After reading a somewhat shocking survey here recently which found that most Americans saw in-store renting as a fading habit, we began to wonder if those sentiments were reflected by the actions of our readers. Of course, even Blockbuster is making moves to protect itself should people resort to by-mail / online rentals en masse, so it's not like folks aren't already going to the store less often. How do you get your rentals the majority of the time? By walking to your mailbox? By utilizing that broadband internet you pay so dearly for? Or do you still enjoy taking the family out to your local rental store at ~$4.00 / gallon?

[Image courtesy of Boston]

As Blockbuster flounders around in an attempt to determine what it really wants to be, we're seeing that it's finally taking advantage of that whole Movielink purchase from last year. A new download section on the company's website has gone live, encouraging XP / Vista users running Internet Explorer (feel alienated yet?) to simply pick a flick, download and watch. In related news, the rental outfit has announced an expanded partnership with NCR that will see 50 DVD rental kiosks deployed in a pilot test, which is separate from the download-only kiosks which are being tested in Dallas, Texas. Anyone tried out the new download service? Do you prefer it more / less than Netflix's Watch Now?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Blockbuster download service
Read - Blockbuster DVD kiosks

Even we would agree that digital downloads aren't apt to siphon away a significant amount of physical media market share in the immediate future, but a recent survey conducted by CinemaNow (read: your skeptic hat should now be firmly in place) suggests that the vast majority of Americans feel otherwise. As a matter of fact, 87% of those surveyed agreed that "renting DVDs at the video store or through mail service will become a thing of the past," and 94% of those same folks reportedly felt that movie downloads were just "better for the environment." Not like the average joe / jane understands how much energy is consumed by warehouses full of drives, gigantic air-conditioned server rooms and legions of PCs sucking down content, but yeah, these results are totally representative of the truth.

[Image courtesy of Street Knowledge]

Looks like all those specials are paying off for Amazon and Wal-mart, as surveys done last fall and this spring indicate they're narrowing the gap with "leading Blu-ray shopping destination" Best Buy. No nifty percentage numbers this time, but according to VideoBusiness, Amazon's own findings indicate its share of the Blu-ray retail market is 3.5 times bigger than its DVD slice. That seems to jibe with NPD's finding placing it number two, followed by Wal-mart (benefiting from enhanced Blu-ray displays and sales of its own), then Target and Blockbuster, respectively, having overtaken Circuit City in the period from fall to spring. Is there anything other than deep discounts and BOGOs that decides where you buy Blu?

While we fortunate Americans have been renting Blu-ray Discs from Blockbuster for a good while now, citizens of Taiwan haven't had the same privilege. Thankfully, all that's getting set to change, as the rental chain has committed to offering up 50 BD titles in each Taiwanese location before the end of this month. A new partnership between it and Samsung will also place Sammy's BD players (the BD-P1500, in particular) in-store for patrons to experience the 1080p difference, and it's said that Samsung manager Li Je-rong believes that "with strong channel assistance from Blockbuster and Tsann Kuen, consumers will become more familiar with Blu-ray." As for pricing, expect to pay NT$150 ($4.93) for each Blu-ray movie versus NT$100 ($3.29) for traditional DVDs.

Blockbuster hasn't purchased Circuit City yet, but that's not stopping it from trying out the electronics retail market. The company's running several different kinds of test stores in the Dallas area, one of which offers technology for watching movies, like new HDTVs. According to the CEO, this effort is separate from the proposed CC buy, and includes test stores that open early so people can rent movies on their way to work, include coffee and soft drinks, or entertain kids with Rock Band (win). Beyond just its upcoming download service and PS3 Blu-ray kiosks, expect to see changes coming to your neighborhood video rental spot very soon.

Huh? Blockbuster just made public its February 17th offer to purchase Circuit City for $6 to $8 per share. As of this morning, Circuit city has not provided the requested due diligence necessary to move the deal forward. As such, Blockbuster is pulling a Microsoft and making the proposal public in hopes of inciting shareholders. They've even gone so far as to publish an open letter from Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes to Phil Schoonover, CEO of Circuit City. Really, is this how all corporate affairs will be conducted in the future guys? What really boggles the mind though is Blockbuster's quest for even more brick-and-mortar as digital downloads begin to take off. Hit the read link for the full contents of the letter.

[Via I4U]

We're not exactly sure what Blockbuster's saying here outside of what's already been said -- after all, the rental chain chose to back Blu-ray eons ago -- but nevertheless, a new release from the company is trumpeting the expansion of Blu-ray all across the US and Canada. As of this week, BD Discs will be available in every single corporate store in the US and Canada (along with select franchise locations), and to entice you further, it's setting up more Blu-ray kiosks featuring a 42-inch HDTV and a PlayStation 3. Additionally, the firm's by-mail service has had a BD preference option added so users can "automatically indicate that they want to receive all available movies in the high-definition format." We certainly dig the sound of that last part.

[Image courtesy of Portfolio]

The Hollywood Reporter is stating in no uncertain terms that Blockbuster is developing a set-top box to stream video into the home. Now the real bombshell: it should be announced "sometime this month." The device is expected to make the most of Blockbuster's access to Movielink's 6,000 strong Movie catalog just as soon as the content is migrated to Blockbuster.com (sometime before June). While delivering movies into the home electronically certainly challenges Blockbuster's brick and mortar business, really, what choice do they have in the relentless face of progress.

IFC Entertainment has entered a two-year exclusive rental agreement with Blockbuster. What's interesting is that it shows the new face of media today: Blockbuster gets a 60-day exclusive rental window covering both physical and digital rental, and the new title will not be available for retail sale in any format during this period. After the first 60-days, Blockbuster retains exclusive physical rental rights for three years. Sounds like a great deal for Blockbuster, and it should definitely give them a shot in the arm in their independent offerings. Meanwhile, those of us hoping see a raft of indies up for rent via other mechanisms just cried a little.

In a huge blow to Toshiba, Universal, and the rest of the HD DVD devotees, rental giant Blockbuster has decided to stock only Blu-ray discs in the vast majority of its nationwide locations, although HD DVD titles will continue to be offered online and in the 250 (out of 1,450) stores that have been testing both formats since last year. Blockbuster VP Matthew Smith revealed to the AP that the decision to go with Blu-ray -- which will reportedly be announced tomorrow -- stemmed from an overwhelming customer preference for those titles in the test markets, accounting for over 70% of all HD discs rented. Interestingly enough, it seems that content -- and not price -- was the deciding factor for consumers, with Blu-ray-only hits such as the Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean films apparently outmatching equivalent HD DVD exclusives. While it's still a little too soon to declare Blu-ray the outright winner, this Blockbuster decision only contributes to the momentum that Sony's darling has had of late -- momentum that at this point, might be too difficult for the other guys to counter.

[Via AVS Forums, thanks Simple Panda]

Blockbuster Chief Executive John Antioco said as much at the Reuters Media summit recently, indicating that packaged media is going to remain the best way to get movies, especially in high definition, for a long time. He anticipates DVDs will remain the best way for studios to profit from their releases and high definition formats will increase that over the next few years. Given recent events, we can't argue that digital distribution might not be fully baked just yet; but the ongoing format war makes us think the possibility of downloadable HDTV content catching up before consumers get comfortable with either Blu-ray or HD DVD is a bit higher than Antioco lets on. He did note that Blockbuster would be getting into the download business, possibly as early as next year.

The video rental giant recently revealed it will off about 40 (each) Blu-ray and HD DVD titles for sale or rent at 250 of its locations. They're basing the rollout on customers that were early DVD adopters so good luck if you can find the discs at a store near you. Rental prices will be the same as standard DVDs, so if you're not already renting discs from Blockbuster Online or Netflix this should be a cheap way to check out those movies you've been missing...unless of course you're already downloading them directly to your Xbox 360. According to the article its good for retailers to remind customers that as they upgrade to HDTVs their local store will upgrade also, in the face of so much competition that would seem to be a very good idea. We've got so many options to get movies without leaving our houses or even couches, if a customer makes a trip to the store and they don't have something in stock, that might be the last time they bother going at all.

[Via HDBlog]

It's the start of a nice 'ol lazy weekend and with the heatwave sweeping the country, you might want to stay inside. There isn't anything better then a big-budget summer blockbuster to kill cabin fever but with high-def discs costing a bit more then normal DVDs, it just makes financial sense to read some reviews first. So, we have compiled a review list of the best summer blockbuster flicks currently available on HD DVD or Blu-ray.

HD DVD Summer Blockbusters

• Apollo 13
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
  
• Serenity
• The Bourne Supremacy
• The Dukes of Hazzard

Blu-ray Summer Blockbusters

• Stealth
• RoboCop
• xXx