Blockbuster goes blu-ray

Harbinger · 06-18-2007, 07:31 PM

So much for the HD DVD has won theory, this is a pretty heavy blow. Really can't understand why they wont carry both... I remember back in the day video stores had a vhs and a betamax section.

DailyTech - Blockbuster Sides With Blu-ray Disc in High-Def Format War

ChemicalWarrior · 06-18-2007, 10:26 PM

Blockbuster can't support both because they can not afford to do so. Blockbuster has been on very rocky financial ground since being spun off from Viacom. The rental market is not nearly as big as it use to be, because DVD is so cheap a lot of people buy movies as it seems like a better value.

As of right now HD-DVD stand alone players are far out selling their Blu-Ray counterparts, but Blu-Ray media is doing fairly well because of the PS3 (though soon its market will be nothing but a extremely small addition) in total units that can play Blu-Ray movies. The "war" is far from over, even once one kills the other, they have to fight DVD which is going to take a very long time. A lot of time people don't notice a large enough difference in quality to justify a new TV, new HD service, and new format player.

{DvT}JonahHex · 06-18-2007, 10:45 PM

The answer to why they chose not to carry both is probably in the comments section of the article...assuming the stats quoted by the people making the comments is correct.

BB says "over 70%" of rentals have been Blu-Ray. One of the comments says that the division of player purchases has been 62% Blue-Ray, 38% HD-DVD. From the latter stat one would expect the rental rate to be about about the same: 62/38. What the 70+ number tells me is: not only are more people buying Blu-Ray but those that do buy Blu-Ray also rent more movies. IOW (and to keep it simple), if you have 200 customers and 100 have Blu-Ray equipment and 100 have HD-DVD, but the Blu-Ray people rent 2 movies a week and the HD-DVD people rent 1 movie a week...which group of customers are you going to cater to? Think in terms of having to buy 2 copies of each movie and devote shelf space to those movies. I know this analysis is too simplistic, but you don't want read a complete business forecast analysis (and I'm not an economist and couldn't write it anyway).

Another aspect could be, as I recall, Blu-Ray equipment is more expensive than HD-DVD equipment. In spite of this more people seem to be willing to spend the $ for Blu-Ray and then they are also willing to spend more post equipment purchase $ on rentals than their HD-DVD counterparts.

Finally, it seems that BB is betting that the general population is going to follow the trend set by the early-adopters and they are trying to avoid the situation of the VHS/BetaMax wars in which they ultimately ended up with a shitload of unrented/unrentable BetaMax inventory. The simple reason why VHS won the war is that it was the higher capacity format in spite of giving a somewhat lower quality pic. Blu-Ray is also the higher capacity format...another possible reason for BB putting their eggs in the Blu-Ray basket.

...my 2¢ worth

{OF}MadD! · 06-19-2007, 01:00 AM

Netflix could take advantage of this and advertise this difference, I assume they offer both? They could feasibly say they will be offering MORE movies than Blockbuster.

{OF}Blong · 06-19-2007, 01:49 AM

yes netflix offers both hd dvd and blue ray. Blockbuster used to offer both as well but apparently this is going to change. However blockbuster is not even close to being a blow because it represents a very very small share of the total picture. I am waiting for what walmart decides but either way as chem stated this war is far from over and I dont think it will ever end. I think something "better" will be out before the war is over.