NPD’s latest survey of consumer awareness about Blu-ray tries to cheerlead, with the headline, “Consumer Awareness and Potential for Blu-ray Disc Devices Rising.” But then you read the results–45 percent of HDTV owners are now “familiar with Blu-ray,” up from 35 percent the same time last year. That means over half of HDTV owners–not regular people with standard def TVs, we’re talking the leading chunk of consumers that should be well aware of Blu-ray–still don’t know what it is. That’s horrendous.
At Netflix Investor Day, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings revealed their timeline for the end of the rental-by-mail biz, and why they’re digging so hard into digital distribution: It “will probably peak in the next five years.” Taken more broadly, it’s more or less predicting that the real end of physical media is in T minus five years—’cause presumably, as long there are discs, Netflix’s model assumes you’ll get ‘em from Netflix. While the end of physical media has been predicted lotsa times, it’s rare that a company puts a death sentence on its core business, so this isn’t the cheap willy-nilly futurism we’re used to gagging on. [Reuters via Alley Insider]
Well, Michael Bay will be a happy man today, if the rumours are true – TVshowsonDVD.com are reporting that Paramount has given Transformers a release date on the Blu-ray format.
The projected street date is September 2nd, although that is for the US. The movie is scheduled to be released in a 2-disc pack, just like the HD DVD release, although details are fairly short on the ground.
Watching Transformers on HD DVD really made the format worthwhile for me – it’s why I haven’t ditched my HD DVD player. What about you guys? You likely to pick up the Blu-ray version of this?
[TVshowsonDVD.com via Blu-ray.com]
LG will stop swinging both ways with HD formats this spring, when it ceases production on its Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player. (Samsung’s is already dead.) I’m just kind of amazed an already dead format manages to keep getting deader. [DVD Town]
You guys have apparently been listening to our warnings about not jumping into the Blu pool just yet. NPD says that even after HD DVD stopping peeing in it and lied down to die, not only have Blu-ray sales have only jumped a meager two percent (after falling 40 percent from Jan.), but they’re so bad, they won’t even release the actual numbers. NPD pegs price as one major factor, with the wait for BD-Live players as another. Course, it’s more likely the deeply feared DVD problem: For most people, it’s still good enough. [Yahoo, NYT]
Even though Paramount has taken longer to announce their Blu-ray slate than the other former HD DVD lackey, they’re getting ‘em out the door quicker, surprisingly. The first three BDs (I hate the acronym, but let’s go ahead and digest it) from Paramount arrive May 20: Face/Off (yes!), Bee Movie and Next. Then it gets kinda sparse, with intermittent releases through the rest of the summer (AU winter), though its first simultaneous new release w/ DVD will be The Spiderwick Chronicles on June 24. Not the hot roster I was looking for (Woo’s opus excepted), but at least the Blu ball for every major studio is finally rolling. Update: We just did one better and got Paramount’s press release with the full list (which confirms HR’s report), check it out below.
“Toshiba Corp. said its profit plummeted 95 percent in the January-March quarter due to costs of its exit from next-generation video HD DVD business.” US$12 million profit, down from US$251.57 million last year. Ouchies. [AP]
Game Daily had a chat with Microsoft Game Studios VP Shane Kim about the Xbox 360, and one of the topics that came up was the defunct (but cheap!) HD DVD player, which you might still be tempted to eBay for US$1.25. But you shouldn’t! Kim effuses sentimentally about why you should hang it onto it, which is odd considering how nonchalantly other Microsoft execs have been brushing it off:
Five months after converting to Blu-ray, former HD DVD diehard Universal will finally release its first Blu discs: The Mummy trio on July 22. The Mummy was already on HD DVD, so they’re firing off re-releases from the get-go. All told, Universal plans to drop about 40 discs by the end of the year. Appropriately starting with Doomsday, all new flicks will go out on Blu, with a smattering of older movies like Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. No sight of the The Big Lebowski on Reuters’ list, the only Universal flick we really care about. [Reuters]
Wal-Mart is a little late to the HD DVD pity party, finally deciding to offer tokens to suckers who threw in with the dead format. Until April 30, they’ll refund any HD DVD player bought after Nov. 1, as long as you’ve got the original receipt, though you don’t need the original packaging.
