HMV - Unfair emphasis on Blu-ray

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I just popped into the Hmv Birmingham New Street store and saw that Blu-Ray discs are spread over 9 columns whilst HD-dvd discs are allocated to one column.

It clearly sends out a message in favour of Blu-ray and smacks of some strong arm tactics by Sony behind the scenes.
 
Who actually buys HD-DVD or Blu Ray at HMV anyway, at their stupid prices? :)

Having said that, the last time I looked in my nearest HMV (Milton Keynes) there were equal rows of both (this was a couple of months ago though, so it may have changed recently) still silly prices though :)
 
In Leamington Spa there was a small abount of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs all lumped in together - all at crazy prices too. Perhaps depends on the manager, but I don't see anyone buying from there ;).
 
they are indeed silly prices, however clearly some people are.

Im afraid this is just the way it is with business, they are not going to stock something that doesnt sell well, money talks as they say, looking at the recent top sellers list that was published by HMV, they are selling a lot more BD than HDDVD, so it might not be anything to do with sony and much more to do with just selling more of that particular line of product
 
I totally agree. The emphasis in the UK has a strong bias towards Blu ray. I own a PS3 and a HD DVD player so I am totally unbiased. I enjoy both formats. I wonder what Toshiba are going to do to try and address the balance. If nothing is done I am afraid the writing seems to be on the wall for HD DVD. Any Ideas...
 
but hold on

If BD software is selling well and better than HDDVD, why should retailers sacrifice space to something that isnt selling as well? If hddvd was the better selling i would fully expect it to be the other way round
 
but hold on

If BD software is selling well and better than HDDVD, why should retailers sacrifice space to something that isnt selling as well? If hddvd was the better selling i would fully expect it to be the other way round

I guess we would need to defiine what "selling well" really means relative to other products such as DVD, CD's, Games, accessories etc that could be sold using the floor space. :)

I'm amazed anyone purchases this type of stuff from HMV or Virgin stores given their crazy prices so I would think this is not a good barometer of general sales. :eek:

AVI
 
maybe not a good barameter, but given the price, if they sell 10 copies of a disk they will be making more money than selling 10 copies of a dvd for £7.99
 
Mental money.
I wouldn't buy in HMV , id rather wait even 3 weeks mail order than give them my dough.
 
maybe not a good barameter, but given the price, if they sell 10 copies of a disk they will be making more money than selling 10 copies of a dvd for £7.99

That's a big "if" and I imagine they sell many more than 10x dvd's compared to HD discs ;)

AVI
 
Have to admit in my local HMV the split is more even - 7 columns of which 3 are HD DVD.

TBH though we must expect more BluRay than HD DVD titles in stores such as HMV at present. The buyers of HD DVD have largely been canny home cinema fans, the buyers of BluRay have largely been PlayStation owners. Now standfast the Xbox 360 influence the majority of the first group are probably slightly more switched on/able to buy online whereas the latter may be more likely to frequent the store. Secondly the presence of regional coding makes it more likely that PlayStation owners will look for UK sources for discs. And thirdly the range and breadth of UK HD DVD isn't that appealing yet.

Ultimately though it's all somewhat moot. HD DVD has so many exclusives in Europe as to make it's long term presence here quite secure. But the fact it is entering the market from the tradition directions will mean it takes sometime before it is the norm.
 
I'm amazed anyone purchases this type of stuff from HMV or Virgin stores given their crazy prices so I would think this is not a good barometer of general sales. :eek:
AVI


Given how their profits keep tumbling, you're not alone.

I can see them having a greatly reduced presence on the High Street in several years time.
 
but hold on

If BD software is selling well and better than HDDVD, why should retailers sacrifice space to something that isnt selling as well? If hddvd was the better selling i would fully expect it to be the other way round

I would imagine this is self-perpetuating too. People believe that BluRay is selling better since the section is larger, hence they buy that too. Maybe.

Funnily enough, I went to two different Virgin's (the store, sadly :)) over two days. They have lots of HDDVD disks at £15 at the mo.
Anyway, I was chatting to the checkout guy in each, and the first said "HDDVD, nice one, better prices and I reckon it's gonna win in Europe".

The second guy said "Hmm, HDDVD? Bad choice mate, it's dead in the water".

Not sure I really appreciate Virgin staff belittling their customer's choice, but either way, you'd at least think they'd have a consistent policy across all stores. :rolleyes:
 
If I went into Game it doesn't bother me how much space is devoted to the Wii or the 360 etc. It's good that it's there.
 
...the last time I looked in my nearest HMV (Milton Keynes) there were equal rows of both (this was a couple of months ago though, so it may have changed recently) still silly prices though :)

Yup, HMV MK gives equal space to both formats but at silly prices. Woolworths has a stand of Blu-Rays at more reasonable prices. Not seen any HDDVD's in Woolies byt the Blu-Rays are right next to the PS3 games...
 
Not sure I really appreciate Virgin staff belittling their customer's choice, but either way, you'd at least think they'd have a consistent policy across all stores. :rolleyes:

Yea like "I don't give a S*** what you buy , as long as you pay"
Mostly kids working in these stores anyway , why anyone would ask for their opinion is beyond me , unless of course you are a technophobe.:hiya:
 
My HMV is the same. They charge 24.99-29.99 for bluray's though

I buy all my HDDVD's online though. Much, much cheaper and a far better range.

eg Hot fuzz and Shaun of the dead for £26 the pair instead of each in HMV (Shaun isn't out here until October). The frighteners for £12 from the US
 
This has been discussed a few times before in several places on this forum.

It doesn't have a huge amount to do with the players themselves so closing.
 
Ultimately Rasczak, it's not moot. There are over 200+ titles for each format in America, in the UK we have a couple of dozen. If you and others continue to buy imports, then HD-Dvd in this country continue to appear not to sell and will decline, be given less and less retail space or none at all. Consequently either the exclusives will have to at least go dual, or we just won't see them released here.

I refuse to buy either even though I have the capability to play both. Since Blockbusters (my only choice in town) refuse to currently stock HD-Dvd for either rental or purchase I am left with my meagre selection of Blu-ray rentals. Play.com have a poor selection of either format, however the international version now has a Blu-ray button to locate all the ones available, it doesn't do this currently for HDs. Its an ominious trend that regardless of how successful HD maybe outside of this country, it just won't be a choice here.
 
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