Best Buy and Netflix become the two latest companies to throw HD-DVD under the bus in favor of Blu-ray. How should HD-DVD compensate consumers?
By John Mahoney Posted 02.11.2008 at 6:39 pm 10 Comments

HD-DVD Flatlining

As we reported from CES, HD-DVD's death knell as a viable high-definition disc format began to ring loudly when Warner Bros., one of the format's largest major supporters, announced that they would move exclusively to Blu-ray in early 2008. Today, Netflix and Best Buy also declared HD-DVD dead to them—the former will completely phase them out of its rental business, and the latter will now exclusively recommend Blu-ray players to its customers.

While a hardware sales increase for HD-DVD in light of Warner Bros.' announcement led some to believe that there may still be some fight left, this was almost certainly due to across-the-board price-slashing of HD-DVD players. But as more and more companies continue to pull out, it's seeming like it's about time for a towel to be thrown.

Soon, not only will owners of an HD-DVD likely not be able to find new releases for their player, they won't even be able to rent the titles that do exist from neither Netflix or Blockbuster—the big B having long ago backed Blu-ray.

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Apple Wins the Blu-Ray Vs. HD-DVD War?
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Tags

Gadgets, BLU-RAY, format war, HD-DVD, John Mahoney, movies
If you're an owner of an HD-DVD player, especially one acquired brand new for the holidays, this has all got to be pretty infuriating. Which leads me to why I—without an HDTV, PS3, or any real desire to play my rented movies in high-def in the first place—still find this format war so fascinating. One would think that someone, somewhere within the bowels of the consumer electronics behemoths would have realized (after watching the same thing happen hundreds of times in the past) that the war would ultimately produce a loser, and with it, the loss of a gargantuan sum of money for said loser and its partners along with the added benefit of pissing off hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of honest customers. One would think that the CE giants would go pretty far out of their way to avoid such a predictable thing from happening, right? Especially while companies with disc-less download services (Apple's iTunes, anyone) are waiting in the wings licking their chops, waiting for the giants to shoot themselves in the foot?

Apparently not. Regardless of the comparative merits of one format or another, when it comes down to it, I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying that most people could care less. What they do care about though is getting involuntarily tied up in a format battle they ultimately don't have any opinion on (or, more likely, don't even know exists), and wasting their money in the process.

Are you one of those who has, due to no fault on your own, found yourself on the losing team? How should the HD-DVD group to compensate you? Create a commenting account (if you haven't already) and let us know in the comment section below.

News via Ars Technica

10 Comments

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Howdy2012
02/12/08 at 12:29 pm

Consumers unite !! Big business's (and their stockholders) can fold and eat dirt like the worms they are for not giving the consumer a variety of entertainment options. It will cost you not them. They make billions, how much do you make?

In closing....I no longer need the services of a business that does not support my requirements and needs.

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boka
02/12/08 at 1:52 pm

One format please. Ah, thank you. I new blu ray would win because it's built into the ps3.

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Centipede
02/12/08 at 1:57 pm

How should they compensate me? Let me exchange my HD-DVD player and the movies I have on HD-DVD for a Blu-Ray player and the same titles. There's no doubt in my mind that the same companies that championed HD-DVD will switch over to making Blu-Ray hardware. They should be able to exchange our hardware. I'd have no problem with them charging a modest upgrade fee too.

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wmmurphy
02/12/08 at 2:51 pm

I still remember when Betamax was pushed to the side.
It's a gamble for the earlyadopters in any "format war". I don't believe that any of the HD-DVD buyers should NOT be compensated. If you were smart, you kept the receipt from Christmas and are heading to the return lines now.
If not you can count on Toshiba buying a Blu-Ray license soon and supporting both formats for a couple years.

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ultraaman
02/12/08 at 4:39 pm

After getting my favorite Christmas gift - money - I set out to buy what I had been jonesing for since I found out about it last September: The Blade Runner Boxed Set. 5 discs, 9 hours of additional content, special carrying case - how could I pass this up? Ah but the format, decisions decisions. I planned on upgrading my DVD player but wasn't sure of which format to choose so I did my research, looked around for pricing, and finally decided on HD DVD. HD had a marginally better picture/sound and much more storage space so I bought it. And I figured players would go on sale in January as most electronics tend to do each year because of anticipated new products from CES and sure enough they did.

The week after I bought my HD DVD player on sale at 40% off Warner Bros made its announcement. Talk about pissed off! Now I'm stuck with another piece of electronic junk! However, I'm not beyond solace. If newer players continue to support both formats and continue to drop in price, I may be inclined to buy a new player in a few years - or maybe I'll just download what I want. I don't know but right now I'm still upset.

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NuclearDreams
02/13/08 at 4:21 am

I've avoided the new standards altogether for one good reason. I own over 900 original DVDs. To go out and re-purchase a collection in Blue Ray or HD DVD and then have something happen like what's happening with HD DVD is a collectors nightmare. Forget it. I'll stick with normal DVDs as long as they are on the market.

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boka
02/13/08 at 8:50 am

900 DVDs! wow you must be the ultimate couch potato. I would sugest getting some sunlight. It may hurt at first but it could be helpful.

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Merlin696
02/13/08 at 11:11 am

Let’s say inevitably Blue-Ray wins out. The(my) hope is that Toshiba would cut their losses and give/sell the HD License. If that was the case there would be no reason that the companies supporting Blue-Ray couldn’t incorporate the ability to read the HD format on their players. Would it also be possible to send out a DVD to update current readers/consoles to read older HD formats? I am not sure how the diodes work between the two formats but it’s an idea at least. Although the chances of this actually happening are slim to none it sure would be nice to be able to use the HD Disks I currently own.

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lobe

from Combine, tx

02/17/08 at 10:47 pm

When the Betamax/Vhs war ended no one received refunds or conversion/upgrade kits for their Betamax. You were stuck with a very expensive Behemoth that had no future. Sony is not sitting back feeling sorry for all those HD-DVD purchasers. They know as it happened to them before, these customers will ultimately be required to buy from the winning contender and be stuck with an expensive door stop. That's business.

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amstore
10/19/10 at 10:33 pm

My player is compatible for both and to tell the truth I have not been able to tell the difference between blue ray and HD dvds. This is what infuriates as consumers become increasingly confused with the quest to buy the best technology.

www.amstore.co.uk


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