Thought some people here might be interested in this...

The idea is to show support for HD DVD by buying movies on a specific day. There is no better way to show support for HD DVD than by backing it financially. That is the language the movie studios understand best. If there is a strong demand for HD DVD software, then hopefully Blu-ray only studios will at least go neutral.

If you want to participate, the 'AVS Forum Purchase Day' is going to be 8/8/06.

I'm in for 5.

There is a poll here: August 8: AVS Forum Purchase Day: How many titles will you buy?

And the thread is here: Coordinated AVS Forum HD DVD purchase

I'll keep the thread updated with names and number of titles.

Sounds good. As I posted on AVS, I'll pick up at least Van Helsing, Apollo 13, and U-571. If anything else sparks my interest, I'll grab that, too.

What does buying on a specific day matter? The studios want sales, but I doubt they care what day of the week they land on.

It sends a message. A lot of purchases on one day to show solidarity to the format. This is how we as consumers speak with our dollars. If HD DVD sales are, say, on average, 1,000 discs sold a day (I'm pulling this number completely out of my ass, so it's in no way meant to be a valid example of how well HD DVD is selling), and then on one day the disc sales go up to 50,000 analysts and studios are going to take notice and say, "Not only is HD DVD selling well, but their consumers are really backing them with their hard-earned cash. We need to get in on this!"

As much as I hate Fox News, Bill O'Reilly always tells people not to buy gas on Sundays. Why? Because if gas profits really dropped to $0 every Sunday, the gas companies would understand that people are pissed about the price of gas, and lower prices accordingly. It's the same principle.

What Suprmallet said, and just because it is a day that we can all rally around. We've already got people out-bidding one another. By using a specific day, we can build momentum around the idea, too.

I'm buying HD DVDs on that day that I wouldn't have bought right now. I plan on getting some of the money for it from selling off some of my SD DVDs (duplicates and the like). I sold $100 of them last week.

For example, since I'm picking up 5 that day, I can sell my SD versions to help pay for them.

SWEET. A new reason to buy a couple more HD-DVDs.

Interesting idea.
If there is anything coming out on the 8th that i want then i will buy it, but i'm certainly not going to put off buying a title i want until then.

The Italian Job is mine. I'll be using my $2 coupon at BB and then my RZ gift certificates.

I'll be getting Aeon Flux that day as a new release... probably something else too.

So wait, this gives me an excuse to buy even more HD DVD titles?! I am there!

I'll restate here what I posted over at AVS. First of all, I'm all for this idea. However, I think that it is a really bad movie if people are purposely holding off on the earlier Paramount titles until the 8th. This will send a bad sign to Paramount for the first two weeks. Now if people want to buy other studio's stuff on the 8th that has been out for some time now and the new Paramount stuff, awesome. But don't hold off on Paramount purchases just for the 8th.

This sounds good but the only way it will work is if you get people who don't yet have a player involved. If someone is thinking about getting an HD-DVD player (or a Blu-Ray player / PS3) then they can show early support by buying one or two titles. With hybrid players announced in the future, I doubt it will be a lost cause, but you can pick the format "you" want to win. The amount of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray owners is miniscule. You need to get everyone involved. Hell, call it "Pick the format winner" day. Buy whatever format you want to win, whether or not you have a player already.

How will this work for online orders? I sure as hell am not going to pay Best Buy retail prices for HD-DVDs. Plus, Amazon has the offer where if you buy three HD-DVDs, you get 10% off all other HD-DVDs for the rest of the year. Do online stores report this information the same way?

Absolutely! Preorder! Preorder!

Now, if this effort will cause you to buy more titles, then by all means...but, I suggest everyone preorder.

There has been a pretty good response so far. Over 96 people with ~ 335 discs between them all. The bottom line of course being to promote HD DVD sales. If the market is 75% HD DVD then what do you think studios will do? This is the kind of market signal they're watching. No other votes matter-- only movie sales. For example, I read from a compressionist on AVS that New Line is supposedly waiting to "see what the market does".

On the player issue, I've noticed on AVS that there are tons of people buying players now. In a lot of different threads I see references to people getting off the fence and buying a player. This is great news.

An example in the "Which HD demo discs?" thread:

Here's another from a different thread:

There are plenty more in the "HD-DVD backers, putting our money where our mouth is" thread. Anyway, they place is littered with new HD DVD player buyers.

This coordinated buy is just to bring attention to the fact that the only vote that counts is financial backing of the format. A lot of HD DVDs will be bought on 8/8/06 that wouldn't have ordinarily been bought as a show of support. I think that is a good thing.

I think it would make even more sense if buying Blu-Ray was encouraged, if you're a Blu-Ray supporter. That way, it's more of a vote between the two, versus buying or not buying.

I know I'd feel better if I was an HD-DVD enthusiast and I saw Blu-Ray's sales be lower on that day knowing that even the pro Blu-Ray camp was stirred up to act. If the opposite was happening, I'm sure HD-DVD fans would want to buy that day just to spoil the fun.

I don't think anyone is motivated to do the same for Blu-ray because the software is inferior.

People who know had stated for months before BD released that they would not be buying any MPEG2 releases on BD SL discs because PQ would have to suffer (yes there have been rumors that DL BD discs would not be available for many months before BD launch). All this turned out true.

Maybe Blitz6speed could head up a parallel effort to offset the HD DVD effort.

Well, it makes it more fair if you call it "Support a New HD Format Day" instead of "Buy HD-DVDs"

Hmmm, I didn't get Good Night and Good Luck when it was released on DVD back in March, so I might as well get the HD-DVD combo disc. That's the only combo title so far that I'll buy, so if I buy some other titles they'll have to sit on the shelf and tease me. I just hope there aren't some big price drops/sales on those titles before I get my player.

Um, not to bash or anything, but can I have what you're smoking? Do you seriously think 50,000 discs on one day could actually be achieved with the limited amount of players in the marketplace?

I already have 27 discs, with 14 in the pipeline (for now), but I'm an exception to the rule...

Studios that are seriously on the fence aren't going ot pull the trigger until next year at this point. It's just too difficult at this time of the year to ramp up production for stuff like this... Plus they're going to want to see the results from the Christmas selling season...

fitprod

Same here. I still haven't picked this one up, so getting the combo is no big deal. I'm actually starting to get won over by the combos anyway. It is nice that I can take Animal House and watch it on DVD when I need to and considering I only paid $21 for it on Amazon I can deal with it being a combo. If the movie is one that doesn't have a ton of HD exclusive extras or one that doesn't need 30GBs of space then getting it as a combo is a really nice option. I wish they had done this with Happy Gilmore.

Oh, Animal House is a combo too? Okay, that's two that I want.

I've always wanted one of these formats to die quickly. I used to be 100% behind BD, but HD DVD has delivered in spades. I prefer HD DVD and I'd prefer BD to die.

It isn't about being fair it is about supporting a quality product you believe in with your money. I have to assume the BD folks will be doing the same. Since HD DVD is the "underdog" I want to bring attention to that and get people to support it financially. The marketplace is where this war will be won or lost.

I read on AVS that some new titles have sold 5000 copies in the first day.

Did you not read the part where I said I was pulling those numbers out of thin air to make a point, and they're not meant to indicate actual sales or expectations? Learn to read before you criticize.

I will probably buy a few. Been waiting for the plunge and have $130 in credit at Amazon