There is one retailer that has the power to call the winner of the protracted Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD fight and that vendor is Wal-Mart.
There is one retailer that has the power to call the winner of the protracted Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD fight and that vendor is Wal-Mart. Over the weekend they apparently leaked plans to bring in a massive number of low cost (possibly sub $200) HD DVD players for Christmas.
The manufacturing side of this has apparently been in the works for a few years but this is the first time we have had projected prices for the result.
Why Wal-Mart, Why Now?
Wal-Mart uses DVDs to build store traffic. They tend to subsidize the price for the movies they feature to get folks into the stores and once there, these folks tend to buy other things. DVDs have been so effective for the company they threw their body at movie downloads initially and delayed the related services by several years. However, they have now realized that this kind of thing is coming regardless and have brought out their own movie download service to compete. But that doesn’t address the store traffic benefit that will be evaporating as people move away from DVDs for standard definition downloadable movies.
Wal-Mart sees the new high definition formats as a way to bring in store traffic again but they realized that won’t happen unless the players are affordable and there is only one standard. They recognized their own power in being king maker previously and are now using that power to drive the format that works best for them. They could care less about the technology as this is all about making money and they (like every other retailer in this space) know that two formats won’t allow the market to move outside of the fringes and the dual-mode players are simply way too expensive.
So they need one standard and a lot of players in market before their DVD customers wander off to download land and stops coming to Wal-Mart for movies.
Why HD-DVD and not Blu-Ray?
For Wal-Mart the only real metric is cost. Wal-mart doesn’t really make money off of the movies and do not sell high-end home theater equipment. They are known for aggressive prices and, as mentioned above, they subsidize their DVD sales. They needed something that could sell for under $200 soon and they needed the lowest cost of the new formats. This is where HD DVD shines, not only had Toshiba agreed to license to low cost manufacturers early on, but HD DVDs are pressed on the same lines that regular DVDs are, they require no major equipment change out and the blanks, when compared to Blu-Ray are less expensive as well.
This made the decision simple, Blu-Ray was just too expensive to make this work and any technical advantages were insignificant against Wal-Mart’s need for the lowest cost offering. For them it is about price and that is where HD DVD clearly has the sustainable advantage.
What does this Mean?
It means that any studio wanting Wal-Mart’s support after year end had better be selling HD DVD movies. Wal-Mart won’t be promoting Blu-Ray and, after year end, will increasingly focus their marketing on getting people to buy into HD DVD players and the related HD DVD movie from them.
In short, the Blu-Ray aligned studios will now have to either support both formats or risk losing much of Wal-Mart’s business and given how material this business is to them, you have to think that an anti-Wall-Mart decision would have a material impact on their bonuses and career longevity. It certainly puts Columbia Pictures, which is owned by Sony, in a particularly uncomfortable position.
So, if this move by Wal-Mart is true , and it appears to be (but we won’t know for sure for a few months yet), the format war is likely over and Wal-Mart has declared the winner.
Showing 90 comments
RSSThe latest report shows Blu-Ray outselling HD DVD by a lot:
http://news.digitaltrends.com/article12787.html
"According to the figures, consumers purchased nearly 1.2 million high-definition discs in the first quarter of 2007; of those, 832,530 were Blu-ray titles and 359,300 were HD DVD discs. Home Media Magazine says Blu-ray took the sales lead on February and that, by March, the format accounted for nearly three out of every four high-definition discs sold, racking up 335,980 disc sales compared to HD DVDs 119,570 discs. "
3 out of 4 HD discs were Blu-Ray man. Plus with Disney showing support for only Blu-Ray, the gap is going to widen even more. And like the article I linked to points out, once Prates of the Caribbean comes out, it will all be over. Other than the price point of their player, HD DVD has nothing going for it. It's about the content here...not the price IMO.
http://www.homemediaretailing.com/n...rticle_ID=10...
Wal mart will still be carrying Sony's new blu ray system as well as the PS3, I would hardly say they declared a winner. They will use both formats to bring in traffic.
http://www.homemediaretailing.com/n...rticle_ID=10...
Wal mart WILL be selling blu ray players too. And that information is coming from a Wal mart exec. War ain't over.
A serious website should not allow for a person to post a commentary that reads like a 'news' article without it starting off with a clear cut "THIS IS RUMORED" as the headline. Because, at most, that is all it is.
If this article was written as a commentary then it should read "Wal-Mart could decide the fate of HD discs by choosing a specific format." or something similar, then go into details of how Wal-Mart's upcoming actions could possibly sway the format war one way or the other. It sure doesn't read like that - it reads like the decision has been made and that there have been specific official announcements by Wal-Mart that back up those claims.
Instead - we get rumors, presented as facts, and a website that allows such rubish to presented in a way that is a far cry from 'commentary'. Thanks, but I won't be returning.
http://www.homemediaretailing.com/news/html/breaki...
Not sure where this leaves your claim that Wal-Mart is making 'plans to go exclusive'.
Looks like they are pretty close in costs.
To AV integrated: This is an opinion piece, and has been written accordingly. I don't appreciate the rude comments by you and think it would be best if you did not visit anymore. We are also going to strip the website URL from your name, since you obviously care about sending traffic to your site rather than discussing the piece, and presenting your opinion.
Digg it guys! The fight is on!
And whatever happened to these mysterious low cost HD-DVD players from China anyway? They never showed up at Wal-Mart or anywhere else that I ever saw, that's for sure.
Oh well, I give you credit for the nice prediction, it only took 10 months for it to be proven utterly false.
HD-DVD is dead.
How Blu are you feeling after this latest announcement?! I'm not cos I knew that SONY wouldn't be burned again as with betamax.
With my PS3 as one of the best, and only upgradeable player I am on a winner - you clearly wont be!! Woo Hoo - GO BLU!!!
http://digg.com/movies/Wall_Mart_press_release_Goo...
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/wal_mart_to...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10838942/
i understand that you are in business to make money. but wal-mart is going about this in a way that i feel is unethical.
Jeff: Get rid of your HD DVD player while you still can. The format is now officially dead. It's still moving, but so is a headless chicken for a while.
Plus HD-DVD are cheaper to make.
Plus interactive content on HD-DVD is easier to develop.
All in all, I'd say HD-DVD is set for serious upswing.
Rob was of course right afterall. I hope you are all eating crow as well!
Your article could not have been much more accurate if it had been written today.
To all the people who bagged this article, i hope you all enjoy eating crow!
There must be a lot of nervous blu boys out there at the moment .
HD DVD Takes Centerstage at Wal-Mart
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/1131
Rob was right!
At the end of the day where the consumer will benefit is from lower prices, this will not clear up the confusion as to which format to buy into, but at least will make the costs for buying into one or the other format (or both) less of a gamble.
I love reading these threads with both camps saying their format is better, cheaper winning blah blah blah!!!!
Let's face it, neither format is going to win anytime soon!!! Both formats have had a huge investment made and they will fight to the death even if it means throwing more money at the problem. If Wal-Mart do import low costs HD-DVD machines, what's to stop Blu-Ray machines at the same or simular price following this. This may lead to a swing to one format for a while, but will swing back once the prices even out.
This war is bad for the consumer as they will either have to wait till one wins over the othe, or take a gamble on one format.
What this war is doing is driving the price down quickly which will make it difficult for the investment to be re-couped within a reasonable time frame.
Neither camp is ready to throw in the towel and both will be around for the forseable future.
On a simular note, how many households are HD-Ready? At the end of the day, it's not just the cost of a player & discs, but the whole package.
walmart does have the means to end this and hopefully they do.
Everyone really has forgotten the whole chineese thing in this war. Sony in there greed have shut them out of the BR market, wait until they start cranking out millions of machines and discs at a 10th of the cost of BR, I can only hope they crank it up as soon as possible and smash Sony into the ground
FUNAI won BILLION DOLLAR SUPPLIER in fiscal year 2006 from Wal-Mart this year. FUNAI plans to sell the Blu-ray player.
The article? was full of inaccuracies and we had no participation in it," the Walmart spokesman said in an e-mail to PC Magazine. "Most of the facts, including the purchase, were untrue," she added. "Not sure how it originated."
do you not understand?
"We are sorry to correct the statement that we have two million HD-DVD players order from Wal-Mart and manufactured by China Great Wall Group. The actuality is that we had not received yet. We are asked to provide the schedule to Wal-Mart and cost to determine the quantity even more than two million, if the cost is good enough and timing is correct. So the capacity is under consideration. Any qualified manufactured base group will be welcome. "
http://www.fuhyuan.com/ev/action/main.asp?news_id1...
So it does look like Wal-Mart IS IN FACT shopping for sub $200 players!! This does not bode well for Blu-Ray...
w00t
A lot of sites are reporting this. I do not believe Wal-Mart when they say this is not true.
"At this point, Wal-Mart has denied plans to go with HD DVD, the Chinese company has posted a retraction saying that it only released a cost forcast to WalMart, and yet Rob Enderle has made statements that say EXACTLY what Wal-Mart will be doing in the next year. Unfortunately, five seconds of research shows that Rob often makes baseless comments that are not only false, but at times, pure lies."
You sir are an idiot. How could 5 seconds of research saved Rob? Wal-Mart denied this rumor AFTER everyone published it. He links to several sites and says "apparently this was leaked" he did not say this was in-fact true. Although as Mike points out, Rob does act like its true with his statements towards the end.
To reinterate:
Dell buying Alienware?
HP buying VoodooPC?
Google buying YouTube?
These were all leaked and then denied. But they became true right?
At this point, Wal-Mart has denied plans to go with HD DVD, the Chinese company has posted a retraction saying that it only released a cost forcast to WalMart, and yet Rob Enderle has made statements that say EXACTLY what Wal-Mart will be doing in the next year. Unfortunately, five seconds of research shows that Rob often makes baseless comments that are not only false, but at times, pure lies.
My personal grief comes not from the possibiliyt of Wal-Mart doing whatever it will do, but from any respected website printing the words of a hack journalist like Mr. Enderle who can't spend five seconds doing some research so he might hope to present a halfway factual piece of journalism.
"This made the decision simple, Blu-Ray was just too expensive to make this work and any technical advantages were insignificant against Wal-Mart?s need for the lowest cost offering."
"It means that any studio wanting Wal-Mart?s support after year end had better be selling HD DVD movies."
"Wal-Mart won?t be promoting Blu-Ray and, after year end, will increasingly focus their marketing on getting people to buy into HD DVD players and the related HD DVD movie from them."
"In short, the Blu-Ray aligned studios will now have to either support both formats or risk losing much of Wal-Mart's business"
"It certainly puts Columbia Pictures, which is owned by Sony, in a particularly uncomfortable position."
Those were far from speculative statements.
I am no fan of either format. But logic tells me Sony will definetly win the format war.
I heard someone say that the PS3 doesn't have any games, btu that argument was given to show that the cheaper HDDVDs will sell better when they get out. But that argument is ludicrous because most of us know that many games are scheduled to go out on the PS3 in the next 6 months.
Also, with the discontinuity of the 20gb PS3 at 500$, it is only a matter of time before the 60gb version gets a lower price, closer to the 500$.
Another point is the following; I've played both the PS3 and XBOX360 and besides the lack of games, which was intentional by Sony as they decided to do the opposite as what they did with the PS2, in agreement with game producers and distributors who thought the PS2 had too many games for the first year of release compared to the low number of consoles sold on the market, besides the low number of games for the PS3, this game system is was better then the XBOX360. Graphics are better, loading time is way better and has usual controllers are more user-friendly than the potatoe-controllers of microsoft.
In the end, it is not just a question of what company will choose which format (and fanboy Ron with his big wet dream fantasizes way to much power to Wallmart to decide this war), it is rather a question of what console gamers are gonna choose.
I would put my money on Sony. Short of the apocalyspe, Blue-ray will probably shine in the coming years.
And again, I am no fanboy. I do not have any vested interests (emotional or otherwise like some here seem to have) in whether HDDVDs or BRDs win this war.
Just a question of logic. In the long run, a few dollars of difference in the price tag will not be enough to overcome the differences in capacity and quality. Especially if we consider that this is not just a war for the videomedia format, but a war that extends to the gaming community, which is a whole new ballgame of its own.
I will repeat - IN THE LONG RUN - BDRs will be advantaged and will take over the market.
I would like to encourage you to re-read Rob's article. A couple things worth pointing out:
1) He linked to sites claiming Wal-Mart placed, the order, he did not say they did absolutely. Rob says that Wal-Mart "apparently" leaked plans and that "apparently" it's been in the works.
2) So based on this information, Rob explains why Wal-Mart would care about price in this segment.
3) No where did he say ?I know this deal went through, as a fact" he is not reporting the news; he is writing an opinion piece based on information out there. This is a column, blog, opinion, not a news announcement. Look at the URL of this page it says "editorial". If this was 100% confirmed true, you would see it in our news: http://news.digitaltrends.com as a news story.
There are hundreds of sites out there reporting about the Wal-Mart order. Of course, if the information leaked, Wal-Mart will deny it, they are not ready for an announcenment - it's as simple as that. When was the last time a company confirmed leaked information before it was announced?
Dell buying Alienware?
HP buying VoodooPC?
Google buying YouTube?
These were all leaked and then denied. But they became true right?
This story makes sense to me. Wal-Mart does care about price, why would they not want sub $200 HD DVD players?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2122715,00.as...
As I said earlier, this is a fine piece of amateur journalism. I'm anxious to hear your next piece in this on going analysis of the format war.
Big shout to all Phase HYDRA posters!
Even if the rumors are true (for which there is not a shred of solid evidence as of yet) there is no indication the players would be less than $200 (the contract is said to be $300M for 2M players, which would be a cost of $150 to Walmart, probably before patent fees since none of the parties mentioned are format licensees). Therefore Walmarts costs would almost certainly be closer to $200, which doesn't leave room to sell for $200. Further, delivery is by the end of 2008, which certainly doesn't guarantee players on the shelf by the holidays this year.
Oh, don't forget that some of Rob's top clients include Toshiba and Microsoft.
Chinese media is reporting Wal-Mart is buying these HD DVD players for about $50 and selling them for $190-200.
As you can see, Bluray has a very large lead:
http://news.digitaltrends.com/article12412.html
and
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=4...
405 results for Blu-Ray titles:
http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_1417992_1/103...
430 results for HD DVD:
http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_1417962_1/103...
The moral of the story? Neither format is winning, wait till a dual combo player comes down in price, then get it!
way with a larger selection, more new movies, and continuous releases.
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Why don't you count how many movies each format has? Come back and tell me the selection is larger.
PS3 will push BD??? You can only sell 28k "bew release" BD's with 1 million PS3's out there. Trust me, there are more PS3 owners NOT buying BD movies than there are that DO buy.
Besides, you guys need some games in order to sell PS3's. They will never sell in large numbers. All the hardcore gamers and BD buffs have theirs already.
Casual gamers and the rest of the public won't pay for a $600 BD player with no video games. I'm sure it looks pretty just sitting there though...
How is that choosing one over the other?
Other electronics retailers will carry Blu-ray and customers will go there. Blu-ray has the studios behind it and it has been leading the way with a larger selection, more new movies, and continuous releases. The PS3 will continue to push the format as well.
This is a biased opinion leaning towards HD-DVD and the idea that because it's cheaper it will come out on top. Provide some credibility next time please...
http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Trilogy-HD-DVD/dp...
http://www.amazon.com/Braveheart-HD-DVD/dp/B000E1M...
It is true that these are old movies, but come on, Lord of the Rings? That alone could decide the format war. As far as I know there has been no announcement for a Blu-Ray version of LOTR... but hey, there is still time I guess, it doesn't even have a release date, though I believe New Line has been backing HD-DVD. Also, Braveheart is already available in HD on Xbox Live Marketplace, I actually downloaded it and it looks pretty amazing for a movie that is 10 years old.
Dude you change your stance more times than a kung fu master. You start comparing HD DVD to Blu-Ray, then when you lose, you compare regular DVD's to Blu-Ray.
Are you going to say that Night at the Museum (which is on Blu-Ray onlny) was not a huge hit? What about Pirates of the Carribean? Dude you are hopeless.
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No, I compare it to other REAL releases. Fact is, it was the only somewhat big new release for either format. 28k sales for the over 1 million PS3's in the NA market is pitiful.
You guys throw out number like 28k sales as if it actually means something. It's a drop in the bucket compared to the big picture of actually making a format a clear winner.
I'm not saying Pirates is not a huge hit. It is. But when I brought up The Matrix and asked how it looks on BD. It was shrugged off as "old", like it's no big deal. I bet the Matrix brought in more money than Pirates or Night at the Museum combined when it was released.
Each format has great movies. Neither is better than the other when it comes to releases. Accept for the obvious 1st quarter and lack of HD-DVD. I like Spiderman, but I also like The Big Lebowski. But allot of you guys are just obtuse about it for no other reason than just to be obtuse.
You claim you have "content" when you clearly don't have any real advantage. How many movies have FOX put out for you? Disney? You're exclusives are paltry at best. But you act like you have 1000 more BD movies out right now than HD-DVD and you don't.
"ENDERLE: You have claimed that the Zune would kick the crap out of the iPod, you have claim, numerous times, that the Macintosh computer would disappear, you have shown 110% support for all things with a Microsoft label, except XP which you thought would be a failure."
Obviously you do not research anything before posting, so I am going to assume you know nothing moving forward.
Here is a link to Rob's article on the Zune:
http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback156.html
"Zune generated more negative press during its launch than any iPod, including the first crippled Shuffle, has ever done. It got so bad earlier this week that folks are getting excited about the fact that it wouldn?t even work with Vista right now even though Vista is only in limited corporate release to customers who would avoid anything like Zune (or iTunes) like the plague.
If reports are correct Zune also has more unsold inventory sitting in stores than Apple has ever had; customers evidently didn?t understand that ?Brown? was cool. I?m guessing they didn?t see the survey saying that Brown was the hot new color."
Read the article, Rob SLAMS Microsoft about the Zune and says the iPod is a better product.
if you read what that main article says by the end of 2008. by then blu-ray players could be that cheap, this means jack. don't get me wrong i love toshiba but blu-ray is kicking its ass. with all all the films coming out in the next few weeks like CONAIR,A FEW GOOD MEN,CRIMSON TIDE,CARS,THE RECRUIT,THE ROCK,PREDATOR,POTC 1 AND 2, ALL THE SPIDERMANS. i mean be serious stfu sony isn't goona collapse cause walmart is goona put out a cheap hd-dvd player in 2 yrs LOL idiots
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All of those are old movies, as some other PS3 fanboy just stated. They are nothing, remember?
The 2008 is when ALL of the 2 million will be delivered to Wal-Mart. They aren't going to ship 2,000,000 all at once. Idiot.
They will start to arrive in October.
Blu-Ray won't be cheap by then. It won't undermine the Pioneer, Panasonic and the PS3 sales just to make cheap competitive players. If they do, who would spend $600 on a PS3? It has no games and a Blu-Ray player will be half of it's price. Not to mention the 360 will probably drop just to be more competitive.
IF this does pan out. HD-DVD will reach a price point for critical mass long before Blu-Ray can. Hell, I bet Toshiba will be just bounce off the top of $200 buy November. The HD-A2 is going for $300 right now. These will most likely be priced cheaper than that for a no name player.
Dude you change your stance more times than a kung fu master. You start comparing HD DVD to Blu-Ray, then when you lose, you compare regular DVD's to Blu-Ray.
Are you going to say that Night at the Museum (which is on Blu-Ray onlny) was not a huge hit? What about Pirates of the Carribean? Dude you are hopeless.
ENDERLE: You have claimed that the Zune would kick the crap out of the iPod, you have claim, numerous times, that the Macintosh computer would disappear, you have shown 110% support for all things with a Microsoft label, except XP which you thought would be a failure.
Now, you continue to post your highly inaccurate opinions as 'fact' and somehow get a paycheck for spewing garbage you know nothing about.
Once again: Per disc, on a run of 100,000 copies, HD DVD comes in a few cents more for 30GB vs. the 25GB Blu-ray disc and a few cents less than that for a 15GB HD DVD. This is for finalized production run discs from an independent manufacturer. Materials costs for printing discs is incredibly low, for both formats. So, take your 'less expensive' crap and shove it, because reality simply does not match up with your opinion of what it should be.
As for Chinese manufactured players, I have no doubt that they can come out for a significant cost savings, but Blu-ray vs. HD DVD maintains incredibly similar specifications, so if you think HD DVD could do such a thing, then it follows reason that Blu-ray could do it as well. Figure out why Blu-ray could NOT do such a thing for the same money... Then make your claims, but remember, the BDA has included Chinese corporations since day one and has just as much potential for leverage within China as HD DVD does.
Once again, people are getting side tracked from the big lie from a wanna-be analyst, who has been proven wrong numerous times, so they can focus on the other lies of other fanbois and ignore the facts and lies before them that matter.
1. Wal-Mart may - or may not - release a HD disc player of some sort later this year.
2. There is no significant cost reason why Wal-Mart would go with either format over the other.
3. When asked, by an actual journalist, for comment, Wal-Mart would not confirm (or deny) anything.
4. ENDERLE has made pro-HD DVD claims and pro-Microsoft claims in the (recent) past which have proven not just inaccurate, but flat out wrong. He has proven, if nothing else, that he is a unknowing hack. He is not occassionally inaccurate, but he is openly manipulative of data for his own personal feelings, which lay zero claim to the reality going on around him.
5. Move on sheep, the format war will continue regardless of what we say here or stupid news organizations which don't research the idiots they pay to write stories for them.
FOX News school of journalism.
" http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/04/24/hd-dvd-camp-u...
"While the HD DVD camp reminded us that they have inexpensive players from China on the way, they weren't able to confirm any "specific reports relating to Wal-Mart". It seems to us that if this were indeed true, that the HD DVD camp would be the first to trumpet its significance to their success in the format war. As much as we all want inexpensive next generation HD disc players, we will just have to wait for something more official before we hold off on our purchases waiting for Wal-Mart."
So because the "HD DVD Camp" didn't confirm that they were in a deal with Wal-Mart (and why would they if PR and marketing is not ready to announce it), does that necessarily mean that they are denying it either?
Engadget seems to be wanting to ride off of the attention this article has garnered by being the devils advocate. Here is something to keep in mind: would you rather believe a professionally paid analyst, or a blogger paid on a per-post-basis that doesn't cite their information. Who at the HD DVD "camp" did they talk to? Oh that's right, they didn't mention their name - because they probably didn't talk to anyone!
Also, just because Wal-Mart will carry the Blu-Ray player, doesn't mean they will push or even promote it. All they have to do is stock it.
If Wal-Mart has gone through the motions. To partner up with these companies and build manufacturing sites. They are not going to undermine their bottom line and push the Sony BD player over their own home brand and format.
Tehy will market HD-DVD, sell it in packages with HDTV's and push it among the public.
It's similar to the stories you hear at some Best Buy's. BD displays out in the open in some stores, with HD-DVD sitting in the back shelf. That is what I predict BD's future to be in Wal-Mart. Sitting in the back shelf collecting dust on it's high price tag.
Let me know how that Matrix Trilogy turns out on Blu-Ray when it's released on it next month. Oh, wait....
Content doesn't count for anything when you have the same amount of movies released. Also, when was the last time FOX released a large number of titles on BD again?
The prices estimated for the Chinese products are apparently not subsadized but would suggest a substantial reduction in component cost which often happens a year or so after a new technology is released and manufacturing lines move from short runs to long runs.
But, if you look at the prices of the movies, HD-DVD runs about $3 less than Blu-Ray today and the players are also substantially less expensive. Costco has them for around $400 now. Both would suggest pass through cost advantages.
The China move was first reported back in 2005 and the WalMart rumor is consistent with past moves by the company.
Here is the 2005 coverage:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/20/business/dv...
And here is a piece from Business week that talks about the related WalMart strategy:
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/conten...
What do you think the mass DVD market was built on? Cheap players. That's what got the market saturation. It is what sells DVD's today. Cheap, crappy or both, they still sell.
I have no doubt that these HD-DVD players will be of decent quality.
I think allot of you are just upset you can't play any good games on your PS3. Do you even play Resistance anymore? all you can do is watch BD movies! Haha, you can't even watch DVD's up-converted!
If I had to watch my old collection's of DVD's in 480p I'd be all sorny too!
Sorry, when Wal-Mart choses to buy HD-DVD players, they plan to MARKET them. When Wal-Mart decides to pimp and push HD-DVD over BD. It's going to be game over. You're low attach rate PS3 won't keep up with high attach rate stand alone's.
Also, just because they will sell BD, doesn't mean they will PROMOTE it. There is a huge difference.
Next time you decide to buy a Sony PS3, send the money to me. I'll **** in a box and stamp Sony on it for you. Cause it'll be the same thing, lol
In the end, if you look at the actual parts involved in production costs for either type of player you would find that costs are very similar and that the products going into them are almost identical.
So, please, don't try to pass off HD DVD as some super cheap technology. Reality just smacks your statements in the face.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/04/20/the-wal-mart-...
er-on-the-way/
I notice how you left that part out of your article. I think we all know biased reporting when we see it.
It all comes down to content. Just like the Xbox360 will continue to lead over the PS3 because of the breadth of games available, the Bluray format will continue to lead over HD-DVD for the same reason. Until you something worthy of watching on HD-DVD, why would you buy it?!
The only reason that HD DVD has been coming out cheaper is that the major patent holder, who can receive BILLIONS of dollars in royalties on format success is Toshiba and they are willing to subsidize player costs to gain/maintain market share.
This means that Wal-Mart is not likely to see a true price advantage with either format and a basic parts and cost breakdown would clearly highlight this fact to anyone. So, not only is your initial presumption, based on rumor, inaccurate, but your logic to support your flawed presumption is inaccurate as well.
I'm confused as to why you are continuing to write this drivel when everone around you is specifically refuting your statements.
ADDITION: HD DVD can't simply be run on the same production lines as DVD. The tolerances of HD DVD are to high for a simple jump from DVD to HD DVD on the same line. Instead, the lines must be retooled to higher tolerance specifications which has cost HD DVD much higher than initially claimed. As well, the ONLY published reports on disc costs put HD DVD and Blu-ray actual production rates nearly at identical levels.
Do people here bother to do any research before they start writing? Because, I've got an unemployed 3 year old who can make up stories that would be more accurate than this.
If Wal-Mart really does start selling HD DVD players this cheap, it's the end-game, they will propel the format ahead. Consumer do not want a $600 movie machine when you can get a regular DVD player for $50 bucks. That's a huge gap and little picture improvement to justify it. I think Rob hit the nail on the head.
Looks like you are spamming the article trying to get traffic back to your own site.
Where did Rob say that Wal-Mart is going exclusive with HD DVD? Your inflamatory remarks certainly do not make me want to visit your site.
The issue here is retailers need one to win, overall sales are very low for the combined total and with standard Def movies moving on-line the desire to pick sides is high.
HD-DVD has a sustaining financial advantage, a retailer will typically favor the product with the lowest cost because that equals either higher margins or higher sales.
At sub $200 the HD market should be able to expand by a factor of 10 to 100x regardless of the format. It appears HD-DVD will get their first. If this happens Blu-Ray is done.
And to be clear, when it came to spending my own money I bought an Oppo DVD player with a scaler. Until there are enough movies for either format or until the $200 players arrive, that remains the best short term path.
The whole point is that Wal-Mart is powerful enough to be a king maker and it is in their best interest to pick one. Other retailers are likely to follow their lead (Target for instance). Watch for it.
Maybe we just have to live with both formats in the future. But I can't wait to get my hands on a Blu-Ray burner when the have come down in price. And the PS3 will certainly help the Blu-Ray adoption and get people to know the format.
How you manage to put words into Wal-Mart's mouth is beyond me. Please show me where they are saying they will not support Blu-ray later this year? Obviously, this is nothing but an HD-DVD fanboy writing about a wet dream.
Wal-Mart didn't name anything. You have no source of Wal-Mart saying this -- the source is yourself.
Woodward and Bernstein had to get two sources. You don't have to get any. You are your own imaginary deep throat and a journalist wrapped-up into one.