Kudos to Bestbuy and Wells Fargo

[Brokemofo]

Yesterday I got a gift card in the mail from Bestbuy for $50. They gave it to me because I was one of the idiots who bought a HD-DVD player which has now become a failed format. I give BB a lot of credit for stepping up to the plate and giving people voluntary refunds.

Also, Wells Fargo sent me a check for $1250 as a refund of my escrow acccount for taxes and insurance. I guess our property taxes have gone down, so my house payment is less by almost $100 monthly. I know, Wells was simply giving me my own money, but still... .

[LuxLiving]

Nice!

[jodi]

Hey, we were idiots too We got our gift card last week. And we were assured by a family member, who works in the movie industry, that HD was the way to go.....(he bought one too). Live and learn, I guess!

[disneysteve]

The format wars will never end. I clearly remember the Beta vs. VHS battle. The worst thing is, the format that "wins" is not always the best one. It is just the one with the best marketing. Ask any video professional who was around then and they'll tell you that Beta was the superior technology. Many professionals continued to use Beta for many years after it stopped being sold on a consumer level.

Of course, I'm typing this message on my Apple iMac computer, so I know all too well how the superior technology doesn't always become the mainstream one.

[Broken Arrow]

Woah gang, what's with the harsh self-criticisms?

Up until the last several months, it wasn't clear which way it would have went. And even then, it was hard to tell which way the movie studios would have decisively thrown their weight behind....

But yeah, this format war was dragging out a bit too long, and everyone risked losing it all.... Manufacturers, content producers, and consumers alike.

You may not want to hear this, but at this point, Sony is already rolling out Blu-Ray's newer format, BD 2.0. This one is still Blue-Ray, but also has some of the more advanced features that we've come to expect and take for granted from regular DVDs.... And if you have an early set top player that has non-upgradeable firmwares, you may be unable to play these new disks in the near future (or at least not enjoy the newer interactive features)....

Plus, Blu-Ray's real competitor was never HD-DVD exactly.... Truth is, both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD were in danger from the humble PC. Yes, PC! Lots of people now own TiVO, which if you think about it, is a stripped down PC with a hard drive.

Nowadays, with broadband, affordable high capacity hard drives, and existing MPEG formats that are capable of scaling up to native HD formats, it's just as capable of playing HD content as Blu-Ray, and do so without having to pay Sony royalty to use their proprietary format.

Oh, and don't count out the existing DVD market just yet. Unlike the VHS cassette to DVD transition, Blu-Ray is more of an evolutionary step rather than a revolutionary one. And because it's an evolutionary step, I believe DVD will still thrive as a budget format. For example, there are always going to be grandmas out there who won't see anything wrong with their $30 players they bought from Wally-mart, even if it doesn't play in 1080p.

Indeed, there is so much competitive pressure out there that the movie studios had no choice but to throw their decisive weight behind one format. There's plenty to lose but not whole lot to gain unless they can settle this quickly. But I'm rambling. I do think it's very cool for Best Buy to have offered returns for HD-DVD players when they certainly didn't have to.