Wal-Mart Stores Inc has decided to exclusively sell high-definition DVDs in the Blu-Ray format, dealing what could be a crippling blow to the rival HD DVD technology…
The move by the world’s largest retailer…caps a disappointing week for HD DVD supporters, who also saw consumer electronics chain Best Buy Co Inc and online video rental company Netflix Inc defect to the Blu-ray camp.
In a statement on its Web site, Wal-Mart said that over the next few months it will phase out sales of HD DVD systems and discs. By June, it will sell only products in the Blu-ray format…
The move affects 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in the United States, as well as related online sites. The stores will continue to sell traditional DVD players and movies.
Uh, I think that’s that.
I counted myself in the HD-DVD camp but I can’t remember why. I think it had something to do with HD-DVD being more PC friendly (larger capacity?).
I’m just glad the whole thing is over. I hope the industry has learned something about the waste and futility of format wars (Sony really should have known better) but I doubt it has.
Sony should have known better? Because it won?
Its still all about HD-TV all the way.
Who cares what Walmart sells only tramps shop there anyway.
Who gives a damn about discs anyways…
wow, game over!
4,
the average joe… and there are more of them than you think.
I know what you’re thinking… digital downloads, streaming blah blah… Riddle me this… I have legally downloaded movies from X store… how do I loan it out to my neighbour without a PC to enjoy?
Who cares. I just download .avis. I would NEVER pay Hollywood for anything.
This is scary, I thought the exact same thing when I saw the headline. Looks like format war is over, just a couple small battles to finish it off.
#8 ?
I wonder when China will have Blu Ray discs available? I saw just a few in the local DVD shop here with the Blu Ray logo (and HD DVD) but now I was told they are still a DVD format.
Maybe they are waiting to see who is the ultimate winner.
Cheers
Isn’t there a technology that uses multicolored laser or holographic memory? I mean blue-ray is so last week…
10 to the 32 power per square centimeter bits…
9000 movies in a 1 inch cube of the stuff..
I’m going to wait till March for that.
Who cares. There are very few movies I would pay to own.
#8 Mike Wills – I meant the “?” to the previous “#8” not you! It was Vietnamese I believe and has been removed leaving you in its place.
#11 gquaglia That is the point why piracy is rife. It used to be that movies made their money at the box office and when the VHS tape came out that was gravy on the top. Like so many things Hollywood is milking the DVD market for all it can get and complains all along.
If DVD movies were cheaper like $5 a disc why screw around downloading pirate copies? The cost of a DVD with the case and printing is only a few cents so why be so greedy?
Cheers
BTW, I just ‘rented’ my first movie using my Apple TV… and I look at all the money I have tied up in DVD’s which I don’t watch anymore…
I think blue-ray will be a thing of history.
Any movie online will be the future…
#12 I think you mis understood. Not only would I not pay for them, I don’t even want to watch them. They are mostly shit.
“Wal-Mart Stores Inc has decided to exclusively sell high-definition DVDs in the Blu-Ray format…”
This may seem a bit anal, but I’ve seen this mistake a few times and I think it causes some confusion….
Blu-Ray discs are not high-definition DVD’s.
DVD’s are a specific, and different, format. Blu-Ray discs are high-definition discs.
HD-DVDs, on the other hand, are high-definition DVD’s.
#14 gquaglia Ok – That I can understand! LOL Here I can get most any DVD movie for about a buck and a half and I can’t remember when was the last time I was really moved to buy any movie in the last year or so!
However the point is still made in general – to stop piracy take away their market.
Cheers
As long as downloadable content doesn’t match discs in content then I will continue to say bah to downloadable. I can see the convenience factor being nice but I don’t have an HDTV to watch crummy content.
Also Walmart matters because it sell nearly half of all DVDs. Doesn’t change the fact that I would never shop at one.
#1: The discs themselves are format-independantr, so neither is more “pc-friendly” than the other.
As for space, here’s the actual capacities:
HD-DVD: 15GB per layer, three layer physical limit. 45GB maximum capacity.
Blu-ray: 25GB per layer, eight layer physical limit. Two layers common for 50GB, max of 200GB per disc.
well since this battle is almost over, you can expect them to begin pushing the next format that will make bluray obsolete. and all of you early bluray adopters will by it to, the cycle continues
#11 – Certain movie must be watched every few month to keep the brain in balance. For example:
Lone Wolf McQuade
The Blues Brothers
Animal House
Independence Day
I have not regretted being an early adopter of FM, Cassette, CD, BetaMax, LaserDisk or DVD. All (except worn-out tapes) are still playable and enjoyable. I now listen to HD Radio.
They were cool to own at the time, often the best available reproduction quality and latest content. Friends w/o players could not borrow. I am skipping the BluRay/HD-DVD drama and waiting for the next wave.
s/Your Favorite Dinosaur
PS: They will never learn.
#2 – Sony may have won the battle and lost the war. How many years has this format war been going on? The vast majority of people have been waiting for it to be over before buying a next gen DVD player. Sony and Toshiba both make DVD players. They have both lost billions in sales because of this war.
By the time BluRay players are down to $99.00 they may be obsolete. Everyone knows that digital downloads will take over sooner or later. Blu Ray is really just a stop gap technology. In ten years, going to the store to pick up a piece of plastic with a movie on it (and then returning it) will seem downright silly.
Loading Disc in DVD players are like Yesterday Technology!
I never like the idea of getting up and load the disc in the player, which is why I don’t have a DVD player.
Everything I get I download, even the softwares I want to buy, I download it and then I buy the CD Key if allowed.
Like MS Office, I don’t have to time to goto the store, figure out how to open the office packaging. install it etc.
I just download it from my sources, goto MS website and activate, pay for new key, without leaving the house.
The HD-DVD consortium should have aggressively courted the adult film industry. Once HD-DVD would have been established there, its lock in the marketplace would have been assured.
#15 – Talking of anal, that should be DVDs not DVD’s (go easy with that apostrophe).
Any way HD only have themselves to blame. Kept banging on about discs being cheaper and easier to make, yet by the time they hit the stores – exactly the same price as Blu-ray.
I have an HD-DVD player. Again, the best format did not win. The only thing going for Blu-Ray was that it had more capacity. Otherwise, HD-DVD had internet, Picture in Picture, no region coding and other options right from the start. We will not see most of these functions in Blu-Ray until BD-Live Profile is available this Summer.
I only bought 3 movies and received 5 free. I am just hoping the studios give some rebate or something else for the HD-DVD owners out there.
There’s no way I’m downloading an HD movie at 5-7 megabits per second. It will take forever. We need more download speed for the same price I’m paying now before anything happens with downloading HD movies. If net neutrality law gets passed then your not going to be downloading HD movies anytime soon because it will be more than twenty bucks per movies.
Regarding downloaded movies: When I can buy, download, and burn a copy equal to what I buy in stores and it will play on any Blu-ray drive, it is at that point I will care.