Is Target going Blu-ray exclusive?

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Jan 6th 2008 at 5:08PM

Some rumors that just won't die eventually end up being true, and the latest to reappear is the Target is going Blu-ray exclusive one. Today at Philips' press event during CES, while Stewart Muller was introducing its new Blu-ray player he also mentioned that Target was going Blu-ray exclusive. Of course what his definition of exclusive means might be his alone, but unless Target pulls all the HD DVD movies off their shelves entirely, we're not sure we agree.

Filed under: Blu-ray, HD DVD

Tags: breaking news, BreakingNews, CES 2008, Ces2008, formatwar, Philips, Target

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

h0mi @ Jan 6th 2008 5:13PM

Target would have to sell HD-DVD discs in the first place to pull them. Most of the targets I've seen had a handful of discs in either format, if any discs at all

Neutral

MacGuru @ Jan 11th 2008 12:50AM

The Target stores I go to do show HD DVD discs on 5 rows, next to 10 rows of Blu-Ray discs. The Blu-Ray side is stocked with new releases and the HD DVD is half empty and has movies in it like The Good Shepherd. I guess Target will have to pull the HD DVD discs themselves because they sure as hell ain't selling. The consumer has decided to go with Blu Ray now the big CEOs of the 2 last HD DVD studios have to realize that or lose money. Simple as that.

Highly Ranked

Jnas @ Jan 6th 2008 5:37PM

You don't think its possible for Target to do this given the recent news?....
Its the smart thing to do.

Highly Ranked

Sporty @ Jan 6th 2008 5:40PM

Kinda reminds me of when MS said K-Mart were going HD-DVD exclusive. Only to have K-Mart rebuff that rumor the next day.

Today my local K-Mart has about 60 BD titles and 0 HD-DVD titles. Doesn't make it a policy, just local demand.

Add this rumor to the Best buy and Wal-mart going BD exclusive we've heard over the last few days.

Neutral

ceilingfanboy @ Jan 6th 2008 5:58PM

Target going Blu-Ray exclusive would be believable. Even Wal-Mart going Blu-Ray exclusive soon would be believable. However, I doubt that Best Buy would drop HD-DVD unless it was totally dead, and even then, would probably continue carrying HD-DVD discs until everyone stops buying them. It could end up being one of those dead formats that keep getting support for a couple of years to keep the people who bought into the format happy.

Neutral

PS3_Austin @ Jan 6th 2008 5:41PM

Target near me has always had about twice the number of Blu-ray titles compared to HD-DUD. They would be smart to have a fire sale on HD-DUD, go exclusively Blu, and not get stuck with inventory they can't move.

Highly Ranked

John B @ Jan 6th 2008 7:17PM

Great. Another imp who thinks that the HD DUD moniker is original, regardless of the recent news. {roll eyes}

Neutral

Jeff @ Jan 6th 2008 11:09PM

Hey PS DUD, all of the targets in my area (4), always have a boat load of Blu Ray and only a few HD DVD. I've asked sales persons at each store and they all said HD DVD moves more

Highly Ranked

Bax @ Jan 10th 2008 6:06PM

I've been to two Best Buys in NYC and both have 3 times more space devoted to Blu-ray than HD-DVD. This was a few weeks ago before the Warner annoucement

Neutral

MacGuru @ Jan 11th 2008 12:54AM

Thanks for noting that. At least you and I are the only ones that actually went and looked at the decline of HD DVD as opposed to the HD DVD afficionados here that haven't crawled from behind their Blu-Ray bashing desks...

Neutral

Dan @ Jan 16th 2008 5:42PM

superklye; BlueRay disk is able to evolve through free downloadable firmware that automatically updates your system you nitwit. You wont need to go out and buy a whole new blueray player. That is the reason automatic firmware updates are a perk, because the firmware will upgrade automatically and improve the perfomance and compatability of the player. Where would you get the idea that the whole system would need to be replaced?

Neutral

r_myriam @ Jan 6th 2008 6:13PM

WOW! Extra nails for the coffin!

Highly Ranked

misterhearn @ Jan 6th 2008 6:42PM

This is propaganda trying to finish off HD DVD while its down and almost out. Like mentioned before Target would have to sell of all things HD DVD to pull them from the shelf and my local targets have both a handful of HD DVDs and a handful BDs.

I agree that Best Buy wouldnt drop HD DVD until it is dead as from my experience they have the biggest selection of both formats. HD DVD wont realistically be dead unless one of four things happens,(1) Toshiba just folds and pulls the plug. (2) Universal drops them or goes neutral. (3) Paramount finds its way out of their agreement and leaves them or goes neutral, and least likely (4) All major retailers drop the format as a whole.

BR has the majority of support from the film industry at the moment but if the vested parties in HD DVD want to be A-holes or just band together they can make this a slightly bumpy ride for BR. Universal or Paramount/Dreamworks not bowing out and cheaper hardware that still upscales dvds as well can prove useful.

As one of the near million people who bought into the format I'd like to use it for something besides a decoration for my home entertainment center, so I will continue to buy HD DVDs which still come in high definition @ 1080p resolution. Warner leaving sucks but my HD DVD player still works and supports Hi Def playback and in the worst case scenario HD DVD goes under and has a fire sale and I snatch up as many cheap HD DVDs as possible, which will still be in Hi Def.

All the people talking of selling their HD DVD players off for next to nothing is just silly. Hold out see what the endgame says or just by cheap Hi Def media if in fact they do die out, but selling 200.00 and up players for half price or buying movies over again in Blu Ray like they're gonna be in higher definition is just dumb and a waste of money. If I go blu I wont double dip or in some cases triple dip.

Bottom line is Target will have to sell those HD DVDs to someone if they go exclusive and I'll be there with open arms!

Highest Ranked

Sean @ Jan 6th 2008 7:11PM

I was just at Target, and my goodness are there movies high priced. They had tons of Blu Ray movies, all no less then $29.99, the player was a Sony for $500. I was like, are you kidding me!!! It sales at a snails pace, so even if they went BD exclusive, nobody trying to save money will benefit, only people looking to throw money away.

Highly Ranked

dammenion @ Jan 6th 2008 7:18PM

I can easily see Best buy and other stores pulling the plug sooner then wait for Toshiba to admit defeat.

Best Buy was one of the stores that pulled the plug on VHS early. One thing some people seem to forget is stores have limited shelf space. Come May, HD-DVD is going to have very few releases. Blu-Ray having the majority of sales and releases will need to expand in shelf space, so stores will shrink the HD-DVD section to make room.

They probably wont drop HD-DVD over night, but not ordering as many copies and only carrying best sellers till the section is small enough for the bargain bins will probably be the way it will go.

Of Course for die hards there is always online ordering where shelf space isn't a problem.

Neutral

Paul Fernandez @ Jan 6th 2008 7:44PM

The only thing I'm truly curious about is how the numbers will be affected by all of this allegiance switching. What would be monumentally funny is if the numbers STILL averaged a 2:1 ratio by this time next year, and seeing if yet another studio or retailer would backpedal on previous stances to support (or re-support) HD DVD.

That wouldn't be too shabby for a format that has had more "deaths" and resurrections than a cylon. Perhaps I should wait for smoke to emanate from my new HD-A3 like an expired Mission Impossible message.

Neutral

andyj @ Jan 6th 2008 8:04PM

I think it's pretty safe to say that every major CE outlet will be going Blu-ray exclusive soon. As it made sense for Warner Bros. to go Blu-ray exclusive, it makes sense for the outlets to do the same.

Low Ranked

Xyzzy @ Jan 6th 2008 9:09PM

"As it made sense for Warner Bros. to go Blu-ray exclusive, it makes sense for the outlets to do the same."
Oh, so Sony's paying the retailers $500M too? ;)

Neutral

ceilingfanboy @ Jan 6th 2008 9:38PM

Well, there is the same amount of evidence that Sony is paying off retailers as there is that they are paying off Warner.

Highly Ranked

andyj @ Jan 6th 2008 9:54PM

Warner: No Payoff for Move to Blu-ray

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Warner/Warner:_No_Payoff_for_Move_to_Blu-ray/1327

Highly Ranked

andyj @ Jan 6th 2008 9:57PM

Warner Goes Blu: The Story So Far

http://www.highdefdigest.com/featurewarnergoesblu_10608.html

In a post-announcement conference call, Warner Home Entertainment President Kevin Tsujihara flatly denied rumors that the studio had accepted anywhere from 250M to $500M in exchange for dropping its HD DVD format support. "The packaged media business is a $42 billion dollar business worldwide at the retail level, and we [Warner] have the largest market share of anybody," said Tsujihara. "From our perspective, the most important piece of this whole puzzle is, "How do we get growth back into this category?" That far outweighed anything else."

Neutral

jango fett @ Jan 6th 2008 11:33PM

You all need a life. Its not like this outcome affects you in either way.

Neutral

KWinOB @ Jan 7th 2008 3:23AM

One million players is not enough for HD DVD to continue as a niche market.Those who purchased HD DVD players will be left out in the cold, but they did know that there was a strong chance of this happening when they bought them. It is safe to assume that whatever movie co's that were in the red camp on Friday, are probably already revaluating their positions this weekend. Most will release movies in red that are already burnt, packaged, and near release date on HD DVD, but will make no further releases in the format. These studios and other backers will start to pull the plug on HD DVD in the coming weeks, and align themselves with Blue Ray. HD DVD players will offically become expensive doorstops within a year. By then, studios will have dumped the format and will have begun re-releasing flicks initially burned for HD DVD, and releasing them again in BD format.

Highest Ranked

superklye @ Jan 7th 2008 9:57AM

Expensive doorstops? I must've missed the part in my HD-A2's manual where it said that should the format war end with Blu-ray as the victor, all players and HD DVD media would simultaneously self-destruct in a Mission: Impossible style.

Seems more likely that every 6-12 months the last generation of Blu-ray players will be the so-called "expensive doorstops" as the BDA changes the spec again, nullifying all existing players by requiring additional hardware that can only come from a new, premium-priced player.

I think the Blu-ray fans call that the ability of the format to "evolve continuously" whereas anyone not blinded to the Gospel of HDM accoring to Saint Sony sees that it's a never-ending cycle of consumer rape...much like how a new version of HDMI seems to come out every 3-12 months.

Neutral

regeya @ Jan 7th 2008 3:54PM

Yep, and when those releases come out, there will be absolutely no advantage, as all they'll be is reauthored...not re-encoded. And there'll be a handy-dandy freeware program to let hd-dvd disc owners convert to Blu-Ray, and best of all it'll be cost effective, as hd-dvd drives will be cheap as hell.

I have a player, and thank goodness they don't spontaneously combust when there's an "obvious" death knell for the format! I have no plans to buy a Blu-Ray player until after a standalone player costs about half what the entry-level PS3 costs...and I have no intention of paying $400 for the 3rd-place console. So WB, you would have gotten money from me had you gone HD-DVD (and you already have), but now you'll have to wait a while. Ditto, Target.

I'm sorry, but RIGHT NOW, Blu-Ray is a sucker purchase. Call me in about a year. Until then, I guess I'm stuck with DVD.

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