Wal-Mart Names HD DVD the Winner

There is one retailer that has the power to call the winner of the protracted Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD fight and that vendor is Wal-Mart. Over the weekend they apparently leaked plans to bring in a massive number of low cost (possibly sub $200) HD DVD players for Christmas.

The manufacturing side of this has apparently been in the works for a few years but this is the first time we have had projected prices for the result.

[Violater]

the purveyor of cheap plastic crap has actually picked a side, well that tells me what not to buy.

[consolewar]

and not in a good way.
If this is true watch out BlueRay

[Frulond]

Is this the player shaped like Shrek's a$$?
bwahahaha

[ErcsYou]

hahahah...in california, we call walmart wallyworld. its a peice a sh!t store full of welfare recipents and sluts, cybersentinal probably shops their ( he buys extra lube for the next time M$ fuks him ) they always get their stuff sooo late and all the broke sucker fish dig through the dvd bargin bins . only reason i ever go to walmart is to steal krylon and pull scams( $413.19 gift cards, hahaha). walmart is a huge company and offers crappy medical coverage and leaves the bill for the state. they are the scum of america. i however will make somebody is screwing over wallyworld.....me.

[kornbeaner]

How do you do the thing with the gift cards? cause I know of a lot of people that do it but I lost contact with them.

[BubblesDAVERAGE]

When have they ever picked a winner for anything ? I dont even buy my games from there,but i did buy my rope,duck tape and sleeping pills there.

[T-Virus]

And if they premote HD-DVD over Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray is going to have a hard time.

[techie]

And we're still running off a bad translation. A translation that said "blu-ray hd-dvd"...a name that everyone in europe gives to blu-ray discs. Hell my mum calls blu-ray...blu-ray HD-DVD since she thinks it isn't a dvd, it's a high-def dvd.

Also a translation which said it was made by TDK...blu-ray. And let alone Walmart pushes blu-ray.

We'll see when we get a proper translation. But there really should be anough of these guys running off the same article...it's just rehashing stuff which we don't know and he says it at the end "if this is true..." How is that news?

[Bigmac573]

The hicks that shop at Walmart can't afford the HDTV to play them on.

[WTF]

Its to early to call a winner.

[DJ]

was based off the poorly translated production article that also had the word Blu-ray described in the product statement. Blu-ray discs actually cost less to manufacture than HD-DVD discs since they can store more data on fewer layers (the source of the cost).

[nambo]

Perhaps the BR costs less per gig (50 vs. 30), but it's cheaper to produce one HD-DVD than one BR disc. And as is completely evident right now, 50 GBs are not required for Hi-Def movies.

[xfrgtr]

HD DVD camp unable to confirm Wal-Mart HD DVD player
"The biggest news to hit the format war in some time hit last week with word that Wal-Mart and China's Great Wall corporation struck a deal to bring inexpensive HD DVD players to market. While this is would be great news for all HD fans, we were left a bit worrisome by the translation dispute between the two camps. Just to make sure we had our facts straight, we updated the post and contacted HD DVD to get the full story. While the HD DVD camp reminded us that they have inexpensive players from China on the way, they weren't able to confirm any "specific reports relating to Wal-Mart". It seems to us that if this were indeed true, that the HD DVD camp would be the first to trumpet its significance to their success in the format war. As much as we all want inexpensive next generation HD disc players, we will just have to wait for something more official before we hold off on our purchases waiting for Wal-Mart."
http://www.engadgethd.com/2...

[tomfoolery]

there it is.If this is true,without a doubt,Blu Ray will lose exclusive
movie studio backing.
Oh and what a blow to the trojan condom horse ps3!!

[level 360]

That's just the way it is... and the really cheap and no-name brands from the East ( mostly from China ) has'nt even been released on the market ( wait till you get hold of this... ), and their definitely going to drive the prices way down further and that will make a very big impact on the other big brands to offer us a better deal/choice. Good for us average consumers', because frankly we don't care who's going to win HD-DVD, Blu-ray or both. Price is the biggest factor that will drive the budgets for us hardworking dads and moms. Before when dvd first started selling their products here in Australia, the cost of a player used to be AU$3,000.00 - AU$1,000.00 ( region coded ), now you can buy a good one ( multi-region and w/ more features that you can name... ) for AU$50.00 - AU$300.00!!! So what are you all complaining about? Reality check mates'...

[Boink]

and it's a big IF walmart decide that, that would be huge, cause walmart has a HUGE client base.

however I would wait for an official annoucement from walmart before believing any of this.

[Bill Gates]

"Never trust companies with a monopoly on their markets".

Microsoft & Wal-Mart (now I know where you got your name from TheMART, you wal-mart's #1 employee right?)

If this turns out to be true, It'll push SONY even harder to lower the price of the PS3, and make them put out even more astounding games to showcase the power of the PS3 and the advantage of blu-ray.

Come on seriously, $200 bucks for a next generation HD player. That tells me Blu-Ray was and IS the superior format.

What a bully move on the part of M$ and wal-mart. And don't kid yourself if you don't thing M$'s hands aren't in this scheme.

[Boink]

seriously dud, what's your issue?

so if sony dropped the blu ray player price to match it does that mean it's quality now sucks too?

nice logic...

and if this rumour is true, and MS did have a hand in this, then quite frankly it's pur marketing f*ing genius. then it will go down as likely the blow that sent bluray the way of beta, aac, umd, laser disc, the list goes on...

but it's still only a rumour, relax:)

[masterg]

#boink

Not the same in anyway.
If sony drop the price of their players to match they will do it without profit and maybe even loss.
Wal-Mart does everything for profit meaning the player has been really cheap to make.

[Boink]

so if anybody EXCEPT sony makes something for a cheaper price, then it's garbage. gotcha.

[Bill Gates]

The PS3 is a Media Center, not just a game console. So no sh!t SONY has best interest in protecing, and seeing that it's superior format they developed wins over the lower quality. It's a no brainer. If Sony drops the price, it's because they are ready to put it all on the line becasue right now they have all their eggs in the PS3.The PS3 is a very big challenge for Sony to take on both on a hardware aspect, as well as on a bussiness practice aspect. Both new and very diferent practices from previous Sony strategies. That's my logic.

It's not just the price, it's the quality that matters . The majority of SONY products have always been very reliable.

[blackmagic]

"Bill Gates" #12
"Never trust companies with a monopoly on their markets"

In the last console generation Sony had three times the market share of both Nintendo and Microsoft combined. I consider that to be pretty comparable to Microsoft which has about four times the market share of linux and apple combined so what exactly is your message here?

"Bill Gates" #12
"What a bully move on the part of M$ and wal-mart"

Really? Like 'forcing every Playstation 3 owner into adopting Blu-Ray' type of bully? Or do you mean 'buying a controlling share of the MGM, Tristar, Orion, and Columbia movie studios to ensure exclusive support of Blu-Ray' kind of bully?

"Bill Gates" #12.4
"SONY has best interest in protecing, and seeing that it's superior format they developed wins over the lower quality."

That's interesting because every home theatre publication such as Home Theatre Mag, The Perfect Vision, Ultimate AV, Sound and Vision, Home Entertainment etc have ALL given the nod to HD DVD for picture quality. No Exception. The HD DVD exclusive 'Thompson Film Grain Technology' is likely responsible for giving HD DVD the quality edge over Blu-Ray regardless of how much space it has.

I respect people for having legitimate reasons for liking one format over the other such as prefered studio support, prefered electronics manufacturers etc but if you are going to throw out bullshyte fanboy comments about an industry you know nothing about just because you like a partucular console then you deserve to be put in your place.

[Ps3ShellShock]

you can sell HD DVD players for 20 bucks - if theres no movies for it then its worthless

blu-ray will win due to teh fact of PS3 & movie companies..once universal goes to bluray or will make movies for both its over or when the PS3 sales pick up which should be sept then thatll only make things worse.

its just humanly impossible for HD DVD to win the war

[blackmagic]

Ah man, there's all kinds of them here today. Are you talking about the MSNBC owned Universal Studios moving to Blu-Ray? MS-nbc? I'm pretty sure that Universal is going to be exclusive for quite some time. Blu-Ray may have more studios but Universal is similar in size to Sony Pictures, MGM, Tristar and Columbia combined.

Keep in mind that Disney and Fox both have non-exclusive agreements with the Blu-Ray association. ie they can choose to support both formats at any time and with the PS3 not performing to the metric that Sony claimed it would, some of that support could weaken.

[zantetsuken]

It's blu-ray, not HD-DVD.

Does anyone read the entire article?

"So, if this move by Wal-Mart is true , and it appears to be (but we won’t know for sure for a few months yet), the format war is likely over and Wal-Mart has declared the winner."

[ben hates you]

is wow

[grifter024]

I love your logic Shell Shock.. So no studio support will destroy HDDVD... Thats funny... First Yes BR does have a lot of Studio Support but Lately I havent really seen any good movies out for it.. I havent seen 1 Disney/Pixar movie out yet.. Soo yaaa.. Then you say Universal is going to BR.. Are you serious?? Riiiggghhtt ... Warner is neutral and warner is having a hard time with BR disks .. This is true in fact with The Matrix. Trilogy .. The Java is trash on BR.. Thast why you dont have any Warner movies on BR yet.. So yaaa nice going there buddy...

But back to your logic saying their is nothing on HDDVD is completly false and is truly a Fanboy attributed comment.. But based on your logic I would think that the PS3 would have the same problem as HDDVD dont you think? Their really isnt anything on PS3 right now what MOtoStorm?? Thats nice .. The sales should pick up in Sept? Why would someone have to wait that long when you waste 650$+??? So with your logic 1 can say "It's just humanly impossible for PLAYSTATION 3 to win the war" .. You cant really get mad because I just stated what you put .. Soo ya good job bro .. But I cant wait for the Matrix Trilogy thats going to be cool.. Huh wonder how good the ANIMATRIX will look nice...

[kmis87]

1. May 22nd, Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean 1 & 2. Over 1.5 billion in box office sales. June, Pixar, Cars, Disney, Sin City. Winter this year, Disney, Pirates 3, Pixar, Ratatouille, Sony, Spiderman 3, Fox, Simpson's Movie, Die Hard 4. HDDVDs biggest blockbuster this year: Evan Almighty (which is still quite important), not a whole lot more after that though.

2. The Departed - Warner - sells about twice as many BluRay discs as HDDVD discs in the same time period, despite the BluRay version having to compete more new releases.

& a change of pace with 3. The animatrix won't be a seperate release on HDDVD, but will be included in one of the matrix release bundles. I think Ultimate Matrix bundle. Have fun getting that six months before ps3 owners. Unfortunately for you though Bluray will eventually get it while HDDVD will never get Bluray exclusives like Casino Royale.

[lilwingman]

This may be true, I don't know, but if it is, than it only means that we can expect to see the price of BD players drastically falling over the next year or two to stay competitive.

I really don't see how Wal-Mart siding with HD-DVD will make a huge difference though. The same titles are still going to be available on BD, and likewise with HD-DVD. If you want to see films from Disney, Sony, etc. you will have to buy a BD player. Likewise with Universal, Weinstein Company, etc. and HD-DVD.

And IMO, most families who are the least bit tech savy and wanna upgrade to an HD format are more likely to side with a recognizable and trusted brand (Toshiba, Samsung, Sony, etc.), even if it requires paying more.

[NikV3]

all blu-ray supporters pull there stuff from wal-mart, this includes, sony, samsung, pioneer, sharp, fox, disney, lg and of course all movie studios sony owns, 4 to be exact, and sony bmg, the secong largest record label in the world, tell wal-mart to have fun with toshiba and say goodbye to there electronics department. i bet you would see blu-ray on wal-mart shelves in at least 3 months. but companies probly wont wanna do all that, but if they did, it would have a giant effect on wal-mart.

[power of Green]

Microsoft is competing against a monopoly in the console market(Sony's PlayStation). LLOOOLLLL.....

((((Boink)))) not following ya!, it has been established that MS has monopolized other markets my post is in response to BILL GATES saying companies that monopolize markets are evil and i pointed out the Sony's PlayStation, do you understand?.

[Boink]

and sony's not competing against a monopoly in the software market?

[power of Green]

The studios chase the market base; they back Blu-ray because they were/are/still/maybe convinced BR would/will/could win hands down and Sonys dealings with the Studios whispering in ears about PS2 and how its domanince will playout with PS3 has made people hardheaded. I'm sure people have said the same thing you're saying when Beta MAx was in the same shape as Blu-ray is now.

Format Wars...

TDK jumped ship. Others have gone neutral too. All movie studios have gone neutral excluding Fox and MGM (MGM is owned by Sony) and Fox pulled all upcoming Blu-Ray titles as I'm pretty sure they had this news before everyone else here.

Samsung, LG and some others have gone neutral too. Samsung being the original backer behind Blu-Ray as well.

And here a piece of the press release that has been translated, let me know if any of this starts looking like Blu-Ray please

From press release:

Quote -
Deng Hungchi also mentioned that Blue HD-DVD for high-volume, high-quality images, high resolution vision, machine Images can be more realistic, more beautiful images. Its advantage is more easily with existing DVD discs maintain compatibility, and may continue to use existing DVD production equipment CDs and facilitate the expansion of the distance between lens and do not need, such as CD-ROM cartridges, substantially reduced from the current transition to HD DVD, the cost for the DVD, makes disc manufacturers switch from DVD to HD DVD when the costs can be reduced to a minimum. Moreover, the HD DVD recording capacity is smaller, but the eye, decontamination capability, and without cartridges, dish Therefore the production process easier and less costly.

Deng Hungchi is general manager of Fuh Yuan.

You see what he's saying is HD-DVD only ability. Blu-Ray requires completely revamped manufacturing process.

I don't know why people are surprised, these news reports have been around for years now. So how is this any surprise to the BD supporters who keep threadcrapping everywhere? It's obviously the HD-DVD format, and you will most likely hear additional companies such as Alco, Shinco and Lite-On (mentioned at CES) announcing lower-priced players for other major retailers as well (Target, Sears, K-Mart?). This was publicly announced at CES in January, so why the denial? Did BD folks think this was all simply BS?

Quote -
OCT, 2005: In the high-stakes battle with Sony over whose format will power the next-generation of DVD players, Toshiba has adopted a potentially perilous strategy: encouraging low-cost Chinese competitors to crank out machines using its standard known as HD-DVD.

The tactic of courting Chinese makers has been largely taboo in Japan, where manufacturers like Sony and Panasonic have long tried to delay their technology from turning into cheap commodities. But Toshiba's decision could have significant ramifications in the race for the billions of dollars that will very likely flow from the next generation of DVD technology that promises sharper pictures, enhanced audio and more disc storage.

Sony and the Blu-ray group are licensing their technology more selectively. Analysts call this an effort to prevent low-cost manufacturers, including those from China, from quickly driving down the price of Blu-ray machines when they reach stores next year. Many manufacturers are also wary of licensing their technology to the Chinese because of their record of not paying licensing and royalty fees.

The contrasting strategies underscore the increasingly uncomfortable choices that Japanese electronics makers must make as China's manufacturing might grows, whether it be in DVDs, televisions, cameras or other products.

JAN. 7 | LAS VEGAS Chinese manufacturers, known for low-cost consumer products, will begin making and shipping HD DVD players for the U.S. market by the end of 2007, HD DVD promotional group execs announced at an event here Sunday evening. Chinese manufacturers Alco, Shinco and Lite-On will join Toshiba in making players, as will Japanese company Onkyo, execs announced. Microsoft may also make players, officials said, but didn’t provide further details. Car system manufacturer Alpine is making a player for cars. The move is expected to add lower-priced players to the market, which could greatly expand household penetration for the format.

April 9, 2007 TOKYO, Japan (AP) Toshiba Corp. has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission and sued 17 companies, alleging infringement of its DVD patents, the Japanese electronics maker said Monday. The commission is an independent federal agency that checks on unfair trade practices and copyright infringements.

Toshiba filed a complaint Friday to the commission against the 17 companies, mostly Hong Kong and Chinese manufacturers and importers.

Also Friday, Toshiba filed a lawsuit demanding monetary damages to the same companies in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Toshiba spokeswoman Yuko Sugahara declined to comment on the damage amount.

Toshiba licenses DVD patents, but the companies, including Daewoo Electronics America Inc. of the U.S., Dongguan GVG Digital Technology of China and Star Light Electronics Co. of Hong Kong, don't have such licensing agreements, Toshiba said. Imported DVD products are sold without proper permission, the company said.

"The infringement of Toshiba's patents by these companies has damaged Toshiba's DVD-related business, and also caused damage to the legitimate and licensed DVD product manufacturing and distribution and business as a whole," Tokyo-based Toshiba said in a statement.

APRIL 20 | Wal-Mart apparently has ordered 2 million HD DVD players from China to sell at a target price of $299, according to a report out of Taiwan.

The introduction of low-priced Chinese-manufactured DVD players in Wal-Mart and other outlets in the U.S. helped spur the growth of the DVD format in its early years. A translation of the story was uploaded on the AVS Forum

[NikV3]

sony wasnt the largest electronics company in the world, they didnt own major movie studious, they didnt make parts for most of the hd lcd tv's made buy many many companies, well of course the didnt have hd tv's, but they also didnt have the power to take away half the electronics wal-mart sells, as ive said, so with all that, if the movie studios did stay 100% with BD wal-mart would take a bigger hit in the long run, and you better beleive if all this is true and not rumor, they have definitly takin all that into consideration

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Not saying I like Wal-Mart, hell I don't think many like the way the treat employees but there are Wal-Mart's everywhere you look. It’s a smart move for HD DVD, get the largest retail chain in the world to back you and no one in the world is better at competitive pricing than Wal-Mart.

[techie]

So what happens when the announcement is said to be false and it's blu-ray (it;s an if)...well you guys care...and so "oh sh*t" or will you downplay and say...oh its just walmart? It's interesting to watch change of opinions.

or when the "other side" start saying "hahaha blu-ray will win" when they've just been downplaying this as being a "cheap product"...

[tomfoolery]

this would only cause BR supporters more of a loss by not having any
products for sale on WalMart shelves.In other words,pull products to lose MORE
income.......for what?Revenge,some sort of boycott?Not probable.

[NikV3]

if they arent gonna sell BD at all, then why not just take away there electronics department untill they do, how is that not logical?

[tomfoolery]

illogical.

[ironwolf]

It's size exceeds the second, third, and fourth largest, combined.

Wal-Mart literally dictates the price they will pay for a product to most companies; and those companies accept the terms then bow down and kiss Wal-Mart's feet, thanking them for the privilege of displaying their wares.

The point I'm making is, if these reports are true, HD DVD will be guaranteed a win, and the studios that are currently Blu-Ray only will break their collective asses rushing to start publishing on HD DVD.

[NikV3]

best buy is the largest electronics retailer, we aint talkin milk and eggs here dude, or a pair of guess jeans

[freeza]

if this is true its going to be funny when nobody can find all the good movies at wallmart, whitch means other small store will make money.they should have been did this but now that bluray is kicking that ass they want to make ah move. its too late

[bootsielon]

...is written by the same guy that said, long before PS3s launch, that by judging from Blu-ray's headstart, it could only make HD-DVD not win, instead of taking the lead. Guess what happened? Yeah, you know who not to trust. His name is: Rob Enderle. He is still defending that point, despite the fact that numbers show he was wrong, lol. Furthermore, he is saying HD-DVD is cheaper to make, despite reports that Blu-ray is, as of now, cheaper per GB, and it has more room to cut costs than HD-DVD, getting eventually *cheaper*, if not only as cheap as DVD.

[tomfoolery]

Sony Blu-Ray has only acquired a couple of porn studios under their belt last time
I checked.HD-DVD has em all.......right?That's the last I heard.
Don't count out the porn!

[kewlkat007]

Make me wonder what your going to do with all those random(suspect) items. Stop fibbing.

Walmart is americas biggest retailer, if you don't think they matter then you have no business sense.

[NextGen24Gamer]

The first format to get a "Stand alone" player priced at 200 or less will win in the end. Can we all agree with that? Its pretty common sense stuff here. I personally believe that Walmart will be making the 200 dollar HD dvd player. Blu ray players cost 1000 plus. Besides the ps3 priced at 600. 200 for a blu ray player is just makes no sense. It would "KILL" ps3 sales. Sony ain't having that folks. HD dvd player stand alones "right now' are 399. ANd HD dvd has already announced 299 players being released this year. SO, 200 isn't a far stretch for Walmart. It just makes sense. But, of course people like DJ and Deep want to believe this news somehow has to do with blu ray. But, that goes against all common sense.

If indeed Blu ray players drop to 200 dollars before HD dvd...which makes no sense...I will admit that blu ray will win the format war. But, if its indeed HD dvd players that will be selling exclusively at walmart for 200 dollars....Will the sony die hards admit that HD dvd will win the format war? Thats the true test of if someone is a complete fanboy or if they actually have some common sense.

Understand this folks....If Walmart sells hd dvd players at 200 dollars......they will push hd dvd movies and offer better pricing for their hd dvd movie selection.....Its what they do with dvds right now. One thing we know for sure. Just because blu ray has sold a total of 1.2 million discs and HD dvd has sold a little over 900k discs.....means absoultely nothing when there are movie titles that sell in the millions within ONE week on standard DVD folks. The war is far from over. But, the first player to hit the 200 and under price "WILL WIN" in the end. Guarenteed. I haven't been wrong yet in my predictions. Not because I'm smarter than anyone. I just use commons sense instead of blind fanboyism. Think about it.

P.S. Movie studios will go follow what the consumers choose. They are in it for the money folks. And if consumer choose HD dvd...they will all switch to HD dvd or support both.

[LoydX-mas]

I always wondered if Wal-Mart is "the company" that owns everything in future in all those Alien movies. It looks as if this is coming true.

They are intentionally being confusing about which format this is because either Blu-ray or HD-DVD fans will race out and buy this thing because it will be so cheap(oh yea, and buy a few movies while you are there as well) Which is what Wal-mart really makes money on.

[brianodom]

The biggest news to hit the format war in some time hit last week with word that Wal-Mart and China's Great Wall corporation struck a deal to bring inexpensive HD DVD players to market. While this is would be great news for all HD fans, we were left a bit worrisome by the translation dispute between the two camps. Just to make sure we had our facts straight, we updated the post and contacted HD DVD to get the full story. While the HD DVD camp reminded us that they have inexpensive players from China on the way, they weren't able to confirm any "specific reports relating to Wal-Mart". It seems to us that if this were indeed true, that the HD DVD camp would be the first to trumpet its significance to their success in the format war. As much as we all want inexpensive next generation HD disc players, we will just have to wait for something more official before we hold off on our purchases waiting for Wal-Mart.

[IBLEEDBLU]

whens the last time wal-mart picked out a winner in anything hahahaha
they wont do this because wal-mart sells sony/apple/samsung etc etc..if they were 2 do this those companies will pull their products and then whats wal-mart gonna sell? only MS xbox360's hahaha just wont happen....

and the comment about porn - this isnt the 1990 where the internet was a rare thing...98% of ppl get their "FREE" porn of the net...u think people are really gonna go spend 200 on a cheap player to watch porno? when u can get it free hahahaha u people are stupid - it wont play a huge affect like it did back when VHS won

HD DVD is done - just accept and lets move on

[Imknow1]

But the CONSUMER (the moral of this comment) will determine who's the format winner and looking at the movies that are out now also what's coming later this year, hands down it's Blu-Ray. Now I'm not bashing on HD-DVD because I have one (the 360 add-on), but Blu-Ray has more and the most popular movies to choose from than HD-DVD. On a side note, if MS really wants to stay in lead as far as high definition content is concerned, they should release a Blu-Ray add-on since they claim it's all about "Choice" :D

[Diselage]

While this may not kill Blu-ray this hurts bad. Wal-mart can sway alot of things on any product, they just so huge and offer such good deals. Much shop at anti-christ.

[omansteveo]

This is going to have a big effect on the format war...i mean who doesnt go to wal-mart. Look at it this way with all of the Gamestops and Best-buy's and whatever else Wal-Mart is still the number on videogame retailer...This going to to have a pretty big impact if true.

[Rooted_Dust]

This is all based on an unconfirmed rumor. I'll reserver judgement until actual fact is published. You can't even buy HD or BR movies at my local Walmart, because of the lack of demand.

[Monchichi025]

Wal-mart has such a huge monopoly that it would be suicide for the companies to pull any support. Can you imagine how much money they would lose????? and there competition would only hugely benifit.

Protest do not work in the business world.

[Sphinx]

on Attack Of The Show during The Feed segment. They seemed rather convinced about the whole thing.

[nambo]

A lot of people are missing the biggest part of this article. That fact that Wal-Mart subsidizes the prices of DVD sold at their stores. If they are backing HD-DVD, I'm sure they'll use the same marketing strategy. That means cheaper HD-DVD players as well as HD-DVD movies. And for those down playing Wal-Marts impact, you're deluding yourselves. They are the largest retailer of DVD's in the US (I'm not sure globally). This move would force studio's not currently supporting HD-DVD to reconsider. If this rumor is true, Sony and the Blu-Ray camp are worried.

[joevfx]

why would they choose hd dvd of blu rya when blu ray is out sellign hd dvd movies 8 to 1. and do you really think if HD dvd makes a player for $200 that blu ray wont make one to compete? gimme a break.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

don`t tell me you guys are going to listen to WALMART.
my god, what has this came to....
WALMART?................ you can`t be serious.

walmart has no idea who is going to win.
and if you think they do...............man.

[joevfx]

thier was just an enormouse order made for blu ray players from taiwan. these could be a cheaper blu ray player.

http://google.com/translate...

[joevfx]

the blu ray diode will only cost $8 to make by June. So you will see cheaper blu ray players when hd dvd makes a cheap one.

[Maddens Raiders]

Wal - M... ahem China-Marts to the ground. The worst fuking money grubbing company on the face of the planet. Sam Walton would roll over in his grave if he knew how his satanic kids were running this company -- ruining Mom & Pop stores from coast to coast (like my Aunt & Uncles) and polluting the sh1t out of every community their in.

Wal-Mart: The Chinese Trojan horse. I don't give a fuk if they sold games for $1.00 a piece I wouldn't buy 'em. It only means some hard working American is getting screwed square in the Buttocks and their most likely stocking the shelves for $7.00/hr. with no healthcare.

Wal-Mart declares HD-DVD the winner? WoW - what an evil format it has just become. You know something has to be dirty if Tram-Law is behind it. (if true)

[Uganda64]

It's not true, but if it was, then the HD-DVD players would be in the price range of people who can't afford HDTVs, and would therefore have no need for an HD-DVD player. Wonderful.

Blu-ray won this long ago. And it'll drop in price faster with mass adoption if that's how you want to look at it. Oh, and it's got more studio, hardware and retailer support.

And this is a prediction by the guy who called Blu-ray a winner, then changed his mind when Blu-ray had actually won to make HD-DVD look like a winner, then made another crappy prediction last month.

Oh, and if anyone's in disagreement, Blu-ray's raping HD-DVD sales all over the world, and price wars will just be matched by the competitor. If it can match prices, and it already has support in every field in the bag, what makes anyone think HDead-DeadVDead can still win this? BR's also regarded as the superior format by majority.