Ultimate AV Newsletter: HD formats = SACD vs. DVD-A part II

[JTK]

They make some good points here that I think are good discussion fodder, if nothing else.


I'm only going to copy and paste some of the comments made in the entire newsletter, for the sake of brevity, since a lot of it is either a given or has already been discussed here many times.

Snippets from the Ultimate AV eNewsletter June 2006:

Dying A Quick Death At Retail

By Shane Buettner


Following HD DVD's launch and trying to get my hands of hardware and software as it's been released has given me a serious case of FUD ((Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) about both HD formats.

The presence of HD DVD online and at retail is non-existent, and if it's the same for Blu-ray, good luck, and maybe good night.

My local retailers for HD DVD hardware and software are Magnolia Audio Video, Circuit City and Best Buy. Magnolia Audio Video and Circuit City, in a few random calls since HD DVD's launch, have never actually claimed to have an HD DVD player in stock to sell. Circuit and Best Buy typically have had to break from the phone call, and taken a couple of minutes just to give a lazy "check back next week," but at least Magnolia has claimed to have had players in stock and encouraged me to come in and order a player. As I write this Magnolia claims to have gotten in a run of 20-25 players and sold through it, and claims to have 10-12 orders in on their next run of 20-25 players (the exact arrival date of which is not known).

The software front is even more dire. My local Circuit City has occasionally had two or three copies of two or three titles, and that's it. On June 6th I went in and there was nothing- and nothing was exactly what the clerk I asked knew about what they are or where they might be.

On June 6th I continued on to two different Best Buy stores looking for the latest HD DVD releases, and there's a little story behind this too. Warner's PR firm has a strict policy of sending only one copy of each movie to any single publication. So, since Tom Norton and I are stationed 400 miles apart, I have to shop retail just like the common man order to cover Warner's entry into the new format. Makes sense. Screeners are too expensive to just hand out to journalists trying desperately to support your fledgling format. But I digress.

The reason I really wanted to track down some discs on June 6th is that this was supposed to be a hot day for HD DVD- not only had The Perfect Storm been released, but the relatively new Constantine was slated for that day in addition to a big combo HD DVD/DVD release of the brand spanking new Harrison Ford thriller Firewall. This disc is reputed to be the first disc to have brand new special features that take full advantage of the new format's enhanced interactivity.

Not only were none of these titles anywhere to be found at two different Best Buy stores, the HD DVDs had already been relegated to the miniscule shelf spaces, one of which was entirely separate from where the DVDs are sold. An aisle end display had perhaps a dozen copies of three or four different HD DVD movies, and then in the AV section of the store a flat panel TV was connected to an HD DVD player and there were perhaps 20 HD DVDs spanning 6-8 titles. None of them were the hot new titles that were in fact released that day.

^^

This is the same treatment previously given to other fringe formats such as D-VHS/D-Theater, DVD-A and SACD, all of which can only be described as mainstream failures (of these formats only SACD is barely holding onto a narrow segment of the audiophile niche, and even there its sales are dwarfed by those of vinyl records). This is not retail support so much as retail life support!

Online the situation isn't much better. Amazon.com and Best Buy's web sites have consistently lagged behind with the new releases, often not having them available on the actual release date. As I write this Wal Mart's web site isn't advertising the three Warner titles released on June 6th. It's difficult to find HD DVD on either site without doing a direct search on the site.

Although initially HD DVD ads were prevalent, in Best Buy's 6/4 multi-page Sunday newspaper ad there were DVRs, DirecTV, progressive scan DVD players and even washing machines pimped as being on sale, but no HD DVD hardware or software.

Folks, Blu-ray had better get more run at retail than this, or we're going to be stuck with broadcast HD.

I think he may be right in some respects.

That certainly doesn't make feel inspired to do cartwheels in the streets, to say the least.

Thoughts?