What Is HD DVD? Now What?
Surely you’ve heard the saying, “Buyer beware.” Regardless, most consumers assume that if they’re paying $300 for a new high-definition film playing machine, it’s not going to become obsolete in less than a years time. That’s exactly what happened to people who bought into the hype surrounding Toshiba/Microsoft’s HD DVD players last year.
To console the losers of the format war, Samsung is developing a Blu Ray disc/HD DVD combo drive that will read both formats. Many other retailers and manufacturers are following suit.
Best Buy is offering a $50 gift card to people who purchased an HD DVD player or HD DVD Xbox360 unit before February 23rd. The gift cards should all be automatically mailed out by May 1st to “Reward Zone” customers or people who bought warranties. Other customers must call 1-888-BestBuy and have a receipt or credit card information ready, as proof of purchase.
Similarly, Amazon is the most recent retailer to jump on the $50-Giveaway bandwagon. Some Amazon customers received an email, stating: “New technologies don’t always work out as planned.
Similarly, Wal-Mart shoppers will receive full refunds on returns of HD DVD machines, provided that customers still have their receipts. Anyone who purchased an HD DVD player on or after November 1st can return their player by April 30th to receive their money back and dispose of the old machine. Customers who were unfortunate enough to lose their receipts may want to turn to Best Buy’s trade-in center for a reprieve.
Combo Blu Ray disc/HD DVD players may be the hot-ticket item for the next few years, as manufacturers and industry leaders scramble to regain some of the diminished consumer confidence.
Both Samsung and LG have developed Blu Ray/HD DVD combo players that can read both formats. A consumer’s best bet, then, would be to return the old player for credit towards this new player, unless he or she hasn’t purchased many HD DVDs, in which case, simply buying a new Blu Ray disc player wouldn’t be such a bad idea. There is yet another option on the horizon: Sony is looking at a TV/Blu Ray DVD player hybrid, although the release date is not yet scheduled.
