Blockbuster fallout... and vicious circles.

[ps3andlovinit]

Secondary effects of todays announcement .. vicious circles.

1. This will increase the number of used players and discs on the market as some people unload their HD-DVD stuff..further eating into new purchases..further eroding HD-DVD's smaller market share...vicious circle #1.

2. Conversley J6P will see this as blu-ray being the winner and blu-ray will go in the opposite direction of HD-DVD..vicious circle #2.

3. One of the arguments people have always made in the console wars is they can always add the HD add-on to the 360 later and get the "same" thing as the PS3 offers. It's not true but that was the story. It was presented as an advantage since it spread out the cost over time. Heres the point - basically they are admitting HiDef was something desired - just not right now. With todays Blockbuster blow that argument just lost the wind as well..so if you want HiDef Movies the PS3 is now clearly the console of choice...resulting in fewer HD-DVD add-ons being sold (as well as 360's) ..vicious circle #3.

Lucky thing Sony had so "few" games available to give the nascent blu-ray movie industry a boost in sales at the early stages..and now the fall and holiday game onslaught is coming...

The movie side was the most important piece to overall success, console was second - in terms of timing anyways.

[GasCat]

I think everything up until now was a reaction to HD-DVD and the 360. We were given Blu-Ray and the PS3 too early. It was a rush job. Not all the Blu features were in place for the players on the market. Not that many games were out there. Even movies were pushed out the door and didn't have all the features like BD-J.

Things are starting to firm up now. I'd say the industry and all of us hung on long enough. We managed to wait out the attacks and are now in the home stretch.

[WinterWolf]

I think the idea that there will be more used Blu-Ray players and movies is great. When you have used items, they are cheaper and this will help diffuse Blu-Ray out to people that are more budget concious....or poor bastards like me :P

[HDTV1080P]

Quote
“In a statement on the decision Toshiba said, “they say themselves that no winner can be declared yet, which makes sense given that the high definition rental market is still just a fraction of the high definition sales to date. That said, we see this decision by Blockbuster as limiting a choice for consumers. The HD DVD camp has the fastest selling dedicated high definition player on the market – with a movie attach rate that’s 4 to 1 over Blu-ray. And we’re forecasting more than a million HD DVD players by the end of 2007. Why would Blockbuster ignore these consumers when other rental chains are not?””
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6452779.html

[GasCat]

The reason why is consumers choice according to BlockBuster.

The advertising from this will be phenomenal. People who enjoy movies at home will see Blu ray and know the one they should choose.

[GaS]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

Quote
“In a statement on the decision Toshiba said, “they say themselves that no winner can be declared yet, which makes sense given that the high definition rental market is still just a fraction of the high definition sales to date. That said, we see this decision by Blockbuster as limiting a choice for consumers. The HD DVD camp has the fastest selling dedicated high definition player on the market – with a movie attach rate that’s 4 to 1 over Blu-ray. And we’re forecasting more than a million HD DVD players by the end of 2007. Why would Blockbuster ignore these consumers when other rental chains are not?””
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6452779.html

Hey toshiba, how many players will you sell in '07? "Aaaaaaaaaaaaah about a million players. 10 minutes to Wapner."

[sardaukar1977]

I will be lmao when Toshiba releases their first Blu-Ray player.

[Heavens Downfall]

I bought my 360 to play games, not hd movies. Even with the cheap add on it didnt interest me. Ive owned my 360 since launch and only own 3 games, ive owned my ps3 since december and already own 3 games. It's getting kind of ridiculous. The 360 has halo and gears, that pretty much it... well dead rising. Im looking forward to a boat load of ps3 games and only one 360 game.

[usps03]

Toshia: you should have thanked Blockbuster for deciding to even give HD-DVD a branch to rot on (250 locations). Stop crying about it and just give up. Quit while you're behind and spare us all the spinning. BTW...What freiking color is that on those HD-DVD covers anyway?...it's ironic how they put a crappy product into a crap colored cover.

[ctapgoy]

i'm cheap and don't have money to shell out for a BD player or an HD player (in case one fails). It was logical for me to buy a ps3 cuz even though BD failed (which it's not going to by the looks of it), I still had a console. If I bought the add-on for my 360 and HD DVD failed, then I have a useless piece of junk that cost me extra $$, same with if i had bought an HD DVD standalone.

The vicious cycle continues...if J6P shells out the dough for a PS3, most likely, he ain't gonna shell out another butt load of money for an HD DVD player...hence he'll just stick with BD by default....like me!

[damandan05]

Now that I think about it. Is the reason HD-DVD actually has a 4 to 1 attach rate to their systems is because they seem to always give them away to new system purchases? Just a thought.

[Canada]

It seems to be the same argument HD-DVD throws out every single time that they have a higher dedicated player rate than Blu Ray. The HD DVD camp has the fastest selling dedicated high definition player on the market, which mean blu-ray has the fastest non dedicated player in the PS3.But as I have said before I don't give a tinkers damn how many dedicated machines either company has sold. All I and all any one should care about is how many devices dedicted or not can play the movies. Can't Toshiba come up with a better/new agument. To me by just repeating them selves there not doing themselves any favors. Has Blu Ray really backed Toshiba/Universal/HD-DVD so far into a corner I guess so?

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by ctapgoy

i'm cheap and don't have money to shell out for a BD player or an HD player (in case one fails). It was logical for me to buy a ps3 cuz even though BD failed (which it's not going to by the looks of it), I still had a console. If I bought the add-on for my 360 and HD DVD failed, then I have a useless piece of junk that cost me extra $$, same with if i had bought an HD DVD standalone.

The vicious cycle continues...if J6P shells out the dough for a PS3, most likely, he ain't gonna shell out another butt load of money for an HD DVD player...hence he'll just stick with BD by default....like me!

Yep..smart move..you were covered either way.

[dialog_gvf]

In a statement on the decision Toshiba said, “they say themselves that no winner can be declared yet, which makes sense given that the high definition rental market is still just a fraction of the high definition sales to date. That said, we see this decision by Blockbuster as limiting a choice for consumers. The HD DVD camp has the fastest selling dedicated high definition player on the market – with a movie attach rate that’s 4 to 1 over Blu-ray. And we’re forecasting more than a million HD DVD players by the end of 2007. Why would Blockbuster ignore these consumers when other rental chains are not?”

"HD is a fraction of the market of DVD. Why isn't Blockbuster willing to dedicate the shelf space to both formats? Also, clearly our buyers aren't interested in renting. We can't figure out this decision by Blockbuster."

[Chris Gerhard]

HD DVD has a small but loyal customer base, I don't think we will see a large number of players being dumped. The companies supporting the format have done so despite being a small minority from the start and against extreme odds so they likely won't bailout either. It is just another factor that points toward Blu-ray maintaining or increasing the lead, but doesn't have to mean the end of HD DVD unless Toshiba or Universal says it does.

Chris

[reiella]

Originally Posted by GasCat

I think everything up until now was a reaction to HD-DVD and the 360. We were given Blu-Ray and the PS3 too early. It was a rush job. Not all the Blu features were in place for the players on the market. Not that many games were out there. Even movies were pushed out the door and didn't have all the features like BD-J.

Things are starting to firm up now. I'd say the industry and all of us hung on long enough. We managed to wait out the attacks and are now in the home stretch.

Lack of games always occurs with console launch.

The only exception are first party titles, which tend to be close to release. However, Sony's big first party titles are still on the PS2. I'm still struggling to find games I actually want to play for my 360.