High-def owners living down-under now have the freedom of choice at JB Hi-Fi stores. The Australian electronics shop was previous
Blu-ray /
Sony exclusive, but according to their marketing director, it was the landmark
Paramount deal that opened the door for
HD DVD. No word on their sales format over format, but the addition of the HD DVD seems to suggest that Blu-ray wasn't selling 'nough and they need to something to spur high-def media sales. Most fanboys can agree that in the end, folks just want high-def movies on their HDTV, and this pesky format war is just getting in the way.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DeadPlasmaCell @ Oct 18th 2007 8:42AM
Yep, looks like HD-DVD is dead alright, sorry for every doubting you h4ldol x)
shawn @ Oct 18th 2007 11:08AM
You beat me to the punch. That guy is getting down right annoying and I don't even care who wins, just give us one format, now.
AG23 @ Oct 18th 2007 10:31AM
Don't think this will make much of a difference as Blu-Ray is destroying HD-DVD in Australia (85 percent of Hi Def sales are Blu-Ray)...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4238588a28.html
Snippets From article...
HD DVD slashes prices to drive Aussie sales-
Delays by Toshiba in bringing HD DVD players to market meant the format's local launch was underwhelming, as movie studios were reluctant to put discs on store shelves when the associated players were thin on the ground.
The result, GfK figures released last month show, is that 85 per cent of high definition disc sales have been Blu-ray titles.
Further, 24 of the top 25 HD disc titles were Blu-ray movies; the only HD DVD title to make the list was 300, which ranked 20th.
The main factor driving Blu-ray's penetration in Australia is the Playstation 3, which has a built-in Blu-ray player.
Around 84,000 units of the games console have been sold locally since it launched here in March, and Sony expects its recent $A300 price cut to spur another 84,000 PS3 sales by the end of the year.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 supports HD DVD, but the feature is only enabled through the purchase of a $A249.95 external player. GfK said only 3000 units had been sold to date.
Ms Garra said there were now 154 Blu-ray titles on the market and there would be 234 by the end of the year.
A spokeswoman for Toshiba, the main backer of HD DVD, said there were now 47 HD DVD titles on the market but she did not know exactly how many would be on sale by the end of the year.
Beau @ Oct 18th 2007 11:16AM
Yay, now I just need something to play them on!
h4ldol @ Oct 18th 2007 1:35PM
Sorry HD DUD fanboys, but Australia is about as significant a nation as Togo is. Almost. Bye-bye HD DUD...
Smee @ Oct 18th 2007 7:58PM
@H4Idol
Australia is one piece of a jigsaw puzzle, like every piece in a puzzle, very important to the final outcome, keep dreamin blu boy.
@AG23
A bit early to be calling victory yet, very unusual for team blu to be calling victory though!
Total HD market down under is less then half of 1 percent of total disc sales , so maybe you should go back to the farm when your spreading that much fertiliser.
Tim @ Oct 18th 2007 9:05PM
Can't they just hurry up and bring out more dual format players like the LG? Then the format war won't be an issue. Just like blank DVD-R and DVD+R. Doesn't matter which you buy.