OFFICIAL memo from Best Buy about HD-DVD removal on 3/26

[Dr Kain]

Got this today while at work:

Mosaic will be in all stores before open on March 26 to pull and send back all HD-DVD titles. The representative will fill out the sendback paperwork and create a manifest for each individual tote. They'll also flex all Blu-ray inventory across the space where HD-DVD was featured. It's possible that stores may not have enough product to flex over all the old HD-DVD sections. In these cases, stores should put recent releases or titles that appeal to their customers in these areas. The Movies Team is working to increase the Blu-ray assortment to resolve this problem.

Stores with upcoming PI
If you have a PI close to the sendback timeframe, let Mosaic box up the HD-DVD product and remerchandise the area. They should stage the full sendback totes in the warehouse. Stores may want to verify the contents of each tote with the tote manifest that will be created and either create prescan sheets or count each tote on the night of inventory. A special sendback will post on the April 16 for these stores to ship their product back to the warehouse.

Signage
Mosaic will remove any header signs that list both Blu-ray and HD-DVD, as they are no longer valid signs in the store. Stores will be responsible to order additional Blu-ray sign rails to fill in the space left by the removed HD-DVD signs. Here are the signs that can be ordered:

811-0140636 - High Definition Movies for the ultimate...
811-0140829 - Play exclusively on Blu-ray Disc Players...
811-0140832 - High Definition Resolution...
811-0140833 - More titles available online...
Click below for a copy of Mosaic's instructions. Contact Ask the Bus with any questions.

Related Content

Mosaic HD-DVD Sendback Instructions - PDF

[minertwofour]

Well, crap.

So much for using my $50 rebate cards on HD-DVDs.

[BuckNaked]

Does this mean any unsold stock will ultimately be destroyed?

[kreepy]

Great, so this looks like No Appleseed Ex Machina on HD DVD at bestbuy...looks like if i want this im going to have to order it and have to have it shipped

[webdev511]

Originally Posted by BuckNaked

Does this mean any unsold stock will ultimately be destroyed?

No returned to the distributor for credit and resold to amazon or big lots.

[moviegeek]

Originally Posted by webdev511

...and resold to amazon or big lots.

That hasn't been confirmed,the labor and shipping costs might not be worth it.

[Brian81]

There's about 50 more titles I'd like, some of which Best Buy carry in stores. But even with their 30% sale, it's still more than Amazon and the like. I am debating whether to hit the stores for the very recent titles, which aren't cheap on Amazon (Into the Wild, Atonement, Things We Lost In The Fire, etc). If they have them, of course.

[C Dub]

Oh well couldnt last forever. I've bought every single HD DVD I wanted during the fire sales. No regrets.

[minertwofour]

Can this be confirmed as applicable to all stores nationwide, or those not selling well?

I talked to a couple of peons, one at CS, and they were under the impression that they would continue clearancing the discs until they were gone.

Just a thought. I realize the memo does say "all stores".

[sivartk]

Originally Posted by C Dub

Oh well couldnt last forever. I've bought every single HD DVD I wanted during the fire sales. No regrets.

Where are the fire sales....$10 or more isn't a fire sale. 90% off...that's a fire sale. Heck, even 80% off (~$5) would be a fire sale.

I've only bought one HD DVD since January...that was old school...the SD DVD and HD DVD were the same price ($10) and I really wanted the movie, so I went with the HD.

[HeavyD3]

Just left BB, a very good selection of movies, only 30% off of course. Talked to some people on the floor and they believe the disks will be around until sometime in April. We'll see in a couple days what the story is.

I did pick up a couple of the 3-packs for $35 each, breaks down to about $12.50 per title after tax, not bad movies either - Shooter, Four Brothers and Italian Job in one pack. Might be able to PM them if they hang around and the price gets even better.

[Brian81]

I was told today that titles will be sent back to the distributor on Wednesday. I asked if they were to be pulled Wednesday, or the day prior (Tuesday) and wasn't given a concrete answer. Like said, there's quite a few titles I want, but 30% off Warner titles is still $17.50+tax and that's more expensive than any of the popular online stores. Went looking for the titles mentioned an hour or two ago, and only found Atonement. I didn't purchase it. I'll check tomorrow at a third BestBuy store I didn't have time to get to before closing after work, hopefully they'll have the others I was looking for. If not, I guess I'll just be getting Atonement.

[coolstrategist]

Since this is a specific BB thread I hope this link with my BB experience at about 2:30 p.m. today may help someone out before everything gets shipped back at some point. You may be able to corner a BB General Manager and have your own success.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post13459768

[DM2006RI]

Originally Posted by moviegeek

That hasn't been confirmed,the labor and shipping costs might not be worth it.

I don't think they're going into a landfill anytime soon, as they're really not trying very hard to sell these at the prices they're at. As someone else mentioned if they were REALLY serious about dumping them they'd be $10 or less....and they aren't.

When video games "crashed" and nearly died back in the mid '80s you could find games at 99 cents. My mom bought me a brand new Intellivision for $9. (This was all pre-Nintendo). Just going by a point of comparison, these prices are hardly "rock bottom" for a format that's basically being liquidated. Makes you think they'll be heading somewhere else for larger sales.

[ingramba]

Originally Posted by minertwofour

Well, crap.

So much for using my $50 rebate cards on HD-DVDs.

...exactly what I was going to do. I just got an email today from BB saying my rebate will be shipping soon, lol!

[C Dub]

Originally Posted by sivartk

Where are the fire sales....$10 or more isn't a fire sale. 90% off...that's a fire sale. Heck, even 80% off (~$5) would be a fire sale.

I've only bought one HD DVD since January...that was old school...the SD DVD and HD DVD were the same price ($10) and I really wanted the movie, so I went with the HD.

Right after Toshiba gave up there where lots of movies available for $10 or less. People were dumping movies left and right. Sorry you didnt find any deals.

[moviegeek]

Originally Posted by DM2006RI

I don't think they're going into a landfill anytime soon, as they're really not trying very hard to sell these at the prices they're at. As someone else mentioned if they were REALLY serious about dumping them they'd be $10 or less....and they aren't.

When video games "crashed" and nearly died back in the mid '80s you could find games at 99 cents. My mom bought me a brand new Intellivision for $9. (This was all pre-Nintendo). Just going by a point of comparison, these prices are hardly "rock bottom" for a format that's basically being liquidated. Makes you think they'll be heading somewhere else for larger sales.

Nobody knows for sure what's going to happen to these discs,it's possible they will be sold to the public and it's possible the studios want them landfilled.
I would prefer they were sold to the public for <$10.

[bigdaddychacon]

Wow, that sucks. Oh well, it looks like it's Amazon.com for me.

[jmscott42]

Well, went today and didn't see any deals, looks like I need to go back and talk to the manager and see what I can pull off.

Who exactly is Mosaic?

[Dr Kain]

Mosaic is a third party company that sends a rep to a store with various assignments. Most of the movie reps need to make sure certain race track displays have signage, are set proper to the current planogram, pricing is up, etc.

[jwebb1970]

Originally Posted by DM2006RI

I don't think they're going into a landfill anytime soon, as they're really not trying very hard to sell these at the prices they're at. As someone else mentioned if they were REALLY serious about dumping them they'd be $10 or less....and they aren't.

When video games "crashed" and nearly died back in the mid '80s you could find games at 99 cents. My mom bought me a brand new Intellivision for $9. (This was all pre-Nintendo). Just going by a point of comparison, these prices are hardly "rock bottom" for a format that's basically being liquidated. Makes you think they'll be heading somewhere else for larger sales.

Agree about the fate of the discs....to a point.

Back during the video game "crash" you mention, didn't Atari landfill millions of unsold 2600 cartridges (mostly that craptastic E.T. game, I'd bet).

I would think--and could be wrong--that Mosaic would sell off the returned HD DVDs to some other wholesaler/Overstock.com-type business.

Or, would DVD replicators be interested, as the lack of a BD-style scratch coating means HD DVDs could be chewed up and reused to make DVDs.

Still think BB should have done a "bargain bin" with all HD DVDs & blow 'em out the door. I'd bet they would sell most of whats on hand quickly, esp if they were in the $10 range across the board.

Of course, they may figure that some of us with our new $50 gift cards might actually use 'em to get those $10 discs. Ends up in a situation where BB is then just giving HD DVDs away for free (not what any business wants to do) to those who bought players there.

Hopes of some cheap discs was what I planned to use my GC for initially. Now? Probably a Wii title.

[joemama127]

Originally Posted by coolstrategist

Since this is a specific BB thread I hope this link with my BB experience at about 2:30 p.m. today may help someone out before everything gets shipped back at some point. You may be able to corner a BB General Manager and have your own success.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post13459768

That's pretty awesome but you are right about it being a "huge YMMV" type thing. A few years back I got a similar lucky deal on a plasma at BB....it was a stormy night when not many shoppers ventured out...near closing time and at the end of the month. Well, long story short...the GM happened to be working the tv section where I was browsing and after shooting the breeze for a while I walked having not only paid for the pack of CD-R's that I originally came for...but also got a $2500 plasma for $1800 with free delivery and free Tivo Series2.

[bassmonkeee]

Originally Posted by jwebb1970

Still think BB should have done a "bargain bin" with all HD DVDs & blow 'em out the door. I'd bet they would sell most of whats on hand quickly, esp if they were in the $10 range across the board.

Of course, they may figure that some of us with our new $50 gift cards might actually use 'em to get those $10 discs. Ends up in a situation where BB is then just giving HD DVDs away for free (not what any business wants to do) to those who bought players there.

Why sell something below cost when you can return it to the manufacturer for credit equal to what you have invested?

If it made economic sense for Best Buy to bargain bin the HD-DVDs, that's exactly what they would have done. Obviously, the economic impact to the company is less if they simply return them.

[dad1153]

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks the studios and B&M stores are conspiring to keep prices of HDM titles (even the dead HD-DVD one's) artificially high. By not blowing HD-DVD at super-cheap prices ($5-10 on any title) or returning them in bulk to warehouse distributors the HDM buying crowd (which remains extremely small) hasn't been spoiled into expecting equal-or-better-than-Blu-ray movies for a few bucks at a retail environment. It is in the best interest of studios and B&M stores not to condition their walk-in customers to expect to pay anything less than an artificially-high price for average HDM movies. Their potential Blu-ray profits to be made by these corporations could be compromised if the people buying HD-DVD for cheap (i.e. HDM enthusiasts that are more likely to upgrade to Blu-ray than J6P) were conditioned to expect similar discounts for Blu movies, refusing to pay the MSRP stickers. There's no other logical explanation why most stores that carried HD-DVD didn't blow their stash at rock-bottom prices.

[tripleM]

Originally Posted by dad1153

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks the studios and B&M stores are conspiring to keep prices of HDM titles (even the dead HD-DVD one's) artificially high. By not blowing HD-DVD at super-cheap prices ($5-10 on any title) or returning them in bulk to warehouse distributors the HDM buying crowd (which remains extremely small) hasn't been spoiled into expecting equal-or-better-than-Blu-ray movies for a few bucks at a retail environment. It is in the best interest of studios and B&M stores not to condition their walk-in customers to expect to pay anything less than an artificially-high price for average HDM movies. Their potential Blu-ray profits to be made by these corporations could be compromised if the people buying HD-DVD (i.e. HDM enthusiasts) for cheap started to expect similar prices for Blu movies, refusing to pay the MSRP stickers.

That has been my contention since the day war ended. BR loyalists have kept advocating that once the war was over the prices would come down from competition.
Well we have neither seen that with the boxes nor with the movies.

I truly believe that the BR cartel has determine to enforce 'exclusivity' or Premium - Mercedes - pricing into the BR product. I never thought they would use the defunct HD discs also in their arsenal.
All stake holders would reap higher margin in spite of what the market desires.

[yellowcanary73]

Has anyone else checked the buy back at BB just to see they offered me 250 for my XA2 and over 61 movies both my wife and I just started laughing.

[bheast]

I went to BB today and they confirmed the memo...today is the final HD DVD day at best buy. However they would not go lower than 30%. I then hemmed and hahhed and they still wouldnt hook me up. I then went to another BB and I know everyone from my numerous purchases and they hooked me up at $12 any copy after the consortium met. Thank you for the heads up.

miami vice
Letters from Iwo Jima
Aviator
Alexander
Pans
Unleashed
The Fountain
THe Brave One
Breach
Talk to Me
Superman Returns
40-Year old Virgin

Hope this helps

[eddy_winds]

The BR cartel
is coming to a BB near you..

[dad1153]

Coming? Who do you think has been running BB all along?

[rveras]

Originally Posted by dad1153

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks the studios and B&M stores are conspiring to keep prices of HDM titles (even the dead HD-DVD one's) artificially high. By not blowing HD-DVD at super-cheap prices ($5-10 on any title) or returning them in bulk to warehouse distributors the HDM buying crowd (which remains extremely small) hasn't been spoiled into expecting equal-or-better-than-Blu-ray movies for a few bucks at a retail environment. It is in the best interest of studios and B&M stores not to condition their walk-in customers to expect to pay anything less than an artificially-high price for average HDM movies. Their potential Blu-ray profits to be made by these corporations could be compromised if the people buying HD-DVD for cheap (i.e. HDM enthusiasts that are more likely to upgrade to Blu-ray than J6P) were conditioned to expect similar discounts for Blu movies, refusing to pay the MSRP stickers. There's no other logical explanation why most stores that carried HD-DVD didn't blow their stash at rock-bottom prices.

I think you are on to something here. It makes a lot of sense. Don't get me wrong I'm happy that Blu-ray won but I'm mad that the prices have gone up I do think prices will eventually go down but not as fast as I was expecting I'm so addicted to Hi-Def movie however that I'm still buying Blu-ray movies.....anyone knows of a good lubricant.