I support both formats but this is one set of business transactions I could not follow enough to make sense of.

The story so far seem to go Sony/Bluray camp paid Blockbuster a decent sized fee to favor Bluray but still stock HD-DVD, at least in some stores... then somewhere on or around this time Blockbuster announces multiple store closings.

Btw, the story is supposed to be the same for Target as well not on the closings but on the Bluray space, they were paid for endcaps or specific space for Bluray but will stock HD-DVD as well in some or all stores.

I see all this intense arguing back and forth on what this might mean from posters on here, some of it pretty argumentative despite so much of it just being pure speculation.

Some of it blurs and I can't follow fact from fiction...so maybe someone can explain this Blockbuster transaction to me, they are said to be doing poorly next to Neftflix in some rental areas, then along comes Sony who pays them for whatever Bluray benefits they got, then somewhere on or around this time Blockbuster announces multiple store closings. So what did Sony really end up getting for their chunk of cash?

People let's please try to stick to the facts and not alot of arguing here. If I have simply read posts that were not accurate and Blockbuster is not closing multiple stores then someone please correct me.

I have also seen posts that Target is NOT Bluray exclusive at all contrary to a huge amount of posts on here, but they WILL devote a certain amount of specific space they were paid for by Sony/BLuray camp to show a Bluray preference or highlight? Is this true?

I would like to see in the face of all the huge arguments on here if we can separate the fact from fiction. Now as I say this I am looking at 2 shelves of both formats, so fanboys and what not please don't flame me. I watched the new Babylon 5 movie on HD-dvd Wednesday and then the Bluray Queen ( basically about the the royal family after Princess Diana's death , NOT the rock group) movie the next night.

These sections of AVS are full of spin, and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.

Regarding Blockbuster:

Given the eyewitness accounts we've seen posted here and elsewhere, I'd say their 1450 store Blu-ray rollout did indeed go into effect. Store closings didn't affect that; they've been doing that for a while ever since Netflix took 30% of the market away from them. It still has the same impact one way or another; 1450 places where people walk in and see only a wall of Blu cases.

Net effect: Positive for Blu-ray.

Regarding Target:

Target's stance seems pretty neutral overall, but again, a prominent Blu-ray endcap that locks out a competing HD DVD encap at the 5th largest retailer in the USA is nothing to sneeze at either. Overall, this isn't that big a deal, but it's also true that Target consumers are just a shade more affluent than Wal-Mart consumers, and thus more likely to invest in cool new toys like a high definition disc player.

Net effect: Minor plus for Blu-ray.

The only negatives here for HD DVD is that there's no positives, per se. HD DVD is losing the public perception war so far, and last week's flood of positive Blu-ray news only serves to underline this fact.

I rented from BB last night, 2 months ago they didn't carry blu-ray. I means something to me now that I can walk a block and get blu-ray movies and a fairly good selection as well.

FYI, Deja Vu has top notch PQ and SQ :)

These sections of AVS are full of spin, and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.

Regarding Blockbuster:

Given the eyewitness accounts we've seen posted here and elsewhere, I'd say their 1450 store Blu-ray rollout did indeed go into effect. Store closings didn't affect that; they've been doing that for a while ever since Netflix took 30% of the market away from them. It still has the same impact one way or another; 1450 places where people walk in and see only a wall of Blu cases.

Net effect: Positive for Blu-ray.

Regarding Target:

Target's stance seems pretty neutral overall, but again, a prominent Blu-ray endcap that locks out a competing HD DVD encap at the 5th largest retailer in the USA is nothing to sneeze at either. Overall, this isn't that big a deal, but it's also true that Target consumers are just a shade more affluent than Wal-Mart consumers, and thus more likely to invest in cool new toys like a high definition disc player.

Net effect: Minor plus for Blu-ray.

The only negatives here for HD DVD is that there's no positives, per se. HD DVD is losing the public perception war so far, and last week's flood of positive Blu-ray news only serves to underline this fact.

Icemage,
I think that you just gave perhaps the most succinct and accurate protrayal of an incredibly convoluted subjected.

You deserve a cookie. :D :cool:

sony didn't pay bb to carry bd exclusively. it was the retailers choice not to stock both formats at all the stores. as for target, sony bought endcaps and toshiba didn't. more than likely, bda camp offered better incentives on pricing, bulk rates, and exclusive early releases to sway the retailers. a lot of businesses request bids from mfg's and the buyers decide on what products they want to carry for the fiscal year and so on. it all equates to profit in the end but this format war is killing the margins since they have to carry two of everything. its in there best interest to pick one and not both.

sony didn't pay bb to carry bd exclusively. it was the retailers choice not to stock both formats at all the stores. as for target, sony bought endcaps and toshiba didn't. more than likely, bda camp offered better incentives on pricing, bulk rates, and exclusive early releases to sway the retailers. a lot of businesses request bids from mfg's and the buyers decide on what products they want to carry for the fiscal year and so on. it all equates to profit in the end but this format war is killing the margins since they have to carry two of everything. its in there best interest to pick one and not both.
There's also the peace of mind for retailers in not being the ones forced to try to educate their workers about the differences between the red cases and the blue cases.

I'm sure Target is more than happy not to have to worry about fielding questions about the differences from every buyer and then getting the typical "Oh, Betamax/VHS again? No thanks." response.

sony didn't pay bb to carry bd exclusively. it was the retailers choice not to stock both formats at all the stores. as for target, sony bought endcaps and toshiba didn't. more than likely, bda camp offered better incentives on pricing, bulk rates, and exclusive early releases to sway the retailers. a lot of businesses request bids from mfg's and the buyers decide on what products they want to carry for the fiscal year and so on. it all equates to profit in the end but this format war is killing the margins since they have to carry two of everything. its in there best interest to pick one and not both.

But doesn't Sony pay everyone for everything positive that they get? i'm sure that is what I have been reading.

But doesn't Sony pay everyone for everything positive that they get? i'm sure that is what I have been reading.

Yes they do, didn't you get a check?

On the other hand there were many that said BB would stop adding new discs to stores. I rented 300 and Hot Fuzz on Thursday. They also had a card for 300 on BD, but no disc.

who cares who pays who...geez. If I had billion of dollars, i'll pay everyone on this forum to say my name :) Just be happy with your HD content...either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Who knows...you might have a heart attack tomorrow.

I guess I forgot the tags around my post. I'm sure that many HD-DVD fans have told me that Sony pays for everything.

These sections of AVS are full of spin, and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.

Regarding Blockbuster:

Given the eyewitness accounts we've seen posted here and elsewhere, I'd say their 1450 store Blu-ray rollout did indeed go into effect. Store closings didn't affect that; they've been doing that for a while ever since Netflix took 30% of the market away from them. It still has the same impact one way or another; 1450 places where people walk in and see only a wall of Blu cases.

Net effect: Positive for Blu-ray.

Regarding Target:

Target's stance seems pretty neutral overall, but again, a prominent Blu-ray endcap that locks out a competing HD DVD encap at the 5th largest retailer in the USA is nothing to sneeze at either. Overall, this isn't that big a deal, but it's also true that Target consumers are just a shade more affluent than Wal-Mart consumers, and thus more likely to invest in cool new toys like a high definition disc player.

Net effect: Minor plus for Blu-ray.

The only negatives here for HD DVD is that there's no positives, per se. HD DVD is losing the public perception war so far, and last week's flood of positive Blu-ray news only serves to underline this fact.

+100


Thank you for slightly restoring my faith in this board.

But doesn't Sony pay everyone for everything positive that they get? i'm sure that is what I have been reading.
when you're the top ce mfg in the world, you get alot of pos and neg publicity coming from all angles. everyone is aiming for topdog and monkeys fling poop. don't believe everything read.

when you're the top ce mfg in the world, you get alot of pos and neg publicity coming from all angles. everyone is aiming for topdog and monkeys fling poop. don't believe everything read.

I'm following your advice by not believing you. Because I read it.


Thats was a joke.

I have four Blockbusters in my town of 100k, all do great. Blu Ray doesnt need any help, its the other guys that need help. Dont get me wrong if the announcments were reversed BD would need help, but who in their right mind would back HD DVD now?

Do you or anyone else have a link to a press release or Blockbuster release for that 1450 number? Does anyone know if that number is on an offical blockbuster release along with an official number for the closings?

Lets try to nail down and see if we are talking about closing a few stores or dozens or hundreds, big differences there.

Google is your friend ZZtop ;-)

The BB by me Mokena IL said they will NOT be carrying BD or HD DVD. They are not on the list. :mad:

who cares who pays who...geez. If I had billion of dollars, i'll pay everyone on this forum to say my name :)


MY Sassy Girl !!

(that was free)..

:D

I support both formats but this is one set of business transactions I could not follow enough to make sense of.

The story so far seem to go Sony/Bluray camp paid Blockbuster a decent sized fee to favor Bluray but still stock HD-DVD, at least in some stores... then somewhere on or around this time Blockbuster announces multiple store closings.

Btw, the story is supposed to be the same for Target as well not on the closings but on the Bluray space, they were paid for endcaps or specific space for Bluray but will stock HD-DVD as well in some or all stores.

I see all this intense arguing back and forth on what this might mean from posters on here, some of it pretty argumentative despite so much of it just being pure speculation.

Some of it blurs and I can't follow fact from fiction...so maybe someone can explain this Blockbuster transaction to me, they are said to be doing poorly next to Neftflix in some rental areas, then along comes Sony who pays them for whatever Bluray benefits they got, then somewhere on or around this time Blockbuster announces multiple store closings. So what did Sony really end up getting for their chunk of cash?

People let's please try to stick to the facts and not alot of arguing here. If I have simply read posts that were not accurate and Blockbuster is not closing multiple stores then someone please correct me.

I have also seen posts that Target is NOT Bluray exclusive at all contrary to a huge amount of posts on here, but they WILL devote a certain amount of specific space they were paid for by Sony/BLuray camp to show a Bluray preference or highlight? Is this true?

I would like to see in the face of all the huge arguments on here if we can separate the fact from fiction. Now as I say this I am looking at 2 shelves of both formats, so fanboys and what not please don't flame me. I watched the new Babylon 5 movie on HD-dvd Wednesday and then the Bluray Queen ( basically about the the royal family after Princess Diana's death , NOT the rock group) movie the next night.


Fact: Like a lot of movie studios are experiencing right now. Blockbuster is experiencing a lot of lost revenue because they have pigeon holed them selves with one format.

Craig

These sections of AVS are full of spin, and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.

Regarding Blockbuster:

Given the eyewitness accounts we've seen posted here and elsewhere, I'd say their 1450 store Blu-ray rollout did indeed go into effect. Store closings didn't affect that; they've been doing that for a while ever since Netflix took 30% of the market away from them. It still has the same impact one way or another; 1450 places where people walk in and see only a wall of Blu cases.

Net effect: Positive for Blu-ray.

Regarding Target:

Target's stance seems pretty neutral overall, but again, a prominent Blu-ray endcap that locks out a competing HD DVD encap at the 5th largest retailer in the USA is nothing to sneeze at either. Overall, this isn't that big a deal, but it's also true that Target consumers are just a shade more affluent than Wal-Mart consumers, and thus more likely to invest in cool new toys like a high definition disc player.

Net effect: Minor plus for Blu-ray.

The only negatives here for HD DVD is that there's no positives, per se. HD DVD is losing the public perception war so far, and last week's flood of positive Blu-ray news only serves to underline this fact.

The last time I was in my local BB, (one month ago) there was hardly a "wall" of movies in any kind of HD content, much less one format covering a wall.

As far as Target, they might be a top retailer, but how many people who shop there will actually pay $500 + for a movie player? OF ANY FORMAT!!! Target at best is one step above Wal-Mart and the type of people that shop there are not going to shell out that kind of dough. Not when there are $100 up-converting SD-DVD players and $5 movie bins. $500 players that play $30 movies... it is not going to appeal to the Target consumer. I personally think there is a better chance of the average j6pk buying a $250 A2 and $30 movies.

I do see some similarities. Like Blockbuster, Target has pigeon holed it self into one source of revenue as far as HD movies are concerned.
I guess we'll have to see what the rest of 2007 brings.

Craig

The last time I was in my local BB, (one month ago) there was hardly a "wall" of movies in any kind of HD content, much less one format covering a wall.
That may be so, but there are any number of eyewitness accounts, some with pictures, scattered all across this forum from the past two weeks or so.

As far as Target, they might be a top retailer, but how many people who shop there will actually pay $500 + for a movie player? OF ANY FORMAT!!! Target at best is one step above Wal-Mart and the type of people that shop there are not going to shell out that kind of dough. Not when there are $100 up-converting SD-DVD players and $5 movie bins. $500 players that play $30 movies... it is not going to appeal to the Target consumer. I personally think there is a better chance of the average j6pk buying a $250 A2 and $30 movies.
Au contraire. People buy HDTVs and other expensive electronics even at Wal-Mart. Target, as I mentioned previously, has a nicer image and slightly more expensive goods than Wal-Mart. Those same buyers will be more likely to buy a Blu-ray player than a typical Wal-Mart customer; this is simply common sense.

You can deny it until your last breath, but anyone who feels that Target hasn't thought about whether or not the units they're going to be pushing will actually gets sold needs to check their logic.

I do see some similarities. Like Blockbuster, Target has pigeon holed it self into one source of revenue as far as HD movies are concerned.
I guess we'll have to see what the rest of 2007 brings.
There's a reason why people bet on the 2:1 favorites at the racetrack. Why should businesses be any different?

Oh, and for ZZTop:
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2007/06/19/2007-06-19_blockbuster_makes_blu_move.html
Blockbuster said 1,450 of its stores will carry only Blu-ray high-definition movies. Although most consumers still opt for standard definition movies, the competing high-definition technologies are staking out their territory for the future.

"Both formats are still in their early stages," said Paul Eng of Consumer Reports.

In 2006, Blockbuster began offering both disc types in 250 of its 5,000 U.S. stores, with Blu-ray outperforming HD DVD better than two to one.

"We're going to follow the demands of our customers," said Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove, adding that the original 250 stores, as well as Blockbuster's online service, will continue to carry both formats.

Film companies are also choosing sides. Disney, Fox, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and MGM all put their movies out exclusively on Blu-ray, while Universal uses HD DVD. Paramount and Warner movies come in both.

"There's a wider selection of titles with Blu-ray," Hargrove said.

Is that official enough for you? :)

That may be so, but there are any number of eyewitness accounts, some with pictures, scattered all across this forum from the past two weeks or so.


Au contraire. People buy HDTVs and other expensive electronics even at Wal-Mart. Target, as I mentioned previously, has a nicer image and slightly more expensive goods than Wal-Mart. Those same buyers will be more likely to buy a Blu-ray player than a typical Wal-Mart customer; this is simply common sense.

You can deny it until your last breath, but anyone who feels that Target hasn't thought about whether or not the units they're going to be pushing will actually gets sold needs to check their logic.


There's a reason why people bet on the 2:1 favorites at the racetrack. Why should businesses be any different?

Oh, and for ZZTop:
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2007/06/19/2007-06-19_blockbuster_makes_blu_move.html


Is that official enough for you? :)

Well that gives a total number of stores to start with, so yes I think we can assume the 1450 number is offical if link is real and it looks to be.

But it leaves the important question of how many Blockbuster locations were/are being closed? a few dozen? hundreds? I mean after the closings that is what is left for us to rent our Bluray or HD-DVDs at right.

Well that gives a total number of stores to start with, so yes I think we can assume the 1450 number if offical if link is real and it looks to be.

But it leaves the important question of how many Blockbuster locations were/are being closed? a few dozen? hundreds? I mean after the closings that is what is left for us to rent our Bluray or HD-DVDs at right.

Last figure I saw was they were planning to close 282 stores this year. They added Blu-ray to 1450 stores above the 250 dual-format HD DVD/Blu-ray test locations.

According to Google Finance, Blockbuster still controls over 9000 store locations worldwide, so losing 282 of them isn't "that" significant.
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=BBI

I wonder what arrangement Sony made and how much it may have cost them for nothing if blockbuster goes under?:eek:

I know if I paid any monies to be format exclusive or for preffered format status, to a company who went under not too long after I would not be too happy.

Blockbuster is heading for another bankruptcy, nothing can prevent that now. It's been heading that way for 5 years. Blu-Ray is not the cause of it.

sony didn't pay bb to carry bd exclusively. it was the retailers choice not to stock both formats at all the stores. as for target, sony bought endcaps and toshiba didn't. more than likely, bda camp offered better incentives on pricing, bulk rates, and exclusive early releases to sway the retailers. a lot of businesses request bids from mfg's and the buyers decide on what products they want to carry for the fiscal year and so on. it all equates to profit in the end but this format war is killing the margins since they have to carry two of everything. its in there best interest to pick one and not both.

No No No, I will bet a big bird that part of the deal to buy MovieLink from Sony/MGM was that they woudl (corporatly) cary Blu-Ray over HD-DVD. ITs all business but in the end its not because one is better tha the other (HD and BR) Plus, BB and Sony have been close for a loooooooooong time! PS1 and PS2 rentals anyone???

Blockbuster is heading for another bankruptcy, nothing can prevent that now. It's been heading that way for 5 years. Blu-Ray is not the cause of it.

I don't think anyone thinks Bluray is causing Blockbuster's problems that I have seen in this thread or any other thread on here... including me, so not sure why you posted that.

But it's but good to know bluray isn't killing off companies<jokes>.:p

Anecdotal but a BB opened 8 seconds away from my house. I live in London Ontario (400k) and only one BB had Blu ray movies before this store opened. 2 weeks ago they had maybe 15 blu ray and 5 HDdvd. Now they have two shelves of blu ray and 3 lines of HDdvd. It also cost an extra dollar now :( but with early return bonus, it equals out :)

I am not sure that Blockbuster will declare bankruptcy. My blockbuster carries both HD-DVD and Blu Ray exactly equally but of course they have the blu ray posters on the windows.

BB needs to tighten up on who they rent to. IE: Everyone needs to have an active credit card on file up to date and all. This will help them.

Not for anything but blockbuster was already in financial trouble LONG before bluray came into the picture. Thier business model was never updated for the internet way of doing business and now of course netflix came in and took over thier primary customers. Add to that that blockbuster is having a hard time swallowing the change or go the way of dodo mentality and here they are.