Conversation with a friend: "Just buy the HD DVD player..."

[Dotpattern]

So yesterday evening I visited a friend of mine who has not yet taken the dive into Hi Def. She knows that there's a format war and has said she is going to wait it out (she knows I'm Blu). I told her about the $99 HDDVD player this weekend and sarcastically said, "You should run out and buy it. I mean, it's ONLY $99!" She said, "No." I replied, "Just buy the $99 HDDVD player so you can watch Notting Hill (more sarcasm) in HD!"

She said, "No, 'cause Cars and Ratatouille are coming out on Blu-Ray and they look so cool! I'm going to get a Blu-Ray player!"

The point is: Content, content, content.

[kiskiboy97]

I can only wonder how many people ask a Walmart employee to get them an HD DVD player and then when they pick up Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Bridge to Terabithia, Halloween, Terminator 2, or the Pixar's (next week), they'll be told they cannot play them on the $99 player. Not now, not ever. I bet a lot of them put it back and walk out with nothing.

[A-PHI-A]

one of my Frat brothers told me that they had a toshiba "DVD" player for $100, today. the funny part is that he knows alot about blu-ray but knows knothing about HD-DVD, so this lets me know that most people that get these HD-DVD players are going to be using them just for there existing DVD's. And his purpose for telling me was so that i could resale it on ebay for a profit

[E-Dogg]

Originally Posted by kiskiboy97

I can only wonder how many people ask a Walmart employee to get them an HD DVD player and then when they pick up Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Bridge to Terabithia, Halloween, Terminator 2, or the Pixar's (next week), they'll be told they cannot play them on the $99 player. Not now, not ever. I bet a lot of them put it back and walk out with nothing.

I wonder if highdefdigest.com or any of those other HD-DVD biased sites will report all of the returns they will be getting after today?

[jhansla]

Originally Posted by kiskiboy97

I can only wonder how many people ask a Walmart employee to get them an HD DVD player and then when they pick up Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Bridge to Terabithia, Halloween, Terminator 2, or the Pixar's (next week), they'll be told they cannot play them on the $99 player. Not now, not ever. I bet a lot of them put it back and walk out with nothing.

lol I doubt it, people are always looking for a deal. I got to my local Wal-Mart this morning to pick one up at 8.15am. They had already sold out, the employee told me they had 30. This sale is gonna be sold out everywhere.

[A-PHI-A]

Originally Posted by kiskiboy97

I can only wonder how many people ask a Walmart employee to get them an HD DVD player and then when they pick up Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Bridge to Terabithia, Halloween, Terminator 2, or the Pixar's (next week), they'll be told they cannot play them on the $99 player. Not now, not ever. I bet a lot of them put it back and walk out with nothing.

i agree with you but if they see it as just a dvd player they will just pick up the dvd version of the movies if they dont already have them.

[SamInNorthCakalakey]

No A-2's. Plenty of A-3's. HD movie display was 70-30 Blu.

One A-3 on display, hooked up to an HDTV, playing the SD version of SpiderMan 3. Go figure.

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by kiskiboy97

I can only wonder how many people ask a Walmart employee to get them an HD DVD player and then when they pick up Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Bridge to Terabithia, Halloween, Terminator 2, or the Pixar's (next week), they'll be told they cannot play them on the $99 player. Not now, not ever. I bet a lot of them put it back and walk out with nothing.

My guess is it won't even matter to them. The people buying this player are probably going to take one look at the highdef price point and bail out immediatly. Basically these players will more than likely be used as another DVD player. These shoppers are never going to accept buying a title for $30 when they see the same title on DVD for $15-17. There is just no way it's going to happen.

[jdsanko]

New startegy. BD folks buy up the cheap HD-DVD players and dump them. Don't buy any software. Software sales drive the studios not installed base.

[GregBlu5]

They'll buy that cheap player, and the $15.99 Spider-Man 3 on SD and be content, never knowing what they're missing....

-Greg

[A-PHI-A]

Originally Posted by SamInNorthCakalakey

No A-2's. Plenty of A-3's. HD movie display was 70-30 Blu.

One A-3 on display, hooked up to an HDTV, playing the SD version of SpiderMan 3. Go figure.

that's only misleading if they make them think that the blu-ray version of spiderman will play on the hd-dvd players. realy its promoting spiderman sales and if someone does buy the blu-ray version it will just be a sell for blu-rays total sale of spiderman 3 because they will not be able to take it back to walmart despite their lack of knowlege on the player.

[joeorc]

Originally Posted by GregBlu5

They'll buy that cheap player, and the $15.99 Spider-Man 3 on SD and be content, never knowing what they're missing....

-Greg

exactly..which is why we as a forum need to buy Warner Bros. blu-ray movies this 4thQ: by doing so and ignoring the $98.00 player for what it is..Bait..that will signal to Warner Bros. head office that Blu-Ray is still the way to go..more Blu-Ray movies of Warner Bros. sold to Blu-Ray consumer's over Warner Bros. HD DVD movies sold to HD DVD could very well mean that Blu-Ray maintains the lead and continues the 2 to 1 or higher disc sale's lead and thus keep Blu-Ray to be the only choice for Warner Bros.

If Warner Bros. continue to support both formats those wishing for an End sooner may not get it and IHD will get its chance for Microsoft to pitch to the BDA to accept IHD interactive software to be offered along with BD-JAVA thus creating 2 supported Movie formats.

[atomik kinder]

Many will probably just use this to upscale DVDs and be happy with that.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by A-PHI-A

one of my Frat brothers told me that they had a toshiba "DVD" player for $100, today. the funny part is that he knows alot about blu-ray but knows knothing about HD-DVD, so this lets me know that most people that get these HD-DVD players are going to be using them just for there existing DVD's. And his purpose for telling me was so that i could resale it on ebay for a profit

If that's the plan, you better sell it quick.

[w_tanoto]

they don't have disney. they won't survive. kids love disney. I (adult) love disney

[Santeria]

meh new plan, ill buy all the hd-dvd players and use em as fire wood to keep me warm while i watch my blu-ray movies...
then no consumer will be confused cause the hd-dvd players will all be keepin me warm...

[scott1256ca]

They'll buy that cheap player, and the $15.99 Spider-Man 3 on SD and be content, never knowing what they're missing....

How can this be considered good? Maybe they won't buy HD DVD, but they won't buy BD either. Even once they do figure out they have a HD player and it won't play BD, they will be far less likely to go buy a BD player, since they already sunk money into the wrong format.

edit:
Well, at least they won't be buying BD in the near future.

[Rob71]

I was just at Home Depot buying some cat5 cable(making my parents house a "smart home"). And started talking with the sales guy about HD. He told me he bought one of the $100 players to use as an up converting player. Then he starts laughing and tells me he sent an e-mail to Warner letting them know it will be used only for DVD's. This is the first time I've talked to anybody outside of BB or CC that showed an obsession with either format.

My question is. Does this mean Home Depot is leaning to Blu-Ray?