Blockbuster to Carry Only Blu-Ray in Stores.

[Bebop]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_513097.html

[tywest]

Sweet!
I was wondering if they were ever going to start with either one of the formats. Thankfully I have a Blu-Ray player.

[smack]

Pound, Pound, Pound.........The sound of another nail.

[LowSignal]

They didn't carry Xbox 360 games at first either because they didn't think the 360 was going to be successful.

[smack]

I think an important part of their reasoning is where they state they have seen consumers choosing the Blu-Ray over HD-DVD by a pretty wide margin (not in the linked article here, but over at AVS).

Additionally, there are just more studios and titles on Blu-Ray.

The war is not over yet, but Blu-Ray certainly seems to be winning some key battles.

[SRW1000]

I think an important part of their reasoning is where they state they have seen consumers choosing the Blu-Ray over HD-DVD by a pretty wide margin (not in the linked article here, but over at AVS).

Additionally, there are just more studios and titles on Blu-Ray.

The war is not over yet, but Blu-ray certainly seems to be winning some key battles.

I think it's way too early to call this one.  Title for title, the two formats are just about even, while Blu-ray does have more studio support and a sales advantage.

The big plus for HD DVD is player prices at about half the cost of the Blu-ray counterpart.  This cost difference is expected to continue into the all-important Christmas shopping season.

To date, neither format has sold anything close to what's required to be a success.  There will have to be a lot more average consumers getting involved for the war to be over.  The question will be if they're pulled in through additional PS3 sales, or sub-$200 HD DVD players.

Scott

[LowSignal]

Kinda stupid (but knowing how most people in charge are) Did they include PS3 games as bluray rentals? That would really make the numbers look good, I bet more people rent PS3 games then bluray movies and HDDVD movies combined.

[Bebop]

You can still get HD DVDs from their on-line store.

Maybe they just don't want to over burden their store clerks with remembering the difference between HD DVD and Blu-ray?

[brewtownska]

LowSignal,

I find myself doing the exact opposite...renting more Blu-ray movied than PS3 games.  I have the Blockbuster online service, and they rent Blu-ray and HD-DVD online.  So I can get Blu-ray movied delivered for the same monthly fee and speed of service as regular DVD.  The Blockbuster store I go to rents their PS3 games at like $6.99 or $7.99, which seems very high to me.  I know that keeps me from renting more.  Luckily I get 2 free game rentals a month via Blockbuster online (I've been with the service for almost 2 years...I think people that sign up now only get 1 game rental a month).  So to me, my $18/month cost keeps me very happy with HD content.
I have read a lot of stuff on the AVS forums where early adopters bought a PS3 just as a movie player with no intentions of playing games.  To me, at this point there are not any PS3 games I'd want to own, so I will be just renting games until I find something worth my money.  But I'll probably go through 4-5 times as many Blu-ray movie rentals as I will game rentals.

Mike