Netflix to Stop Renting Movies on HD DVD Format

[glocksout]

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

Hey guys why did target go blu SAP exclusive. The BDA paid them off. Paid or Talk who are bluray inseiders will admit that. It is a business.

They didn't pay them off. Blu-ray insiders, and everyone who reported on it will tell you that Target came to Sony about the sales plan, and Sony paid for the end-cap, as normal for businesses to do. It's call "co-op."

[merv46]

Originally Posted by glocksout

Proof?



Proof?

You make a lot of claims. They could very well be true but they're all speculation and you talk like it's gospel truth.

You know it really does not matter much if there was a pay off or not, with todays news about netflix and bb, I think hd dvd now has both feet in the grave. I am guessing an early March to mid March white flag from Toshiba. Its over.

[Robinson_A]

I would like to respond to the claim made earlier about Jerry and I being HD DVD supporters over Blu-ray in our joint frustration over Netflix dropping HD DVD. Netflix, like other rental services, are in the content delivery business and as such it serves them well to deliver all the content they can to their users regardless of format. Blockbuster sided with Blu-ray after entering into an agreement with them early on when both formats were flourishing. While cost is sure to be a factor, I assure you its not the decider for if we were to have two formats they would find ways of having both. As a deliverer of content it's my opinion that Netflix should not get involved in the war and with so many people owning HD DVD players it makes better business sense to provide for their customers and let the natural progression of things phase a format out instead of outright denying loyal customers the content they so crave. I'm not going to get into the argument over who was paid what because I don't know. I just think it was a crap move on their part and one that somewhat dumps on the heads of customers that are simply trying to get the most out of their HD systems and who honestly can care less about the war. They just want content and Netflix was committed to providing that up until today. Truthfully, I could care less who wins for none of this is going to matter in the near future. We're simply rearranging the chairs on the Titanic at this point for once HD downloads and up to date HD on demand truly takes off the argument will become moot.

[PRO-630HD]

Originally Posted by glocksout

They didn't pay them off. Blu-ray insiders, and everyone who reported on it will tell you that Target came to Sony about the sales plan, and Sony paid for the end-cap, as normal for businesses to do. It's call "co-op."

They were paid to carry only Sony stand alone bluray players and not Toshiba hddvd players. End of story. Sony paid for more than an end cap.

[nsrii]

All conspiracy aside, isn't it possible that Netflix made a business decision based on their metrics (i.e. the demand of a particular format over another)? There is the possibility that the demand for Blu-ray surpassed the demand for HD-DVD rentals.

Also, as someone else already pointed out, Netflix offered both HD formats to their subscribers for no additional cost; they probably lost money in doing so. Instead of spreading money out for 2 HD formats, they can pool that money into one HD format and purchase larger quantities of titles for their subscribers. Supply and demand.

If the move wasn't based on demand, choosing a side still seems a logical conclusion especially when the majority of content providers are currently supporting Blu-ray, regardless of how much of an inconvenience it creates for HD-DVD supporters/owners.

Of course this is all speculative, like every other post in this thread, so take it for what it's worth.

[jpcos]

I don't understand the business decision based on their metrics point. Did their metrics tell them that no one would want American Gangster or Beowulf in HD? Makes no sense.

Then again, this whole format war makes no sense. At no point was the consumer asked to choose a format based on merits. Instead, content was sewn-up/withheld with no regard for how consumers might best want to access HD content.

We now have a fairly clear winner. Too bad there is not one player out there that is at least 1.1 compliant without audio issues and able to at least bitsream all advanced codecs. Oh happy day.