Blu-ray scarce in South Africa

[Mulder]

Hey there!

I live in South Africa and went to my local DVD shop the other day to look for some BD's. They had a VERY limited selection, only movies from Sony. I then went to every other store I know of that sells BD's and it was the same story. It seems South Africa is only getting BD's from Sony, no other studios. Wonder if it's because SA thinks Blu-Ray is too risky and won't sell. I don't know. Just wish I had more to choose from. Looks like I'll just have to import until this format war is over. Anyone else have this problem in their country?

[CptGreedle]

How many HD-DVD's there?

[Mulder]

None. We only started getting BD's when the PS3 was released here. We can buy HD dvd from our South African online shops but they're not actually in stores.

[zdefonte]

With 70+ HD titles and growing, I get them exclusively online. Virtually no retailer here sells HD discs, except for the military stores, which sell them at retail prices. The K-Mart here doesn't carry them; GameStop rarely has them and if they do, they demand ridiculous price (I once saw Talladega Nights for $33).

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Mulder

Hey there!

I live in South Africa and went to my local DVD shop the other day to look for some BD's. They had a VERY limited selection, only movies from Sony. I then went to every other store I know of that sells BD's and it was the same story. It seems South Africa is only getting BD's from Sony, no other studios. Wonder if it's because SA thinks Blu-Ray is too risky and won't sell. I don't know. Just wish I had more to choose from. Looks like I'll just have to import until this format war is over. Anyone else have this problem in their country?

How's the HDTV situation in SA? It definitely seems the excitement about HD discs is proportional to the penetration of HDTV and HD broadcasts in a region.

What are the prices for BD discs there, out of curiosity?

Can you import them without too much trouble or cost?

Gary

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Mulder

None. We only started getting BD's when the PS3 was released here. We can buy HD dvd from our South African online shops but they're not actually in stores.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm absolutely thrilled by the international nature of this forum.

It's great to see people from all around the world talking about Blu-ray.

Gary

[Mulder]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

How's the HDTV situation in SA? It definitely seems the excitement about HD discs is proportional to the penetration of HDTV and HD broadcasts in a region.

What are the prices for BD discs there, out of curiosity?

Can you import them without too much trouble or cost?

Gary

People over here tend to think if you buy a HDTV you automatically get superior picture, even if you're watching VHS!

My parents bought a massive HDTV the other day becasue my dad enjoys watching his sport on a big screen. Unfortunately we don't broadcast in HD in SA (yet) so he was very disappointed with the picture quality. I had to explain the whole thing to him and then he understood. He raised an interesting point then: It seems we in South Africa have more than enough HDTV's but no content to go with it. We don't have HD broadcasting, We don't have BD players (except the PS3) and the only BD movies we have here are from Sony.

So you can buy an HDTV anywhere in South Africa, but there's no reason to do so becasue the only way to enjoy HD is to import. Luckily places like Amazon ship stuff here without any problems and we have a few good local online stores that will import BD movies.

I guess we'll catch up soon...

[Mulder]

Oh, and considering the cost: I ordered 300 and TMNT from a SA online site and it cost me R570. That's roughly $80 including shipping and handling.