HD-DVDs: Get them while they last!
With all the recent announcements concerning diminishing support for the HD-DVD format, it’s understandable that some retailers might be anxious to lighten their inventory of HD-DVD movies. How does 50% off sound?
That’s right. Amazon.com appears to be desperate to get rid of a large selection of HD-DVD titles, including some of the movies that helped give the format its biggest boost, such as Transformers, King Kong and Mission Impossible 3.
No sign yet that the sale is happening on Amazon’s Canadian site, but since the U.S. site will ship DVDs to Canada and the loonie is still flirting with parity, it may make sense to pick these up, while you still can, even if it means risking the duty that may be levied.
Sorry Blu-ray viewers, your movies are still going for their regular more-than-fire-sale prices. So much for "to the victors go the spoils of war"…
Update: Maybe Amazon knows something the rest of us don’t. New rumours are swirling that Toshiba is about to drop their development of the HD-DVD format completely.
[thanks Engadget HD and Ben Patterson]
Excitable 
But they do have:
"Buy Two Blu-ray Discs and Receive a Third for Free"
It's not half price but not bad. Also, some are already less than other places. ;)
LikeLike
Come on Paramount…. what are you waiting for? I'll be buying a few movies from you (at full price!) if it is on BLU…..
LikeLike
Amazon's 50% off sale is 50% off the list price. Since HD DVDs sell for 30% off normally, it isn't the big sale it sounds like.
The BD sale of Buy 2 get another free results in the same overall price range: 67% of 70% equals 47%.
Amazon regularly has various pricing strategies to lure in buyers. In December, there was a huge round of Buy One Get One Free for both formats. Since it applied to the everyday Amazon price, that equals a sale of 60% off.
LikeLike
does this mean regular DVDs will be extinct and I'll be forced to purchase a God damn $500 PS3 just to play Blu-ray discs?
LikeLike
Mgmt: No, I seriously doubt that standard DVDs will be going away anytime soon. There are just far too many folks with DVD players for publishers to suddenly drop the format.
LikeLike
No! DVDs are here to stay for a long time because a Blu-Ray player do play them. I don't plan to rebuy all my DVDs.
Besides, it's $400 for not 40GB model. ;) But they need to drop further in price. I paid $300 on my first DVD player and it was a Apex 600. It was a real deal back then. :)
LikeLike
I still have VHS……
LikeLike
"I paid $300 on my first DVD player and it was a Apex 600. It was a real deal back then. :)"
I paid $499 on My first one back in 1999 and it was an RCA (Whatever happened to them) Can only play legit DVDs and CDs. Cant play anything burned. I don't even think it had Component video. All I rememnber was S-Video. I hooked it up to my 27 inch Sony Trinitron CRT which I paid $1200 on sale at Adventure Electronics… another one that bit the dust.
LikeLike
But you have to admit that the DVDs are on sale in most places and stores are getting rid of them pretty quickly.
LikeLike
I simply want this format war to end quickly as I will not buy anything HD until all these different formats of TVs and DVD players are standardized. I currently have a DVD 5 disc player and a VHS/DVD recorder. Until I can replace this with comparable HD equipment the electronic companies can bite me!
LikeLike
I just made a petition that should help end the format war while giving a break to HD-DVD supporters. I'm a Blu-Ray supporter.
Make Blu-Ray Standard But Keep HD-DVD
http://www.mcgrath.ca/make-blu-ray-standard-but-keep-hd-dvd/
It's my solution or HD-DVD is dead for good.
P.S. I just added it a few minutes ago. I should make a blog post too :P
LikeLike
HD-DVD is dead. People upset about their purchase should have waited a while to see where the technology was headed. Good shoppers know that tech products like TV radio, iPod, computers and game-players always go down in price over time. Consumers should be patient and enjoy what they have.
LikeLike
Waltmart is Blu-Ray starting in June! Just in case you did not read the other post.
LikeLike
HD DVD is still a good deal. I'll be picking up all good Universal, paramount and Dreamworks movies on sale, because at this point, no blueray disc matches HD DVDs in terms of features and why wait for the same movie to come out on bluray in a year or two with potentially no bonus and at full price?
LikeLike
Hi mgmt, I had to chuckle (with empathy) at your question about being forced to buy a PS3. I asked my good friends at HMV the very same question just yesterday, and they concur with Simon Cohen"s reply–DVD's will be around for quite awhile yet. If you noticed, they are still improving them in some ways, and lately the DVD distributers often offer a choice between regular edition and 2-disc special editions (Constantine being an example, At World's End being another. DVD's are still profitable–new releases are still "up there" price wise.
I don't know about where you're at, but didn't it take a LONG TIME for the Lord Of The Rings Director's Cut trilogy to come down in price? Switch when you're ready, Mgmt, no sooner, because there's lots of time. Cheers!
LikeLike
At my local Wal-Mart, on Friday (the day of the official announcement of Blu-ray support) ALL of their HD-DVD players were taken off the shelves and sent back to the manufacturer. They now only have standard and up-coverting DVD players and Blu-ray players.
The HD DVD movies are still there. They had a huge display in the aisle with flat screens showing both Blu-ray and HD DVD blurbs BUT they needed 3 out of the 4 sides to display their Blu-Ray titles but only needed 1 side for their HD DVD titles. I guess that tells the story right there.
LikeLike
I'm glad to know the standard format will be sticking around. Thanks for letting me know that Simon/MLC. =)
Now that a new format is the cornerstone of evolution, shouldn't regular DVDs become cheaper? I'm still seeing them at the $30-25 msrp. Will they decrease in price tag anytime soon?
LikeLike
I think price drops on DVDs will only happen once Blu-ray achieves a significant market share, thus driving the demand for DVDs down. Much like VHS prices didn't take a serious nose-dive until DVDs had been on the market for a long time. Plus, there's only so far DVD prices can go – the studios set the price based on the content, not the format. After all, the actual cost of producing DVDs can be measured in cents per unit.
LikeLike