I guarantee almost everyone whining about canceling Netflix will stick with it/return to it within 12 mos to rent BDs.

Face it- it wasn't payoff, it's simply a company's decision to follow the market AND studio preference. I own HD-DVDs but for God's sake..the venom here of certain DVDTalkers against BDs is just as immature as the teenagers on AVS.

For those of you considering Blockbuster..be careful:

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...-ray-lead.aspx


With Netflix and (now) Best Buy's decision, I'd hold off on sales like the BN 50% off..I smell 75% off sales coming soon.

Let's hope not because based on Netflix's numbers the format people rent the most is DVD.

I, like most other red owners, knew that the format war overall would be an uphill battle for HD-DVD considering the content support BR got out the gate but I chose to purchase HD-DVD due to quality/price comparison. BR vs HD-DVD is truly a wash in terms of quality for me so I chose HD-DVD and signed up for Netflix right after because I figured Netflix would be the last company out of the format war. So I am thoroughly astounded this came now but I feel the other shoe has yet to drop. There is little reason to flat out stop supporting a format if the cost to do so is not exorbitant (retailers have valuable floor space to consider, Netflix does not). I think Netflix got wind of another large shift and is getting out in front. I also think that Netflix realizes that HD rental downloads does pose a problem to their rental model more than BB and hopes a single standard will stave off the impending download revolution. Then again perhaps that's the reason Netflix is investing in a download set-top box. I am not discounting the other aforementioned Blu-Ray advantages, I just think that those alone are not enough to push this one way or the other.

Maybe they need more money sooner rather than later.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/08...ture-of-discs/

Here's to hoping we get a final, cheaper BR standard soon so I can finally go "Blu" and enjoy more of my movies in HD.

Canada is usually last to follow suit on anything. Well, except for the prices on the HD-A3 and HD-A30. Those came down up here not long after they did in the US. I'll be waiting for those crazy HD-DVD movie clearance prices. Right now, the best offer there is is Best Buy's "Buy 2 HD-DVD save $10", which is pretty sad.

It's been that way on this board since day one.

I own both as well. But this still does not make financial sense to me if people are still trying to rent HD-DVDs. If there was enough interest, they would rend laserdiscs.

In the business of rentals, you don't care what the trends are when getting out of a product, only when getting in. If people still wanted to rent VHS, you would keep up with them in your library.

I didn't look through all of the pages, so if someone posted the email, sorry for the dupe:


We're Going Blu-ray

Dear steven,

You're receiving this email because you have asked to receive high-definition movies in the HD DVD format. As you may have heard, most of the major movie studios have recently decided to release their high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. In order to provide the best selection of high-definition titles for our members, we have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray as well.

While we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements.

Toward the end of February, HD DVDs in your Saved Queue will automatically be changed to standard definition DVDs. Then toward the end of this year, all HD DVDs in your Queue will be changed to standard definition DVDs. Don't worry, we will contact you before this happens.

You can click here to change your format preferences.

We're sorry for any inconvenience. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call us at 1 (888) 638-3549.

-The Netflix Team

But Netflix doesn't sell anything - they rent. Unless HD DVD's weren't being rented at all (which doesn't seem to be the case, since Netflix' last statement indicates relative parity between the formats), then Netflix doesn't lose anything by stocking and renting HD DVD.

This is all moot for me, since I dropped Netflix a while ago when they raised their prices, but considering these items literally take up zero shelf space, it doesn't make much sense.

Also, where is anyone seeing venom around here? This forum has been very tame as of late.

Well, it's not their primary business, but they do sell used DVDs.

Got the same e-mail myself today.

For those of you saying this may be a sign of low HD DVD rentals, how come nearly all of the newer HD DVD releases are always "Long Wait" or "Very Long Wait". If that means that the copies they have are always out that it sounds to me like they're doing good business with HD DVD.

As many have stated, I thought Netflix would be the last to go. Even though they're now bigger then hell, I always thought of them as being anti-establishment and going for having it all when it comes to movies. Well, it's back to Blockbuster until they dump it too.

Come to think of it, I have American Gangster and Michael Clayton in my Queue and my subscription doesn't bill until after next Tuesday (upon which time I will cancel). So will they not be getting these in on HD DVD due to this decision?

I think the motivation does indeed stem from using money once used to purchased HD DVD to buy more Blu-Ray. It's obvious you stand to piss off less people by snubbing HD DVD than you do with Blu-Ray, so they play the percentages.

Now, they get to please their Blu-Ray customers by making titles more available. They also can start ratcheting up their advertising of their high-def titles without contributing to confusion.

Well, that answers that question. Netflix will not be adding any new HD DVD titles to their inventory effective immediately.

Their decision makes complete sense to me, Netflix is spending money on both formats and each format has many renters waiting much longer than what they've grown accustomed to for these HD titles. This is a customer satisfaction issue, which can be very costly.

As I stated earlier, I hope these $$$ are used to increase their BD inventory.

Don't count on it.

I personally think I will be switching to Blockbuster.com for now. I started a free trial because I was sick and tired of never getting any HD DVD or Blu-ray movies from Netflix, and so far they have been much better. I'm sure that could change once I am a paying member, but I will probably give it a shot anyway.

Agree. My first choice is BD, but if HD-DVD is the only HD option available, I will always pick that over standard DVD. I can understand if a movie is available in both formats to only stock BD, but if it is only available in HD - why not stock it? Judging from the wait times, they are only buying 10 copies of each title, so it can't be a money issue.

I canceled Netflix today and moved my queue to Blockbuster.

So these are the bigger titles I've cumulated that now won't get high-def treatment on Netflix, because of this decision. This of course, is contingent on Paramount and Universal staying exclusive to HD-DVD.

American Gangster (might still since it comes out in a week)
There Will Be Blood
Beowulf (possible this will be on there since this is an upcoming release in a few weeks)
Star Trek (provided Paramount stays exclusive through the end of the year and into next)
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Hellboy 2
The Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Sweeny Todd
Bee Movie
Wanted
Cloverfield
The Spiderwick Chronicles

And these are just the bigger titles. This isn't all movies.

Makes me sad.

If this war is over before Cloverfield comes out, there will be hell to pay.

I guess I'll just have to become more of a movie buyer, than a renter.

Who's whining?

And STOP with the "guarantees" bullshit. Unless you are employed by Netflix, you can't GUARANTEE anything.

Warner was the first in a long line of Dominos to fall. Anyone can see that. Again we have people coming out acting like soothsayers when the writing was on the freaking wall.

Am I the only one who finds this contradictory?

Is there an easy way to do this?

Not that I found.

No. The more I think about this, the less sense it makes. I understand the "Spend the whole HDM budget on BD discs" scenario, but if most titles of both formats are on "long wait" (and this is no exaggeration, I assure you) then wouldn't increasing the HDM budget across the board help satisfy the most customers?

I totally get B+M retailers backing one format. It makes dollars and sense to me. I even understand B+M rental boutiques going one format. Retail space is a premium. I totally get it, and I figured it was inevitable for the switch to come.

For an e-tailing rental store to do this still puzzles me. While I am sure they have to take up some space, this store stocks plenty of titles that cater to very specific audiences. I can't buy the argument that they weren't renting enough units or that space is a premium when they have thousands of titles on DVD that have similarly narrow audiences as HD DVD or BD.

I hope that anyone switching to BBO sends in specific notification somehow that they dropped Netflix and switched because of this reason, and that you are fully prepared to quit again if (when) BBO goes BD only. I understand the reason for switching, but if BBO doesn't understand that they are getting new customers specifically from this decision, they will make the same one.

I agree with everyone that thought Netflix would be one of the last dominoes to fall.

Also, FWIW, I have gotten dozens of HD DVD from Netfilx and I have never had an issue with any of them. Of late, I have switched many of my "Long Wait" discs back to DVD so that I don't have to wait forever.

Ding Ding. we have a winner. This is what Netflix is thinking. Why spend money to buy copies of a title in HD-DVD to satisfy a shrinking customer base (or at least one that is growing at a smaller pace than the other).

Instead they'll spend the money on BD titles.

If they stayed with HD-DVD, when a copy wore out, they'd have to buy another copy. Now they can devote that money to BD.

They'll also save money not having to maintain the HD-DVD web pages and floor stock of dvd's. Easier on the purchasing, marketing, etc departments.

This just makes good business sense.