Catching Up on the March HD DVD News
by Pravin on March 27th, 2008 in news.
UPDATE: It was hinted at in this article, and became official the next day: The HD DVD Promotional Group has shut down down on March 28.
Quite predictably, most of the big news in the world of HD DVD has slowed down in the last few weeks and there hasn’t been a lot to report or comment on for the site. There haven’t been any new sales or promotions on HD DVD movies at Amazon and DeepDiscount, but most of their lowered pricing from February has continued through to March, and a few retail stores such as Hollywood Video, FYE, and Virgin Megastores have been moving their inventory out at some hefty discounts.
One result of these lowered prices, which are close to “fire sale” amounts in a few cases, is that there has been a surge in HD DVD sales numbers as people make sure they are well-stocked for the months ahead. With Blu-ray player prices not seriously expected to get to $199 or lower until some time in 2009, it still makes some financial sense to feed the HD DVD player you may already own so that you have at least some pure HD content for your HDTV until you eventually move on to your next HD source.
Will your next HD source be a Blu-ray player? Some people already have one, others are planning on getting one in the future, and there are many who think they’ll be happy with digital downloads, or turn to their satellite/cable provider for HD and HD on-demand. There are some people who have decided they’ll never go Blu-ray. We may understand that sentiment when it comes from the most hardcore of the HD DVD fans, and I can also see how getting involved with all the shenanigans of the format war every week has been a drain.
One person who is not going Blu-ray (at least in a business sense) is Ken Graffeo who plays double duty as the co-president of the North American HD DVD Promotional Group and Executive Vice President of High-Def Strategic Marketing for Universal. Those positions might soon be mentioned in the past-tense, since Graffeo’s obviously going to be out of the HD DVD position after the recent dissolution of that group, and in an interview with Video Business he’s said to be figuring out his options at Universal as well. Ken Graffeo played a big role in Universal’s HD DVD support, and I know he had to handle a lot of mean spirited comments over that studio’s HD DVD exclusivity. It’s not impossible for a person like him to continue on and take a role with the studio’s Blu-ray strategies, but I honestly wouldn’t blame Graffeo for taking a break. I’m sure he’s going to have some interesting behind-the-scenes stories to tell about HD DVD, especially from his unique vantage point.
In other news, I’m sure you already know that Toshiba had planned for HD DVD supplies at stores to expire at the end of this month. That means you can probably expect HD DVD players to be rare or non-existent at Circuit City, Best Buy and anywhere else as we say hello to April. In fact, Best Buy stores have already started pulling HD DVD movies off their shelves and returning them to the distributors. It’s likely that other retailers will either make the same returns or look into fire sale pricing to get rid of whatever inventory they already have.
We are likely to see movies continue to be available through online merchants like Amazon, DeepDiscount, Tower, etc. since they are less affected by warehouse and shelf space issues. The other thing we’ll be on the lookout for are liquidators moving in to get rid of excess inventory. Let’s face it, not every movie that came out on HD was worth $30 or $20, or overly appealing even at the hugely discounted price of $8 – even when that price is close to or matches the standard DVD pricing.
On the hardware scene, both Plextor and Buffalo have recently introduced their HD DVD/Blu-ray combo drives for use with PCs. This is certainly one way to make sure that you have a back-up player for your HD DVDs, but you may need to put some time and money into making sure that your PC is upgraded enough to properly handle HD, both in terms of hardware and software.
On the software side of things, both Paramount and Universal released the last of their HD DVD titles. A few of the smaller studios have cancelled some of their April and May releases, but Warner continues to announce and release a few titles through May.
That’s much of the useful news to close out March. Let’s see what April brings…
- Graffeo to leave high-def post at Universal at Video Business
- HD DVD store at Amazon.com
- HD DVDs on sale at DeepDiscount.com
- Fry’s has discs for $9.99 and others on sale too
- Tower also has HD DVDs at great prices
March 27th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
It is important to note that HD DVD / Blu-ray software will not output HD on a computer unless you have an HDMI connection to your monitor. This is not required by spec but rather a restriction that the makers of PowerDVD and WinDVD have placed in the software that plays these discs. Nero has just come out with their version and it would be interesting to see if they have the same restriction. Otherwise your content will be down converted.
There are many people complaining on many forums about this as and it is not very clear Cyberlinks website. I have read it myself and it only mentions: HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) compliant display for digital output. I have read that people have tried PowerDVD and WinDVD with DVI and it did not output HD. I have Cyberlink running with HDMI and I do get 1080p.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:53 am
For those that are interested here are Nero’s requirements
PCI-Express video board with support for DVI/HDMI and HDCP, screen/television with HDMI input or HDCP supported DVI input . PCI-Express video board with VGA output and VGA monitor . PCI-Express video board with component video output and video output, CGMS-A and Macrovision support, television or projector. On analog monitors some discs display only at low resolution or not at all.
March 29th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Well supplies on retail shelves seem to be drying up as we speak. Best Buy has sent their store stock back to distribution centers for internet sales. I suspect that we should be able to get most titles for several months to say the lease. It is a good idea to get a back up player to guard against your primary system going down. If you have an Xbox the cheapest way is the add on HDDVD drive. I have seen them as low as $25 now and purchased two units myself. Some of the exclusives on HDDVD such as Forbidden Planet and Casablanca, and the Bourne series may not be available on BluRay for some time so it is a good idea to get the exclusives if you can. In short, they may not be producing HDDVD anymore but it is still a viable and rewarding hobby. Heck, I still go to garage sales for Laser Disk!
March 29th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I just checked several Best Buy stores and all HD DVDs are gone and sent out to their distributors. I checked on Circuit City as I have heard from other HD forum sites that this coming Sunday, March 30th, they will have 50% off of their HD DVD movies. I saw that they have all their HD DVDs and their employees have confirmed tomorrow’s sale. I will be there at their opening time to get ahead of the game. I may come back a couple of hours before they close to check and see if they will pull $9.99 deal like what Best Buy did this past Tuesday night. If you are also looking at stacking another HD DVD player, Circuit City is selling their A30 for 140 bucks. Don’t forget that Toshiba is pulling out their players by the end of this month so stack up while it is still affordable. I’m seriously thinking of getting one.
March 29th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Also, do not forget that if you have not mailed in your 5 Free movie rebate from Toshiba and Microsoft, please mail it no later than this Monday, March 31st. It needs to be post dated by March 31st in order to be eligible for the movie rebate.
March 29th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I jump on the HD DVD bandwagon shortly after the Toshiba announcement and I have not regretted it. Pick up an A3 on Ebay and already have 23 movies. It’s my introduction to high def. I also went ahead and bought the LG combo player (HD DVD/BD) for PC (I get it on Tuesday) – so now I have a back up HD player and can play Blu Ray if I want on my 24″ LCD monitor (HDCP compliment via DVI Link) on my newly custom built quad core (woohoo). Plan on buying Cyberlink as that is probably the best software out there to play high def on computer (although I will keep my eye on Nero) and I am all set. I never really paid attention to the difference between SD and HD when watching movies and boy what a difference. This will be my high def solution until blu ray prices become way more affordable, prices on movies get respectable and they square up the whole profile crap (not too mention that Sony may have material supply problems over the next 12 months) so for me this is a great way to enjoy HD for the next year or so.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
The look and sound of perfect site is gone, anybody have a good link for the five free deal?
March 31st, 2008 at 12:42 pm
nevermind, I’m good, found my orginal, thank God counting down the minutes here!
March 31st, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I have a Hi-Def audio question, lets see if I can make sense here. I just bought Top Gun on HD-DVD. It has TrueHD, DD+ and 6.1 DTS es. My reciever doesn’t decode TrueHD and DD+. Correct me if Im wrong, aren’t the Hidef audio formats decoded down to regular Dolby Digital 5.1. So if I setup the movie to DD+, it gets decoded down to Dolby Digital 5.1. Well why does this setting sound better then 6.1 DTS es. Help me out if you can. Thank you.
March 31st, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I went in to Circuit City yesterday as they have 50% off of their HD DVDs, excluding Beowulf and Shrek the 3rd. It will run until April 5th. I had tried to be “bestfriends” with the staff and manager but my charm didn’t work to get a bargain for $9.99. I still bought three HD DVD movies but I will wait until the 4th or the 5th as they may lower it more down just like what Best Buy did this past week when they get rid of their HD DVDs. Also, Circuit City online is still selling the A3 for $99.99 and A30 for $129.99. If you are in a look to stock up on HD DVD players, these are two good deals but you better not wait to long as you never know on when they’re going out. Amazon and eBay are still pricey, especially Amazon.