Two simple choices.

1 is right and 1 is wrong at this time.
I can't see them each being wrong at the same time.
I can't see them each being right at the same time.

Over time is a different story.

Which smells, brown bear poo or rabbit poo?

A better question is, which decision will have more economic impact for the company? In that case, I choose blockbuster, though only because they seem to be facing near-universal wrath over their new "no HD-DVD" and expensive in-store return policies now. Paramount will probably flip back next year, it's not a long-term problem since they can still do HD business in the interim.

How about "all of the above", including all of the companies you didn't mention. :)

All this stupidity could and should have been avoided years ago when Blu-ray and HD DVD made the split in the first place.

I don't see how this deal can hurt Paramount. Even *if* HD-DVD goes under, they'll still release their titles with blu-ray when the deal is up, and take $150 million while doing it.

How about "all of the above", including all of the companies you didn't mention. :)

All this stupidity could and should have been avoided years ago when Blu-ray and HD DVD made the split in the first place.

I wanted it to be simple to just these 2 announcements that seemed to twist the format war in each direction. Obviously they both can't be right at the same time.

The Paramount deal is pretty much unprecedented. There was nothing extraordinary about Blockbuster's decision.

The biggest decision isn't on your list. That would be picking Java over HDi.

The Paramount deal is a no lose short term and possibly long term decision for Paramount. It may not be good for HDM.

BB is not small potatoes in comparison.

I think it depends on your perspective.

Blockbuster....

Its already haunting them.

I wish there were an option for the decision to go with "the new formula" for Coke back in the 80's. These decisions pale in comparison.

:D

I wish there were an option for the decision to go with "the new formula" for Coke back in the 80's. These decisions pale in comparison.

:D

You got me there!

You left out:
Not joining with Toshiba on HDDVD.

I wish there were an option for the decision to go with "the new formula" for Coke back in the 80's. These decisions pale in comparison.

:D

It actually helped their market share in the end. No such thing as bad publicity...

It actually helped their market share in the end. No such thing as bad publicity...

And it tasted like flat Pepsi! :eek: Hey, whatever works. :D

I think the Blockbuster decision was wrong, but given the nature of their business, they could quickly return to HD DVD or even emphasize HD DVD if they felt the market were changing.

Neither. Both decisions will be good for the companies based on the current weak adoption of HDM. Either decision can be reversed in the future should the situation change.

Blockbuster never dropped HD DVD completely, they've always left the door open to expanding it as well.

As for Paramount's decision, it remains to be seen.

B&M movie rentals are facing increased competition from alternatives like mail-order and download services. Although Blockbuster has created mail-order and download services, B&M movie rental is still their core. Blockbuster needs to protect their B&M movie rentals against mail-order and downloads by improving selection and availablity, not by limiting it.

Blockbusters is an old dinosaur haemorrhaging money from every hole. At this rate they will go bust soon enough.