That's something. At least I can still rent out what's in my queue.

I swear to God this is some vast conspiracy that despite my greatest efforts, I will simply not be allowed to watch Eastern Promises on HD-DVD. Dammit all to hell.

Anyway, this really does suck and I'm trying to figure out if it's worth switching to BB. I think I'll stick it out for now and see if BB follows suit. Hollywood Video still gets the new HD-DVD releases near me, so maybe I'll just suck it up and rent the couple coming out that I want to see from them.

Don't flame me here, but unless there was a payoff, I don't get the decision. If there is demand for HD-DVD rentals (and the fact that all in my queue have a waiting time, suggests that there is), then a payoff is the only thing that makes sense (unless they really do get a lot of dmaaged discs, which I don't believe).

If I am a rental place, I carry anything in any format that gets used. I probably carry obscure stuff just because it keeps some people around. I don't care about a format war, because I rent all formats. If neither format wins, I still win because I rent DVDs as well. If a format war keeps people from buying the media themselves (and I think it does, especially with HD-DVD), then I am a huge winner, because I have more people because I have the movies and they only have the players.

Just the way I see it.

So YOU'RE the one who is keeping me on "Very Long Wait"!!!!!

Interesting to note that nowhere in the announcement do they claim that their customers have stopped renting HD DVDs or have shown any great preference for Blu-ray. In fact, the last I heard, HD DVD was outrenting Blu-ray at Netflix. If that changed recently, no one from the Blu-ray camp made a fuss about it, which would be quite unusual to say the least.

"While only a portion of Netflix subscribers have elected to receive high- def DVDs, a majority of those subscribers have chosen Blu-ray over HD DVD."

That's from the press release on page 2.

I'll tell you, Eastern Promises is easily worth owning. It's a combo, so you could still use the DVD side if you eventually don't have an HD DVD player.

In cases like yours where I don't want to buy but I can't get it from Netflix, I usually go the route of buying the disc, watching it and selling it. The most I'm usually out is the price of a movie ticket, which to me is reasonable.

+1 on Eastern Promises.

I think the chorus of angry phone calls directed at NetFlix due to "Very Long Wait" on many HD DVD and BD prompted an internal decision to drop one format and go balls out on t'other.

It was a strategy decision to address a growing issue and keep some of their HD subscribers happy.

Also, to think that Sony or Toshiba hasn't been courting NetFlix is facile and naive.

Since Netflix has always given people a few "lost in the mail" freebies before they start charging them, I wonder if they don't want to keep spending money replacing higher-priced HD DVD's if they don't come back.

Yes, of course more are renting BDs. Even those who downplay the role of the PS3 still agree there are enough of them being used for movies to give BD a considerable lead in players. Why wouldn't they be renting more of them? This could also refer to the greater number of new releases on BD (due to more studios, of course).

With the waits I've been getting for HD at Netflix, I change to regular DVD half of the time. Still a bit dissapointing. I'm neutral but this was a way to see movies I had no intention of purchasing.

Son of a bitch. Tha really pisses me off and I just may cancel Netflix all together. I won't go to BBV, but this really just pisses me off. Talk about ruining my day

I remember some information saying HD DVD was more popular a few months ago, but of course that was before Warner's annoucement.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/10/04...ar-on-netflix/



According to Mar 2007, HD DVD and Blu Ray account for only 1% of NetFlix shipments. Granted I'm sure that number has gone up somewhat, so you are probably looking at single digits.

In that sense, with the writing on the wall, and the low people of affected by this decision, why not take a payoff for something that you already thought about doing it?

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/03/28...ixs-shipments/

this move does come as a surprise, or at least the timing of it does. i expected Netflix to be one of the last consumer outlets to drop HD DVD, not one of the first, given how little gain there seems to be for them in doing so (then again, they don't really have much to lose either, considering how few people are renting hi-def). this suggests to me that the major retailers (at least B&Ms) will be following suit in the next month or two.

I own Hd-DVD and I am not saddened by this. I have been saying for a few weeks noe though that t hey really need to charge more for people who want Hi-def disks. Why should money I pay each month go toward Netflix purchasing disks for a format I care nothing about?

This angers me to no end. I'll be ending my Netflix subscription as soon as one of the HD-DVDs on my list becomes N/A or a future HD-DVD that I wanna rent is unavailable.

Wasn't there a press release from them a month or two ago about how they were going to continue supporting both formats?

EDIT: Here's the video where the Vice President of NetFlix says they were to remain format exclusive:

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Yeah, but that was before recent talks between Netflix and $ony.

This was a good, necessary step by Netflix that hopefully aids in finishing off a format war that doesn't quite know it's over. I can understand people's disappointment, but this was inevitable. And, these kinds of disappointments and setbacks will continue slowly but surely until Universal, Paramount, and HD-DVD itself puts down their guns. Trust me, I'd feel the same way if Blu-ray was in a similar position.

LOL, insert obligatory "Sony paid off" rumor for every switch over now.

So when Blu ray goes belly up in the next few years will they dump it? Having .60% of a 100% market if far from winning.

for what it's worth, that's certainly not the first time in this format war that a corporation has said, "we're going to let the consumer decide" and then went ahead and let corporations decide instead.

the payoff rumor trend has been in place with fans of both sides for a long time already. personally, i don't believe any of the specifics reported about any payoffs in this format war, unless openly admitted to by the companies. that said, i believe virtually every switching/dropping/adding support decision by these companies has been incentive-laden in some way, because that's just how business works. none of us know the exact terms though and it's obnoxious when anyone claims that they do, just because some entertainment publication, or worse, technology blog reports it based on unnamed sources.

Well, they're dumping one failing format now, so presumably they'll dump any failing formats going forward.

(That's just meant to illustrate how silly that sort of format bashing is.)

Really, though, general consumer misunderstanding of what "HD DVD" is and the abuse the discs seem to take, judging by the forums I read, could both be pushing them towards going Blu-ray exclusive. Backing just one of these formats could make this easier to market too.

Eastern Promises is definitely worth the rental from Hollywood Video, if not just an outright blind buy. The wife and I both really dug it when we got it (from Netflix!) last month. We're in Boise, too, so if I'd have known you were wanting to see it we could've had a movie night or something!

Seriously, we all placed our bets in this format war and now the chips are falling as they may. Some folks got burned and other folks are relieved that it wasn't their format that was on the losing end.
I do emphathize with the hd-dvd supporters and it does suck but then again when have the big corporations ever given a shit about us?

My feelings exactly. HD DVD was the sole reason I signed up for Netflix. It looks to be a year or more before full featured BD players become affordable, so when the HD DVD titles in my queue become NA that's the end of my Netflix account. They've shown they don't want my business anyway.

Like some others here, I figured Netflix would be one of the last companies to abandon HD DVD because a few hundred more titles in their catalog of tens of thousands is a trivial inventory problem.