“Blockbuster Inc. will rent high-definition DVDs only in the Blu-ray format in 1,450 stores when it expands its high-def offerings next month, dealing a major blow to the rival HD DVD format,” The Associated Press reports.
“Blockbuster has been renting both Blu-ray and HD DVD titles in 250 stores since late last year and found that consumers were choosing Blu-ray titles more than 70 percent of the time,” AP reports.
“Blockbuster will continue to rent HD DVD titles in the original 250 locations and online, the company said,” AP reports. “The decision was helped in large part by the lopsided availability of titles in Blu-ray, Smith said. All major studios except one are releasing films in Blu-ray, with several, including The Walt Disney Co., releasing exclusively in Blu-ray. Only Universal Studios, which is owned by General Electric Co., exclusively supports HD DVD.”
Full article here.
People buying iPods, using iTunes, downloading Safari, buying more Macs, salivating for iPhone… What’s gotten into people lately; recognizing quality and not settling for inferior junk? Whatever it is – more, please!
[UPDATE: 1:25pm EDT: Added “chair” graphic for MacDailyNews Readers “zerO” and “JadisOne.”]
MDN
Please join the list and upgrade your standards of reporting. Droping the over used Ballmer jokes would be a nice start.
I enjoyed the chair throwing animation the first time and for that matter the word “beleaguered” but …time to grow up an “recognizing quality”
I’m trying to figure out what the MDN comment about quality has, if anything, to do with this posting.
If MDN ever wants your advice, zer0, I’m pretty sure they’ll put you on some kind of retainer. Otherwise, pack up your condescending opinions and use them to populate your own website . . . something like StupidOpinionsFromStupidPosters.com should do the trick, I think.
Oh, and you might want to hire an editor before you display your work for one and all to see. Does <time to grow up an “recognizing quality”> really mean something to you?
plus blu ray uses a protective layer unlike hd dvd
Gong! That is the bell tolling for HD-DVD.
We barely knew thee!
Yeah, this is big for Blue Ray. Maybe Sony won’t “BetaMax’d” on this standard. Isn’t it just MS and Toshiba behind HD DVD now?
“plus blu ray uses a protective layer unlike hd dvd”
Well then it will never multiply.
Personally, I would like to see more Ballmer thrown chairs on MDN.
Seriously though, HD-DVD is about to go the way of the dinosaur unless someone steps up and makes an affordable dual format high-def DVD player. Even then, that might not help the cause for HD-DVD. Plus, Blu-ray sounds so much more interesting and promising than HD-DVD. For instance, would you go in and ask for a Creative QXP4306DZ MP3 player or an iPod?
@ zerO,
Drink Camel’s Milk,
Uranus will shape itself into a perfect 0, allowing you to fart smoke rings through your own thinking!!!
How about this fact. The majority of Blu Ray owners are PS3 owners. Only a small percentage of Blu Ray owners have the 799-1200 dollar stand alone player, and they dont want to buy one despite the picture upgrade. This is a price point that is not acceptable when DVDs are in the single digit price range. I have never been a renter so I dont care who rents what. All I care is I am offered an affordable high definition format. Blu Ray equals no way for 800 bucks or higher. I dont care if all the movies in the world were released on the format. Sony sells less than 82,000 PS3s per month so the lowest priced PS3 is 599 and that is not what I consider a fantastic user base. Neither format will succeed at this current price. A lot of people are choosing HD DVD as of late because of its 299-499 price for stand alone players and 200 add on price for the huge installed user base of Xbox 360 users. Consumers don’t know who supports what, at least the average consumer doesnt know. If you are on a web site such as this you are not the average. I think it is a lose- lose situation for consumers.
Well it would be nice to have a standard High Def platform so I know which hardware I will be buying in the future. Right now I don’t want to buy or use either one because of this very issue. I prefer blue ray because Apple supports it and the storage capacity is supposed to be almost double that of HD.
Awesome. Thanks for bringing the chair back, MDN.
Apple also supported Imations’s Superdisk, for those who remember. If you had one you should still feel the burn of its matching blue hue for your iMac or Blue and White G3 tower. I agree watch and wait. DVD still outpaces both of these in a huge way.
Frankly, I think both Blu-Ray and HD DVD suck equally. Both are over-protected, DRM’ed-up-the-ass anti-consumer formats. I hope both lose.
Rooting for one over the other is like trying to pick the best hockey team in Mexico…
Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I read somewhere that wal-mart is only going to carry HD-DVDs.
yes, I know, wal-mart, bla bla bla, but they are the largest store out there.
@ Whatever…
SONY is shipping a $499 stand alone player and according to announcement by SONY’s CEO will likely lower the price of the PS3 very soon. The sales #s you quote for the PS3 are just this most recent figure and are not even from SONY themselves so they may be off by as much as a factor of two. Depending upon which source you believe SONY has *sold* (not shipped) between two million and four million PS3s. That’s a LOT of Blu-ray Disk players out there.
The $299 price point on the cheapest HD DVD player is not sustainable as every source I’ve read says that Toshiba is losing a lot of money on every sale (plus they are giving away up to 5 HD DVD disks for free in order to make that sale therefore costing the HD DVD supporting studios too).
As far as the prices in general, look at how long these have been shipping. The prices on both the disks and the stand alone players are falling faster than DVD disks and players were. Both new formats have only been shipping for about a year. Both have fallen much faster than DVD did in its first year. Prices will continue to fall. Who knows, even you may be able to buy your cheap $50 Blu-ray player and disks in the discount bin at the grocery store before too long.
As the proud owner of a sony 60″ sxrd HDTV and Playstation 3, I have to say that Blu-ray is awesome! And with the up-rez function of the playstation, even old DVDs looks much improved.
I shunned HD-DVD because of it’s affiliation with Microsoft. I figured that if M$ supported it than it couldn’t be good for the consumer. I’m thrilled that Block Buster is going Blu-Ray. I just might start renting movies from them again. Now if only Warner would release the Harry Potter series on Blu-Ray…
The keys to the likker cabinet:
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Once again MDN delivering slated, irrelevant ‘news’.
Not to mention – falling prey to Sony’s FUD.
What – you don’t like HD-DVD because Microsoft supports it ? Bunch of crybabies ! Amateur journalists – barely.
Also, one thing here to consider … even if Sony is behind this whole media-ploy (Blockbuster went straight to AP about this over the weekend) …. Blockbuster is loosing their luster daily! If it is not Gamefly or Netflix, iTunes (if they ever get HD content) …. it’s On-Demand, Micrro$oft Marketplace, IPTV, online content, etc,etc … they are no longer a big player.
Walmart, on the other hand is…. and their backing of HD-DVD, and offering the most affordable players, is certain to make a difference.
But hey – i own both!!! And remember, it appears our darling little Apple will support both formats (according to code references in the WWDC beta build).
This is all getting boring …. format wars …. FUD …. yes, more studios are onboard CURRENTLY – but that could change overnight …. and early projects on plays are skewed by the PS3, and actual disk sales are still neck-n-neck.
Hehe, by the time the ‘consumer’ jumps onboard, portable media deliver will be extinct …..
I dont and will never believe any companies shipped figures over sold. I dont care what MS ships in Zunes I only accept own and operated models. I think the recent figures indicate the current climate even when compared year over year. I dont care about how many PS3 were sold during christmas on eBay for over a grand, or what they sold when they offered a 20 Gig model. Current data in electronics are more relevant. I have both formats, HD and Blu Ray DVD, I just find that they are both overpriced and not a clear enough path for widespread consumer ownership. As usual consumers have to buy products and wait for greedy studios to sort out the mess for them. Even if Blu Ray eliminates HD from the format wars consumers are motivated by price. You can get a DVD player which plays an almost incalculable number of widely adopted DVDs for 50 dollars, or you can get an overprotected Next Gen format for DVDs and get a really small library dominated by classics and a few hit titles like Casino Royale and the Matrix Trilogy. I will be funny when we discuss how Apple has usurped both of these formats by offering HD content on the iTunes site. If and when that happens.
Actually, BlockBuster’s decision is surprising. Yes, Blu-Ray is higher capacity (by a factor of 2- which is a lot!), but I remember reading that the porn industry had chosen HD-DVD. Now as surely everyone knows, it’s the porn industry that drives DVD sales (or should I say profits?). Even Frys now has a whole porn DVD section (back in the day, the hottest thing they carried was soldering irons).
So I’m surprised (but thrilled) that there’s another victory for Blu-Ray with BlockBuster’s decision. But of course this story’s not over…
Hey guys, look at the freek who thinks he’s God. Guess I’d better listen and believe everything “God” says.
Shut the fuck up and enjoy the animation
@ montex ….. yes, you better listen – or i’ll start tossing lighting bolts your way!
Now get back to your Apple Auto-Eroticism.
Good News!
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