Shocked by woolworths(hddvd)

admin_exported

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Hi,don`t know if anyone else has heard this yet,but I was reading my local paper earlier(west midlands)and apparently Woolworths are going to stop selling hddvd`s in their stores(you can still buy them online though),due to blu-ray discs out selling them 10 to 1 over the christmas period.I wonder if any other stores will follow suit.I went into my local Asda earlier and found around 12 blu-ray titles compared to 3 on hddvd.This is bad news for hddvd player owners such as myself.Just thought you might like to know.
 

nads

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already mentioned and a bit short sited as they are looking at a very small timeframe. HD DVD sales tripled the next week. also are they really that big a HD seller. Oh and this has already been raised ;)
 

Andy Clough

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Sounds like another nail in the coffin for HD DVD to me, although Amazon put out a statement today saying they'll continue to offer a full selection of titles on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.
 
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Anonymous

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Who really buys their disks in a shop these days??? Or any form of electronic, for that matter? 90% of members in this forum will have bought their players online and will probably do the same for disks. General punters are getting far more savvy than we give them credit for. Key question would be how many HD disks in total have Woolworth sold? How much are they selling anyway of anything? Recent reports suggest that Woolworth' valuation is close to that of the value of their high-street properties, which makes them an easy takeover target. My other key quesation is: How many players and disks are sold by amazon, play.com and other online retailers.

At £120/£190 Toshiba players will continue to sell whether Woolworth agree or not. I am not a fanboy of any kind. The £190 I spent on my EP35 recently do not represent a huge investment in gear in comparison to my other investments in HiFi toys. And yes, I think a single disk format would be much better. However, given price vs quality I think the Toshiba players are ahead of BluRay. Also given, recent events in the HD content market who is to say that allegiances might not change again - driven by uptake of cheap hardware. Warner does what is best for their shareholders and not what's best for Sony or consumers!

The only problem with Toshiba and HD-DVD is the cost of and profit margins in hardware. No wonder stores stop stocking HD-DVD players when there is so little money in them and most punters buy them online. Specialist Hifi shops prefer BluRay - simply because there is more profit margin in it for them. One specialst retailer even tried to convince me that the upscaled image of the Arcam Solo was better than that of an HD-DVD played on an XE1! Same with manufacturers. At the current price levels it would be extremely difficult and unprofitable for any new-entrant to build and sell HD-DVD hardware.

Dixon did a survey of their customers recently about which platform they felt was preferable and the outcome was something like 53/47 in favour of BluRay - a much closer outcome than many of the BD supporters would want us to believe.

Statistics in the wrong hands is a dangerous tool!

Gorge
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="nads"]
also are they really that big a HD seller.
[/quote]

Perhaps not HD, but they are a massive seller of DVD and music. This move is significant and will send a strong signal to high street stores and customers.
 

Clare Newsome

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[quote user="Gorge"]
Specialist Hifi shops prefer BluRay - simply because there is more profit margin in it for them.
[/quote]

They're also dealing with brands - Pioneer and Sony - where they can sell matching AV receivers.

[quote user="Gorge"]

At the current price levels it would be extremely difficult and unprofitable for any new-entrant to build and sell HD-DVD hardware.[/quote]

Onkyo has sold every one of the HD DVD players it's brought into the UK (and these were all sold in specialist shops - again, I predict many along with matching receivers). Having said that, it's not planning to bring in any more....
 
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Anonymous

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I think this is a good move along with BB, CC etc in the USA.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="Clare Newsome"]Onkyo has sold every one of the HD DVD players it's brought into the UK (and these were all sold in specialist shops - again, I predict many along with matching receivers). Having said that, it's not planning to bring in any more....
[/quote]

Yes, but those were essentially Toshiba players with a different chassis. I doubt Onkyo developed those themselves.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="Eddiewood"][quote user="nads"]

also are they really that big a HD seller.
[/quote]

Perhaps not HD, but they are a massive seller of DVD and music. This move is significant and will send a strong signal to high street stores and customers.

[/quote]

Exactly HD DVD looks if anything to be a victim of the hype. Woolies not selling isn't actually a big story whatsoever; I haven't been to a Woolies for about 15 years for ANYTHING. However, for some reason papers and Radio 1 have picked this up and are actually turning it into something. I bought a Toshiba player at the start of this week after searching through advice on this forum. And whatever has happened before and since I still know this wasn't a bad investment.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="dirtyleeds"][quote user="Eddiewood"][quote user="nads"]

also are they really that big a HD seller.
[/quote]

Perhaps not HD, but they are a massive seller of DVD and music. This move is significant and will send a strong signal to high street stores and customers.

[/quote]

Exactly HD DVD looks if anything to be a victim of the hype. Woolies not selling isn't actually a big story whatsoever; I haven't been to a Woolies for about 15 years for ANYTHING. However, for some reason papers and Radio 1 have picked this up and are actually turning it into something. I bought a Toshiba player at the start of this week after searching through advice on this forum. And whatever has happened before and since I still know this wasn't a bad investment.
[/quote]

Who?

Some people have mentioned something or someone called HMV as well, whatever that is???
 

Clare Newsome

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Woolworths is the only place here in Teddington - affluent London suburb that it is - to buy HD discs. In fact I bought Blade Runner there just before Christmas, as i'd left it too late to order via Amazon - they were doing brisk business in Blu-ray discs on that day, plus had a range of HD DVD titles, too.

In terms of impulse and browsing-based buys, the high street is still key.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="stefanr"]Who? Some people have mentioned something or someone called HMV as well, whatever that is???[/quote]

you need to get out more
 

professorhat

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And please try not to forget the millions of people in the UK who either (a) don't have an internet connection; (b) do have one but have only just mastered email, let alone online purchasing or (c) won't give out their credit card details online as are too scared of having them nicked. All of these people go off to the high street to buy everything they want (and yes, probably quite a few of them shop in Woolies).

It's easy to forget these people when you've been shopping online for donkey's years, but I'd say even around 50-70% of my friends still do all their shopping on the high street, and they're in the 25-35 age bracket, so hardly technophobes!
 
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Anonymous

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Hi Professor, at this stage in the formats development I doubt that many without access to the internet or other AV magazines will know or care much about HD. We are not at the stage yet where ordinary punters like for examples my parents go out to specifically spend twice the amount on a (HD) DVD player and then again twice for (HD)DVDs. Where free players are given away with TVs that is a different matter. Those often come with free films also. I would still want to know how many films are sold in shops compared to the net.

I was in Borders in Glasgow today and they had a reasonable selection of both types of HD disks (approx 25) Generally £7-10 dearer than on the net. My folk are in their 60s and even they use the Internet for some shopping. I have friends in their 90s who do their grocery shopping on the net! Hence I would surmise that folk are far more likely to shop on the net than know about or have bought HD technology! But I am happy to be proven wrong! Show me the evidence. As I said many times before, I would have preferred a single format! I would have bought many more disks by now. But I certainly would have had to spend many times the amount for an early player than I did for my EP35. gorge.
 

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