The large retailer Best Buy has announced that it has stocked up on Digital TV converter boxes that are compatible with the US government’s rebate program for the boxes.
Last month, the Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) began offering a $40 USD rebate off the purchase price of $59.99 USD for the box. It is important to note that the box will only be required for TV owners that do not have cable or satellite service. To qualify for the rebate, any consumer must simply apply for it via NTIA’s web site.
In October, the retailer pulled analog TVs and analog tuner products from its shelves, being the first company to do so. The retailer also said it will be launching a dedicated toll-free number for Best Buy customers to call if they have any inquiries about the transition.
“The DTV transition is an event that is unprecedented in this country, and it will require a coordinated effort by broadcasters, manufacturers, retailers and the government,” electronics chief Mike Vitell said “We take our role as a trusted source of information very seriously.”
Result for: Convert
It seems that over the course of the last month, HD DVD has been taking loss after loss, but it seems the giant retailer Wal-Mart has finally put the final nail in the coffin.
The company announced this morning that it has chosen sides in the next-gen format war and that by June it will only be stocking Blu-ray Disc players, completely dropping HD DVD in the process.
Susan Chronister, of Wal-Mart’s video division wrote in her blog earlier this morning that the company made its decision following Best Buy’s and Netflix’s recent decision to snuff HD DVD.
“By June, Wal-Mart will only be carrying Blu-ray movies and hardware machines and, of course, standard-def movies, DVD players, and up-convert players,” Chronister said. She then added, “if you bought the HD DVD player like me, I’d retire it to the bedroom, kid’s playroom, or give it to your parents to play their John Wayne standard-def movies, and make space for a (Blu-Ray Disc) player.”
That may be a good decision as well considering that HD DVD players are, on average, excellent up converting players for Standard Definition movies and are still much, much cheaper than its counterpart Blu-ray players.
As much as this latest blow hurts consumer choice, I hate to admit that this is the end for HD DVD. Lets see if Blu-ray fairs any better against digital downloads.
Result for: Convert
Toshiba CEO Atsutoshi Nishida has finally talked out about his company’s decision to drop HD DVD and went as far as to say that the format did not “stand a chance” following Warner’s decision to drop the format for Blu-ray.
Citing the Warner decision, Nishida said that the format would have only had 20% of the software market share and that Warner’s decision sealed the format war’s fate.
“One has to take calculated risks in business, but it’s also important to switch gears immediately if you think your decision was wrong,” explained Nishida. “We were doing this to win, and if we weren’t going to win then we had to pull out, especially since consumers were already asking for a single standard.”
In the wake of the end of the HD format war, Toshiba said it would focus more on upconverting standard-def DVD players and PCs as well as HD digital downloads.
“We’ve been developing technologies in [the video downloads] area already, but now that we don’t have the HD DVD business, I want to put even more energy into that,”added Nishida.
