Interesting take on Hi-Def Video from a retailer's POV

[Quadzilla]

I have a good friend who works for a local audio retailer, and he in turn has several friends in the business who have collectively made an interesting observation.

It seems that a fair number of HD DVD disks are being returned as unplayable ... by Joe and Mary Six-Pack who have seen the commercials for movies, might have an HDTV, and don't realize that these disks won't play on their DVD players ... even if they "say" they are "HD" because they upscale DVD playback over HDMI connections. This doesn't happen with Blu-ray disks because the format name is totally different ... with no reference to DVD at all.

DO NOT take this as format-bashing or cheerleading. It is intended solely as a marketing observation. Whether or not Joe and Mary are morons is not the issue. The issue is that consumer confusion contributes to product failure.

Many DVD-Audio and single-layer SACD disks got returned to retailers because they wouldn't play on conventional CD players. This became apparent whenever I carried disks to Best Buy checkouts and was sternly warned that these were NOT regular CDs. Did this result in retailer resistence? Not sure, but it couldn't have helped the cause.

Mike.

 

[PossumPete]

Excellent observation! Another thing that HD-DVD does is "Combo" discs (both DVD and HD-DVD on one disc - "DualDisc"???) but not all of their discs are combos. If that doesn't add more confusion, I don't know what will.

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

Yes, good point. I thought DVD-HD was really going to crush Blu-ray, and am surprised Blu-ray is doing as well as it is. I figured Sony would've screwed that up by now, they are really good at that sort of thing. In my mind, dvd-hd has failed us. My reasoning for thinking hd-dvd would catch on was my same reasoning for thinking sacd would, backwards compatibility. Once again, here's a format that has an easy way to work it's way into people's homes, single inventory hybrid discs. But, for the most part, this isn't being taken advantage of. So screw it, I ain't buying them. Although....that's mainly because I don't have a high def tv....but still..... Yeah, whatever.

 

[JonUrban]

The EYES always win out over the EARS, because most people don't care too much about audio quality. They either can't hear the difference, or they just don't care.

However, the EYES make the sale. That's why every electronic store has no more "old fashioned CRT TVs" on display, and when you walk into Sams, BJs, and Costco you have to file past an array of wide screen HDTVs. These sell.

The leap from buying the HDTV to buying an HD DVD (either one) is a lot bigger a leap, because many families stretch their budget to get the display, they forego the HD player because their cable and satellite do it already.

The higher income folks will go for BD and HD-DVD if they are interested, and these numbers will far surpass those of SACD and DVD-A, because the EYES win out.

Think about this: Every warehouse (Sams, BJs, Costco) have HD hardware and software, WalMart is advertising HD-DVD and BD on TV and stock the hardware and software, even places like CompUSA have them in stock.

This did not happen for SACD and DVD-A.

 

[alexander J]

I am afraid that many readers may find this very myopic but I don’t think that SACD and DVD-A was a failure, it is still very strong special interest market product and more and people are getting exposed to this new technology. I think that we need to concentrate more on promoting surround music experience without attaching ourselves to particular format or technology. I started my first project as a DTS 5.1 Music disc then I moved to DVD-Audio, now I realizing my music on HD DVD and developing surround music downloads solution for my web site. All this new technology is just a tool for artistic expression for artist and producers who want to explore new creative ideas in surround sound. And if you look on that is going on with technology from this point of view you will see that it is just evolution of surround sound experience, and that is really matter is talent of creators of music and sound. This is that media should pay more attention to.

 

[PossumPete]

With the available space on Blu and HD, they could easily put all the sound choices available on one disc with video content. But you're right about whether people even want that in the first place. It probably comes down to economics. If they can't make a buck, they aren't going to do it. I haven't seen a whole lot of charity or goodwill from these companies.

 

[Quadzilla]

Excellent observation! Another thing that HD-DVD does is "Combo" discs (both DVD and HD-DVD on one disc - "DualDisc"???) but not all of their discs are combos. If that doesn't add more confusion, I don't know what will.

http://london.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-cds-dvds-vhs-Transformers-HD-DVD-W0QQAdIdZ30551878

"... error we made when purchasing ..." and so it begins ...

 

[JonUrban]

Sounds like single layer SACD.

They have to be careful around here because they are tossing Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs in among the standard DVDs at places like Costco and Sams. I can see where someone could easily screw up.

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