First BDs in my local (European) store! - Blu-ray Forum

thunderhawk · 01-05-2007, 10:03 AM

Woooohoow!

Finally, I've yesterday visited my local movie store (approx 10 miles from where I live) and I saw BDs! In real life for the first time. ^^

Well, I had to ask first... They were located between the other DVDs...
Here are some snapshots I took with my mobile cellphone.

Here you see the racks with DVDs, and there are 4 BDs in there... I felt they didn't belong there, certainly not on the highest shelve.

Here's a close-up... You can see the "PS3 compatible" sticker on it, I thought "well they better be" lol. Funny thing is, you can't even buy one here yet...

Here are the originals
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6955/dsc00323ey9.jpg
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/6766/dsc00324ft5.jpg

I must say, I'm quite happy I finally had the chance to see them. I didn't buy them, because they'll probably come down in price when I buy a BD player.

All four of them sold for €24.99 each disc.

Dave · 01-05-2007, 10:59 AM

Blu-ray wins ...

thunderhawk · 01-05-2007, 11:05 AM

Yup it does in the EU. HD DVD hasn't released any movies beyond the UK in the European Union so BD is the de facto leader right now over here.

kuklitis · 01-05-2007, 12:06 PM

That's OK, but this forum thread is about PC HARDWARE Blu-Ray blank recordable media and it wold be more relevant to post this topic in "Movies" forum.

thunderhawk · 01-05-2007, 12:48 PM

omg..

Big time sorry. *-*
*moved*

To get back on topic...
BD is far from taking off here in Europe. You can hardly find BD players and I haven't seen any advertisement of BD discs, players,.. Whatsoever.

I wonder what their plan is... As they did roll out advertisement in the US. -.-
I guess we'll have to wait till after CES.

ProvenFlipper · 01-05-2007, 03:24 PM

Those shelves look way nice. I wish I could have a wall of those in my home.

WriteSimply · 01-06-2007, 01:18 AM

Well March is just two months away. I'm sure the people who are waiting for PS3s will be delighted when it finally debuts around the world.

I wonder what the price will be for Malaysia.

fuad

GTP · 01-06-2007, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thunderhawk

Woooohoow!

Finally, I've yesterday visited my local movie store (approx 10 miles from where I live) and I saw BDs! In real life for the first time. ^^

Well, I had to ask first... They were located between the other DVDs...
Here are some snapshots I took with my mobile cellphone.

Here you see the racks with DVDs, and there are 4 BDs in there... I felt they didn't belong there, certainly not on the highest shelve.

Here's a close-up... You can see the "PS3 compatible" sticker on it, I thought "well they better be" lol. Funny thing is, you can't even buy one here yet...

Here are the originals
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6955/dsc00323ey9.jpg
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/6766/dsc00324ft5.jpg

I must say, I'm quite happy I finally had the chance to see them. I didn't buy them, because they'll probably come down in price when I buy a BD player.

All four of them sold for €24.99 each disc.

Emily Rose is not bad on BD...and has nice PCM audio.
I believe I paid 17.99 at Amazon U.K.....and last I looked it was 13.99 there.

jackinbox · 01-07-2007, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Yup it does in the EU. HD DVD hasn't released any movies beyond the UK in the European Union so BD is the de facto leader right now over here.

That's great news! So where are all these Studio Canal titles from that the HD-DVD people are always raving about? The UK? I thought they were from France.

In any event, it's nice to see BD getting off the ground in the EU. Europe is the one part of the world I've been worried about. Japan seems good and the U.S. is finally catching on. I hadn't heard much news out of Europe other than how HD-DVD was dominating the UK.

minimoke · 01-07-2007, 02:42 PM

Here in Belgium, I have seen the Samsung and the panasonic BD players. But so far, NO discs.
I have seen some cardbord shelves with pictures of the BD-movies wich will become available.

About HD DVD, not a player in sight, no advertisement, nothing.

In the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg) there is a marketing organisation for promoting BD to the people.

I myself am awaiting the PS3, since prices are still 1100 Euro and higher for a standalone player.

When I asked for BD-movies in a specialised shop, they said the'll wait until people start asking. "we are not sure people will pay 25+ Euros for a disc"

Deciazulado · 01-07-2007, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackinbox

I hadn't heard much news out of Europe other than how HD-DVD was dominating the UK.

Well, the UK seems to have about the same interest for HD than for Blu-ray, so I wouldnt call that domination. Probably because they can get the add on since early December while the PS3 is for March.

As for the rest of Europa, starting with Belgium for Thunderhawk here's a couple more:

France:

Germany:

Legend:

HD-DVD, AOD
High Definition DVD term added to above
HD DVD term added to above
HDDVD term added to above

Blu-ray

.

Maximus · 01-07-2007, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thunderhawk

Yup it does in the EU. HD DVD hasn't released any movies beyond the UK in the European Union so BD is the de facto leader right now over here.

Even here in the UK the only player available to consumers is the X360 add-on, not the best solution for HT enthusiasts, The HD-E1 still is not out in any B&M store, online it has a 6 week delivery date, and the XE1 has not even got a release date attached to it.

BD otoh has the Samsung, Panasonic already out, the Sony scheduled this month, and Pioneer in Feb. Then in March we (might) get the PS3 and G2 Samsung and apparently LG still have their BD standalone scheduled for March even with the Combo player. HMV (the biggest B&M DVD retailer) have said that they will get BD setups from Sony delivered in the next few weeks, so people can see the daylight difference between BD and DVD, they have no such setup for HD DVD planned.

I think that at the moment the biggest HD DVD buyers are importers from the USA, and this does not bode well as once film are released day and date in EU and NA the market for this will die. BD is building a userbase from the ground up and sales are slowly increasing, bigger HMVs and Virgin Megastores in London (where I live) have started to stock BDs, but no HD DVDs as of yet. I think that the mentality in the EU is to wait for the best possible technology and then buy (PS3, it would explain the low sales of X360 in EU), this is why HDTV broadcasts are in AVC, and HDTVs only started selling in earnest when screen sizes were bigger than 40" and now that 1080p is standard on large screens it will really start to ramp up.

blitz6speed · 01-07-2007, 03:46 PM

Europe has been waiting for the PS3 for a long time. In all honesty, most europeans are VERY tech savy and know the blu-ray superiority. They arent easily fooled, which is why HD-DVD and the Xbox 360 are doing poorly there. Also, for the first time, a delayed launch isnt too shabby for europe. They get much better firmware features out of the box, ontop of a WAY WAY WAY better launch lineup. I predict the blu-ray dominance in europe will be massive. Man i cant wait to hear all the CES news today!!!

Stuart Kirby · 01-07-2007, 04:24 PM

In the HMV I go to (Market Street in Manchester, the big one for any locals!) they now have both BD and HD-DVD. Depressingly they actually stock *more* HD-DVDs currently - two racks as opposed to BD's one. It's somewhat irritating - even more so considering some of them, such as Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang are out on BD as well as HD-DVD.

I'm sure BD will pick up soon enough though. I picked "Training Day" up from there the other day and when I was paying for it the sales assistant said, "Ooh Blu-ray, very posh!" ... I think this was half genuine and the other half ensuring I knew it was Blu-ray!

I say because HMV had BD's in way before HD-DVD weeks ago... and I bought one and the guy said "You're the very first person to buy one of these ... well, except for someone who brought one back after think it was a DVD!" which I was quite smug about for a while

Maximus · 01-07-2007, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart Kirby

In the HMV I go to (Market Street in Manchester, the big one for any locals!) they now have both BD and HD-DVD. Depressingly they actually stock *more* HD-DVDs currently - two racks as opposed to BD's one. It's somewhat irritating - even more so considering some of them, such as Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang are out on BD as well as HD-DVD.

I'm sure BD will pick up soon enough though. I picked "Training Day" up from there the other day and when I was paying for it the sales assistant said, "Ooh Blu-ray, very posh!" ... I think this was half genuine and the other half ensuring I knew it was Blu-ray!

I say because HMV had BD's in way before HD-DVD weeks ago... and I bought one and the guy said "You're the very first person to buy one of these ... well, except for someone who brought one back after think it was a DVD!" which I was quite smug about for a while

Has to be said that the HMV on Oxford Street, Marble Arch has no HD DVDs to speak of, and 2 racks of BDs, more North/South divide

.

Stuart Kirby · 01-07-2007, 06:39 PM

Perhaps

Although it must be stressed that the HMV on Market Street is unmatched and therefore is the benchmark ...

Maximus · 01-07-2007, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart Kirby

Perhaps

Although it must be stressed that the HMV on Market Street is unmatched and therefore is the benchmark ...

The HMV near Marble Arch is advertised as the biggest Record store in the world, it is very large and has 4 floors, bigger than the old Tower Records in London.

jackinbox · 01-07-2007, 08:10 PM

Great. That's good to hear. From what I had been hearing at AVS, HD-DVD was a shoe-in to win throughout the EU.

Has there been any word on Studio Canal and whether or not they will be doing BD also?

Maximus · 01-07-2007, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackinbox

Great. That's good to hear. From what I had been hearing at AVS, HD-DVD was a shoe-in to win throughout the EU.

Has there been any word on Studio Canal and whether or not they will be doing BD also?

Not that I have heard of, but the problem with the EU as a whole is that distribution rights vary from country to country, so in the UK we will see some films on BD that France won't and Vice-Versa. I for one have never bought a Studio-Canal DVD, mainly because I don't need to, R2 DVDs are very good and I suspect that when all is done and sorted the only country that will need Studio-Canal releases is America to import HD DVDs, and of course France.

partridge · 01-08-2007, 10:13 AM

Here's an interesting snippet, just checked Play.com and they currently have 19 HD-DVDs on sale but 40 blu-ray discs!

It's also worth noting that 8 of the HD-DVD's are sampler and documentary titles, there's even a fireplace movie! WOW
http://www.play.com/DVD/HD%20DVD/RCS...y/Product.html

So about a dozen actual movies to buy for HD-DVD.

01-05-2007, 10:03 AM	#1
thunderhawk Moderator Member since:Jul 2004 Location:Belgium	First BDs in my local (European) store! Woooohoow! Finally, I've yesterday visited my local movie store (approx 10 miles from where I live) and I saw BDs! In real life for the first time. ^^ Well, I had to ask first... They were located between the other DVDs... Here are some snapshots I took with my mobile cellphone. Here you see the racks with DVDs, and there are 4 BDs in there... I felt they didn't belong there, certainly not on the highest shelve. Here's a close-up... You can see the "PS3 compatible" sticker on it, I thought "well they better be" lol. Funny thing is, you can't even buy one here yet... Here are the originals http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6955/dsc00323ey9.jpg http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/6766/dsc00324ft5.jpg I must say, I'm quite happy I finally had the chance to see them. I didn't buy them, because they'll probably come down in price when I buy a BD player. All four of them sold for €24.99 each disc.

01-05-2007, 11:05 AM	#3
thunderhawk Moderator Member since:Jul 2004 Location:Belgium	Yup it does in the EU. HD DVD hasn't released any movies beyond the UK in the European Union so BD is the de facto leader right now over here. Last edited by thunderhawk; 01-05-2007 at 11:09 AM.

01-05-2007, 12:48 PM	#5
thunderhawk Moderator Member since:Jul 2004 Location:Belgium	omg.. Big time sorry. - moved To get back on topic... BD is far from taking off here in Europe. You can hardly find BD players and I haven't seen any advertisement of BD discs, players,.. Whatsoever. I wonder what their plan is... As they did roll out advertisement in the US. -.- I guess we'll have to wait till after CES. Last edited by thunderhawk; 01-05-2007 at 12:53 PM.

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01-05-2007, 10:59 AM	#2
Dave Expert Member Member since:Jun 2006 Location:Somewhere	Blu-ray wins ...

01-05-2007, 12:06 PM	#4
kuklitis Member Member since:Dec 2006	That's OK, but this forum thread is about PC HARDWARE Blu-Ray blank recordable media and it wold be more relevant to post this topic in "Movies" forum.

01-05-2007, 03:24 PM	#6
ProvenFlipper Special Member Member since:Jun 2006 Home Theater Gallery:4 4K collection:332 Blu-ray collection:898 Trading Score:1	Those shelves look way nice. I wish I could have a wall of those in my home.

01-06-2007, 01:18 AM	#7
WriteSimply Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Sep 2006 Location:Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Well March is just two months away. I'm sure the people who are waiting for PS3s will be delighted when it finally debuts around the world. I wonder what the price will be for Malaysia. fuad

01-07-2007, 02:42 PM	#10
minimoke Member Member since:Dec 2006	Here in Belgium, I have seen the Samsung and the panasonic BD players. But so far, NO discs. I have seen some cardbord shelves with pictures of the BD-movies wich will become available. About HD DVD, not a player in sight, no advertisement, nothing. In the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg) there is a marketing organisation for promoting BD to the people. I myself am awaiting the PS3, since prices are still 1100 Euro and higher for a standalone player. When I asked for BD-movies in a specialised shop, they said the'll wait until people start asking. "we are not sure people will pay 25+ Euros for a disc"

01-07-2007, 03:46 PM	#13
blitz6speed Blu-ray Guru Member since:Oct 2006 Location:Anaheim Hills, CA Trading Score:8	Europe has been waiting for the PS3 for a long time. In all honesty, most europeans are VERY tech savy and know the blu-ray superiority. They arent easily fooled, which is why HD-DVD and the Xbox 360 are doing poorly there. Also, for the first time, a delayed launch isnt too shabby for europe. They get much better firmware features out of the box, ontop of a WAY WAY WAY better launch lineup. I predict the blu-ray dominance in europe will be massive. Man i cant wait to hear all the CES news today!!!

01-07-2007, 04:24 PM	#14
Stuart Kirby Junior Member Member since:Jan 2007 Location:Manchester, UK	In the HMV I go to (Market Street in Manchester, the big one for any locals!) they now have both BD and HD-DVD. Depressingly they actually stock more HD-DVDs currently - two racks as opposed to BD's one. It's somewhat irritating - even more so considering some of them, such as Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang are out on BD as well as HD-DVD. I'm sure BD will pick up soon enough though. I picked "Training Day" up from there the other day and when I was paying for it the sales assistant said, "Ooh Blu-ray, very posh!" ... I think this was half genuine and the other half ensuring I knew it was Blu-ray! I say because HMV had BD's in way before HD-DVD weeks ago... and I bought one and the guy said "You're the very first person to buy one of these ... well, except for someone who brought one back after think it was a DVD!" which I was quite smug about for a while

01-07-2007, 06:39 PM	#16
Stuart Kirby Junior Member Member since:Jan 2007 Location:Manchester, UK	Perhaps Although it must be stressed that the HMV on Market Street is unmatched and therefore is the benchmark ...

01-07-2007, 08:10 PM	#18
jackinbox Senior Member Member since:Jan 2007 4K collection:68 Blu-ray collection:68 Digital collection:19 iTunes collection:3 Trading Score:326	Great. That's good to hear. From what I had been hearing at AVS, HD-DVD was a shoe-in to win throughout the EU. Has there been any word on Studio Canal and whether or not they will be doing BD also?

01-08-2007, 10:13 AM	#20
partridge Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Oct 2005 Location:England	Here's an interesting snippet, just checked Play.com and they currently have 19 HD-DVDs on sale but 40 blu-ray discs! It's also worth noting that 8 of the HD-DVD's are sampler and documentary titles, there's even a fireplace movie! WOW http://www.play.com/DVD/HD%20DVD/RCS...y/Product.html So about a dozen actual movies to buy for HD-DVD.

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