Consumers getting a bigger picture as format battle changes
By Alex Ben Block
HOLLYWOOD, CA. (Hollywood Today) 6/18/07 – The Blu-ray video disc format has pulled off a significant publicity coup with the announcement that nearly 1,500 corporately owned Blockbuster Video stories will carry only the Sony-backed high definition format.
It is a major psychological victory in the format wars, but it remains to be seen how big a blow it will be to the rival HD DVD format. Both formats will continue to be available via the Blockbuster online/mail delivery system that competes with Netflix. And 250 of the 1,700 corporate stores will continue to carry HD DVD product as well.
Blockbuster in its announcement indicated this was a response to stronger Blu-ray sales than HD DVD sales. That reflects the fact there are more big title available on Blu-ray thanks to its strong push by Sony, and partnership with most of the major Hollywood studios. Both Sony and Disney release only in Blu-ray for hi definition (while continuing to release in the standard DVD format as well). Only Universal offers HD DVD titles exclusively in the high definition format. Several studios, including Paramount and Warner Bros., offer their movies in both formats.
“We intend to meet the demands of our customers and based on the trends we’re seeing, we’re expanding our Blu-ray inventory to ensure our stores reflect the right level of products,” Matthew Smith, SVP Merchandising for Blockbuster said in a statement. “While it is still too early to say which high-definition format will become the industry standard, we will continue to closely
monitor customer rental patterns both at our stores and online, so we can adjust our inventory mix accordingly and ensure that Blockbuster is offering customers the most convenient access to the movies they want, in the format they want.”
In other words, if HD DVD takes off later, Blockbuster could change course again.
The high definition installed player base, as well as software sales, continue to be only a fraction of those of the general DVD market. There have been about 100,000 HD DVD players sold in the U.S. to date and about 30,000 Blu-ray players. However, the PlayStation 3 game system also plays Blu-ray movies, which has boosted the format to over a million.
By July Blockbuster expects to have about 170 Blu-ray titles available in its stores, and then they will add more as there are more releases. This is a great victory for Blu-ray and could impact high end users who are concerned about software availability.
This is not going to be a knock out blow for HD DVD, however. The availability of content is important, but so is price, and HD DVD players continue to be about half the cost of the Blu-ray players ($500 vs. $250 at the low end).
Many consumers continue to hold back on purchasing either system due to the confusion caused by two formats, the higher price for Blu-ray and HD DVD players and software than standard DVD’s and what is seen by many as only a marginal improvement in picture quality over DVDs.