Your stories of converting people to Blu-ray...

[NexusFX]

I was reading a post earlier from "whoami" and his story inspired me to start this thread.

"I would like to hear all your guys stories as to how you may have converted yourself, your friends, or anyone to choosing Blu-ray. Particularly interested to hear those who were converted after they were interested in HD-DVD."

As for my story, it started today. I currently work at Best Buy, I had a couple come in looking at a Toshiba Laptop, one that was in out Ad which came with 2 Free HD-DVD Movies . Made me sick, but it's my job to sell it to them, so I grabbed the laptop and talked to them for a bit more on services and such, they then proceed to tell me they need an HD-DVR. So I escort them over and we start to look at the DVR's, much to my surprise, they were saying it wrong, they wanted an HD Player . They looked at the Toshiba HD Player obviously, so I scoured the scene for anyone in charge that could hear me, the coast was clear. So I start to tell them about the format war and such and proceed to ask them what movies they really like. Turns out they have kids who come over quite frequently and like Disney Movies alot .

So naturally I tell them about Blu-ray and it's advantages, they start looking at the stand-alone players and then I mention the PS3, the Disney BOGO, and of course the awesome Bluetooth Remote for the device (Nothing like controlling it from another room, not practical mind you, but a cool thing to show off).

So long story short, they get their free movies from the HD Dud Machine (Which by the way did NOT have HDMI out hehe) Then proceed to buy 4 Blu-movies, as well as look at many other blu movies to buy in the future (They didn't seem to care for the HD-Dud Selection, even insulted "Evan Almighty" while I was speaking with them)

Not sure how "Complete" of a victory it was since they still bought the Dud Toshiba Laptop, but made me feel better knowing they went Blu for their Home Theater Experience.

[Iago]

The PS3 is a blu-ray player for entertainment but they might watch a movie or two (the ones that came free) on that machine.

sounds like they will be buying more blu!!

I say good job!

[darkpoet25]

I've convinced some people at the Wal Mart I work at about Blu Ray and how incredible it is. One guy in particular who is a big Depp fan ended up getting a PS3, mailny because he wanted to get Devil May Cry 4. So now he also has an LCD to watch them in 1080p, and he freaked out about the BOGO deal I told him Best Buy had on Disney movies. He didn't have Pirates yet and told him now would be the best time to get them before the deal is up. There are a few other co-workers who I have told about the benefits of Blu Ray and the price drop on the system. Every November we get 20% off one item and now at least 3 people will be using this to get a PS3 to enjoy both games and BD's. Hopefully they will tell their friends and so on and so forth.

[SixAxiS]

Originally Posted by darkpoet25

I've convinced some people at the Wal Mart I work at about Blu Ray and how incredible it is. One guy in particular who is a big Depp fan ended up getting a PS3, mailny because he wanted to get Devil May Cry 4. So now he also has an LCD to watch them in 1080p, and he freaked out about the BOGO deal I told him Best Buy had on Disney movies. He didn't have Pirates yet and told him now would be the best time to get them before the deal is up. There are a few other co-workers who I have told about the benefits of Blu Ray and the price drop on the system. Every November we get 20% off one item and now at least 3 people will be using this to get a PS3 to enjoy both games and BD's. Hopefully they will tell their friends and so on and so forth.

Thanks. I didn't know Best Buy was having a Buy one get one free deal going on now.

[sodrock]

My buddy bought a new HDTV so I bought him a PS3. End of story.

[raggarichie]

My Brother who lived out of state closed on his new home last week. He wanted to get a HDTV for his Family room but didn't know which one to get. He end up buying a Sharp. He called me a Day later wanting to know what he have to do to watch HD content on it. He even ask me if he should buy a Hd DVD player.

I told him to go down to the store a pick up a ps3 but he say he doesn't play games. So i told him to pick up a stand alone player then . He called me 15 minutes later from the store saying he got a coupon 25% off in the mail, and which player should he choose. Samsung 1400 or Sony BDP-300. I told him the Samsung because he could upgrade the firmware and get DTSHDMA audio.( like he know what that is or care at this point ) He took the Samsung home for $336.75.

A day later he called me piss that the movie he just bought with it (fantastic 4 Rise of the Silver surfer) is stuck in it, and he can't get it out. He decided to take it back to the store with the movie in it and get the Sony.

On tuesday as soon as i heard about the Buy one get one offer, i was back on the phone with him. he went down to the store and pick up 10 movies.

Go Blu

[balla_ricky]

My uncle was asking about hd players after he bought a Sony 58" hdtv. My dad told him to buy a HD DUD player. But then after i told him about more movies and storage data etc. i convinced him to get a Blu-Ray player!

[GregBlu5]

My best friend said that he'd have to buy a Blu-ray player if Hairspray came to Blu. Needless to say, the moment I found out that it was coming out next month, I emailed him and told him, "You asked for it! You got it!" He went out a few days later and bought the Sony 300. The ol' Chinese proverb of "Be careful what you wish for..." struck again.

[The Guardian]

Originally Posted by NexusFX

So naturally I tell them about Blu-ray and it's advantages, they start looking at the stand-alone players and then I mention the PS3, the Disney BOGO, and of course the awesome Bluetooth Remote for the device (Nothing like controlling it from another room, not practical mind you, but a cool thing to show off).

Maybe not practical for movies (although it's nice not to have to aim the remote) but for listening to music it's great to change things from another room. Now I can eat in the kitchen, and listen to music while skipping tracks I don't like!

I've got my dad almost converted... except he's only got an old Hitachi rear projection "square" TV. Anyway I blame Sony and Denon for him not having Blu-ray yet. Sony because he's waiting for the 70" SXRD XBR5 that is delayed, and Denon because he loves Denon and will definitely get their BD player and a matching receiver to upgrade his non-HDMI Denon receiver...

[Razzy]

Well, it didn't take much convincing.

My brother recently bought a new HDTV mainly to watch hockey in HD. We're pretty competitive so of course the TV's a few inches bigger than mine.

Anyway's, after seeing hockey last season on my TV in HD, he bugged the crap outta his wife for a new HDTV before hockey season started. She finally caved and they bought one.

Also, he bought a shiny new copy of NHL 08 for his PS2. As we were hooking it all up I warned him it wouldn't look nearly as good as my PS3 version but he didn't care....until he saw the piss poor PQ. Talk about dissapointed.

Now, all he talks about is buying a 40gb PS3 & NHL 08 (again) on Nov. 2nd (My doing of course...my sister-in-law wants me dead). He also mentioned buying (and borrowing my ) Blu Ray movies.

[buckshot]

I performed an exorcism on an individual and when they awoke, they threw salt on then set fire to their hd dvd player.

[glenn22]

Well the only person I've really "converted" is my roommate. He bought a 60" HDTV for the house and I already had a PS3, so we proceeded to go Blu-ray crazy. He's since bought his own PS3 and more movies than even I have. Another friend of mine owns a new HDTV and will be buying a ps3 and blu-ray movies once his finances straighten out.

[actionhank]

I converted my uncle simply by making him watch Planet Earth. This works with other people too for sure. Once he got his jaw of the floor he went straight to Target and bought a PS3.

I don't think he even knew that there were standalones but hey it's a conversion.

[onlyhiend]

I say I converted 5 so far. 3 bought PS3's over 360.

[pedigree]

i was at one of my friends girlfriends house and i noticed her brother had an xbox 360. him working as a video game tester i asked why he didnt have a ps3. his argument was Halo 3 but now that he'd beaten it he didnt really play his 360 much. when i then started to explain to him some of the amazing games on ps3 (i.e. heavenly sword, RFOM, skate .. etc) i could tell he was starting to regret his decision. his counter-argument to me was that the ps3 was still soooo expensive... he was sold when i mentioned to him that for the christmas season they were coming out with a 399 ps3 (and i told him i'd give him my spare 3foot HDMI cable of which he wasnt even using for his 360 !!!! )
he was telling me he was right on the cusp of getting the HD DVD add on but i convinced him that that extra 100$ would be worth it when he could get a ps3 for 399 and probably get a decent amount of cash for his 360 and game(s)
either way he seemed pretty bummed about his 360 and told me to keep him posted on when the 399 ps3 is comin

[Patranus]

Heh, I always try and chat up people if they look interested in talking about HDM.

Whenever I talk to people, I ALWAYS tell them to look at the movie selection, retailers that stock Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, quantity of manufacturers of players, and assume the PQ is equal.

I never flat out say but Blu-Ray because that does not convince them they have a choice and are less likeley to listen to you. I just give them the facts, tell them where to look, and then let them make up their mind.

I mean if you just tell them to look at studio support - mainly Disney and Fox - the will 99 time out of 100 pick Blu-Ray. I find that if they are considering HD-DVD they are willing to up their $$$ to buy Blu-Ray.

----Long Ranblings Below----

I think for the most part, I get people to NOT buy Monster cables. This one couple was getting a new TV/SS/DVD and the sales guy told them the 100% needed HDMI cables (like then told me when I was buying my first Blu-Ray player - said it would not even work without them...). They were dropping ~$2500 on the system and were talking about how big of an investment it was for them. The sales guy then convinced them to get ~$500 worth of Monster cable assessories. When he went the the back room, I swooped in and quickly educated them - I mean digital is digital - we are not in an analog world. I watched when the sales guy came back and they informed him they were not buying the cables. He was not happy.

I was at Frys. There was a guy spouting every single HD-DVD FUD item you could spew. He was telling these kids about how TL51 is being used NOW and that most Blu-Rays are not 50gb and there is no way of telling if you are getting 50gb or 25gb. He was saying that Blu-Ray is 1080i while HD-DVD is all 1080p. He also stated that Blu-Ray only had MPEG2 and NON of the advance codexes.

That was a short list. I just shook my head and educated him.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by pedigree

i was at one of my friends girlfriends house and i noticed her brother had an xbox 360. him working as a video game tester i asked why he didnt have a ps3. his argument was Halo 3 but now that he'd beaten it he didnt really play his 360 much. when i then started to explain to him some of the amazing games on ps3 (i.e. heavenly sword, RFOM, skate .. etc) i could tell he was starting to regret his decision. his counter-argument to me was that the ps3 was still soooo expensive... he was sold when i mentioned to him that for the christmas season they were coming out with a 399 ps3 (and i told him i'd give him my spare 3foot HDMI cable of which he wasnt even using for his 360 !!!! )
he was telling me he was right on the cusp of getting the HD DVD add on but i convinced him that that extra 100$ would be worth it when he could get a ps3 for 399 and probably get a decent amount of cash for his 360 and game(s)
either way he seemed pretty bummed about his 360 and told me to keep him posted on when the 399 ps3 is comin

PICK UP THE PHONE RIGHT NOW AND TELL HIM! November 2nd will see the North American release of the $399 PS3. But, also mention to him that the 40GB $399 model WILL NOT PLAY PS1 or PS2 games. As a gamer he should know this prior to his purchase, otherwise he will be pissed, disappointed, and generally turned off of any loyalty he may develop with Sony product (unless he already has a PS2, then advise him that he'll want to keep it). He may be better off getting the 60GB version for a bit more, or even the 80GB for $499 which comes with Motorstorm, extra USB ports, the Memory card slots, and backwards compatibility.

So, what are you waiting for? Call him. Seriously. Do it.

[pedigree]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

PICK UP THE PHONE RIGHT NOW AND TELL HIM! November 2nd will see the North American release of the $399 PS3. But, also mention to him that the 40GB $399 model WILL NOT PLAY PS1 or PS2 games. As a gamer he should know this prior to his purchase, otherwise he will be pissed, disappointed, and generally turned off of any loyalty he may develop with Sony product (unless he already has a PS2, then advise him that he'll want to keep it). He may be better off getting the 60GB version for a bit more, or even the 80GB for $499 which comes with Motorstorm, extra USB ports, the Memory card slots, and backwards compatibility.

So, what are you waiting for? Call him. Seriously. Do it.

i already explained to him that there was no backwards compatibility on the 40G and he seemed to be cool about it. he told me he had his ps2 hooked up in his room for that. since i now know that its coming out within the next few weeks i'll give him a shout

[Petra_Kalbrain]

I did my part at Wal-Mart today. I was standing in front of the PSP display himming and hawing about getting the new Slimline model (I've been pondering the purchase of a PSP going on 6 months now). Along comes this couple asking the sales employee about the PS3. They said that they were torn between it and a 360. Every question they asked the employee yielded a, "I think so" or "I'm not sure" response to which I would lean in to chime with a simple yes or no response (I was trying not to offend the employee since he was obviously a part-time high school student). But, when the customer said, "But it doesn't play regular DVDs though" and the employee responded with, "I don't know. I don't think so because of the new Blu-ray technology" I stepped up to the plate swinging. Next thing I knew, it was 2 hours later and I had discussed the entire realm of the next-gen gaming AND movie landscape with 4 different couples and a few other next-gen enthusiasts (knowledgeable folk who would back me up on some stuff, but defend the 360 on others). None of them purchased on the spot, but they certainly seemed to appreciate the fact that you get way more out of the PS3 for the same price as the 360. Hopefully it all plays out in our favour with their X-mas purchases.

[GasCat]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

PICK UP THE PHONE RIGHT NOW AND TELL HIM! November 2nd will see the North American release of the $399 PS3. But, also mention to him that the 40GB $399 model WILL NOT PLAY PS1 or PS2 games. As a gamer he should know this prior to his purchase, otherwise he will be pissed, disappointed, and generally turned off of any loyalty he may develop with Sony product (unless he already has a PS2, then advise him that he'll want to keep it). He may be better off getting the 60GB version for a bit more, or even the 80GB for $499 which comes with Motorstorm, extra USB ports, the Memory card slots, and backwards compatibility.

So, what are you waiting for? Call him. Seriously. Do it.

I keep thinking it won't upscale DVD's either....hmmm. Will it? I think the new model is a teaser so people will get the 80GB one.