Blockbuster announcement to embrace BluRay, how decisive it is?

Bemopti123 · « **on:** 20 Jun 2007, 12:27 am »

So, Toshiba seems to be practically throwing their HD-DVD players for peanuts and SONY P3 as a commercial flop. Not too dramatic of a beginning in the next digital video format, but the Blockbuster announcement, that seems to be really making decisive waves at which format will take the next round.

Am I reading too much into that news, how significant will it be in this ongoing, low level format war?

JoshK · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 Jun 2007, 12:37 am »

Well I just bought a 1080p 58" plasma and have been reading a bit on the format war. I am *not* a movie buyer, I am firmly in the renter's camp, so this is deciding a vote in one direction for me.

Woodsea · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Jun 2007, 12:39 am »

Someone is going to get alot of lobbying at Netflix. This is do or die for the HD-DVD.

Bigfish · « **Reply #3 on:** 20 Jun 2007, 12:54 am »

LG was fighting in the courts to release a player that would handle BlueRay and HD DVD formats. I have not heard anything lately but this seemed like a winner for we the consumers. I love watching movies on my Pioneer 50" Plasma and I have really wanted a higher definition player. However, I am one of the people who bought a betamax tape players back in the days of the VHS and Beta format wars. Beta had a superior picture but Sony lost the marketing war. Bottom-line is that I ended up with a player which presented me major problems in obtaining rental movies. I do not plan to duplicate that mistake this time around. Sometime earlier this year I told friends a this format war would be settled by Blockbuster. I see Netflix mentioned in an earlier thread but I cannot see Netflix being competitive with Blockbuster if you life in an area that has Blockbuster Stores. There new program is unbelievable and I cannot imagine this deal lasting too long!

Ken

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #4 on:** 20 Jun 2007, 03:37 am »

I don't know about that - I live a mile from a Blockbuster, but Netflix is still the superior service in metropolitan/dense suburban life.

gitarretyp · « **Reply #5 on:** 20 Jun 2007, 04:03 am »

Quote from: ooheadsoo on 20 Jun 2007, 03:37 am

I don't know about that - I live a mile from a Blockbuster, but Netflix is still the superior service in metropolitan/dense suburban life.

I agree. I've tried blockbuster's service twice, and it was terrible compared to netflix.

I do think having bluray at blockbuster stores is going to have a serious impact; however, with stores charging $5!! to rent hd movies, i'll be renting online only for the foreseeable future. I believe the real deciding factor will likely be hardware hitting the right price point. What that value is, i'm not sure.

tvad4 · « **Reply #6 on:** 20 Jun 2007, 04:08 am »

Blue-Ray vs. HD-DVD is going to be a blip on the radar, and shorter lived than the Beta/VHS war. Silver disc distribution in any format will be extinct before you know it.

Ears · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 Jun 2007, 07:17 pm »

With Blu ray already selling 70% of the movie sales at retailers...expect to hear Blu ray only sales from several retailers soon.
Retailers do not want to stock two nitchie formats and will make their descisions soon enough.
The sooner there is one new format...the sooner the real battle will begin with sd dvd.

nathanm · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 Jun 2007, 07:36 pm »

The web isn't really fast enough to do away with discs just yet is it? Not at full quality anyway. Looks like HD-DVD and Blu-ray are 36 or 54MBps. Even a T1 at 1.5Kbps ain't cuttin' it. Am I missing something? Network stuff is confusing.

Ears · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 Jun 2007, 07:43 pm »

Quote from: nathanm on 27 Jun 2007, 07:36 pm

The web isn't really fast enough to do away with discs just yet is it? Not at full quality anyway. Looks like HD-DVD and Blu-ray are 36 or 54MBps. Even a T1 at 1.5Kbps ain't cuttin' it. Am I missing something? Network stuff is confusing.

It will be many years before its fast enough to have 1080p movie downloads and even then, you just know they will try to pass 720p and core DD/DTS off as Hi Def....which is not going to cut it for most.
Not to mention it will most likely be structured so that its one price to rent....and a much higher price to actually keep the download.....much like the original Divx.

randytsuch · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Jun 2007, 08:40 pm »

Quote from: Bigfish on 20 Jun 2007, 12:54 am

LG was fighting in the courts to release a player that would handle BlueRay and HD DVD formats. I have not heard anything lately but this seemed like a winner for we the consumers. I love watching movies on my Pioneer 50" Plasma and I have really wanted a higher definition player. However, I am one of the people who bought a betamax tape players back in the days of the VHS and Beta format wars. Beta had a superior picture but Sony lost the marketing war. Bottom-line is that I ended up with a player which presented me major problems in obtaining rental movies. I do not plan to duplicate that mistake this time around. Sometime earlier this year I told friends a this format war would be settled by Blockbuster. I see Netflix mentioned in an earlier thread but I cannot see Netflix being competitive with Blockbuster if you life in an area that has Blockbuster Stores. There new program is unbelievable and I cannot imagine this deal lasting too long!

Ken

A month or two ago, I was looking at the LG combo player, but it was over $1000. It was nice, but you could get a PS3 and the Tosh HD player for cheaper, these days, it is much cheaper.

And, last weeked I saw a new Sony Bluray player advertised for $500. This may be a bigger problem for HD. I was thinking about buying a HD player, since they are so cheap now, but am reconsidering that, a bluray player around christmas time in the $3-400 range seems possible now, and would be nice for my soon to be completed HT/family room

Randy

WGH · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Jun 2007, 09:22 pm »

Quote from: Ears on 27 Jun 2007, 07:43 pm

It will be many years before its fast enough to have 1080p movie downloads and even then, you just know they will try to pass 720p and core DD/DTS off as Hi Def....which is not going to cut it for most.

I guess Apple TV hasn't reached critical mass yet, when it does (or something like it) then we can start downloading our movies legally. Apple TV uses H.264 encoding to achieve a 720p resolution, but with HD rentals and cheap players it may be too little too late.

There are a lot of ideas for downloading/streaming using P2P networks,
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070323_001854.html
the hard part is getting the movie out of the computer and into the TV. Ask your friends how many have their TV, computer, and surround system tied together, I did and got a big "0". They would need a "no-brainier" like Apple TV to get it to work.

Now, until 1080p projector prices drop I will be content to wait for the format war to stop before I buy a player or rent HD movies.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Jun 2007, 10:01 pm »

Video for me is an afterthought...so I'll embrace whatever wins eventually. Damn that opportunistic ChairGuy!!

Thought this was interesting, tho...

Quote from: High-Def Digest

In our first head-to-head comparison, we found the HD DVD to be superior, but only slightly. We noticed a few noticeable compression artifacts and an overall darker cast on the Blu-ray, leaving the HD DVD presentation to be more consistently pleasing. However, Blu-ray hardware is still only first generation, so these deficits could be improved or even null and void as better players hit the market.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/trainingday.html

Ears · « **Reply #13 on:** 27 Jun 2007, 10:14 pm »

Quote from: TheChairGuy on 27 Jun 2007, 10:01 pm

Video for me is an afterthought...so I'll embrace whatever wins eventually. Damn that opportunistic ChairGuy!!

Thought this was interesting, tho...

Quote from: High-Def Digest
In our first head-to-head comparison, we found the HD DVD to be superior, but only slightly. We noticed a few noticeable compression artifacts and an overall darker cast on the Blu-ray, leaving the HD DVD presentation to be more consistently pleasing. However, Blu-ray hardware is still only first generation, so these deficits could be improved or even null and void as better players hit the market.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/trainingday.html

Hifi digest are complete hd dvd schills....just take a look at their site as well as their review scores in comparison to other review sites....and a blind man could see they have zero credibility.

Ears · « **Reply #14 on:** 27 Jun 2007, 10:27 pm »

Quote from: randytsuch on 27 Jun 2007, 08:40 pm

Quote from: Bigfish on 20 Jun 2007, 12:54 am
LG was fighting in the courts to release a player that would handle BlueRay and HD DVD formats. I have not heard anything lately but this seemed like a winner for we the consumers. I love watching movies on my Pioneer 50" Plasma and I have really wanted a higher definition player. However, I am one of the people who bought a betamax tape players back in the days of the VHS and Beta format wars. Beta had a superior picture but Sony lost the marketing war. Bottom-line is that I ended up with a player which presented me major problems in obtaining rental movies. I do not plan to duplicate that mistake this time around. Sometime earlier this year I told friends a this format war would be settled by Blockbuster. I see Netflix mentioned in an earlier thread but I cannot see Netflix being competitive with Blockbuster if you life in an area that has Blockbuster Stores. There new program is unbelievable and I cannot imagine this deal lasting too long!

Ken

A month or two ago, I was looking at the LG combo player, but it was over $1000. It was nice, but you could get a PS3 and the Tosh HD player for cheaper, these days, it is much cheaper.

And, last weeked I saw a new Sony Bluray player advertised for $500. This may be a bigger problem for HD. I was thinking about buying a HD player, since they are so cheap now, but am reconsidering that, a bluray player around christmas time in the $3-400 range seems possible now, and would be nice for my soon to be completed HT/family room

Randy

Yep...I already saw the second gen Sony which was just released for 439.00 on line and with cheap players headed are way for the holiday season manufactured by an off brand Japanese company that also manufactures some Denon dvd players...there will be more than one player at 300.00 or less for BD by that point.

Rumour has it that Denon will announce a BD player sometime in July to be released around the end of the year.
I say rumour because so far its just coming from a couple of posters at other sites that are evidently Denon dealers.

tex-amp · « **Reply #15 on:** 27 Jun 2007, 11:16 pm »

Supposedly, there will be sub $200 Chinese HD-DVD players by the holiday season at Walmart. Walmart is the #2 CE seller. Anyone else think that the first format to break $200 is going to get a huge boost?

Netflix may end up a big winner with Blockbuster giving them the HD-DVD rental business.

Ears · « **Reply #16 on:** 28 Jun 2007, 12:23 pm »

Quote from: tex-amp on 27 Jun 2007, 11:16 pm

Supposedly, there will be sub $200 Chinese HD-DVD players by the holiday season at Walmart. Walmart is the #2 CE seller. Anyone else think that the first format to break $200 is going to get a huge boost?

Netflix may end up a big winner with Blockbuster giving them the HD-DVD rental business.

Actually there is no factual information on cheap hd dvd players from China at all.
This was never officially backed up by Wally World or anyone else.

Funai however has officially announced massive quanities of cheap BD players by the Holidays.
Netflix is a drop in the bucket compared to Blockbuster, and you will soon see more BD only support....count on it.

hd dvd has always been cheaper than BD as far as players go and had a two month head start.
Yet BD consistently outsells them with more than double the software sales this entire year.
All of this happened with all players being 1k or more except the PS3.
Now cheaper BD players will actually give BD more sales and make these ratios even worse for hd dvd......not the other way around.

hd dvd has enjoyed this advantage of cheaper players but that advantage has now disappeared.

BTW....I owned two different hd dvd players and they were both defective....so you get what you pay for when only one manufactuer makes hd dvd players as compared to the rest of the CE's supporting BD.

Bigfish · « **Reply #17 on:** 28 Jun 2007, 12:54 pm »

There was an article in this mornings USA Today concerning the reaching of a settlement of a lawsuit of Blockbuster by Netflix. I read the article and found it interesting that the new Blockbuster Total Access Program is killing local store profits. Surprise, Surprise! There also indications that Blockbuster will modify the current plan with the changes aimed at increasing profits in 2008. This means if you not already signed-up you had better do so quickly because the prices will be going up!

Ken

Philistine · « **Reply #18 on:** 28 Jun 2007, 01:38 pm »

You can go to the different lobbying sites and forums for both formats, both claim victory on media sales (after they have normalized sales by extracting give aways, PS3 deals etc for the competing formats).

The main HD need I have is music concerts, which Dish does very well with their Rave HD channel
My solution is a Dish HD DVR receiver - Dish are launching an option to back up HD recordings to an external HD with the cost of external HD's plummeting this will keep me going until the position has stabilized.

Ears · « **Reply #19 on:** 28 Jun 2007, 05:47 pm »

Quote from: Philistine on 28 Jun 2007, 01:38 pm

You can go to the different lobbying sites and forums for both formats, both claim victory on media sales (after they have normalized sales by extracting give aways, PS3 deals etc for the competing formats).

The main HD need I have is music concerts, which Dish does very well with their Rave HD channel
My solution is a Dish HD DVR receiver - Dish are launching an option to back up HD recordings to an external HD with the cost of external HD's plummeting this will keep me going until the position has stabilized.

The only stats that matter are the independent record keepers....and they say that BD is kicking major rear just like BB's 70% rental ratio to 30% for hd dvd.

These decisions are based on reality....not websites.
Check the Nielsen rating for the two formats and BD leads every month this year as well as total for the year in software sales.
No give aways are counted in these ratings.