"We've listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases," Gary Severson, head of home entertainment for Wal-Mart's U.S. stores, said in a statement.
Thanks for buying all those HD DVD players on Black Friday, though.
]]>@Buran:
Firmware updates will not get a player recertified. You can't firmware-update in more flash or a HDD for data storage... you can't firmware-update in an ethernet jack, either.
Firmware updates also won't help the numerous players that do not have the processing power to handle newer versions of the scripting engine.
]]>Oh I know. Read. DO things.
And yeah, homerjay, anyone who has to be "that guy" who has to go out and get the new doodad on day one, and pays the day one premium, is kinda a loser. That kind of priority is a loser priority. If you buy something on day 1 and the price goes down on day 10, tough nuggets. Apple shoulda never accomodated them with gift cards. It was way above and beyond on apple's part.
]]>Of course, the losers here aren't the people who bought HD-DVD players - they'll continue to get some more HDDVD releases, and at worst they have an upconverting DVD player. The losers are still the people who bought Blu-Ray players - they'll continue to get Blu-Ray releases, except that some of them won't actually work, and if their player has an exploit of some sort (the ability to disable region-locking, for example) they suddenly won't be able to play *ANY* new Blu-Ray releases until they buy yet-another-ridculously-expensive player.
]]>@DeadlySinz: Paperweight? They'll still work. In fact, unlike Beta, the media will never wear out.
In case you're wondering, yes, I invested in HD DVD. I wouldn't consider $99 a huge waste of money, however. I've spent more on dinner at a fancy restaurant.
]]>OK, so Wal-Mart decided to discontinue a category. So what? Should they still be carrying vinyl records for all the people who once bought record players there? Stocking all new releases in VHS for all of those people who once lined up to get $29.99 VCRs?
]]>@Overbysara
Yes, a Blu-Ray player will play and upconvert DVD as well.
]]>My solution :
Buy one at a knockdown price. Keep it in the box with all papers until yours dies. Open . Enjoy.
(If you're a cheap bastard like me , you can go trolling thrift stores and pick up the things dirt (and I mean dirt) cheap whe n the movies start disappearing...
]]>Blu-Ray FTW.
]]>That's a bad thing?
]]>Smarter Strategy for the HD-DVD owners: quit when it started to look like you were losing. Offer to quit the market and sell your tech to the other guys for a share of the profits on HD-DVD. Or, even better, find a third standard, that worked with both. Then, profits take off.
At any rate, now that we have a standard, Blue Ray FTW as the kids say, or maybe BluRay pwns HDDVD, the market is made.
Don't cry for early adopters. They knew what they were getting into. And when the competing standards for holographic TV come out, they will line up, pay exorbitant values, and some portion of them will get the standard war loser bone. Grudgingly, they will adopt, or they will write cranky blog posts claiming that Format_Loser was better than Format_Winner, and finding hacks to keep it going. Like Laser Disc owners.
]]>We'll get a PS3, but in the meantime I'll be picking up HD movies on the cheap. I don't feel screwed at all.
]]>Ok, I have a player for each format. I prefer HD-DVD but thats moot now anyways. So do I now buy HD-DVD's at rock bottom prices and hope my HD-DVD player never dies or that maybe Dual Format players will still come out?
or...
Do I just not buy another hd-dvd again, miss out on great deals but not worry because I'll only lose 20 movies if my player dies?
Oh woe is me and my love of the cutting edge.
]]>If you made the purchase in full with an American Express card, you should be able to get up to $300 back. Click the following link for more info.
]]>I am so glad I made that decision.
]]>Yeah, this just serves to cheapen legitimate criticism of WalMart. It's no biggie that they picked sides in the format wars, just like everyone else. Sure, they're huge and will direct massive amounts of business towards Blu-Ray, but I can't really blame them because people decided to be early HDVD adopters.
]]>ahh my PS3 is looking better and better
]]>I love my PS3. Victory!!!!!
]]>I'm thinking I can get an HD-DVD player cheap along with a bunch of cheap discs at closeout deals. I suspect it'll likely be not supported long-term but if the savings on the discs are large enough, after a few discs I'll have paid for the player. Also, in the meantime Blu-Ray players should drop in price.
We'll see.
They even got both articles on the front page at the same time. Did you guys hire Zonk as a new editor or something?
]]>No matter how bid it ever is, Wal-Mart deserves it.
]]>Why pick on Wal-Mart? The whole industry is going this way, they're just following the trend like everyone else.
]]>Ironic video...
Blu-Ray FTW