We've already seen a couple of Blu-ray
exchange programs offered to HD DVD owners looking to jump ship, but looks like Sony is now finally getting in on the action itself, albeit only in Switzerland. While some of the details are lost in translation, it seems that if you buy either the BDP-S500 or BDP-S300 Blu-ray player before the end of March, you'll then be able to send in your HD DVD player for Sony to recycle and receive a discount of 200 Swiss Francs (about $190), plus both the Spider-Man trilogy and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy on Blu-ray. Not surprisingly, the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive and all computer HD DVD drives are excluded, and you'll need the proof of purchase and cash receipt for your HD DVD player (purchased before February 29th) in order to take advantage of the offer. Needless to say, we wouldn't recommend holding your breath for Sony to offer a similar deal 'round these parts.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1stGreg @ Mar 4th 2008 4:42PM
Well I guess that kind of deal can only really be made where HD DVD only had a small pop., otherwise the cost would be astronomical.
This being said, even if only profile 1.0, the BDS300 is a prety good player and the two free trilogies alone make this offer an excellent deal.
Patrick @ Mar 4th 2008 5:39PM
What parts of HDDVD and Blu are common? I assume that some of it is,
usable chips, etc., but I too doubt that they are worth $190 to BD
manufacturers, with entire HDDVD players selling for under that. The
decode circuitry in basic HD standalones isn't much more than $100,
right? ...considering price differences between players and 5.25"
drives.
Mr. E @ Mar 4th 2008 5:49PM
Wow, that's interesting. What's most surprising to me is that 1/2 the movies they are offering are from Disney, so it's not a Sony-only promotion. I wonder what made them decide to do this? Anyone know if there are any unusual consumer protection laws in play here?
Truth Teller @ Mar 4th 2008 6:01PM
* quote
Mr. E
I wonder what made them decide to do this?
=============================================================================
Isn't it obvious?
It's so clearly about their total & growing desperation to get someone (anyone!?) beyond the PS3 clique/niche to bother with Blu-ray
(which isn't happening).
I'm really looking forward to the coming months of those Blu-ray/DVD piecharts.
Yeah right.
.....and regular updates on how poorly Blu-ray hardware & software is selling.
Despite the laughable denial of some around here the truth is that HD DVD was not the only high def format to lose the war, Blu-ray just hasn't realised it yet.
JoN @ Mar 4th 2008 9:35PM
lol - move along people - don't stare at the fan boy...
DrXym @ Mar 5th 2008 4:16AM
Truth Teller, as you appear to have sulked off for the last two weeks you might not be aware of this but HD DVD lost. Blu Ray is doing just fine thank you irrespective of your acceptance of that fact.
Truth Teller @ Mar 5th 2008 10:55AM
* quote
DrXym
Truth Teller, as you appear to have sulked off for the last two weeks
============================================================================
Oh right, of course.
Here's the final proof of your own ludicrous obsession re PS3/BD.
Naturally (to you) the whole world revolves around & there can never be anything else in life besides your pointless raving about your favourite high def game console, eh?
Well tough t!tties boys.
The facts about disappointing Blu-ray's slow crawl to grow are starkly clear.
In any event the comparison is utterly bogus anyways, it is plainly not a case of comparing like with like.
DVD never got the (entirely expected) boost from being built into a game console that was always bound to sell in the multi-millions right from the start.
But you've the rest of this year to convince yourselves, after that you're only going to be fooling yourselves.
We're already at 3 years in and now the only serious disc-based competitor has gone.
What are the excuses going to be in 2009, hmmmmmm?
Schadenfreude is such a great word.
DrXym @ Mar 5th 2008 4:48PM
TT, blah blah whatever you say. Meanwhile back in reality the shelf space being devoted to blu ray is noticeably growing. A trip to any HMV or Zavvi would confirm that.
Jove @ Mar 6th 2008 3:23PM
oh hell no, you again?
WiFiSpy @ Mar 4th 2008 6:11PM
I thought the Swiss were neutral?
Bradley @ Mar 4th 2008 6:13PM
As my friend pointed out to me this is kind of an odd offer. When you trade your player in your HD DVD discs are only worth what you can sell them for on eBay versus having at least some HD media that you can watch until the player dies. I don't own either format, but if I this offer was made available to me and I did own and HD DVD player I don't think I would take it.
1stGreg @ Mar 4th 2008 6:40PM
Bwahaha Lie Teller pitches in for great hilarity.
So LT, still obsessing over HD DVD I see ? :)
Have you heard from Nfinity ? Some rumors went around that he just couldn't bear Toshiba dumping HD DVD, so I guess that with Toshiba's CEO declaring that HD DVD is no better than a upscaled DVD he must have checked himself back in a specialized facility, no ?
/sad
Truth Teller @ Mar 4th 2008 7:02PM
No, what's "sad" '1st Greg' is your hiding behind a lame bash at HD DVD and ignoring the point in your blind BD fanboy-ism.
HD DVD is no longer the issue.
Blu-ray stands (very lamely) alone now.
Now you don't get to pit one miniscule sales number against another miniscule sales number.
Now you get exposed to the stark reality that Blu-ray really does remain a tiny & mostly PS3 based niche.
Pity you can't abide facing up to the reality of the situation.
Even at it's most basic level this offer is pretty dumb.
Anyone taking up this offer must ask themselves why bother to switch to the far more expensive and far more limited BD hardware(s)?
There is absolutely no guarantee that all the HD DVD exclusive titles they already have will all come out on BD anyways.
EQC @ Mar 5th 2008 4:02AM
Truth Teller:
In order to support your claims, I ask you to answer the following questions, providing *recent* links/documentation for support:
1 a) How many stand-alone HD-DVD players were sold?
1 b) How many stand-alone Blu-ray players have been sold?
1 c) How many PS3's have been sold?
1 d) What percentage of PS3's are used as Blu-ray players? (last I heard, it was around 40%, but I'm not sure anymore)
2 a) Roughly what fraction of movie sales are Blu-ray versus DVD?
2 b) What fraction of movie sales were DVD vs. VHS 1 year after DVD's release? 2 years?
When answering number 2 there, *if* it is found that Blu-ray is doing better against DVD than DVD was doing against VHS, please don't offer your own explanations unless you have a documented professional opinion to back it up. I don't care if *you* think that DVD had a disadvantage since movies on disks were a whole new technology for people to get used to. I don't care if *you* think that transitioning from SD disks to HD disks should be fast and easy versus transitioning from cassettes to disks.
Finally, one last question, for which you can throw out your own opinion/thoughts without any documentation:
3) Do you have an explanation as to why, if Blu-ray is doing as poorly as you claim, so many manufacturers are backing it? Even before Toshiba declared HD-DVD's death, I believe at least Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and LG were making Blu-ray hardware. Since then, I believe several other manufacturers have announced plans to enter the market.
3 b) You claim Blu-ray is on its way to failure, but these giant corporations seem to have confidence in it...what is it that you know that they don't, what with their millions of dollars in market research and decades of experience?
ccweems @ Mar 4th 2008 6:57PM
TT it is sad to see you degenerate from an occasionally erudite HD-DVD fanboy to a soulless hater.
Sorry to see you go.
Truth Teller @ Mar 4th 2008 7:06PM
@ ccweems
If you are one of the ridiculous idiots who claim to 'love' or 'hate' CE then I suggest you seek help.
Just cos BD won the little tussle with HD DVD does not mean it has won Jack Sh!te as far as breaking into the a/v mass-market goes.
Pointing out that little nugget of honest & sober truth may be distressing for the PS3/BD fanboys but it does not make it any less true nor a matter of 'hate'.
DEEZNUTZ @ Mar 4th 2008 9:00PM
@TT,
Even NFINITY knows when to give it up and laugh this whole format war off. You on the other hand... sour grapes? Or is TOSHIBA now paying you to just be a twat now for no good reason?
It's lame and quite old chap... BD pwned in your precious continent and now you're mad cause you can't take advantage of this offer to offload your 5 useless HD DVD players that you put in every room? To quote you, LMAO!!!
Go buy a PS3 and STFU already.
ccweems @ Mar 4th 2008 9:33PM
I think the best approach is to treat TT and NFINITY like our little retarded twin brothers: be nice to them (no matter what they say), treat them with respect (no matter what they do) and beat the shit out of them when mom isn't looking.
EQC @ Mar 5th 2008 4:06AM
ccweems: as DEEZNUTS pointed out, NFINITY changed his tune recently. He's gotten a sense of humor about things now...I've seen a couple very decent posts from NFINITY recently. TT seems to stand alone now on this forum as a diehard BD hater....
DrXym @ Mar 5th 2008 4:10AM
There are probably like 4 HD DVD standalone player owners in the whole of Switzerland, 3 of whom have lost their receipt. I expect it cost Sony more to run this promotion than they'll ever have to pay out to applicants.
celerion @ Mar 5th 2008 6:09AM
There are many HD DVD Players out there in Switzerland. For such a small country there are many people who are willing to and have the money for early adapting technologies like this.
Sony BDP-S300 450$
Offer: -190$
POTC: -115$
Spider-Man: -125$
-------
Total: 20$
I'm really thinking about trading my HD-E1 and buying a new one. They cost something like 100$ on EBay right now here in Switzerland. So the BDP S300 will only cost me a total of 120$.
But on the other site: Getting a working HD DVD Player recycled...
Jove @ Mar 5th 2008 4:41AM
i want the pirates of the caribbean trilody!
Dave @ Mar 5th 2008 12:05PM
LOL Truth Teller is fine example of hd dvd supporter :) No wonder why their format failed bad :):) :)
A. Sinick @ Dec 5th 2008 6:23AM
Well I live in Switzerland and decided not to buy into either of these formats. Quite frankly I thought they were both dead in the water in the face of other alternatives.
I just bought a decent Toshiba DVD player (not HD-DVD) which has HDMI upscaling to 720p or 1080i and plays disks from any region. Cost was CHF140. Dont forget that BluRay disks are region coded, which is generally regarded as an evil technology here in Europe.
If I want HD content, I can already get it either from satellite, or from the Swisscom Bluewin IPTV service (which also carries British HD television) and record it on my PVR. I have zero interest in getting a PS/3 as we already have Xbox 360.
This offer looks a little desperate to me, perhaps more of a sop to local politicians than a serious offer for consumers. There have been few HD titles on sale or for rent here anyway.
DrXym @ Mar 5th 2008 9:17AM
Desperate? Blu Ray just won this war you know. I don't think the deal is that great but let's not start reading more into it than what it is. It's just a regional deal to attract a few more sales to Sony. And by a few I mean a few.