Since a lot of us will have to face the decision on whether or not to return unopened HD DVDs (from Christmas, BOGO sales, etc) and HD DVD players, are the retailers (online and B&M) going to see a spike in HD DVD-related returns as news of Blu Friday finally reaches the small percentage of folks interested and invested in HDM/products?

Will retailers refuse to accept returns within the normal return window (usually 30 days, or extended holiday season window) or just grin and bear it?

My decision...have to keep it. Hell, as I stated repeatedly, I spend 83 bucks for my player.

Of course they're going to accept it, if its within the time frame and it meets the guidelines(no openeded movies, etc).

Its not like there was a huge amount of HD DVDs sold recently. Even if everyone who bought an HD DVD or a Blu-Ray over the holiday season returned every one their movies, it would still probably be less than the ruturns for regular DVDs.

yeah HD isnt selling huge, Bluray fanboys want to make it sound like Bluray is selling huge, but it isnt. Look how many PS3s are out there and how many the best selling bluray title has sold. Not a very good attach rate.

with this news HD-DVD players are still the best selling dvd players at amazon.com

I'm struggling with the decision to return some HD DVD product (Bourne Ultimatum, Harry Potter 1-5, Blade Runner Ultimate briefcase edition). What to do...what to do...

The player will still work. If it breaks you'll be able to find a used replacement cheap (jut look at the prices for used Laserdisc players on ebay).

The movies will still work. So will any HD-DVD movies you pick up for pennies on the dollar during the next few months.

Where's the struggle?

Don't sell them...look at it this way: Keep your HD-DVD player and movies. They'll work perfectly fine. Then if Blue Ray wins, HD movies will be on sale AND there are still HD exclusives. Also, when you buy Blue Ray (which I think you will), then you can buy Blue Ray movies. Hence, you have movies from both sides. On the other hand, if you return your HD player and movies, you'll have to buy Blue Ray and REBUY those movies you've had on HD, hence you're really spending more money. Just my opinion. I'm keeping mines. You'll never know if retailer stores will sell HD movies for $5 each.

Highly doubtful. If Blu-Ray has truly won, then we'll just see HD-DVD fade away. When shelf stock of HD-DVD media is gone, it won't be replenished. That type of thing. I never saw any widespread clearance sales of UMD discs... just the oddball title going for cheap... then gone.

If the poster can return the discs for a refund and repurchase them at or near the same price in Blu-Ray format, then they should. Again, assuming that one believes that Blu-Ray has won.

(I'm not questioning whether or not recent news has helped Blu-Ray win or not, but I only include that caveat because it is a factor for the individual... me, between the news and 3 weeks of XBox Live outages and related offline difficulties, I traded my 360 in for a PS3).

I was in Best Buy yesterday and saw multiple people looking at HD DVD and players - there is still demand. One guy was carrying an XBox HD DVD drive. The general public does not even know and doesn't care. It would take a commercial saying "Stop buying HD DVD, it's dead" to stop demand and even then some people would still be buying. I know I am still buying. Its not like my players is dead - I mean they stopped making the NES years ago, but mine still works and all my games still play.

I am exchanging Blade Runner and Pan's Lab for their blu-ray version but not returning all the other hd-dvd's I got.

Yeah, Blade Runner is an all-time favorite of mine, and I guess I just want the recent HDM release that will be the most viable, and given the news on Friday, now it looks like BD is the most viable, thus my consternation over returning the briefcase set.

The other HD DVD titles I previously listed aren't as "high priority" viewing in terms of future-proofing, but Blade Runner is a special case for me. So, I think I'll order the BD briefcase ultimate edition and return the HD DVD version. That's probably the minimum I'll do in response to the bombshell dropped by Warners this weekend.

But I bet once the word gets out, the retailers are going to get a ton of returns, and that's going to suck for them as it will affect their bottom lines for 2007.

Not really the same thing. UMD was a "bonus" for the PSP. Studios stopped supporting it, but those titles that were left for a player that wasn't dead. Sony supported UMD for awhile after others didn't. So it faded away, it didn't just die.

If Blu Ray had lost, it probably would have faded away like UMD did, because the ps3 has a secondary purpose, being video games. Aslong as the psp is around, those discs would still have some value.

Because if HD DVD dies, The player/format, the whole deal would die.
HD DVD players are for HD DVDs, not games or any other secondary purpose. It might not have the overnight price slashes that Laserdisc had, but when/if toshiba calls it quits, people should expect to get some great deals.

I wouldn't mind buying an open-box XA2 that's been marked down a hell of a lot.

Pssst... They also play DVDs.

The HD DVD version of Pans has more features then the Blu-ray FYI.

I am aware of that. By secondary purpose I am talking about something else that would keep it from outright dying. The players only play movies, and the fact that they also play DVD isn't going to keep the format alive.

BUT it will keep the value for the people who already invested in it.
Not to mention Toshiba is more than likley going to make BR players that will also have HD DVD functions.

So there is no reason to think HD DVD supporters are at a total loss.

Funny!

I have a HD-A2, more than one actually and it does an amazing job of upconverting regular DVD's. It's made in Japan and seems very solid to most of the standard DVD players available today. I have tried two of the latest Oppo unconverting DVD players both of which I paid more for than the HD-A2's. Even my 72 year old dad noticed the much better picture on his Hogan's Heroes DVD's with the HD-A2. I have both formats but honestly figured that Blu-ray would ultimately win out. But I will continue to enjoy my HD DVD's as well as the upconversion of my standard DVD's that the HD-A2 provides.

And those features are nothing short of AWESOME!

The struggle for many people is probably that they just got into the game. I don't want a player sitting in my stereo rack taking up valuable space (and HDMI port) for only 7 HD-DVD movies. I'm going to try and sell at work for a specified price and if nobody bites I'll just put the thing in my bedroom as a decent upconverter. Already own an Oppo for the main TV.

Well said.

I don't understand why anyone would want to buy HD-DVD? Blu ray rules!!!

mod note: see Suprmallet's post below. -namja

The extended window for holiday returns is still open, so unless the retailer in question doesn't have such a policy, I'd return them for the BD versions (assuming you have a BD player or have immediate plans to purchase one).

And where BD versions don't exist, you need to make a decision on whether you can live without watching any of the Bourne movies in HD until Universal supports BD as well (if that ever becomes a reality).

I have some HD DVD software w/o an HD DVD player, so I can't even watch the movies that I have (don't ask)

Because it was pretty much Blu-ray in a red case. Neither format really set it self apart as being better than the other.

I exchanged a couple of unopened HD DVDs today at Best Buy and had no issues even though I had no receipt. Said I wanted the same movie, but in Blu-ray and they said fine. Saved having to sell a couple of Warner HD DVDs.

This kind of post is considered trolling. Consider this a warning.

So, did you have to present your Driver's License? How many movies did you exchange?

Just 2 and she did ask for my driver's license. She also tried to look up my name to see if she could find my receipts, but of course she couldn't because they were Amazon B1G1F purchases. She said it was fine since they were sealed and I was getting the same movie just in a different format that was the same price.