HD-DVD in your country - still for sale?

[Candlelight]

In New Zealand we have Whitcoulls, which is one of our main DVD outlets. Until about 3 weeks ago, Whitcoulls stocked both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

Then (in our local store at least) they had a rejig of the HD area of DVDs.

This week, Whitcoulls is completely Blu-Ray ONLY. They no longer import or stock HD-DVD at all, not even stuff they haven't sold yet.

I have no idea what they've done with all the unsold stock. And I get the impression it's NZ-wide.

Anyone else had the same knee-jerk reaction to HD-DVD's impending demise?

 

[Cicero]

Why would you characterize the reaction as knee-jerk? It sounds reasonable; why continue to sell a discontinued, dead-end product?

(I've not been in an electronics store in years, fwiw.)

 

[Candlelight]

People still own HD-DVD players, and they may not sell up straight away. Doesn't it seem reasonable to give access to those unfortunate enough to have bought HD-DVD the discs that were available? At least give it a bit longer.

 

[Cicero]

That's a fair point, but it seems likely that further hapless persons would buy HD-DVD discs or players without realizing their error. (My grandparents' PC attests to the likelihood of error by the average, uninformed customer.)

 

[Candlelight]

That's a fair point, but it seems likely that further hapless persons would buy HD-DVD discs or players without realizing their error.

From a consumer's point of view that's a yes, but it seems a very consumer-friendly decision to remove HD-DVD discs this early in the aftermath of the format war.

 

[Cicero]

^ It might also be a complaint-department friendly move. (Given the amount of money so far used as enticement during the format war, I'd not be surprised if the retailer might also have been paid to remove HD-DVD from its shelves.)

 

[Candlelight]

Good point. It may have something to do with that. Whitcoulls have never been a pro-consumer company; their DVDs prices are always full retail, and I always get them from elsewhere anyway.

*wonders if anyone else will join in the conversation*

 

[the Dagman]

HD-DVD has been discontinued. Most retailers do not want to stock discontinued items. So while the discs themselves may not yet be discontinued, most retailers have seen the writing on the wall and have returned their HD-DVD media to their distributors while they can still get credit for it. Had they waited until they were discontinued, it is likely their distributor would not accept it and the store would be left with dead stock. Dead stock equals wasted money in retail, and store managers get in trouble if they tie up too much revenue in inventory.

What will likely happen is that all those HD-DVD discs will wind up at some discount clearing house and get sold for about half of what the distributors actually paid for the item, just so they can recoup some of their expense. It's still a bit early for many of those to have sprung up yet. Look for them around Christmas time.

 

[DeafPoet]

Not only are there still HD-DVDs being sold just about everywhere here in Canada, I've seen many places (chains even) still selling them at their previous full price!

 

[Deleted 2]

I've seen neither Blu-Ray nor HD-DVD for sale in record/DVD stores.

 

[gh4chiefs]

I was in my local BB Saturday and was shocked to see they had no HD-DVDs in stock. I was hoping to catch a few on sale like I did recently at the local Hastings. I can't imagine they sold all their stock, so they must have gotten rid of it.

I have a number of HD-DVD movies and wouldn't mind pick up some more bargains, but they just seem to be gone, period. I'm still astounded at how fast the dominos fell in the "format war."

 

[hamudm]

I've bought buttloads at Future Shop, Best Buy and HMV in the last few weeks. Some as low as $6.99. I'd say I've bought at least 10 new ones for an average of $8.99 over the last 3 weeks. At least half of these were combo discs with the regular dvd on the other side! For example, I bought Atonement brand new at HMV for $7.99 and this was a combo disc. The regular new release DVD-only is $24.99 retail at Future Shop last I checked! I'm cashing in on these hi-def deals while I can. Why pay triple or quadruple the cost for the same blu-ray when I don't have to?

 

[TheInsideMan]

HD-DVD is still for sale in the UK....until of course, stock runs out.

Sure, Blu-Ray won the war. That doesn't mean that HD-DVD players suddenly stop working, or that inserting a HD-DVD disc brings up screen saying 'YOUR PLAYER IS DEAD! BUY BLU-RAY!'

Bottom line is, I've been able to buy HD-Def films and TV shows for a cheaper price then the SD DVD versions. Heroes Season 1 was around £63. Got for £21. nBSG Season 1 was £37. Got it for £15. And none of those was from eBay auctions either, but from online sellers like Amazon.co.uk, Play.Com and DVD.co.uk.

And at the end of the day, the Tosh players make for a bloody good upscaler - cheaper than the Sony NS DVD upscaler which frankly, was rubbish (despite great reviews at sites like AV Forums). With those Tosh players going from £60, that a bargain regardless of if your gonna use it to play HD-DVDs or upscale existing DVD content.

Sure, I'll buy into Blu Ray when I can get a fully-speced Profile 2.0 player for under £200, but until then I'm happy to wait. In the mean time, I have some more 1080p/720p nBSG to watch.

 

[hamudm]

^In addition, China has its CH-DVD format coming out. These are essentially flash-converted HD-DVD players. So even if US manufacturers stop making HD-DVD players, you should be able to pick up one of these things and flash upgrade them to play HD-DVD's. Either that or get a cheap combo drive (i.e. the LG PC drive).

 

[Daedalus12]

Sure, I'll buy into Blu Ray when I can get a fully-speced Profile 2.0 player for under £200, but until then I'm happy to wait. In the mean time, I have some more 1080p/720p nBSG to watch.

Interestingly enough due to the dollar going down the drain at the moment you guys have to pay more perceived amount for the PS3 right now. Considering the exchange rate PS3 (40gb) is already around £200 here.

 

[Deleted 2]

I found a store that sold Blu-Ray discs today. No sign of HD-DVD anywhere