Retail shelves getting painted blu
Part of Blu-ray's strategy is a "top down" approach that starts with studios and retailers and pushes downwards to consumers. It seems to be working, as several retailers are falling in line and shifting shelf space away from HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray. The linked article describes how buyers for several retail chains are shifting orders and shelf space away from the embattled HD DVD format. It's grim news, but none of them is giving up on the format entirely (at least not yet). Also, online shops that enjoy more "long tail" sales (Amazon, DVD Empire) haven't made big changes in product mix, and neither has HD giant Best Buy (no mention of rumor-fave Target). Still, talk along the lines of "... special order HD DVD titles for customers if needed" sounds like a death rattle to us. [Via FormatWarCentral]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Anthony Pivac @ Jan 20th 2008 10:41AM
If this is true, the Warner decision may impact the end of this format war faster than we know
DrXym @ Jan 20th 2008 10:49AM
In the UK / Ireland, the only store that I've seen giving equal space to both formats is Zavvi (formerly Virgin Megastore). HMV gives practically 90% of its space to Blu Ray. A lot of the smaller stores don't bother with either format.
I think it's likely that HD DVD will disappear entirely and Blu Ray will soak up its shelf space. Blu is still some way (probably until Christmas) away from finally being considered mainstream in Europe. I hope it's accompanied by some price reductions or it's going to languish.
Mr Stevo @ Jan 20th 2008 10:58AM
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Here's what I wrote on my blog last week:
http://www.flixzone.com/
"Although many of the major retailers are trying to stay neutral in this crazy high definition war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, at least the actions of one is showing a bit of a preference. In the last week I have been able to visit Costco, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Target. And, although most of them carry the same anemic amount of HD content, Best Buy seems to be rooting for Blu-Ray. As one walks into the store, youd immediately notice the Blu-Ray section to your left. The movies are facing forward so customers can see the covers. The section is a bit over 20 feet long, with half of it covered by another shelf. However, the shelf that covers the Blu-Ray section has standard definition discs facing the door, just like the Blu-Ray discs are, and HD-DVDs on the other side. It mightve been arrange that way to let their customers know that that is the high definition area. However, the HD-DVD discs are arranged in a way that only their spine, or edge of the case, is visible. It mightve been done that way due to the lack of space. However, it may also indicate that HD-DVDs are not selling at the rate Blu-Ray discs are.
Target announced late last year that it would only carry Blu-Ray players even though they sell both formats. However, there is a rumor going around that they may go Blu-Ray exclusive soon."
mntwister @ Jan 20th 2008 12:49PM
My local Target has a huge display for Blu and the Sony player always playing the blu-ray demo. In December they had 7 rows (across) of blu-rays (going 6 rows down), and 4 of hd-dvd. I went in the other day and the hd-dvd titles are gone. I think this is pretty much the way it'sd going to fo everywhere. These stores want to concentrate on getting the consumer to buy one format, and that choice is going to be blu-ray now. Period. Hd-dvd is losing stores, studios, and at low player prices, it doesn't matter because as of May they cannot play 80% of Hollywood content!
Andy Sullivan @ Jan 20th 2008 11:31AM
I have noticed very few adds for Toshiba HD DVD players lately but so far I have seen no indication of HD DVD title dumping. Prices remain high on the later releases.
James T @ Jan 20th 2008 11:32AM
We of Middle America tend to be very conservative. I'm not really really sure why anyone would want to spend all that extra money on HD movies. Up-scaling DVDs seem to look as good as the HD content, at least from over the air.
And Until the price of the HD movies can match what I'm paying for DVDs I'm never going to buy one. I have no interest in paying 5, 10 or 15 dollars more so I can see what Kraft services feed the actors.
north @ Jan 20th 2008 11:40AM
So for $5 more you wouldn't want to enjoy a movie that much more? Oh well.
TrentD @ Jan 21st 2008 8:50AM
Why are you even posting on an HD news blog, James T.?
John B @ Jan 20th 2008 12:16PM
"pushes downwards to consumers"
But ... but ... but ... According to Warner, this was all due to consumer choice! Wait, are you telling me that this whole format war was *not* about consumer choice but rather the top forces dictating (by way of format exclusivity) what we will be able to watch? Wow, no one ever saw that coming, I'll bet!
{/SARCASM}
Galley @ Jan 20th 2008 1:33PM
I would like to take this opportunity to start a rumor that Target will soon change its bulls-eye logo from red to blue, to further promote Blu-ray Disc.
Truth Teller @ Jan 20th 2008 2:15PM
I can honestly say I couldn't care less what bricks & mortar stores do.
I haven't bought a single disc (of any type/format) in a store in years.
Why would I?
I'm not so 'young & dumb' that I have to have things instantly if I can save (not such a little amount of) money.
B&M stores are just a rip-off, on-line is where it's at - and stocks of what you want are so easy to find.
JimC @ Jan 20th 2008 2:35PM
Well, sometimes Walmart either comes close to online prices or actually beats them. Sometimes Best Buy has a sale that online stores don't match. And sometimes I have ordered from Best Buy online and picked it up at the store. So although your preference may be b&m stores are soooo last year, they have their purpose and another thing is that there is still a very large portion of the population that does not like to shop online out of security concerns (valid or not). So b&m stores are still very valued outlets....
WordSlinger @ Jan 20th 2008 3:58PM
I agree online is where it's at. You can get things so much cheaper and shopping around is easier, but a lot of people are still not too keen on putting their credit card info out there and B&M stores still do have a large impact. I will still probably mostly buy online though.
Back to the main topic... the Target stores around me have slowly been shifting toward Blu-Ray for some time now. Even before the holidays I noticed they no longer stocked 50-50 and were taking shelf space away from HD-DVD to give to Blu-Ray media.
shawnmos @ Jan 20th 2008 4:19PM
I usually only buy my movies from Amazon.com. Every once in a while I will buy from another online retailer if they are having a sale, but that's it. I have never bought an HD DVD or Blu-ray disc from a retail store.
EEL @ Jan 20th 2008 3:56PM
At least the online retailers are remaining neutral for now, which should continue to make things interesting.
Anthony Pivac @ Jan 20th 2008 5:08PM
Here in Australia we don't have Amazon and most of the online stores don't offer much in the way of discounts. Add shipping rates, and the need to collect from post office if you order more than 2 discs, it's easier to go to a B & M store. Also I like to check my packaging for flaws. On the shelves here Blu-ray dominates shelf space.
Gus @ Jan 20th 2008 7:40PM
C'Mon engadgethd, i'm sure if you search the net hard enough you can find a few more anti HD DVD stories with substance ,because the deluge of anti HD DVD trivial shit you are posting is getting very boring.
alienclays @ Jan 21st 2008 1:09PM
yeah, maybe. but look at the comments and replys. people like you, truth teller, jhon B, zargon and deeznutz and a few more emotional preachers give them more hits on trivial stuff like this than all the other news combined.
i'm not complaining, they gotta put something up everyday, and the little stuff like this make the sure to ensue comment section fun to watch. sadly, it also starts to wear down the crediblity of EHD over time.
regeya @ Jan 20th 2008 8:57PM
Looks like a POS display from Target, and that's exactly what the local Target's display looks like. I do have to point out, though, that even though the local store devotes twice the space to Blu, the Blu section is pathetically small.
Nobody's all that interested in HD yet. Depending on who you ask the U.S. is headed for anything from a recession to a depression, and either could affect significant portions of the rest of the world. Yah, I know, we only have 5% of the world's population, so it's not fair...but there it is. In the face of financial ruin, who cares about HD?
I tended to side with the dying format, and not just because I own a player. I won't rehash them here because they're well known. My hope is that, barring the financial ruin, we'll see either affordable Blu disks and players real soon, or that providers will get on the HD VOD bandwagon and that companies like Time-Warner won't be so narrow-visioned as to impose bandwidth charges that make VOD movies more expensive than Blu disks.
DEEZNUTZ @ Jan 20th 2008 10:22PM
Well thank goodness retailers are doing their part to end what's left of this format war. Pressure like this will bring UNI and PARAMOUNT to go Blu in no time.
Iridium @ Jan 20th 2008 10:47PM
it all depends on the store. I've been in some Best Buys that have twice as much BluRay shelf space and some the have equal. However BluRay always has more isle kiosks. There are also more BluRay players connected to demo TVs. This weekend I saw that all special prices for HD-DVD titles were removed. BluRay still had sale prices up. That only signals a massive change coming in pricing for HD-DVD.
Target is heavily BluRay and in most Wal-Marts I have been in the situation is the same, BluRay has more shelf space. Circuit City has BluRay favored kiosks but the shelf space is equal.
Overall BluRay either has an equal or heavily favored store presence. It didn't help HD-DVD that thier main display kiosk had a garbage TV, the 42-HL167, hooked up to the HD-DVD player. They put huge wings on either side of the TV to hide the horrible viewing angles.
Its over for HD-DVD at retail.
andy @ Jan 20th 2008 11:35PM
my walmart and best buy are equal. best buy has a brd kiosk whereas no hddvd kiosk.
target has a blu kiosk, but i couldn't find discs for either format, or a player for that matter :confused:
GhostDoggy @ Jan 21st 2008 5:38AM
I do not think Warner alone is killing HD DVD. Best Buy seems to go out of its way to assist a lending death-hand. First, I have not yet been able to find an introductory HD DVD player in any of the retail BB stores near me. Previously, they only wished to sell you the A30, but now its the A35. And Wally World of all people is asking for $100 premium over the new list price.
ccweems @ Jan 21st 2008 6:52AM
Doh!
This is not a fairy tale: "I love all my children the same".
Not. Retailers and even studios never wanted 2 formats from the beginning and now that one of them is sick they'll do their best to make sure only one survives. It was Toshiba's pigheadedness that created the issue and the suffering they now enjoy is only just. BluRay always had more 3rd party retailer support fighting for shelf space and making sure the BluRay demos were up and working. I expect that those efforts are doubling now trying to render a coup de grce. We will all benefit from one format and the sooner it happens the better for all, apart from those who intend to steal their HD content (ignoring those with multi-TB media servers).
And trolls forget the comments about your delusion that with one format we will have expensive players and software. To say so means you are a stranger to history. It has been because there was one format for CD's and DVD's that allowed the market to embrace them and ultimately drive the costs to where they are now. They day is not far off when we'll have $50 players and Walmart will have bins of $5 BluRay disks, just unknot your knickers and breathe.
Truth Teller @ Jan 21st 2008 8:48AM
*quote*
They day is not far off when we'll have $50 players and Walmart will have bins of $5 BluRay disks
=========================================================================
LMAO
Thanks for that; cheered up my Monday morning no end.
Genuinely funny off-the-wall stuff.
They can't even get a range of profile 1.1 players out, nevermind profile 2.0.
Their discs are all double the price (at least) of SD DVD.
High def (of any sort excepting HD TV services) is invisible to the general public.
They're about to f*ck the 200,000 - 250,000 owners of every profile 1.0 & profile 1.1 player out there & you want to claim everything is wonderful and going fantastically well.
Hilarious.
The Blu-ray fans are too obvious & writing HD DVD off way too prematurely.
DrXym @ Jan 22nd 2008 7:29AM
Truthteller, It's interesting to hear your schizophrenic arguments since it says much about your detachment from reality, and your emotional immaturity. On the one hand you shout from the rooftops how great HD DVD is, how it will replace DVD, how Blu sucks. Then when HD DVD is all but dead, you proclaim a virtually identical format will fail because DVD is cheaper. You are seriously messed up. Grow up and learn to think rationally. You can't have it both ways, so at least try to be consistent in your arguments.
Blu Ray will enter the mainstream this year as HD confusion disappears, players and media become cheaper and more widespread. Market pressure and competition will ensure plenty of affordable players, probably below $200 before Christmas. It will be the holiday season that we see how well Blu Ray is fairing. The chances are that it will do extremely well, and will follow the same rate of adoption that DVD did over VHS. Probably even faster as its backwards compatible. One thing is certain though - HD DVD is dead and good riddance to it.
Maybe video on demand will become a viable force in time, but its nowhere near there yet, and your talk of upscaling DVD players is pathetic. Need I remind you that Blu Ray players upscale too?
alienclays @ Jan 21st 2008 2:28PM
are you really that short sighted dude? honestly?
can you not comprehend simple economic terms like econimies of scale?
ccweems didn't even give you something to fight with like a quantitave analysis like "2 years from now" ony a qualitative one. tell you what, i'll arm you with one " by december of this year, you'll see HD-DVDs lining the $5 bargin bins of you'r local walmart". that's of course if it's around that long and WM is still taking orders.
and do you not understand that early adopters with the cash to buy $500-1000 standalone BD players can still watch the movie even on a 2.0 disc?
these are the same people who will probably buy a standalone again when players can internally decode DTS masterHD and dolby true HD anyway and have a good player for the bedroom.
man, TT you uh,..... you're something else bro,...
DrXym @ Jan 22nd 2008 7:49AM
I think the fud over profiles is a predictable outburst by losers in this format war. A 1.0 player will continue to play disks for the life of the format. It might not play certain BD-J apps or PIP but that's it. Anyway, if future proofing is important, the PS3 is on sale right now. It's a great player and does a pile more besides playing blu ray discs.
I think if people need a reason to wait it should be for affordable players & more movies, not for some stupid features they probably would never use. I can't see anything compelling about profile 2.0. Sure it's nice to have features, but how do people really think studios are going to use an internet connected player? The main choices would be a) not at all, b) for a few trailers and clips, c) a game with highscore table, d) online store, e) spyware / metrics gathering, f) mandatory managed copy. I don't consider any of these to be compelling except f) and f) requires support by the player.
ronald @ Jan 28th 2008 7:18PM
BluRay is bribing studios to adopt their format.