HD DVD sales apparently still going strong

Sure, sure, the format war is over, but we never expected HD DVD to just disappear overnight, and it looks like the combination of deeply-discounted hardware, cheap media, and a weak economy are keeping Red alive even as Toshiba pretends no one really wants true HD anyway. Players are going for as little as $60 with movies available for $10, and retailers like Buy.com say that "sales are still very strong." Of course, eventually all this stock has to run out, so we doubt this'll be a long-lasting phenomenon, but hey -- stranger things have happened.

[who? @ Sep 30th 2008 1:52PM]

We just got one the other day free with our purchase of $200 or more. :-0

[Flashpoint @ Sep 30th 2008 2:06PM]

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[Dave @ Sep 30th 2008 3:17PM]

The unit may have been free now but just wait. In order to use the HD-DVD player you're going to need to buy content on HD-DVD media. That media you buy will only be good for as long as you have an HD-DVD player (that works) or have the ability to rip (without losing quality) the content to another media that will be supported (ie HDD) down the road.

People need to start thinking about the future before they buy today. The digital content (ie movies, music, ebooks) we buy today we should never have to buy again because it won't degrade. But in order to use it "forever" we need to make sure it is on media that we can access forever. I roll my eyes every time I hear about another DRM situation where the retailer wants to shut down the DRM servers and screw everyone that has ever purchased from them. But the reality is that those buyers are almost asking to get screwed because they bought DRM content in the first place and didn't do their homework before they bought.

Plan ahead people!!!

[maty @ Sep 30th 2008 3:27PM]

I'm still buying the odd one - can get them for £3/$6 in places!

Of course, I'll need to rebuy when BR comes down in price and when stocks dillute for HD DVD, but I've got some good films in HD DVD for a few pennies. I'm happy.

[Colin Potter @ Sep 30th 2008 3:43PM]

they make great CD/DVD players too... not just for HD-DUD.... seriously I'd rather have a free HD-DUD player than spend $150 on the Toshiba XDE-500 to do the same damn upconversion

[KarlW @ Sep 30th 2008 7:18PM]

I really wanted Apollo 13 on Blu-Ray. I bought an XBOX HDDVD drive and Apollo 13 in HD for less than a standard BD movie.

As a side note: does anybody else feel embarrassed asking if a store has blu-ray movies? If somebody overhears and doesn't know what Blu-Ray is, it sounds like you're asking for porn.

[webon @ Sep 30th 2008 1:53PM]

time to buy me a 60 bucks piece o history

[Mack Swift @ Sep 30th 2008 1:54PM]

For $10 and $15 bucks a pop, I bought quite a few HD-DVD movies off Amazon (Bourne series, Shrek, etc, etc). I already had the player, so why not?

Blu-Ray movies and their players were and still are ridiculously expensive for the average Main Street consumer.

[Omnicron @ Sep 30th 2008 2:07PM]

"still are ridiculously expensive"

I consider myself the average main street consumer and I wouldn't consider $18 is not reiculously expensive.
I purchased a bunch of Blu movies lately ranging from $13-$18 all new releases.
As for the hardware you can get a Blu-ray player for as low as $179 now!

So all in all I think that Blu-ray is very affordable for the average consumer, sure not compared to $60 for a player but far from "Ridiculously Expensive"

[Mauricio @ Sep 30th 2008 2:34PM]

$179?
I think youre mistaken. The cheapest on cnet is $269 and thats if youre willing to buy from a shifty website for a very entry level BD Player.

got any links to this $179 BD Player?

[maveric101 @ Sep 30th 2008 2:40PM]

i might even consider buying a player now. it's not like the players and disks are going to magically disappear just because the technology lost out.

and btw, most blu ray movies i see are $30+...

[Mack Swift @ Sep 30th 2008 2:47PM]

A $179 Blu-Ray Player? What brand and where to buy it? Sorry dude, I just don't see it. The cheapest, reputable-looking Blu-Ray player is an Insignia from Best Buy for $230-$250. I don't even see used 'Buy It Now' Blu-Ray players on EBay for $179.

And I've never seen new Blu-Ray movies for less then $25. The $13-$18 range for Blu movies are usually for sale ones that have been out for awhile and it's usually a select few that are at that prices (to get you to buy a player).

[Brad @ Sep 30th 2008 2:48PM]

I'm the same way. I've really loved the companies dumping box sets especially on Amazon. I've got an HD-DVD and BluRay player, and I personally tend to buy the HD-DVDs from the "new & used" section on Amazon. So many people dumping perfectly good media. And lets be real, there's maybe one or two movies made lately that I actually want to buy, so I snag those on BluRay.

[phinn @ Sep 30th 2008 2:54PM]

That's not true at all, most Blu-rays on Amazon on like $17.99, I've gotten a lot of really good new releases on there. Not to mention they have some classics like T2 for $12. Also PS3 plays Blu-rays (as well as being my gaming console) so in essence the best player wasn't expensive either since I wanted a gaming console. Sure if you want a standalone you gotta drop like $300 still but that'll come down.

[Totalfixation @ Sep 30th 2008 2:58PM]

when you guys talk about prices, please use retail value. Not for what you can get it . Retail value is what you should use as a comparison not what you can get off the back of a truck or craigslist. Even around $200 it's still hard to compare it to HD-DVDs or DVD for that matter. I think DVDs still provide a decent quality image and many will agree that the extra cost for HD movies is not worth it.

[lanejasper69 @ Sep 30th 2008 4:32PM]

Definately!!! BD is still WAY too much, need to be like 10-15 bucks, maybe 20 for premiers but 40-50? F-that...I'll take a 9.99 hd over blu-ray at 29.00 anyday!!!

[wickedpheonix @ Sep 30th 2008 4:34PM]

Blu-Ray, HD/DVD combo player, $140 free shipping:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136154

[Chris @ Sep 30th 2008 5:04PM]

$17 are mostly for older Blu-ray movies. Most of the current Blu-ray titles are $25-$35. IF you can find a Blu-ray player for $179, I can guarantee it's not Profile 2.0 compatible, and has a limited amount of features/capabilities. I would NEVER recommend a Blu-ray player that could not be upgraded to Profile 2.0, as who knows what will change in the Blu-ray spec that has yet to be finalized.

[tekd @ Oct 1st 2008 4:31AM]

Actually if you don't mind playing it back on your PC, drives have been as cheap as $95 before (for the lite-on BD drive). Just wait for a sale.

But if you want a standalone player they've sold at sub-$200 prices before on sale, although you'll only be getting older players that don't support newer profiles at that price:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=41925&t=930702
(deal was $125 for the BDP-S300 if you bought 3 movies and a PS3 remote, which came out to about $200 for everything, and you could probably sell the stupid remote).

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 30th 2008 1:54PM]

God no. GO AWAY, HD-DVD!

[Sam Stone @ Sep 30th 2008 1:57PM]

Blu-Ray to HD-DVD

"Gimme the loot, Gimme the loot!"

R.I.P Biggie!

[Beast @ Sep 30th 2008 2:33PM]

Oh BD let me jack her, hit it with gat, kick in her in the back.

[Sam Stone @ Sep 30th 2008 2:39PM]

"Yo, chill HD, let me do that"

[The Dude @ Sep 30th 2008 3:42PM]

If anything, isn't HD-DVD like 2Pac? People just don't want to leave it dead or think it's still alive and releasing music?

[Sam Stone @ Sep 30th 2008 3:59PM]

Quite possibly...

But HD-DVD has NO alive theories...

[dave @ Sep 30th 2008 5:36PM]

Thank you for actually commenting something about the B.I.G. picture. :)

[Jake @ Sep 30th 2008 1:58PM]

Cool, I can buy Iron Man for $10. Can I also expect The Dark Knight on HD DVD this season??

[Erb @ Sep 30th 2008 2:01PM]

No.

[Ross @ Sep 30th 2008 2:48PM]

Hey, why buy the HD DVD of Iron Man when you can get it with a Dell computer ;)

[Starnerf @ Sep 30th 2008 1:58PM]

I got my 360 HD DVD player from overstockdealz.com for $30 (I think they're refurbished, but mine works fine). I use it on my computer.

[fischju @ Sep 30th 2008 1:59PM]

$12.95 seems to be the average price, and for exactly the same file that is on a blu-ray disk that is a pretty good deal (when you already have the drive)

[Steve @ Sep 30th 2008 2:00PM]

You would have to be an idiot to spend any form of money on a dead format.

[daddycool @ Sep 30th 2008 2:04PM]

Not if they are rippable. Or if you have a combo drive.

[CaramelZappa @ Sep 30th 2008 2:05PM]

Why? You can get tons of movies for cheap, and it's not like they're going to suddenly stop working because they stopped producing them. I have a Betamax player and the tapes still work, I can still watch movies on it. What's wrong with that?

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 30th 2008 2:55PM]

@CaramelZappa

You have a betamax player occupying space in your life?

You are an idiot.

[GenBanks @ Sep 30th 2008 3:22PM]

It's not occupying 'space in his life' it's occupying 'space in his house' which isn't really that big of a deal. It's not like he's got to make an effort to spend quality time with his betamax player.

[Mauricio @ Sep 30th 2008 5:23PM]

@Serial 8-Ball Mouse

by your reasoning i should ditch my Dreamcast and SNES too, right?

[Benson @ Sep 30th 2008 6:35PM]

No, not an idiot, just someone who likes blue laser pointers. That's why they keep selling HD-DVD players. Oh, and the discs? Making happiness in microwave ovens all across the nation.

You'd have to be an idiot to think people are buying HD-DVD for its intended purpose.

[John Bailey @ Sep 30th 2008 8:34PM]

HD DVD disks may be dead, but HD DVD players are still upscaling DVD players that happen to play HD DVD disks too.

Simple problem.. I want a HD player. I have mostly DVD disks, and will be buying/renting mostly DVD for the next year or two at least. Perhaps longer.

Do I buy an expensive and as yet undefined player which is still figuring out what the specifications of the format are? A BD1.whatever player is not a BD2 player. And there is no guarantee without careful searching that I will get one that can and more importantly, will be updated.
Will the manufacturers bring out BD version 3 next year or the year after, thus making a whole slew of expensive players obsolete? Will the specifications be rigid enough to stop studios releasing badly mastered and incompatible disks to the general public so it is a gamble if the movie plays properly in my very expensive player, and will my player work with my next TV set? There have already been hiccups with HDCP compatibility in some cases, so I could end up with an expensive player and a stack of over priced disks that don't like my new expensive TV set.

Or

Do I buy a cheap as dirt obsolete HD player that upscales my entire current DVD collection and has some cut price HD-DVD movies I can get for a fraction of their retail price and wait until the market really settles? Worst case scenario, I have bought a small number of disks in an obsolete format that will need to be repurchased at a later date when the player dies, or ripped and copied to another format at a future date. But I still have a good cheap upscaling player. the player only has to last a few years, so it isn't as if I am building a whole home theatre system around a component that is any more than a drop in replacement when the time comes to upgrade.

Not a solution for videophiles, but for the average person in the street. And who knows, this might be the ultimate slap in the face for the Blu Ray standard. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. How funny would it be if HD-DVD actually showed significant enough numbers to make a comeback..

[lanejasper69 @ Sep 30th 2008 9:40PM]

Ummm....according to this article, it's NOT dead (well kinda), but there are MANY titles available all over the place and most people can't tell the difference between BD and HD especially for the price. I'll take 10.00 HD DVD's over 30.00 BD all day long!!! Especially in this jacked up economy right now. And kids certainly wouldn't know the difference between Shreck on HD VS BD for instance.

Blu-Ray needs to come way down in price to be the big boy on the block inho, 30.00 for a movie is way too much when you can buy 3 HD's that look damn near the same to most eyes for 9.99ea. I'm just saying, for those on a budget, HD will more than suffice for their home theater. Mine looks awesome at 109" lcd projected, trust me!

[lanejasper69 @ Sep 30th 2008 9:41PM]

OR one could say you'd be an idiot not to take advantage of the "about a third" less in price great quality HD movies, instead of paying 30.00 or so a pop and a MUCH more expensive player to boot, in this economy. I think I'll save a bit of money and not be an idiot, especially since there is no definitive proof that HD is completely dead (It probably is, but there are some killer deals out there and most people buy classics anyway, ot the latest release as they just saw it in theatres probably. Seems to be a lot of people here who actually enjoy their HD DVD's, and most people won't see the difference anyway unless they are total videophiles and if they do, more power to them, but I'd rather save a few bucks personally perhaps for another gadget or a nice lcd projector or something down the road to accompany a home theater or nice surround sound amp etc. rather than waste money on BD that aren't THAT much noticeable in quality versus HD dvd anyway.

[ZachiusMaximus @ Sep 30th 2008 2:06PM]

HAHA great image!

[Eli Gundry @ Sep 30th 2008 5:04PM]

I looked at this article during class, saw the picture, and the guy next to me and I pretty much died laughing.

[fistpittingnork @ Sep 30th 2008 2:07PM]

What's beef?

[timatl @ Sep 30th 2008 2:12PM]

you are nobody until somebody kills you.

[tiuk @ Sep 30th 2008 2:12PM]

Muscle meat cut from cows. My turn; what does this have to do with HD DVD?

[fistpittingnork @ Sep 30th 2008 2:32PM]

Oh, right, this is no time for comedial skylarkings and such.

As you were, serious interneters.

[Colin Potter @ Sep 30th 2008 3:53PM]

My calico's been cocked, this rap Alfred Hitchcock

[Sam Stone @ Sep 30th 2008 4:02PM]

"HD's getting smoked G', believe me"

[oliver hart @ Sep 30th 2008 2:10PM]

i happen to find that picture offensive