Blockbuster Chooses Blu-ray

[schmosef]

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/18/1340222&from=rss

"The format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray has posted another battle, this time the victor seems to be the Blu-ray side. Blockbuster has announced it has chosen Blu-ray as the HD format to rent out in the majority of its stores. This decision comes after rental data was looked at for the 250 stores that carry both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray with the majority of rentals being Blu-Ray. Blockbuster now plans to stock Blu-ray only in 1450 of it's stores, but says the 250 stores with the HD-DVD movies will be kept on the shelf."

[paulw]

And it could be the beginning of the end for Blockbuster.:-)

With HD-DVD players selling for $250 and Blu-ray players for $750 I know
which one I'd buy. That is if I cared anything about either of them.

Wonder which way Netflix will jump.?? At present they seem both

[Jerry Jones]

I also don't believe this is that big of a "victory" for "Blu-ray Disc."

Why?

Because I don't consider Blockbuster's high definition business to be BIG ENOUGH to really change the direction of the format war one way or the other.

My family consumes a lot of DVD movies.

But we don't RENT them.

We BUY them.

And I can't remember buying a single DVD from Blockbuster.

In fact, I probably haven't been to a local Blockbuster for at least THREE years and prior to that I think I visited local Blockbuster stores maybe three times in five years.

I buy most of my DVDs from four main sources:

1. Borders;

2. Barnes & Noble;

3. Best Buy;

4. Internet

When I get my first high definition player, I won't be renting high definition DVDs; I'll probably buy those, too.

The problem with local Blockbuster stores is they don't have a very big selection.

So they're one of the last places to shop on my list.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Dr Mordrid]

Then there is the problem that Blockbusters are closing left and right in many areas including ours; 4 Blockbusters have closed in our immediate area alone.

The beneficiaries (cause?) are the independents, of which we have a ton of excellent examples that make a Blockbuster look small; more DVD's & games, more of each item, both HD DVD and BR, cheaper rentals (many $0.99), 4-for-3's and they give the customer what they want instead of dictating it.

Many even have a suggestion box as to what movies you've seen they should order.

[Jerry Jones]

I forgot to mention Amazon.

That's another one that I use far more often than Blockbuster.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jessterw]

A big one around here isn't even a store, but a vending-machine style unit that I believe is called Red Box or some such. Insert your credit card and pick your movie. Return it in x number of days or pay whatever fee for however many days late. I think if you're too late or never return it then you get charged the full price of the DVD.

They have a few of them installed around town. Know they have one in our Albertsons and two at different McDonald's locations.

As far as physical stores go, regional chain Hastings does far better than our Blockbuster does. Other than that, I know of at least 10 families who we've gotten to sign up for Netflix who love it (that'd be 10/10).

The determining factor is going to be who can get the larger number of players into the hands of lower and middle income households. As it is, most of those are perfectly happy with their DVD players.

[Hulk]

Maybe Blockbuster going BR isn't a huge deal since they are losing market share but it is interesting that their internal research pointed them in the BR direction.

I think the fact that Netflix offer BR is another big push for BR.

We'll see!

[schmosef]

I haven't been to a Blockbuster in a long time. The last movie I recall renting is Men in Black II.

My recollection of them is that they had a big selection of recent releases (I think they even had "guaranteed" availability of each week's releases) but a poor selection of older and "classic" films.

They also had a pretty good video game section.

hmm... their stock is way down.

Maybe this is their last gasp?

[Hulk]

"Men in Black II" was such a let down for me.

The first one was spot on. Really good. Just a little goofy but not too much. The second was pushed the cheap laughs too far I thought.

[schmosef]

I personally liked the cartoons best!

[Dr Mordrid]

Better than the 2nd movie yes, but that first film was a full-blown hoot

For rentals our indies wipe the floor with Blockbuster, but for sales its Meijers (our big regional hypermarket), WalMart, the indie rental stores and Amazon...especially their used/new condition DVD sales. For many of those the $3-$4 shipping is more than the cost of the DVD

[Jerry Jones]

I also forgot to mention Fred Meyer (owned by Krogers) grocery/variety stores here.

The Fred Meyer stores have these great bins full of discount DVDs that are so cheap it makes no sense to rent any of them.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[DGhost]

it is interesting that their internal research pointed them in the BR direction.

i look at it this way... PS3 has created a market for people who are generally not able to afford to spend $30+ on a single movie, or the $60+ for video games. I remember quite a few times when I was younger when I would rent video games from BlockBuster so I could play through it on a weekend and not have to spend the money on a game.

i pretty much chalk it up to the fact that the two consoles really have different demographics. a lot of the people I know with XBox's really come from computer gaming backgrounds, or are really into multiplayer gaming. As such, they prefer to buy games. Where as most of the people I know with PS3's came from traditional console mentality - they upgraded from the PS2, and rentals are much more of a common acceptance. As such, since they are already in there renting PS3 games, they might as well check out a BR movie that is on the shelf since their PS3 supports it. XBox, unfortunately, doesn't encourage this kind of behavior. a majority of the people who have the income and desire to get the HD-DVD drive have the income to support buying movies. That, and the fact it's really hard to find places you can rent them from.

Hmmm...