Xtraxvision's plans for Blu-Ray rental

3rdDegree

Seems that if Blu-Ray is ever going to "take off" with the masses, the rental market is the way to do it. Most people don't buy a lot of movies; but do rent a lot.

It seems that Xtravision haven't updated their BD rental library since PS3 launch. For example, I would have though that "Night At The Museum" would be there by now.

Does anyone know their plans for BD rental. Have they decided it's a non-starter for now and wont be making any more disks available for the forseeable future? Or are they just planning on getting in new disks at a slower rate?

Thanks

chump

3rdDegree wrote:

Seems that if Blu-Ray is ever going to "take off" with the masses, the rental market is the way to do it. Most people don't buy a lot of movies; but do rent a lot.

It seems that Xtravision haven't updated their BD rental library since PS3 launch. For example, I would have though that "Night At The Museum" would be there by now.

Does anyone know their plans for BD rental. Have they decided it's a non-starter for now and wont be making any more disks available for the forseeable future? Or are they just planning on getting in new disks at a slower rate?

Thanks

It's a foolhardy business move by xtravision to move this quickly into blu-ray IMO. There's no market for it yet.

xanthor

chump wrote:

It's a foolhardy business move by xtravision to move this quickly into blu-ray IMO. There's no market for it yet.

Other retail shops must be foolhardy too then.

3rdDegree

chump wrote:

It's a foolhardy business move by xtravision to move this quickly into blu-ray IMO. There's no market for it yet.

Can't say I agree. When Xtravision started renting DVD, it was quite early too and they had the same small selection for ages. Of course, Blu-Ray (or HD-DVD) isn't going to be as much of a takeup as DVD.

Still, I've been looking for a WS CRT TV for a buddy of mine and no shops seem to stock them any more. Most new TV's now are HiDef LCD or Plasma.

chump

xanthor wrote:

Other retail shops must be foolhardy too then.

Other "retail shops" are renting blu-ray movies too? Could you please provide me with some examples.

Kevin2006

Since when has renting Bluray films become such an expensive business?! They dont exactly need electricity to keep them going on the shelf! Xtravision know that Ireland is a big market for Playstation and the ps3 will sell alot more in the coming 12 months and therefor alot more ppl will be renting Blurays. After all they are the same price to rent as a dvd.

Conor108

I'm pretty sure I saw blu-ray movies to buy for 35 euro in xtra-vision but I might have been mistaken...

RuggieBear

tbh, i thought it was some sort of Sony push...a type of loss leader if you will. Give free stock for rental to Xtravision...What better way to get people to buy the cheapest blu ray player. Didn't see any HDDVD being available for rent when the Xbox add on was released.

ricey

Online rental sites like moviestar.ie do blu-ray rental.

3rdDegree

RuggieBear wrote:

tbh, i thought it was some sort of Sony push...a type of loss leader if you will. Give free stock for rental to Xtravision...What better way to get people to buy the cheapest blu ray player. Didn't see any HDDVD being available for rent when the Xbox add on was released.

I kinda though something like that too. Hence the question. I was wondering why their stock of BD for rental hasn't changed since release date of PS3.

Lord Nikon

My local XtraVision has added some more titles to their Blu-Ray collection. I guess it depends on if they rent much, they get more in.

These days, when people buy new LCD's/Plasma's they usually go for the HD models. People these days usually want the best technology they can afford, just like when DVD systems came out. Blu-ray is eventually going take over. Don't think HD-DVD will ever be as strong, there has been hardly any market penetration that I can see of.

xanthor

chump wrote:

Other "retail shops" are renting blu-ray movies too? Could you please provide me with some examples.

Try reading the post again, including what you were actually quoted as posting.

Did I specifically say other shops have them for rental?

If there's a market for Blu-Ray sales, then there's a market for rental.



Should Xtra-Vision sell the PS3 then NOT offer Blu-Ray discs for rental?

Kevin2006

Its the average American that will decide which format wins the war. Until it become mainstream like dvd then I dont see when there will be a clear winner.

chump

xanthor wrote:

Try reading the post again, including what you were actually quoted as posting.

Did I specifically say other shops have them for rental?

I actually graduated with a degree in Reading last year. Nevertheless to a post entitled "Xtraxvision's plans for Blu-Ray rental", to which I expressed my opinion you retorted that "Other retail shops must be foolhardy too then.". The fact is retail stores sell a wide range of product types. Xtravision sell a wide range of product types. Xtraxvision rent a very limited selection of product types - DVD's + GAMES (xbox, xbox360, ps2, ps1?). They are now renting Blu-ray movies. I don't believe this can be profitable yet, and believe they jumped the gun. This is not to say I don't believe blu-ray has a future, I just don't think the market fundamentals exist yet for xtravision to make a profit in renting them. I will add here that Xtravision have no 'real' competition in the rental sector in Ireland, so I believe a decision regarding blu-ray rental should have been made almost primarily on it's ability to turn a profit.

I hope it's OK for me to have this opinion?

xanthor

chump wrote:

Xtraxvision rent a very limited selection of product types - DVD's + GAMES (xbox, xbox360, ps2, ps1?).

chump wrote:

I just don't think the market fundamentals exist yet for xtravision to make a profit in renting them. I will add here that Xtravision have no 'real' competition in the rental sector in Ireland, so I believe a decision regarding blu-ray rental should have been made almost primarily on it's ability to turn a profit.

Agreed, they control most of the rental market. I also agree with you that there's a rather limited amount of formats on which games/films are available.
Perhaps that lack of variety in formats means they've decided to pursue Blu-Ray rental with a view to profiting directly from it, or perhaps they consider it a necessity to offer Blu-Ray rental in order simply to boost sales of the PS3 itself... the console may need all the support it can get.

I'd be inclined to say (No proof of course.) that they're playing it fairly safely, putting little stock in the format at the moment and should it be a failure they will be able to cut their loses fairly easily. XtraVision has certainly dealt with bigger failures in the past. I doubt that they'd just rush into offering the format for rental simply because it's the latest thing.

chump wrote:

I hope it's OK for me to have this opinion?

It won't be the first or last time people have disagreed on something PS3 related.

projectmayhem

3rdDegree wrote:

It seems that Xtravision haven't updated their BD rental library since PS3 launch. For example, I would have though that "Night At The Museum" would be there by now.

Does anyone know their plans for BD rental. Have they decided it's a non-starter for now and wont be making any more disks available for the forseeable future? Or are they just planning on getting in new disks at a slower rate?

as far as i can tell the plan right now is have some limited selection and see how it goes. rather then spending loads on blu-ray and being the barometer of success, let HMV get all the stock (they've got way more blu-ray then hd-dvd as it is in every store i've looked in) and be the barometer. as it gets more popular (and more ps3s get into peoples homes), they'll put more budget into blu-ray.

remember, to rent out it's not a case of simply buying the disc and putting it on the shelves with a different sticker. they have to buy a license for each one as well.

right now they're probably more comfortable spending their budget on ps3 game rentals rather then blu-ray discs...