Bay Area retailer believing FUD, reducing Blu-ray InStock

[chinabeach]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

More likely there's an HD fanboy in the pipeline

Re: Amoeba Records/Bay Area: No, I'm not a fan of HD, since I've just purchased a Sony BDP-S300 and am invested in the format. What makes me cranky are ignorant sales associates who couldn't find their rear ends with both hands passing out information as if it were "truth" and then giving you grief when you challenge them.

One needs to understand the weight of the decision by Amoeba here in the Bay Area. Since the passing of Tower Records, there are few retailers here that carry the depth of product (besides Amoeba, there's only Rasputin, again in Berkeley and SF). Yes, they are both primarily record stores (buy/sell); but their buyers search out the quirky titles that the majors (i.e., Best Buy, et al) can't be bothered with - and they both stock thousands of titles (especially the SF locations). Virgin Records (Union Square) is doing a great job of stocking Blu (and HD, unfortunately!) but they do not discount at all; they are were I purchased "Immortal Beloved" (which is what got this whole search started when the dude at Amoeba told me that he couldn't - and wouldn't order it for me).

In my humble opinion, it will be us "early adapters" who will drive BD (just as we drove DVD years ago when Paramount and Fox refused to join Warner Bros over fears of piracy and then eventually had to dive in as they saw that the potential for the market had more upside than down), as most consumers are too ignorant/cheap to care. (VHS was "good enough".)

What established DVD as a "medium whose time had come" was the issuance of key titles that had broad appeal, such as Paramount's issuance of "Star Trek - the Original Series" on DVD. Here was a title that both the early adapters and consumers in general could all agree was worth owning (and Paramount made gobs of money, issuing two episodes on one disc for a $14.95 retail price). And with Paramount's issuing "Star Trek - the Original Series" on HD come November, my concern is that the availability will tip the undecided into the HD camp (especially at a $299 price-point for an HD deck). It will generate buzz and people like my co-workers who only have passing knowledge of high-def will be interested enough to check it out. And, those same ignorant sales associates won't know the difference between BD and HD and will sell them HD because the customer is there to buy it. Let's face it, this is a business driven by titles and the BD camp needs to get their act together and start issuing popular titles as well as seminal titles that have broad appeal as well as "classics". "Lawence of Arabia" and "Close Encounters" are a good start, as these are movies that will truly show off the advantages of the format.

OK. Enough for now. Enjoy your Labour Day!
CB

[Zaphod]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

I dont understand alot of this, most mass merchants such as best buy, Wal-Mart, cc etc are allowed to return excess stock to vendor for credit. Its not like getting HD and having it sit, Blu-Ray moves , If it was me, I wouldnt be shy and order lots of all titles and let it be known that I have the best selection in town on hard to find titles!!!

Actually Best Buy doesn't have to pay for any of their stock until 30 days after they have received it. That's why their stock is so unpredictable. They want nothing to sit on the store shelves for more than 30 days.

Wal-Mart has even more power. A majority of their products, including all of their grocery items are not paid for until they are bought by the customer. Also in some cases it is not on a single basis but per case.

[whippersnapper]

Well the new troll poster has done his labor day duty for the HD-DVD camp. After his clumsy obvious troll first post he comes back and tries to be a little more subtle and attempt to promote HD-DVD in a less obvious manner.

And CB, how long have they spelled "labor" as l-a-b-o-u-r in San Francisco?

[Zaphod]

Originally Posted by whippersnapper

And CB, how long have they spelled "labor" as l-a-b-o-u-r in San Francisco?

Well whipper didn't you know? The majority of the population in San Fran ARE British!

[supersix4]

what a lame owner

[The Shrike]

The Amoeba here in LA, which is at least twice as big as the SF one, is still carrying both BD and HDDVD. Like most of the retailers I've been to in LA (chains like Best Buy and niche videophile stores like Laser Blazer) they have equal space devoted to both. I've gotten several of my BDs from Amoeba. They don't restock their selection very often, but what they have is cheap. I even got my copy of Under Siege from them used for 15 bucks! If that is true about the SF Amoeba, LA hasn't gotten the memo.

[stown]

with fud in the title i came in looking for ruckers

[aristotles]

Originally Posted by whippersnapper

Well the new troll poster has done his labor day duty for the HD-DVD camp. After his clumsy obvious troll first post he comes back and tries to be a little more subtle and attempt to promote HD-DVD in a less obvious manner.

And CB, how long have they spelled "labor" as l-a-b-o-u-r in San Francisco?

Up here in Canada, we spell labor as labour, color as colour and neighbor as neighbour.

It's quite possible that chinabeach is a Canadian living in southern California. Many Canadians have moved down to California to work in the tech or entertainment industries.

[chinabeach]

Good evening,

You'll have to forgive my original post, as I didn't say clearly enough what my concern was. My passion at discovering the effects of mis-information is what drove me to write.

Here's my point: it's the install base that creates demand, and, after living through (and investing heavily in) the Betamax v. VHS debacle in the 80's (where a clearly superior format was outgunned by perceived demand), I am concerned that the effects of Paramount's announcement, and the incredible amount of attention it received (it must have been a very slow news day), and the short attention span of today's reading public - all will combine to dampen the demand for Blu. All people will remember was "...wasn't I reading somewhere that Blu-Ray isn't being supported by the major studios? Why should I invest twice as much money in a player that will have no titles to play on it?" This is what made me see red: the sales associate at Amoeba (and the subsequent clerks at Best Buy, et al) were repeating the unfounded story that Blu was not being supported - and was in fact on its way out. Oy!! You know the rest of the story: a consumer will come in to Best Buy to purchase a BD player and will be informed by the "professional sales associate" that the format is not being supported by the studios and that they should reconsider (especially since they can get a HD player for about half the price).

As you know, what sunk Betamax was a number of decisions by video rental facilities to stock more VHS titles than Beta. Their logic was that the studios were releasing more titles in VHS than Beta. The studio's logic was that there was more demand for VHS than Beta. The consumer's logic was to follow the list of titles; they didn't give a whip about quality (and that, dear readers, hasn't changed today).

I cannot believe that the Blu-Ray hardware manufacturers are going to allow a $150mm bribe to Paramount dictate their business plans: why are they standing on the sidelines? They need to get competitive with hardware that is available at the same price-point as HD, because the American consumer is motivated to buy by price - not quality. Only the "early adapters" understand the quality differential.

Let's face it folks: it's title that drive demand and Paramount has some good ones, Star Trek and the Godfather series amoung them. They're hedging their bets by taking the money and can afford to play the waiting game - it's no matter to them who wins, as long as they sell the product.

BD manufactures and their software supporters better get their act together and create as big (or bigger) as a buzz as was created by Paramount, or we may well be witnessing the birth of another format suffering an early demise due to ignorance and misinformation.

Thanks for reading. Nite-nite.
CB, SF