Update on local Wal-Mart in a rural area.

[Blu-Light]

Went to a local wal-mart that had ditched all of their blu-ray stuff and had no HD-DVD.

They now have a large front end cap display with OVER 5 rows of blu-ray (about 35+ titles - Most of the top tier titles) Fox titles for $29.00 and about 10 HD-DVD titles.

They got the A2 HD-DVD player in stock and I talked to an associate he says they are to move them out ASAP and get rid of them. This is a one time firesale (his words not mine).

He says that from what he is hearing blu-ray is the favored format now.

Picked up Ratchet and Clank.

This is VERY good news IMO.

[Blu-Light]

Stopped at our Local BJ's today to pick up some food.
They have a HUGE blu-ray display that really stands out. It looks like something out of Disney's retailer display stuff. It holds about 75 to 100 different titles. I had my phone I shoulda took a pic (forgot)

Talked with the store manager and he said that Sony is coming in in two weeks for a HUGE display setup and running demonstrations of their players with software.


Excellent stuff guys and gals!

[richard lichtenfelt]

Excellent news Blu-Light. Thanks for the informative post. It gave me warm and fuzzy feelings.

[Elandyll]

Sony is coming in in two weeks for a HUGE display setup and running demonstrations of their players with software

My feeling that the BDA/Sony is preparing something big for before Thanksgiving is getting reinforced

[stockstar1138]

there was a guy on eproductwars.com a few days back that worked for wal-mart. he claimed that they had an agreement with toshiba and that this is the final stage of fulfilling that agreement. supposedly there was a meeting earilier (spring) this year and all deals with toshiba fell through. after this wal mart doesn't give a rat's A$$ about hd dvd

[bmr76]

elandyl, I agree, I posted on another thread thinking the same thing.The retailer I work for just ordered the sony bdp-s300 in Major bulk. The orders for our regional wharehouses are huge. I think the bda is moving their troops in as we speak, and then will go for the kill in late november-december. black friday maybe a black friday for hd dvd. I also heard rumors that hddvd is going to try like a 99-149 dollar standalone for black friday. I really think that is desperate, but what else do they have to lose?

[u_nick]

kinda stinks that walmart employees have to force these palyers on an unsuspecting and misinformed public. hopefully it wont cause too much of an uproar, they will clear out, and we will get some sort of announcement from walmart.

assuming all of this is true of course.

would be nice, but i feel bad for the suckers that will be buying these players.

[stockstar1138]

So "high definition" has an endcap at my walmart now. Blu-ray has 4 rows of 5 and 1 more row of 2, hd dvd has 1 row of 3 and 1 row of 5. then on top of this blu-ray has 2 side caps.


Has anybody heard the HD DVD fanboys claiming that their is an unlimited supply of A2s. Its a fricken discontiuned model morons, there is a given amount in the world right now, no more are being made, when they are out they are out. end of story. there have been so many rumors flying out of insiders, WM employees, hell a bby employ told me wal-mart was going bd exclusive last summer, and he wasn't a dumb bby employee. If walmart was about to favor hd dvd, then how come they have given the lionshare of space to blu-ray and increased it recently. something is up with wal mart i think we all know that.

[Dalese]

Originally Posted by Blu-Light

They got the A2 HD-DVD player in stock and I talked to an associate he says they are to move them out ASAP and get rid of them. This is a one time firesale (his words not mine).

This is verification of what has been said in other postings. Toshiba is in process of clearing out unsold older models.

Pure speculation on my part but I suspect this alleged one-time deal between Toshiba and Wal-mart goes back to their failed deal circa the Paramount buy-out.

As I recall, at the beginning of this year Toshiba was announcing that they would have millions of HD-DVD players sold by the end of 2007. If Toshiba was counting on Wal-mart as being the seller of these players, that could have been possible. But the big deal fell through when Wal-mart comes back to Toshiba and says no go.

Working with suppliers who deal with Wal-mart, I've heard multiple times that a no from Bentonville means the unit price needs to be lower. Toshiba can't go where Wal-mart wants them to go with the current model so the deal stops there. As the 3rd generation player are soon to be released, Toshiba recognizes that Wal-mart can sell the 2nd gen product at a reduced price and liquidate Toshiba's unsold inventory. Thus the current one-time deal is born.

If this all is the case then the only way Toshiba could possibly extend the deal is to make new product to sell it at liquidation prices.

[Vonscoot]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

there was a guy on eproductwars.com a few days back that worked for wal-mart. he claimed that they had an agreement with toshiba and that this is the final stage of fulfilling that agreement. supposedly there was a meeting earilier (spring) this year and all deals with toshiba fell through. after this wal mart doesn't give a rat's A$$ about hd dvd

It simply comes down to the almighty dollar. At WM, sales rules, period. The meeting earlier this year was Toshiba wanting to have an increased presence and marketing support/promotion (similar to the PS3 endcap most stores have), but Wal-Mart rides almost entirely on sales. BD is by far outselling HD-DVD, which is why you see a general 60/40 split of titles in favor of BD.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by Vonscoot

It simply comes down to the almighty dollar. At WM, sales rules, period. The meeting earlier this year was Toshiba wanting to have an increased presence and marketing support/promotion (similar to the PS3 endcap most stores have), but Wal-Mart rides almost entirely on sales. BD is by far outselling HD-DVD, which is why you see a general 60/40 split of titles in favor of BD.

its more liek 75:25

[Maxell]

To me it seems like Toshiba just cleared out thier warehouse of a2's and gave them to Walmart to sell.

[stockstar1138]

i just want to add one more comment. walmart sells a ton of dvds, they are then #1 sellers of home media in America, cutting this out would hurt there bottom line. if the bda approched wal-mart and explained to them the situation that would occur if there is a stalemate (hd downloads taking over), wal mart would quickly realize that they would be taken out of the equation of retailing home media. this could def. sway them into not even considering to sell hd dvd. if we got wal mart and target to go exclusive, it would send a huge sign to the studios.

[Vonscoot]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

i just want to add one more comment. walmart sells a ton of dvds, they are then #1 sellers of home media in America, cutting this out would hurt there bottom line. if the bda approched wal-mart and explained to them the situation that would occur if there is a stalemate (hd downloads taking over), wal mart would quickly realize that they would be taken out of the equation of retailing home media. this could def. sway them into not even considering to sell hd dvd. if we got wal mart and target to go exclusive, it would send a huge sign to the studios.

WM is most certainly aware of the possibility of HD downloads, that's part of the reason they've given an endcap to packaged HDM even when it currently isn't doing enough volume to support having a dedicated section.

[kamiller42]

Originally Posted by Vonscoot

It simply comes down to the almighty dollar. At WM, sales rules, period.

There is one standard that will cause Wal-Mart to pass on the almighty dollar. The merchandise needs to be family friendly. They will pass on a product if deemed too adult.

This works in Blu's favor. If Wal-Mart wants to be the family friendly store, Disney is a perfect fit. I would think Wal-Mart would love to carry the Disney movies in high def.

[Sling]

Originally Posted by kamiller42

There is one standard that will cause Wal-Mart to pass on the almighty dollar. The merchandise needs to be family friendly. They will pass on a product if deemed too adult.

This works in Blu's favor. If Wal-Mart wants to be the family friendly store, Disney is a perfect fit. I would think Wal-Mart would love to carry the Disney movies in high def.

Great Points Kam.

[Proteus]

Does anyone here truly believe that the average Walmart customer can understand the concept of updating firmware, boiling discs to get them to work, understanding why a disc 'froze' and the player had to be restarted a certain way to make it play again, comprehend the concept of 'web update' and why they have to wait 45minutes for it before they can watch their movie and the list goes on.

If you honestly believe Walmarts customers, and the people who would likely buy these A2's, can handle all that, you need to get your head examined.

Every one of these A2's will be a curse for HDDVD when people tell others about their terrible experiences with them. Average people do not understand the issues of the A2 and what 'generation' hardware is. I suspect this will only brand HDDVD as 'cheap' even more... To the point of not even Walmart's customers wanting it.

The only downside is it will artificially inflate HDDVD standalone numbers. I would hope that studios and retailers would not be so stupid as to give any credence to these figures from this firesale though.

Let's just watch what Walmart does after the new year.

[HK-48]

I feel like the BDA has something BIG up their sleeve*, and not just price cuts.

*No I do not have any inside information.

[blu2]

Originally Posted by Proteus

Does anyone here truly believe that the average Walmart customer can understand the concept of updating firmware, boiling discs to get them to work, understanding why a disc 'froze' and the player had to be restarted a certain way to make it play again, comprehend the concept of 'web update' and why they have to wait 45minutes for it before they can watch their movie and the list goes on.

If you honestly believe Walmarts customers, and the people who would likely buy these A2's, can handle all that, you need to get your head examined.

Every one of these A2's will be a curse for HDDVD when people tell others about their terrible experiences with them. Average people do not understand the issues of the A2 and what 'generation' hardware is. I suspect this will only brand HDDVD as 'cheap' even more... To the point of not even Walmart's customers wanting it.

The only downside is it will artificially inflate HDDVD standalone numbers. I would hope that studios and retailers would not be so stupid as to give any credence to these figures from this firesale though.

Let's just watch what Walmart does after the new year.

The experience you site above would be no different for any blu ray player.

I agree things seem a little bit too "fragile" on both the Blu Ray and HD DVD side, but whomever wants to move a format forward to mass adoption needs to have a product that can be sold in the Walmarts of the world. If it's just techies buying in, both Blu Ray and HD DVD are going to be ignored as other delivery mechanisms take hold (watching HD PPV is a pretty painless experience).

[Storm]

The Wal-Marts locally (4 locations) have all but elimnated the majority of Blu Ray and HD-DVD shelf space. Any one have any idea why? Less than a month ago, the two medias shared a 4'x6' display rack. Now there are 2 small wire racks on each side of the New Release endcap. HDDVD on the right, Blu Ray on the left. The Blu Ray has been scaled down to less than 20 total movies. I do not look at the HDDVD side but appears similar.
They still carry some of the new releases, some are mixed with the regular new DVD's. That is where the Spiderman box was today.