Are Blu-ray, HD DVD Incentives Changing the Format War?

Retailers and manufacturers are throwing all kinds of incentives around to woo consumers over to either Blu-ray or HD-DVD, but what does it all mean?

Both the software and hardware sides have seen heavy promotion.

Here in Canada, retailer Future Shop (a subsidiary of Best Buy) is promoting select Blu-ray and HD-DVD titles at 2 for $25 $50. Amazon.com appears to be in clearance mode on HD-DVD, offering up to 53% off select titles.

There are rumors raging across the blogosphere that Circuit City is unloading their HD DVD player inventory, not as a "get ready for the new model" move, but as a strategic shift toward backing Blu-ray.

At press time, Circuit City had not supplied me with an official statement on their position.

Reading the sale flyers in my mailbox for the past few weeks, the retail offers for Blu-ray have been extremely aggressive. Through the big-box retailers, Panasonic, Sony and Sharp have all been offering free Blu-ray players bundled up with flat panel televisions.

Some industry watchers (myself included) have called foul on this, asserting that getting a free player with a TV you would have bought anyways is hardly indicative of swelling consumer demand. (Especially considering that Panasonic and Sharp are industry leaders and the darlings of Consumer Reports in the plasma and LCD categories, respectively.)

But is any of this indicative of either HD optical disc format gaining traction with consumers? Or are these last ditch Hail Mary plays on the part of both camps?

In my opinion, bundling hardware along with TV purchases seems like a last ditch effort to increase the installed base, even at the cost of devaluing the product as not just a commodity, but a freebie.

Even though more industry watchers are declaring HD DVD's death, I can't help but wonder if the Blu-ray camp knows that they have a limited amount of time to press their advantage before HD downloads make the whole struggle moot.

With iTunes' now offering sales and rentals of HD movies and with the expected growth of media centers, you don't have to look to far into the future to see the end of the sidewalk for physical media.

Last March, tech guru Paul Kedrosky described the format war as "two dog packs fighting over a decomposing bone." His quip is starting to look even more correct than it did a year ago.

So far, we know what's going in in retail, and we always know what the fanboys on either side who fill up the comments section think, but I'd like to hear input from integrators about what's actually happening in custom.

Are any of you installing any players that aren't a Playstation 3? What are your clients asking about, and how are you answering them?

Let us know in the comments below.

Lee Distad is a freelance CEDIA Certified Professional Designer who offers design and process consultation to firms in the Custom Installation industry, as well as copy writing and other professional writing services. Lee’s business and industry blog can be read at http://www.leedistad.com

This story was updated at 1:00 PM EST to fix the price of Future Shop's promos, as pointed out by commenters Daniel, Craig and Stephen.