Why no HD-DVD b1g1 or similar offers like Blu-Ray?
 

I was in the market to expand my HD-DVD collection and I was just curious why I haven’t ran across B1G1 free offers or low prices like the 10.00 Frys special that seem to pop up on multiple sites only for Blu-Ray as we roll into the holiday season.
I did take advantage of the DeepDiscount code but was really hoping to save some more $ on discs as we entered holiday shopping.

I appreciate any input

A fair question, but I don't think anyone has the answer except Toshiba and the movie companies. Obviously, Toshiba has been agressive in pricing their hardware, so one would think it would flow to their software as well. I am sure all of us HD-DVD owners would love to see some of these promotions pop up soon--hopefully they will.

So far the only BD sales I've seen have been limited to the same titles, so I'm thinking that's more of a studio promotion than a format choice. I have both formats now thanks to Toshiba's no-brainer sale, so although two formats are a pain, it's nice to be able to bide my time and get some discs based on whichever is having a sale.

It is obvious that Toshiba is trying to increase its install base with cheaper hardware, while the BDA is trying to "wake up" its "sleeping" install base of PS3s with cheap software. You can't have it all, as they say.

I have no answer, but I was wondering precisely the same thing seeing today's Fry's ad with yet another set of B1G1F Blu-Ray deals and nothing interesting for HD-DVD. Pay $12 more for Shrek HD-DVD over the regular $15 edition? I'm not dissatisfied with SD DVD, but I'd like the extra HD-DVD quality but not at nearly double the price.

If anyone knows why HD-DVD is missing all the Blu-Ray promos, I'd like to hear. Perhaps Sony is offering incentives to stores for such deals on the media whereas whoever backs HD-DVD (Toshiba) is only offering specials on the players?

The only reason I'm keeping my Toshiba HD-A2 is because it was $99, I get 5 free movies, and it works fine as a SD upconverting player. The HD-DVDs are still to pricey for me unless they start getting in the $10-$15 range with some B1G1F deals or such.

While the HD-DVD disc sales haven't been as aggressive as the Blu-Ray sales, there have still been some good deals. A few weeks ago Fry's had a bunch of Paramount HD-DVDs on sale for $13.50 each. Two weeks ago Amazon had some HD-DVDs at $16.49.

I agree that even though there seems to be a lot of Blu-Ray sales, most of the sales involve the same 3-4 dozen discs. I took advantage of the first couple sales. But I've passed on many of the B1G1 sales because I already own all the discs.

Perhaps that's some type of marketing strategy from Blu-Ray. Instead of an official price drop on those titles, they just keep offering B1G1 sales.

As people say, no one seems to know. It seems like the blu-ray sales have been timed to combat big HD DVD releases (Transformers, Shrek 3).

It looks like the HD DVD strategy seems to be on dropping the hardware prices.

who buys movies at retail prices these days anyway?

Every one of the HDDVD/Blurays I have purchased have been in the $10-$15 range.

It seems to be a studio-driven strategy. Sony and Disney are hellbent on increasing software sales(and upping the Blu-ray:HD/DVD sales ratio), hence all the 2-for-1 deals online and at Fry's. Even Fox is getting into the act now.

Meanwhile, HD-DVD studios rarely participate in these kinds of promotions. Paramount did it recently at Fry's and Circuit City(although that one was intended only for Blu-ray initially). And Warner Bros. took part in a recent Amazon 2-for-1 sale. Universal unfortunately refuses to ever offer any discounts on their titles, and since they're the primary exclusive HD-DVD studio, it doesn't help the software sales ratio.

If HD DVD really wants to break into the market this holiday season, the software should be as agressively priced as the hardware. The low price of the A2 a couple weeks ago got me to bite, and I've ordered quite a few HD DVDs during the Deep Discount sale, but it's frustrating to watch one Bluray sale after another appear with nothing comparable in HD DVD. Even if it's the same Bluray titles they put on sale over and over again, for those of us new to HD DVD, they would sell huge quantities as we try to build an HD DVD collection.

Even so, I can say without a doubt that buying an A2 was a wise choice. I love it.

I agree, I love mine. For the time being i'm just buying a few titles here and there when the price is right. I'm trying to be patient in hopes that another BOGO sales pops up. It will eventually...

^ Same with me, of course I think I did go a little overboard (for me) during this past 20% off sale. When it's all said and done, I think I'll have about 30 HD-DVDs. Small percentage of my overall collection, but more than I was planning on getting.

The key to the Blu-ray BOGO is to get customers to buy the catalog releases. As of right now, the only titles that are selling on HDM is the day and date releases so the BD studios are trying to jumpstart the catalog buying with this and it's absolutely not a bad way of doing it.

Thanks for posting this great bargain!

I'm torn between both formats, each format has exclusives i want as much as I would like to hammer the 20% sale for HD-DVDs with titles I don't care about, I'd rather invest into importing a PS3. That way I can take advantage of both formats and get the titles I want to watch! Having titles on blu ray like Day/Dawn of the Dead, Spiderman trilogy, Halloween & Terminator to name a few makes the baby Jesus cry.

PS-I did the HD-DVD order... 5 Movies & 2 box sets, all are back ordered though. :(

As a bit of an aside to the main topic, your comment re Universal is interesting. So far, the only HD-DVD promotion in Australia I am aware of was a "Buy 2 for $50" deal which involved ... you guessed it, only Universal!

(The deal sounds better when you know the retail price for most Universal HD-DVD in Australia is $35 or $40).

Like everyone else, I really am hanging out for some sort of BOGOF deal on HD-DVD anywhere in the world!

Paul's nailed it on the head. It's really gonna be interesting in the next few weeks right after Black Friday up until Christmas. I'm picking up bargains left and right just like everyone else, and this IS starting to look like 1997 again.

Exactly... And as long as you're willing to wait a while on movies, you can get some pretty good deals.

Starting tomorrow CC has a Buy2 get 1 free on HD DVD's deal going.

Here's the list from an AVS post.
Pretty good deal, especially if you're just getting started. Unfortunately for me, I've got them all except for I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry...and I plan on keeping it that way! :lol:

Wow, what a shit list for this promo. I want Departed but not the combo, and that's all CC seems to have. None of the other ones look like titles I either need or need to upgrade to HD on. Are we SURE it's these titles only?

Yikes, CC wants 29.99 for each title on the hd-dvd list.

I checked a couple titles. Deep Discount sale is a better deal.

Examples:

Departed (combo)
CC - $39.99 + tax (and you must buy 2 titles)
DD - $27.84 + 20% off and free shipping


Bourne Identity
CC - $29.99 + tax (and you must buy 2 titles)
DD - $21.95 + 20% off and free shipping

Oops, I thought the non-combos would go for $25... not too good of a deal after all then, too bad it's not BOGO.

I didnt know the sale was restricted to certain titles so I went in with a Shrek the 3rd $5 off coupon to Circuit city in Santa Monica. Shrek the 3rd was $29.99 and I brought Deer Hunter ($24.99) and Mummy Returns ($24.99) to the register off course nothing rang up right so the manager price adjusted evertything for me I walked away with all 3 for $48 plus tax. Don't think this will work anywhere else but I was happy enough.

Yes Where are my Hd DVD sales I have seen a few but they seem to sell out really quick. I was able to get in in the Fry's deal where they were about $13 each.