Ever since I heard of MS and Netflix teaming up together, I wondered what Blockbuster would do to counter such marriage...could this decision by Blockbuster to bring in Blu and not HD DVD be a retaliation to such event?

Doubtful. I suspect that the 70% numbers made up their minds, not any association with MS.

Note that BB is still renting HD DVD on-line, and that Netflix is a completely on-line service.

The logistics of on-line are entirely different than the problems of stocking 1500+ stores.

BB is competing with Netflix (successfully, apparently) by combining on-line with in-store. This new move is a part of that.

MS wants downloading. Netflix is moving in that direction.

yeah i think they are different markets.... blockbuster online wants you to do a mix of online and store returns where ms and netflix want everything online.

It makes sense ms and netflix are friends. And I cant wait to see what comes of the video marketplace if netflix subscriptions come to fruition.

Ever since I heard of MS and Netflix teaming up together, I wondered what Blockbuster would do to counter such marriage...could this decision by Blockbuster to bring in Blu and not HD DVD be a retaliation to such event?
Very good point - it could have something to do with it, tho I suspect Sony also made it "interesting" for them...

Netflix for the win...

Very good point - it could have something to do with it, tho I suspect Sony also made it "interesting" for them...


Just like your theory on how WB delayed all its HD DVD releases because BD wasn't ready?

If that's where this gut feeling's coming from, then it's not a gut feeling of very good quality. Then again, your track record speaks for itself. ;)

Just like your theory on how WB delayed all its HD DVD releases because BD wasn't ready?

If that's where this gut feeling's coming from, then it's not a gut feeling of very good quality. Then again, your track record speaks for itself. ;)
Not all, some. Another typical misquote... :rolleyes:

Very good point - it could have something to do with it, tho I suspect Sony also made it "interesting" for them...

As an analyst notes on a current story running on NPR, Blockbuster is leading the market here moreso than following it since at these niche numbers consumers really hadn't decided anything yet. In addition even at 30% of sales no business would ignore 30% of their customer base if the numbers were at all significant.

No doubt BB understands that they are taking a definitive side in the war that will help blu-ray and they have thier own reasons for doing so. The 70/30 split makes a good PR though since it's always nice to let consumers think they are making their own decisions. ;)

In addition even at 30% of sales no business would ignore 30% of their customer base if the numbers were at all significant.

That's the thing, their rental numbers on either HD media are so small, at most it is 30% of 1% or .3% (thats POINT 3%), which is nothing in comparison to their overall numbers.

As an analyst notes on a current story running on NPR, Blockbuster is leading the market here moreso than following it since at these niche numbers consumers really hadn't decided anything yet. In addition even at 30% of sales no business would ignore 30% of their customer base if the numbers were at all significant.

No doubt BB understands that they are taking a definitive side in the war that will help blu-ray and they have thier own reasons for doing so. The 70/30 split makes a good PR though since it's always nice to let consumers think they are making their own decisions. ;)

Excuse me. Who exactly makes up the 70/30 split, if not consumers?

That's the thing, their rental numbers on either HD media are so small, at most it is 30% of 1% or .3% (thats POINT 3%), which is nothing in comparison to their overall numbers.

I agree but then if 30% of 1% is nothing then what is 70% of 1%?

The point being made on NPR, which I agree with, is that not enough consumers are engaged in this market to say that 'consumers have spoken' at such an early stage.

Blockbuster no doubt has business reasons for making this decision. The 70/30 indicator could in no way be the only determining factor, but it makes people feel better...

I agree but then if 30% of 1% is nothing then what is 70% of 1%?

The point being made on NPR, which I agree with, is that not enough consumers are engaged in this market to say that 'consumers have spoken' at such an early stage.

Blockbuster no doubt has business reasons for making this decision. The 70/30 indicator could in no way be the only determining factor, but it makes people feel better...

I assume the plan is to encourage more people to adopt HDM by giving them the confidence to invest in BD by showing it as the winning format.

Then again, I don't work for blockbuster so I am just guessing.

I assume the plan is to encourage more people to adopt HDM by giving them the confidence to invest in BD by showing it as the winning format.

Then again, I don't work for blockbuster so I am just guessing.

As you say, they want to 'encourage' the market to go BD, that is clear.

What the reasons are we can only speculate, but clearly it's more than just an indication from .7% of their customers against .3% (using Dave's numbers) at a point in time where the trends are clearly still volatile with prices changing so rapidly.

The reason a B&M store would drop a product is shelf space.

Lets say that the BB test stores had room for 200 HDM discs. If 100 were BR and 100 HD-DVD then at any given moment 70 BR's were rented out and only 30 HD-DVD were gone. Wouldn't it make sense to best utilize your limited space by providing a product that will provide 2.33X the revenue of the other product. If space wasn't valuable every store would have enough shelf space to display the front of every title and have a copy in Reel to Reel/Beta/VHS/LD/DVD/UMD/BR/HD-DVD

The reason a B&M store would drop a product is shelf space.

Lets say that the BB test stores had room for 200 HDM discs. If 100 were BR and 100 HD-DVD then at any given moment 70 BR's were rented out and only 30 HD-DVD were gone. Wouldn't it make sense to best utilize your limited space by providing a product that will provide 2.33X the revenue of the other product. If space wasn't valuable every store would have enough shelf space to display the front of every title and have a copy in Reel to Reel/Beta/VHS/LD/DVD/UMD/BR/HD-DVD

Of course out of 200 they could also provide 140 BD and 60 HD to reflect the split they found in their test locations. Wouldn't that be a more neutral position? As it stands now consumers with brand new hd dvd players will walk into most BB and find nothing.

This not an old defunct format. BB has a reason making that choice.

I agree but then if 30% of 1% is nothing then what is 70% of 1%? Well, doing the math it would 2.33X as much! I think this just proves that the 70/30 split BB quoted does exactly what you said:

The 70/30 split makes a good PR though since it's always nice to let consumers think they are making their own decisions.It's pretty amazing what one can do with numbers... :)

Of course out of 200 they could also provide 140 BD and 60 HD to reflect the split they found in their test locations. Wouldn't that be a more neutral position? As it stands now consumers with brand new hd dvd players will walk into most BB and find nothing.

This not an old defunct format. BB has a reason making that choice.

You would still be making less on those 60 HD-DVD than you would if that space were given to BR. Neutrality works less well in the real world than it does in utopia.

I agree but then if 30% of 1% is nothing then what is 70% of 1%?

...

Basically Nothing. The sales stats for both formats are pathetic when compared to DVD sales.

So the costs of having to deal with two redundant (niche) formats outweighed the benefits. So they dropped the least appealing one - makes sense to me.

I rent BR from netflix and they pretty much offer all movies that are available on that format, no complains here.

Doubtful. I suspect that the 70% numbers made up their minds, not any association with MS.

Note that BB is still renting HD DVD on-line, and that Netflix is a completely on-line service.

The logistics of on-line are entirely different than the problems of stocking 1500+ stores.

BB is competing with Netflix (successfully, apparently) by combining on-line with in-store. This new move is a part of that.

MS wants downloading. Netflix is moving in that direction.

I am in the downloading camp. Give me every movie made at my fingertips, and I have no use for owning a disc. All the money people have poured into their DVD libraries is just about already extinct. If you want the same for HD, it is going to cost a lot of money. Why not just pay per play? That is the question.

Off the subject, but the last time that I was in China, they could not believe that I passed on the DVD shopping. I did not even see the point in wasting a buck on questionable quality that I would only watch once.

Of course out of 200 they could also provide 140 BD and 60 HD to reflect the split they found in their test locations. Wouldn't that be a more neutral position? As it stands now consumers with brand new hd dvd players will walk into most BB and find nothing.

This not an old defunct format. BB has a reason making that choice.

If BB did that, people would still complain that Blockbuster was biased, because they stock more BDs than HD-DVD.

They held a trial and BD won,so they get the reward. Simple as that.

Isnt this what most people want here to "Let the customers decide, with their wallets" And now that the customer has decided... its time to "boycott Blockbuster"???

Who rents anymore anyway??

BTW, has anyone else tried "Watch Now" on netflix??

Cant wait til they have HD with that then it will be HD from laptop to projector!!!

If BB did that, people would still complain that Blockbuster was biased, because they stock more BDs than HD-DVD.

They held a trial and BD won,so they get the reward. Simple as that.

Isnt this what most people want here to "Let the customers decide, with their wallets" And now that the customer has decided... its time to "boycott Blockbuster"???

But customers aren't deciding the studios are forcing this issue because they do not want any duplication of their software.

Very good point - it could have something to do with it, tho I suspect Sony also made it "interesting" for them...

I wouldn't doubt it, and to those claiming that HD DVD had an equal chance to be rented at a BB store as BD had...please!....most of those BBs had BR but nothing from the HD DVD front, so it was never a "fair" test as they put it...from the beginning it was basically all BR...of course that and the PS3 available as a potential tool to generate rent of movies and games, plus the MS/Netflix affair, I don't doubt that it was a retaliation made easier by the MS/Netflix deal.

If I had my choice I would rather have HD VOD and no optical media whatsoever. I mean wouldn't it be sweet to be able to watch anything you wanted to at the click of a mouse through your Home Theater??

I wouldn't doubt it, and to those claiming that HD DVD had an equal chance to be rented at a BB store as BD had...please!....most of those BBs had BR but nothing from the HD DVD front, so it was never a "fair" test as they put it...from the beginning it was basically all BR...of course that and the PS3 available as a potential tool to generate rent of movies and games, plus the MS/Netflix affair, I don't doubt that it was a retaliation made easier by the MS/Netflix deal.

..and God knows what the government lets aliens do to their citizens..

Seriously, no it was never a fair fight because HDDVD does not have the same amount of day and date co-releases with dvd that BR does. Can't really blame BR or Blockbuster for that, can you? HDDVD relies heavily on catalog titles, and they cannot be rented easily, so common sense tells us that they will lose the rental market(B&M, not online, where stocking is less of a problem, and people have more versatile picks).

Maybe the BDA promised a return to priced for rental releases were they to win outright :)