4 ms·

Does anyone know what's going to happen to people who try to return their HD DVD players?

cstejerean 19y ago
I don't think they're going to do a recall on the existing players. They're already loosing a ton of money without having to give back bash to the early adopters. It's part of the cost of being an early adopter though. I wouldn't have bought either a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player until it was clear who the winner was. But I was wiling to buy a PS3 since even if Blu-ray ended up loosing I would at least have a game console. I think a lot of folks that would have not bought either early ended up getting Bluray as a side effect of buying the PS3 (and this inevitably tipped the scales since sales and rentals of Bluray content were outperforming HD-DVD). I'm wondering why anyone decided to go against Sony on this when the PS2 was essentially responsible for the wide adoption of DVDs.
- aston 19y ago
  Well, PS3 was not responsible for the wide adoption of Blu-Ray. The studios were. If the PS3 had been an all out slam dunk like the PS2, Toshiba wouldn't have given up, they would've lost. As it stands, the PS3 isn't really even outselling the PS2 by that much.
  - cstejerean 19y ago
    I'm not sure. There aren't that many Bluray drives out there. So of the few that exist I'm pretty sure a good percentage are PS3's. Even if Bluray had a slight edge of HD-DVD because of PS3's (it's obviously not a huge edge) this would lead to more rentals (and Blockbuster dropped support for HD-DVD from stores after running a pilot and finding out Bluray was renting 3 to 1). Since Blockbuster isn't renting HD-DVD and Walmart stopped selling them, studios are being forced to release on Bluray which means people have access to more titles, which in turn makes Bluray players more valuable. This snowball effect is slowly (for now) killing the HD-DVD industry.
- dkokelley 19y ago
  I was thinking more along the lines of Sony giving a $50 discount to people who exchanged HD DVD players for Blu-ray players, just to solidify their victory. Do you guys think Sony will even consider this route?
cstejerean 19y ago
sorry, I accidentally downmoded you (why do those arrows have to be so small and so close together?).
- boredguy8 19y ago
  Upmodded in compensation.
nickb 19y ago
There's going to be a class-action lawsuit and after many years of litigation, owners of HD DVD players will get $50 coupon for something (but only if you submit a lengthy claim form and attach original receipt). And lawyers will pocket tens of millions of dollars in fees. Welcome to "capitalism."

I don't think they're going to do a recall on the existing players. They're already loosing a ton of money without having to give back bash to the early adopters. It's part of the cost of being an early adopter though. I wouldn't have bought either a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player until it was clear who the winner was. But I was wiling to buy a PS3 since even if Blu-ray ended up loosing I would at least have a game console. I think a lot of folks that would have not bought either early ended up getting Bluray as a side effect of buying the PS3 (and this inevitably tipped the scales since sales and rentals of Bluray content were outperforming HD-DVD). I'm wondering why anyone decided to go against Sony on this when the PS2 was essentially responsible for the wide adoption of DVDs.

aston 19y ago
Well, PS3 was not responsible for the wide adoption of Blu-Ray. The studios were. If the PS3 had been an all out slam dunk like the PS2, Toshiba wouldn't have given up, they would've lost. As it stands, the PS3 isn't really even outselling the PS2 by that much.
- cstejerean 19y ago
  I'm not sure. There aren't that many Bluray drives out there. So of the few that exist I'm pretty sure a good percentage are PS3's. Even if Bluray had a slight edge of HD-DVD because of PS3's (it's obviously not a huge edge) this would lead to more rentals (and Blockbuster dropped support for HD-DVD from stores after running a pilot and finding out Bluray was renting 3 to 1). Since Blockbuster isn't renting HD-DVD and Walmart stopped selling them, studios are being forced to release on Bluray which means people have access to more titles, which in turn makes Bluray players more valuable. This snowball effect is slowly (for now) killing the HD-DVD industry.
dkokelley 19y ago
I was thinking more along the lines of Sony giving a $50 discount to people who exchanged HD DVD players for Blu-ray players, just to solidify their victory. Do you guys think Sony will even consider this route?

cstejerean 19y ago

sorry, I accidentally downmoded you (why do those arrows have to be so small and so close together?).

boredguy8 19y ago
Upmodded in compensation.

nickb 19y ago

There's going to be a class-action lawsuit and after many years of litigation, owners of HD DVD players will get $50 coupon for something (but only if you submit a lengthy claim form and attach original receipt). And lawyers will pocket tens of millions of dollars in fees. Welcome to "capitalism."