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Woolworths to ditch HD DVD
Author: Gareth HalfacreePublished: 29th January 2008
Better get your HD-DVDs ordered now: it doesn't look like Woolworths will be selling them for long.
Figures released by perennial British favourite Woolies show Blu-Ray outselling HD DVDs ten-to-one over the festive period, and coupled with several major defections from the HD DVD camp the management obviously feels the time has come to chivvy the format wars along a bit.
The plan is for all 820 Woolworth stores to have a Blu-Ray chart section, and the larger shops to also be equipped with a Blu-Ray back catalogue by March this year. Discs will also be available via its pseudo-mail-order service The Big Red Book.
In terms of high-street sales, Woolworths is the leading retailer of high-definition media of both flavours in the UK. This means that a move to Blu-Ray exclusivity will hurt Toshiba's HD DVD camp badly.
Steve McGunigel, DVD buyer for the chain, attributes the success of Blu-Ray directly to the PS3, saying “because it plays Blu-Ray discs, there are over three-quarters of a million homes in the UK that can view the new high definition format. There is nowhere near that number of HD DVD players around.”
McGunigel hopes that by stocking Blu-Ray format discs exclusively the company can “provide one clear offer to customers in the format they want to watch high definition movies in.” Providing you didn't want to watch it in HD DVD format, one presumes.
Interestingly, although the high-street Woolworths stores will be HD DVD free, the Toshiba-backed format will still be available via the website. As to whether this will continue after the company has divested itself of stocks of HD DVD discs remains to be seen.
Do you think it's time to declare a winner in the HD format war, or does HD DVD still have some fight left in it? Alternatively, are you sticking to DVD until the format is officially deprecated and letting the early adopters iron out the kinks? Give us your views over in the forums.
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Comments (62)
True, shame the lesser format has won though
For those that comment about blueray being the sony backed system, wasn't microsoft backing HD-DVD? if i'm wrong fair enough but it apears to me that its a no win situation for the anti-sony & microsoft crowd
Andy
2. When did they move from board games, childrens toys and clothes?
3. Is this not just an advert to tell everyone that they are just about to start stocking blu-ray and when HD-DVD does better they will stock that too?!?
All we need now are cheaper bluray pc drives (and discs)!
I was once told BD had a larger capacity, of around 30gb, while HD DVD only had about 12gb, thats rubbish. I have a HDDVD film, and the disk is just under 30gb.
Sam
It's a shame as I preferred the fact that HD-DVD was region free, but I don't buy at woolies and have both formats anyway so I guess its a moot point really.
1. Yes
2. How old are you?? Im 26 ans ever sinc eI was small they dad always sold Music Films and sweets as well as what you said.
3. They do stock Blu-ray and the reason for discontinuing the HD-DVD is because it aint selling as well.
I hope transformers will then come out on Blu-ray :) wont be long then, whem HD DVD is dropped completly as more and more support for the format is dropped.
maybe that is what killed it......
Wow now that's some uneducated postage
True BR is region limited but every other part of the spec is superior to HD-DVD
How is it lesser?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats#Technical_details
Begs to differ.
inc the DRM, so whats better for the consumer? and whats better for the mpiaa? This isn't necessarily the same thing.
Meh, DRM's a fact of life. If you're that way inclined, there's always ways round it. It didn't take that long fro DVD Jon to sort out CSS.
Broken DRM + Technical superiority = Win for enthusiast and win for general consumer (who'll never think about the DRM anyway)
HD DVD has DRM too, so your argument is moot.
Exactly.
A BD-R/RE Writer is only getting on for £390ish!!
When the writer drops about 300 quid off it's price tag, I'll probably get one :)
Mind you, it's similar to when dvd drives and writers first hit the market. They, too were about £90 for a reader and some ludicrous amount for a writer.
HD DVD's drm wasn't much more than DVDs, basicaly non invasive, the same cannont be said of BR (BD??) where some early Blu ray players already are incompatible.
As for compatibility, (I assume you're meaning the broken compatibility with BD+), that was fixed with a firmware update.
Speaking of which, (correct me if I am wrong) I thought that early HD-DVD players are incompatible with the new triple layer HD-DVD's?
QFT. Ignoring the pink elephant in the living room, I suppose.
QFT.
...MPIAA? :? What does the Mount Pleasant Italian American Association have to do with next-gen optical media entertainment?
QFT.
Rough amalgamation for the two alphabety maffias... http://mafiaa.org/
I couldn't care less who wins (won) this war, its kinda irrelevant since (to quote avp) WE lost.
This is true, man.
What you mean like an unlicensed Linux box?
So, im guessing, as long as you didn't mess around with the Blu-ray drive itself, it wouldn't matter what you did to the PC.
2) BR is a fantastic piece of engineering, if you enjoy the idea of already obsolete hardware for the thousands of customers who bought a player due to launching without finalized specifications.
3) Cheering for the higher storage capacity disc (which is not true anyways if you are suggesting BR has more capacity) is an asinine and idiotic thing to do. Do you watch 1s and 0s float by on your television like the Matrix, or are you watching a movie? What should matter is the quality of the product. If someone can empirically AND subjectively show that technical details allow one format to reproduce the content BETTER than the other in a noticeable way, then you might have an argument.
But you still need software to view the content, Linux never got a licensed dvd player, thus why css was cracked in the first place, and if BD+ can retroactively revoke keys and does the unscrambling (thats how i read that) what are the odds of being able to do as i please (with in reason) with the disks i've bought.
Prices drop on matured technology just like DVD did. Just takes time. 1st DVD I bought back in 97' was The Crow, and it cost me $40.
Next-gen tech like Blu-Ray always has bumps in the road; HD-DVD is based on current tech, i.e. DVD. The DVD format was the exact same way. Once upon a time, some DVD players couldn't even switch to the second layer on discs, among other atrocities! Only solution was toss it, and get a newer player. It'll iron itself out. In fact, in retrospect, both HD formats have surpassed DVDs' maturity rate rather quickly, not to mention the additional ability to fix most problems with a simple firmware upgrade/update.
I'm not going to argue with anyone about this, as it's pointless to try to convince someone otherwise, right? Everyone has their own views on things. But I will insert a snippet about Universal's upcoming switch to BR...
Slap..wake up!! Writers are under the £180 mark now. I seen one the other day for £150.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136317
And Microsoft succeed instead?
Competition doesn't come from competing formats, but from competing players. Samsung / LG / Pioneer will all compete to get you to buy their Blu-ray players, and thus, prices will come down.
Didn't the same thing happen with HD-DVD and triple layer discs?
Not true? Blu-ray has a much higher capacity than HD-DVD. As for the quality of the product, Blu-ray has a higher video/audio bitrate - hence, higher quality than HD-DVD.
40mb/s for Blu-ray as opposed to 29.4mb/s for HD-DVD (Maximum video playback bitrate)
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats
The same thing can happen with HD-DVD too. And you can do what you want with the discs you've bought. Unless the volume decryption key for your player became compromised, in which case the key would be revoked and future Blu-ray / HD-DVD discs would cease to work. You would have to buy a new player.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Access_Content_System
I did not realise that the HD-DVD technology belongs to Microsoft!
So, how can they win
I have no problem with Blue-Ray, my problem is with Sony.
The only winners are the companies which get the royalties.
It doesn't 'belong' to Microsoft, but Microsoft has a large stake in it. It also developed the underlying technology for the interactive content portion of the standard. IE: menu's etc.
No, Toshiba's steering the boat.
Of course. As with any business. They're there to make money, right?
You see that as acceptable do you...
Any way back to the BD+, acss has been compromised it is possible by all accounts to watch acss encrypted media on unsupported platforms, bd+ has not been cracked and may never be.
I never said that.
I highly doubt it. Nearly every form of DRM / Anti-Piracy, mechanism / software has been broken.
Secondly, I couldn't stand hearing about "exclusive movies" going to certain formats....I think that's just ridiculous and like most people are saying I'm glad to more superior-speced format is "winning".....now it's just time for prices to still come down and for that reason I hope HD-DVD can continue to live-on for just a while longer and keep knocking BR prices down.....
As for the early investors for the BR players: that's what happens when you invest in a bleeding-edge technology....what did you expect???? Also, what are they missing out on anyways from what is offered on today's BR players? 25GB should be plenty of space for a movie I would think.....I honestly could care less about all the added "features"......but that's just me....
The simple fact that your hardware can be rendered obsolete at will should be enough not to buy in to it, it is for me.
The point of BD+ is that it can be updated as time goes on meaning even if/when its cracked it'll be a fight for every film you want to watch, short of buying Vista (for a trusted platform), hoping that your authorised and payed for player hasn't been revoked be it software or hardware.
Having your player rendered obsolete because someone in another country cracked the volume decryption key is absurd I agree. But I doubt a mass produced and mass bought player that had it's volume decryption key compromised would be revoked. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Perhaps with the BD+ if a volume decryption key was compromised and revoked the disc could update the player's key to a newer uncompromised one that would let you continue watching Blu-ray discs.
What fight? If you have a blu-ray player that hasn't been tampered with you won't have a problem.
There will be no Blu ray players for Linux (probably not for XP either) so to use the media you have legally bought you have to circumvent the copy protection ala dcss. With BD+ updated every couple of months (or what ever) you will have to fight the system just to watch your own media. And then you still have the worry that for what ever reason your Blu Ray players key could be revoked
Personally I couldn't have cared less who won when they came out, but after using a couple of players from both camps I find that Blu-Ray is the superior product, so I'm for it :)
As for the Univseral 'quote', they have announced absolutely nothing in public that I can find that they are planning on going BR. So "word is" that quote is utter BS and speculation - which doesn't win arguments, btw.
Thank god this s***e is nearly over with getting sick of these pathetic arguements now.
:? The numbers say otherwise. But hey, trying to convince those that doesn't want to be is pointless.
LOL. I was trying to 'win' an argument? :? I'm not exactly worried about winning an argument OL...
It wasn't an official 'quote'. No where does it state that. Nor will you find anything about it--yet. But at this point, of course there won't be anything available OFFICIALLY about it. It's from a site that has VERY reliable inside sources in the industry; people that would be in "the know" way more than any of us are or ever will be. Here's the original column about it. Enjoy the hearty high-fiber reading! ;)
-monkey
Around here, they already have. Back-catalog stuff's running about 10-12 bucks a piece for discs now. SE stuff.
Where does it say Blu-Ray is better? Because like it says Blu-Ray isnt a finished standard, HD-DVD is which makes it better for the consumer, like generation one players cant play features which generation 2 can. For a start the Blu-Ray camp didnt think it was nessecary to have extra support for features so didnt make it mandatory, which theyve gone back on and adding it, however because at the time all players didnt need to have the memory nessecary to run these new features or the ethernet ports with appropriate firm-ware has made all the early players obsolete bar the PS3. Sony like to lock down there content as much as they can and while HD DVD did have some on was pretty lax about it and allowed them to all be region free which again is better for the consumer.
So what if Blu-Ray has more capacity? It aint gonna make your movies look any better the movies on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are both the same, same quality the lot, only way itll help is if you want to burn stuff from your PC, but were not talking about that were talking about movies here and whats best for the consumer.
Oh also forgot that big one for me the cost fair enough Blu-Ray will come down but lets face it HD-DVD was at $100 a long time ago and prices like that were being brought over to the UK as well.
If you mean it "begs to differ" by sales figures, sales figures dont mean its a better platform, just means because people have a PS3 they decided to go down that route.
May I ask how I'm uneducated? Or how Blu-Ray is superior in every other way because well what that wikipedia link the guy posted says different as do the facts.
But at least like others say I now know what Ive got to buy which is lucky as I wasnt far off buying a HD DVD player looks like ill be waiting at least a few months for Blu-Ray players to meet a similar price point for a half decent one thats up to date and will allow me to update it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats
25g per layer, as opposed to 15g
Blu-ray still have over 70% of the home-video market, and studios like Paramount have reserved the right to switch back to Blu-ray.
It's not a case of HD-DVD not "cutting it". While I haven't been able to find anywhere online that shows pictures of a HD-DVD frame side by side a Blu-ray frame from a movie that you could use as a comparison, I have seen it in store and the Blu-ray was visibly clearer.
Besides, it doesn't matter if they're both the same. HD-DVD has clearly lost.
It already has. Most illegal movie releases via bittorrent are usually Blu-ray rips.
searching for Blu-ray/HD-DVD on ISOhunt returns: 225/159 results respectively.
See below
Didn't the same thing happen with HD-DVD regarding multiple layer discs, and early generation player's won't be able to read triple layer discs?
We're not comparing past versions here. I highly doubt any significant changes will be made to the Blu-ray spec that will render players obsolete again. Yes early adopters got burned, but they should have known what they were getting themselves into when the spec was unfinished.
As for region locking, whi is it such a big deal? There are only 3 regions. Americas, Euope/Australia, Asia. Unless you plan on importing them from overseas, you won't have a problem.
Blu-ray has a higher standard bitrate than HD-DVD, hence - better quality.
Oh please, we saw the same thing with DVD when it first came out. Prices will come down, they already have.
So outselling HD-DVD by a factor of 10:1, and holding over 70% of the home-video market doesn't say to you that the majority of consumers and studios have chosen Blu-ray?
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats
The Blu-ray standard is better than HD-DVD. More storage, higher bit-rates etc.
/me pops a vcd into his drive
HAHAHA! That was good, man. VCD's rock!
:D
What "standard" are you referring to? Blu-Ray 1.0.. 1.1.....2.0?
I know one thing. If the tables were turned and HD DVD was in the same position as Blu-ray is today. Everyone would be able to go out and buy a £120 1080p24 player which will play all HD DVDs.. from all regions.. and ALL the features which you paid for on all the discs would be usable. TODAY.
Since the format war is over and Blu-Ray won. I've got to wait for 2.0 profile players (three were announced at CES, 2 were $1500 and one $800).. maybe a year for them to get to the same £120.. then god knows how long for a proper region free version. And yes I would be buying Blu-Ray's from the US as their currency is worth crap at the moment, and the discs over here are at ridiculous prices. STILL!
And, no, I don't want a PS3, I have no use for it as a game console and it's rediculously overpriced, especially in the UK.
[sarcasm]Format war's over.. woo hooo! Now we can all wait 18 months for decent hardware....yay! It'll have a bit more bandwidth and space, even though most movies (on Blu-Ray and HD DVD) top out at 20-22GB and throwing more bits at the encodes makes no visual difference what-so-ever... woohoo again. All that 50GB of Blu-Ray space is filled with space wasting PCM audio because Blu-Ray doesn't have mandatory TrueHD decoding and PCM is the ONLY way of ensuring all players can decode that lossless audio and if they didn't do that the only option for compatibility is regular old Dolby Digital... woohoo for the third time.[/sarcasm]
I want a £100 (2.0) Blu-Ray player. If Blu-Ray is better... where the hell is that player?..... and where are the 7 free discs that come with it?
edit: Its Image Constraint Token and the discussion was this thread