Comments on: BestBuy gives away $10m to HDDVD buyers

By: Respect-My-Authority

Respect-My-Authority — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:18:13 +0000

Why are all you ba****ds complaining about getting only $50. Would you rather get nothing? At least they are giving you something, unlike any other retailer. And they aren’t even obligated to give you s**t. They are taking money out of their pocket, to help people who bought an HD-DVD Player instead of a Blu-Ray Player. It’s too bad unthankful s**t’s like yourself might actually get the $50 gift card.

By: m0

m0 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:42:27 +0000

So, If I bought a laptop that has a HD-DVD Player (Acer 5920G T5250) do I get this $50 card? I have the receipt….

I better damnit, maybe I should petition Acer for a similar deal- or get a replacement as I think some of the 5920g’s (europe models- they even had better procs too) got Blueray….

By: Cromwell

Cromwell — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:40:53 +0000

“Disc are obsolete anyway–it’s all going digital.”

I’ve been hearing that statement over and over for over a decade now. I’ll believe it when it actually happens. Personally, I would rather take owning a physical disc over a DRM-laden rental any day.

Like someone else said, HD-DVD losing the format war doesn’t mean HD-DVD gear suddenly stops working. I knew Blu-Ray was going to win a long time ago and still bought an HD-DVD player (the Xbox 360 attachment).

At a time when options for HD content where I live were very limited and/or low quality, it was an inexpensive choice that I don’t at all regret buying. Seeing as it enabled me to watch plenty of good HQ HD material using it, I would say it has more than justified itself.

Everything goes obsolete eventually, and anyone whom actually owns a large screen HDTV (emphasis on large) will tell you that it’s not about the format; it’s about HD content and having as much of it as possible, something I think the war helped move forward.

By: PatheticNewGuy

PatheticNewGuy — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:20:20 +0000

Disc are obsolete anyway–it’s all going digital.

I still have my spindle of 50 dvd-r’s I bought last year collecting dust on my shelf. My collection of external hard drives is rather impressive, however.

By: Futz

Futz — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:23:19 +0000

This isn’t Best Buy being nice to people out of the goodness of their hearts. Giving away $50 gift cards means they’ll end up MAKING more money on average, not losing $50 per person. When somebody has a gift card, they rarely use it to buy something that ends up being worth the value of the card. Usually, it’s far more expensive or far less. If I use a gift card to buy something for $200 (or a Blu-Ray player for more than that), Best Buy haven’t lost a penny. They’ve made a big profit. If I use a gift card to buy something for $30, I will feel the psychological desire to buy something else (for fear of “losing” $20). Chances are, I will use that card towards a larger purchase.

Each of these purchases are at Best Buy, not at the competition. If I want to buy a Blu-Ray player, it’ll probably be with my $50 gift card, not for full price with the competition.

This is classic marketing, not charity.

By: Zleet

Zleet — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:34:03 +0000

Loads of websites here in the UK have been selling the Toshiba HD-DVD players for crazy low prices with upto seven free HD-DVD’s after BD won.

Just because one format was victorious doesn’t mean HD-DVD’s magically stop working. For £50 you get an upscaling DVD player that as a bonus happens to play some HD movies.

HD-DVDs are also selling for under £5 on some sites.

By: indianpunk

indianpunk — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:59:00 +0000

smart marketing trick

i am sure 70-80% of those people will end up buying a blu ray dvd player from the gift card + their own money which will end up increasing best buy’s sales figures

smart succkers they’ll earn more than 10 mill after a month

i’d like to see their profit report for this month 4 sure

By: SAWB

SAWB — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:47:23 +0000

It is not Best Buys’ fault that people made bad decisions.
I’d be pissed if I were a shareholder.

What’s next. Refunds for Flobee’s?

By: uraloser

uraloser — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:46:05 +0000

wow that’s so sweet, I feel tears rolling down my cheeks.

@13 if no one bought a single player or disc, how would the war ever come to an end? thank the ones who made a sacrifice so you didn’t have to.

By: Fizzycakes

Fizzycakes — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:35:54 +0000

I honestly don’t see why anyone would buy either one while the format war was still going. There’s really no point.

By: fartist

fartist — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:48:11 +0000

Agreed. Anyone who was dumb enough to buy a HD-DVD player only have themselves to blame. It’s cool of Best Buy to do this, but there’s no way the customers should expect compensation for their bad decisions. They took a gamble – if they were not aware that they took a gamble, then that just goes to show that a fool and his money are easily parted.

By: Hostspace Fillah

Hostspace Fillah — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:43:48 +0000

spot on. these kids get all excited by a bit of fancy gadgetry and marketing, let them pay the price for the ads and the r&d. you and i will get round to buying when we feel they’ve dropped in price to a sensible level relative to what they actually cost to produce. as for the price of the discs – wtf?!!

By: cal981

cal981 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:26:43 +0000

Fifty bucks basterds knock off 100 off a blue ray player .

By: Britnasty

Britnasty — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:26:31 +0000

Sweet!

I’ll use it to buy Blu-rays lmao

By: äm-irk

äm-irk — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:17:14 +0000

10m = 10 meters
10M = 10 000 000