Pro Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[Digitone]

Originally Posted by TOX

hahah
Yes I do have the 360 Addon got it yesterday

Hey Tox what did the HD-DVD addon drive set you back? been thinking about getting one but can't find any retailers in my area that keep them in stock.

[TOX]

Originally Posted by Digitone

Hey Tox what did the HD-DVD addon drive set you back? been thinking about getting one but can't find any retailers in my area that keep them in stock.

$175 with freight of an OCAU peep

The thing was immaculte thought - you would have thought it was new

[spazza]

Originally Posted by sml_nail

JB Hi-Fi Backflips, Blu-ray no longer exclusive

Awesome. I might finally be able to find a decent range of titles.

Originally Posted by TOX

Yeah ns :P

Plus it's not really a big deal - Sony are still considered the premium TV to buy for 1080P LCD users and Blu-ray will be pushed onto these consumers.

JB has also been selling HD-DVD for a while know on there website and other retailers like Big-W are also selling HD-DVD in store and not getting anywhere.

HD-DVD has to fight back with only a 10% market share at the moment. It's going to be a long and hard fight for them

If you can point me to a Big W, Target or Kmart that has HD DVDs on the shelf I'll buy them. The only place I've seen them in stock is EzyDVD, Sanity and HMV. And those stores have a small range. The reason they're not selling as well as Blu-ray is cos no one has any decent ones in stock. If retailers started stocking some of the excellent titles that have been released then HD DVD sales might go up. Hopefully JB will start a trend. Credit where it's due, Blu-ray has just been marketed better in stores in Australia. Hopefully when more affordable stand alone players are on the market here stores will start stocking more movies. I don't think Australia is any indication of how the format war is going since sales here would rely really heavily on the PS3 and 360 add-on.
The 360 add on needs much better marketing in Australia. Have you ever seen an ad on telly for it? Doubt it. All they've got to do is put an ad on during heroes or something.

[TOX]

Originally Posted by spazza

The 360 add on needs much better marketing in Australia. Have you ever seen an ad on telly for it? Doubt it. All they've got to do is put an ad on during heroes or something.

But in all fairness why should MS market it when you can't walk into a store and pick up HD-DVDs easily.

Toshiba may apply pressure to MS though now saying "Hey, we got JB doing HD-DVD how about you push your addon?"

The other thing is JB also said that they are only interested in the 1080P unit's which aren't cheap. So throw this against the PS3 40GB HD-DVD doesn't look all that attractive.

[mrjimmyc]

Originally Posted by spazza

The reason they're not selling as well as Blu-ray is cos no one has any decent ones in stock. If retailers started stocking some of the excellent titles that have been released then HD DVD sales might go up.

HDDVD's big downfall in this situation is its lack of region coding. Prices wont come down because people dont buy australian stock and there is little to no perceived market. People dont buy australian stock because the price is too high. Its a chicken and the egg thing. Also HDDVD is primarily still an enthusiast market.

Until Joe Public starts buying into HDDVD (none the wiser to cheaper international prices) then HDDVD sales figures on our shores are always going to lag way behind bluray. Joe Public has already bought into bluray via the PS3 and doesnt really know enough to figure out about the value of importing or is too scared to because of the perceived threat of region coding.

Ive got 12 HDDVD's now and imported them all simply because it works out to between roughly 50-70% of the price of buying locally. I know a lot of HDDVD owners and apart from the two-4-fifty sales none of them have bought local stock.

[spazza]

This is exactly what I don't get. Our dollar is worth 90 US cents. So where are our fricken savings on US produced stock? Why doesn't the price of anything ever come down? What's the point of a strong economy when retailers don't pass on the savings to the consumers? Of course people are going to buy overseas. Retailers are shooting themselves in the foot. They keep the price high so we import from Amazon. Also why are we still paying 109.95 for Xbox games that are produced in the US when they pay 59.99USD for new games? That's 67 bucks Aust! Our economy is stronger so we get ripped off for it. It's fucked! Having such a strong dollar is supposed to be great for us, but prices never change.

[Ignignort]

sucks to be regioned...


*runs*

[stevo4]

Originally Posted by spazza

It's fucked! Having such a strong dollar is supposed to be great for us, but prices never change.

Thats because the tard retailers use the situation to up their profits with the idea that the general public is oblivious to the fact the Aus$ is so high against the US $ and will be happy to pay a price that they have set, regardless of whether its higher than it should be. They will get away with it until the current generation becomes the main consumers, at which point if they dont smartten up they will be wondering why they have no customers.

It doesnt help when J6P continues to pay the prices they have set.


No surprise with JB doing a backflip. Unless they were paid for exclusivity.
BD has not reached the sales volumes, the bd camp had promised to justify being that way. That doesnt mean that I think HD DVD is any better position.

This way, at least the consumer is the one that will choose the format they want, not have one pushed on them.

Must have been all those times I walked in, and asked where the HD DVD's were kept. Or the thought of turning all those customers away when they come in asking for Transformers on Hi def.

[The Brad]

Originally Posted by mrjimmyc

HDDVD's big downfall in this situation is its lack of region coding. Prices wont come down because people dont buy australian stock and there is little to no perceived market. People dont buy australian stock because the price is too high. Its a chicken and the egg thing. Also HDDVD is primarily still an enthusiast market.

This is a very perceptive post, MrJC. Very much an unintended consequence, but in this small, well-wired world one that is very relevant.

[stevo4]

Originally Posted by mrjimmyc

HDDVD's big downfall in this situation is its lack of region coding. Prices wont come down because people dont buy australian stock and there is little to no perceived market. People dont buy australian stock because the price is too high. Its a chicken and the egg thing. Also HDDVD is primarily still an enthusiast market.

Until Joe Public starts buying into HDDVD (none the wiser to cheaper international prices) then HDDVD sales figures on our shores are always going to lag way behind bluray. Joe Public has already bought into bluray via the PS3 and doesnt really know enough to figure out about the value of importing or is too scared to because of the perceived threat of region coding.

Ive got 12 HDDVD's now and imported them all simply because it works out to between roughly 50-70% of the price of buying locally. I know a lot of HDDVD owners and apart from the two-4-fifty sales none of them have bought local stock.

Region coding would not stop ppl from buying from overseas.

Why do you think that consumer has an obligation to buoy up business's like the JB's and Hardly Normal's that post big profits annually?

There is a market here and its up to buisiness's to change their ways if they want to sell product like this. As has been pointed out the Australian dollar is high against the US dollar and we dont see prices here dropping accordingly.
And no, I dont expect them to be the same as US prices, but when the differences are more than 50% they can not expect ppl not to shop around. Especially when it is becoming more of a global market.

Not just think that they can rely on J6P to pay whatever price they set forever in a day. That isnt going to last, and why should it.

[mrjimmyc]

Originally Posted by stevo4

Region coding would not stop ppl from buying from overseas.

Not all but a lot. If discs couldnt be played on locally sourced hardware then a lot of people wouldnt import as its a lot more cost prohibitive to import a player as well as discs. I know a few people with aussie bluray players that import a lot of movies but have to bite the bullet on a few of the region coded ones and buy them locally, at the inflated prices.

Why do you think that consumer has an obligation to buoy up business's like the JB's and Hardly Normal's that post big profits annually?

Not sure where i said this? I said until Joe Public starts buying into HDDVD then HDDVD will lag behind sales on these shores. They arent going to buy into HDDVD though at current prices and the enthusiast market isnt buying locally, they are purchasing from OS thanks to the lovely aussie dollar atm at great savings so on-shore sales for HDDVD are almost non existant except from the various two-4-fifty sales that have popped up lately.

This lack of sales means retailers arent going to buy in quantities where they can pass on volume discounts to drop prices on shelves. As i said earlier its a chicken and egg situation. Unless the bottom falls out of the aussie dollar then this isnt going to change.

As you said, there is a market for HDDVD disc sales here and business really need to think about what they can do to cash in on it because with stores charging up to $45 for a HDDVD (and bluray too) that you can get from the US for ~$23 they arent going to be increasing their sales figures any time soon. $45 is really going to scare off JP from buying into a format that could be perceived to not be here in the near future. Same goes for bluray.

[stevo4]

Originally Posted by mrjimmyc

Not all but a lot. If discs couldnt be played on locally sourced hardware then a lot of people wouldnt import as its a lot more cost prohibitive to import a player as well as discs. I know a few people with aussie bluray players that import a lot of movies but have to bite the bullet on a few of the region coded ones and buy them locally, at the inflated prices.

Region coding is a waist of time, as it can not be enforced. AFAIK it breaches the Free Trade Practices Act between Australia and a number of countries that Australia deals with. The volume of sales for HD discs or DVD for that matter dont amount to enough to see that change.

Originally Posted by mrjimmyc

Not sure where i said this? I said until Joe Public starts buying into HDDVD then HDDVD will lag behind sales on these shores. They arent going to buy into HDDVD though at current prices and the enthusiast market isnt buying locally, they are purchasing from OS thanks to the lovely aussie dollar atm at great savings so on-shore sales for HDDVD are almost non existant except from the various two-4-fifty sales that have popped up lately.

You didnt say it. Its infered by what you are saying.
I agree that ppl should support the shops that sell HD DVD's here so we get a good supply at local retail stores. I buy some of my discs at EzyDVD as they have quite a few and they have equal space for both formats now.

Seems like its all smiles in the BD camp atm over this -
http://www.smarthousenews.com.au/Bus...X4A7H5#Scene_1

[mrjimmyc]

Originally Posted by stevo4

Region coding is a waist of time, as it can not be enforced. AFAIK it breaches the Free Trade Practices Act between Australia and a number of countries that Australia deals with. The volume of sales for HD discs or DVD for that matter dont amount to enough to see that change.

Funny then that there are so many bluray discs that are region coded. I think you are confusing this issue with the court case several years ago about mod chips and region coding for consoles. most people do.

You didnt say it. Its infered by what you are saying.

Well actually thats how you interpreted what I was saying despite it being far from what I meant.

[stevo4]

Originally Posted by mrjimmyc

Funny then that there are so many bluray discs that are region coded. I think you are confusing this issue with the court case several years ago about mod chips and region coding for consoles. most people do.

No, nothing to do with any console issue.

And what makes you think that just because Bluray is region coded that, that means any more than it did for DVD's?

They cannot legally stop someone buying a player or discs from os and using it here.

Rumors of this have been floating around about this for a while.
Seems its finally happened -

http://kotaku.com/gaming/business/so...iba-312257.php

[mrjimmyc]

Originally Posted by stevo4

And what makes you think that just because Bluray is region coded that, that means any more than it did for DVD's?

There are no region free bluray players... yet..

They cannot legally stop someone buying a player or discs from os and using it here.

It doesnt need to be legally enforced. It just needs to make it cost prohibitive enough to discourage the average user, which it does.