January 29, 2008

Woolworth's Drops HD DVD In UK

The UK's biggest retailer of next-generation DVD's, Woolworth's, has dropped the HD DVD format in favor of Blu-ray. No cutbacks for shelf space there, they just dropped the format entirely. The change will take a few months, to commence in March, but Woolworth's will continue to sell HD DVD's online.

The decision was made after Christmas sales figures showed that Blu-ray outsold HD DVD 10-1 during the festive season in UK Woolworth's stores, though those numbers due in part to the success of the Playstation 3 game console in the land of royalty.

The HD DVD Promotional group has responded with pricing info and standalone sales numbers. Olivier Van Wynendaele, European assistant general manager of the Consumer Products Division for Toshiba told Pocket-lint that HD DVD standalone player sales still account for 60% of overall high-def player sales and HD DVD players still cost about half the price of Blu-ray players. He also pointed out to software sales figures, saying that UK HD DVD player owners have purchased on average 3.5 HD DVD's while the average Blu-ray player owner has only purchased one Blu-ray disc.

While disappointed by the decision, Van Wynendaele said that it's much to early to pick a winner in the format war, and where customers have choice they'll inevitably pick HD DVD over Blu-ray.