The real question, of course, is how long will Blu-Ray be around before VoD takes over?

Longer then HD DVD thats for sure.  Of course all physical media will just dissapear the second VoD becomes mainstream...

Uh huh... Somehow, I don't see HD DVD going on too much longer without Wal&*Mart's distribution muscle.

Game Over!

VOD won't take over. We've had VOD for over 15 years and it didn't stop DVD adoption and it certainly hasn't killed DVD sales.

Several years until a new physical format comes out? Video on Demand is a terrible idea. What are you going to do when your hard drive fails and you've lost your entire video collection? When physical media breaks/cracks/gets scratched guess what, you only lost one movie.

We make DVDs now and are wondering if now is a good time to get started creating Blu-Ray but we are afraid that it might not take off because of price.  Do you see this as a real issue or not an issue at all?

"history tells us that as more people move to a new technology prices typically go down"

If this claim is true, be prepared to watch as history fails to repeat itself in this particular situation.  If retailers continue to edge out HD DVD like this to the point of a 'win', you will see Blu-Ray prices return to their original inflated aspired levels for quite some time.

I am very disappointed that bluray wins. I will just use the normal DVD for now.

Take care of the boardband infastructures first before VoD can take over.  Without necessary infastructures, VoD is just a pipe dream.

VoD has been here for ever through cable and now on the internet.  It is always behind hard media in quality and each time it does catch up with the latest def standard it still isn't chosen that much by the consumer.

There is less than $0.15 difference between Blu-ray disk production and DVD production currently.  As it achieves greater production and adoption, Blu-ray will be cheaper to produce than DVDs.

Why cheaper?

Blu-ray disks are technically cheaper to make.  DVDs require bonding two plastic layers (the data layer is between the two).  Blu-ray places the data on the surface of the plastic layer that is covered by an anti-scratch coating.  The two-layer assembly has a higher basic price (note that dual layer Blu-ray disks do require this).  The high cost now is due to development costs and initial production setup costs.

I really dont think this is going to matter, like the Netflix news. Amazon.com is the biggest retailer of HD DVDs and can price cheaper than Wal MArt anyway.

The big question is will this help Blu-ray as I dont see WalMart shoppers spending the kind of money that is required to be spent on BD players.

Yeah, I won't go Blu no matter what...it's just not a good format.  I'll stick with my HD DVD player for now and enjoy it.  Oh well - VOD and Downloads, here I come!!

All retailers are jumping on the band wagon= keeping their stocks happy.  Ive seen plenty of HD-DVD players at my WM...funny thing, the only thing blu they have is movies.  I have yet to see a blu ray player or even a display for one.  VOD will not take over until HD rentals are downloadable to PC, not some special crappy box that can't be upgraded.  The VOD war will be just as bad as the blu/hd-dvd war.

All retailers are jumping on the band wagon= keeping their stocks happy.  Ive seen plenty of HD-DVD players at my WM...funny thing, the only thing blu they have is movies.  I have yet to see a blu ray player or even a display for one.  VOD will not take over until HD rentals are downloadable to PC, not some special crappy box that can't be upgraded.  The VOD war will be just as bad as the blu/hd-dvd war.

Seems to me that DVD did not have a rival and the prices of both players and media came down from the initial release. And VHS prices came down when Beta (the BETTER format) went away. So just be patient...prices will drop. VOD will not be mainstream because people are materialistic and want a physical product they can hold in their hands. That is the result of us being brainwashed by the corporate agenda. Accept it, and forget the VOD argument.

I'm assuming we are going to see an official press release from Wal-Mart about this decision soon.

The price of blu ray is high, but most people didnt even know what dvd was when it came out, and those players were $599-799 too, its an adaption. and it is way better then VoD, i dont own a blu ray player yet, but i will definatly be buying one, and it is very likely that a price drop it to come because they shrunk the bluRay lazer by almost half...  job well done sony!

VoD has been around forever, yes... but the ability to quickly transfer high quality (i.e.: large files) hasn't.  As our average data transfer speed increases, you'll see VoD take off.

Do people like physical media?  Sure.  But VoD will be around for a long time to come - and I'd be willing to bet that Blu-Ray won't account for too much more than PlayStation 3's and former LaserDisc owners before the next big format comes out.

This is unfortunate considering that there are over 1 million owners of HD DVD players in some form.  I do agree that VoD is certainly the future, but when exactly is that future?  Tomorrow?  Next quarter?  Next year?  It's most likely in the next 5-10 years.

Personally, I have no interest in investing in Blu-ray in it's current state.  "Grace", "Final", or "Full" Profile standards?  Add to this is the price for them.  As of typing this you offer the Toshiba A3 for $139.28 versus the Sony BDP-S300 for $369.54.  The price difference is nearly double that of the A3.

I am dissappointed with your companie's decision in siding with one side and not offering your loyal customer the option to make an informed decision for themself.  Consumers have no problem with choices of multiple gaming consoles.  (PS3 vs. Xbox 360 vs. Nintedo Wii)  There also seems to be little confusion when they make camera purchases.  (Sony, Kodak, etc.)  What about computer/laptop purchases?  (HP, Toshiba, Compaq, Dell) 

By simply removing a HD DVD from your store your company is also removing the choice that over 1 million consumers and (most likely many) Walmart customers have already made.

Here's why VoD will, eventually, take over.

There's virtually *no* cost associated with it.  No shipping, no returns (i.e.: copies from a store that didn't sell), no defective copies.

Will there still be physical media?  Yeah.  But picture this - New movie is released in theaters.  Doesn't do so hot on it's first weekend.  By the second weekend, it's obvious that people aren't going to go see it.  What's a movie studio to do?  Hit the "send to stores" button.

You'll go to your local store, go up to a kiosk similar to a Kodak Picture Maker or such, select the movie you want, it'll copy it to a DVD/Blu-Ray/FlashDrive (whatever applies at the time), perhaps throw in some recent movie trailers, print you out a case insert and *bam* - you're set to go.  Such a machine could hold virtually *every* movie ever made.  Trailers could be updated on a regular basis.  Missed Prison Break or Lost last night?  Go to your Wal*Mart the next day and buy it for a buck or two.  No worries of theft or unsold product at the store level.  Instant inventory.

This is the kind of VoD service I see coming at some point.

Here are a few questions I have:

1 - When will the last major motion picture studios (Paramount, and most importantly, Universal) announce their support for Blu-Ray as well? I am glad that one format is emerging (even though I bought an HD-DVD player last Thanksgiving).

2 - What will happen to the price of HD-DVDs already on the market? Will they go down (in order to sell out of stock as Blu-Ray takes over) or will they remain the same? I'm sure the studios would rather make at least some rather than have to eat those returns....

3 - Will the studios re-produce movies in Blu-Ray that originally were produced only in the HD-DVD format (for example - the Fast & Furious movies, the Jason Bourne Trilogy or Heroes, Season 1)? In addition to that, what about new releases like American Gangster, Beowulf and Bee Movie?

VoD will not replace physical media.  Just look at ISP and how they limit bandwidth and have redicule download limit/month.

We have VoD here with Videotron (digital cable), and it's far from any normal video rental store.  The choice is very limited, not all movies are in DD 5.1 and even less in HD.  And it's only rental, you don't get to own anything.  Want to watch it again?  Well, rent/pay it again....

Movie buffs and collectors wont be flocking to VoD anytime soon.