. (June 17, 2007) -- Video rental giant Blockbuster will only rent HDTV DVDs in the Blu-ray format in 1,450 stores next month when it expands its high-def service. That's according to an exclusive report today from the Associated Press. The retailer has tested both formats in approximately 250 stores for the last several months. But Blockbuster officials say 70 percent of the high-def rentals are Blu-ray. (http://www.tvpredictions.com/blockbuster061707.htm also cited on http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=257).

What do you guys think? Is this an important decision that could possibly end "THE WAR"?

It certainly helps Blu-Ray's cause, but having spent the last semester studying it, I get the impression that the format the porn industry goes with will be the eventual winner.

From what I've been told, porn was the reason VHS won out over Betamax way back when, and it may well be the same for HD movies.

Yeah but I've heard good argument against that. The case being that porn is available on the internet these days whereas back then the only real easy way to watch it privately was on VHS. Plus there thousands of titles on VHS and DVD still around.

So that may not be the deciding factor as much as one might think based on the past. Things have definitely changed.

Personally I don't care who "wins" I would just like there to be one format.
But I get this feeling that by the time "the war" is over, there will be a better format/method around.

Yeah, they'll be issuing movies on small "cards" that you'll plug into your HDTV. No more "players"

Maybe I'm onto something. I'd better hurry and patent the idea.

If this is true, I don't understand why they would do this. How does it benefit Blockbuster to limit their rentals to blu-ray only? Don't they want the 30% who rent HD DVD?

Perhaps this is an encryption issue, or Sony's paying Blockbuster?

That said, I don't think it will have a huge impact -- how many people actually go to Blockbuster to rent? Compared to Netflix and the people who rent online from Blockbuster, I'd guess that the number who rent from an actual Blockbuster store is small.

If this is true, I don't understand why they would do this. How does it benefit Blockbuster to limit their rentals to blu-ray only? Don't they want the 30% who rent HD DVD?


Since Netflix and such have beaten on Blockbuster for the past couple of years, I would imagine that this decision is benefiting Blockbuster financially. Sortof like Apple only offering thier new Iphone to ATT/Cingular. There's kickbacks happening somewhere.

All the Blockbusters near me have closed down and moved out over the last 3 years.

If this is true, I don't understand why they would do this. How does it benefit Blockbuster to limit their rentals to blu-ray only? Don't they want the 30% who rent HD DVD?

Because it's easier and saves them money to stick with one format. If they stock both formats, customers are going to expect (and rightly so) to be able to pick up all new-release titles in either format. So that means Blockbuster would have to stock hd-dvd versions of all their new films for that 30%, which limits the amount they can spend on the dominant blu-ray titles and therefore the revenue they can make as a result.

Personally, I'm waiting for someone to bring out an affordable HD player with a universal laser that will handle both formats - whoever does that stands to make a great deal of money. And if dual-format players become the norm, the format war may well end in a draw.

http://mediabiz.blogs.cnnmoney.com/2007/06/18/blu-ray-wins-a-battle-in-the-dvd-format-wars/

Martin also points out that NBC Universal, the media company that is majority owned by GE, is exclusively backing the HD DVD format. Considering that NBC Universal owns thousands of movie and TV titles from the NBC TV and Universal Studios movie libraries, it can probably keep HD DVD alive as long as it continues to shun Blu-Ray.

“NBC Universal needs to switch sides and support Blu-Ray since it is solely supporting HD DVD. If and when that happens, the format war is over,” Martin said.

What do you guys think? Is this an important decision that could possibly end "THE WAR"?

It's a significant blow for HD-DVD, but probably doesn't indicate an end to the war yet. In other news, the BBC series "Planet Earth" is apparently selling better in HD-DVD format than Blu-ray on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/dvd/ref=sv_d_2/002-7271499-1568012

I'm rooting for Blu-ray myself, but I mainly just want to see one format take over so I can recommend it to customers.

It's a significant blow for HD-DVD, but probably doesn't indicate an end to the war yet. In other news, the BBC series "Planet Earth" is apparently selling better in HD-DVD format than Blu-ray on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/dvd/ref=sv_d_2/002-7271499-1568012

I'm rooting for Blu-ray myself, but I mainly just want to see one format take over so I can recommend it to customers.

I was thinking about that since it was released and it could be an indication that HD DVD’s audience is a little bit older than Blu-Ray’s because the majority of their audiences are young Adults who own a PS3.

But there has been much speculation about whether the customers knew what they were buying when they purchased the HD-DVD version of Planet Earth. It has been said on Amazon's message boards that many believed they were purchasing a "high-definition" version that would play on their current DVD player and not necessarily an HD-DVD. With all the confusion in the marketplace with hi-def in general, this seems entirely plausible.

Because of this announcement, I bet NetFlix had an unexpected boost today.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=698317#post698317
Now that would be huge if Amazon were to ever do the same thing.

Netflix (NFLX) is up 1.57% today, Blockbuster (BBI) is up 0.44% so not too earth-shattering. But according to the story in my link above, Blockbuster will continue offering HD DVD rentals through its online service so that doesn't seem like much of a win for Netflix...

http://mediabiz.blogs.cnnmoney.com/2007/06/18/blu-ray-wins-a-battle-in-the-dvd-format-wars/
Blockbuster said it will continue to offer Blu-Ray and HD DVD titles through its online rental store, which has lately made life a lot tougher for top rival Netflix (NFLX).

I don't own either of these stocks (and don't want to :-) and I'm not a customer of either company. But during the past year it looks like Blockbuster is indeed giving Netflix a run for their money...

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=BBI&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=nflx

Since Netflix and such have beaten on Blockbuster for the past couple of years, I would imagine that this decision is benefiting Blockbuster financially. Sortof like Apple only offering thier new Iphone to ATT/Cingular. There's kickbacks happening somewhere.

I believe it would be a clear antitrust violation to try to prevent competitive products from the market. This would not be the case if BB acted alone in its decision.

I believe it would be a clear antitrust violation to try to prevent competitive products from the market. This would not be the case if BB acted alone in its decision.

Does this mean that any exclusive agreement in the country is not anti-trust? Nobody is holding products back, they are making aliances with marketing channels by their choice. Customers also have a choice.

As I understood the announcement and BB's prez on CNBC, the decision applies to its 1450 retail stores, not its web site/mail in service......just fewer discs to stock. It's still a nice boost to Blu-Ray. I have been Netflix since its inception, and now about half of what we order thats recent is Blu-Ray and we move it right to the top of the list!

But there has been much speculation about whether the customers knew what they were buying when they purchased the HD-DVD version of Planet Earth. It has been said on Amazon's message boards that many believed they were purchasing a "high-definition" version that would play on their current DVD player and not necessarily an HD-DVD. With all the confusion in the marketplace with hi-def in general, this seems entirely plausible.

That's interesting. Another indication, I think, that this "war" will go the way of the cheapest players. If the average consumer doesn't know the difference between high def and standard def DVDs, then they probably won't know or care to know about the difference between blu-ray and HD-DVD -- high def is high def, and the least expensive player will win out.

I for one hope this war keeps going. The format war is really forcing the prices to drop quickly. If Blu-Ray didn't have HD-DVD to fight with then chances are the prices wouldn't be dropping to try to match the price of HD-DVD. SONY has even recently said that they are trying very hard to bring the cost of Blu-Ray players down to better match the price of HD-DVD players. Without this competition there wouldn't be a benchmark for how low the price should get.

HD-DVD keeps lowering their prices as well in order to keep the edge over Blu-Ray. I paid over $250.00 for my first DVD player and that was an open boxed item off the shelf store model at a reduced price. I also paid $350.00 for my first DVD burner.

If this war can keep up eventually everybody will be forced to drop the price of HD players and recorders to the point where it will not really matter if there are two formats because it would be so cheap to have both.

I like Blu-Ray and I like HD-DVD. They can both offer the same quality with one costing a lot more to have. Once the price of the burners is forced low enough due to competition I will offer both formats to my clients and not really care.

I’m not sure how reliable the secret source is but if its true than the impact of the BlockBuster announcement is a bit bigger than I thought.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hd-dvd-on-the-way-out%3F/blockbusters-blu+ray-endorsement-having-major-impact-on-hd-dvd-player-sales-270313.php

Blu-ray "DVDs"?

I guess that's a new way to tell new customers that it is the next thing after DVD?

http://www.trustedreviews.com/multimedia/news/2007/06/21/Universal-Responds-to-Blockbuster-Blu-ray-Move/p1

The key question was naturally enough what its response was to Blockbuster’s move to drop HD DVD rentals from 250 of its US stores. Ken Graffeo, Executive Vice President of High Definition Strategic Marketing for Universal and co-president HD DVD Promotional Group, shrugged off the Blockbuster move, stating that rental counted for less the one per cent of its revenue. He also pointed out that Blockbuster still offered HD DVD on its online stores.

Why this is being proclaimed as some "big deal" is ludicrous to me. %1 revenue loss (maybe) and the HD DVD discs will still be available online. Huh? Why the pandemonium?

What Ken really said would win the format war was price, with HD DVD’s lower production costs giving it an advantage here over Blu-ray. When asked about when we would see a £100 HD DVD player, Toshiba’s Olivier Van Wynendaele, said it was unlikely to be this year, but that we could soon expect for see decks from Chinese manufactures that would undercut its own entry-level HD-E1 deck, which can currently be picked up for around £260.

Something wicked this way comes.

Why this is being proclaimed as some "big deal" is ludicrous to me.

Because it's one of the most visible decisions (so far) for someone to back one format over the other in a context consumers will understand. By itself it may not be all that significant, but if it's a sign of things to come then HD-DVD could be in trouble.

Let's stay on-topic without speculation and finger pointing please!

Or I'll have to edit / delete stuff...

Thanks,