DVDGuy’s Blog @ Digital Digest

One more “HD DVD Fire Sale” post to update on what’s happened.

In the US, situation remains normal, with no new sales and prices going up and down on Amazon. While prices have definitely dropped since Toshiba withdrew support for HD DVD, they are nowhere near “fire sale” levels and I’m starting to wonder if it will ever happen. Of course, my definition of “fire sale” might be clouded by my local experience with the HD DVD fire sale (ie. “almost everything under $10”), and that what we are seeing now in the US is already a fire sale. I doubt it though.

In Australia, the sales are drying up, as are the HD DVD stock. EzyDVD.com.au, who secured most of the remaining HD DVD stock in Australia, started their third and last HD DVD sale on the 20th, this time 27 Paramount titles including Transformers, Shrek the Third, Into the Wild and The Heartbreak Kid (the last two being new releases, the latter also released on DVD on the same day, and the former not even available on DVD yet!). And a few days before, due to a stock mix up that caused some orders to be cancelled, EzyDVD did the right thing and gave a limited special offer to those who were affected – all five Harry Potter HD DVDs for only $5.92 each. Fortunately, those who weren’t affected were also able to get in on the act as somebody posted the offer in a public forum. I already own the first four Harry Potter movies on DVD (and owning the fifth movie on HD DVD already), but upgrading my HP collection from SD to HD for less than $24 was an offer I could not resist. So here’s my updated HD DVD shopping list:

EzyDVD Order #4:

• Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone – $5.92 
• Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets – $5.92
• Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban – $5.92
• Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire – $5.92
• Shipping: Free
• Order Total: $23.68($USD 21.38)

EzyDVD Order #5:

• Black Snake Moan – $7.92
• Black Rain – $9.92
• Dreamgirls – $9.92
• The Heartbreak Kid – $9.92
• Into the Wild – $7.92
• A Mighty Heart – $7.92
• Sahara – $12.92
• World Trade Center – $9.92
• Shipping: Free
• Order Total: $76.36($USD 68.87)

I think it’s safe to say that the bulk of my HD DVD fire sale buying has been done, at least here in Australia. So it’s probably a good time to tally up and count the damage:

Number of titles bought: 39 (3 box sets)
Cost (excluding shipping): $404.53 ($USD 364.87)
Shipping: $13.75 ($USD 12.40)
Average cost per title (not including box sets): $9.13 ($USD 8.23)
Average cost per title (including box sets): $10.73 ($USD 9.68)

Just over $10 per title for 36 movies and 3 box sets (season one of both Heroes and Battlestar Galactica, Planet Earth) that’s not bad. Considering the cheapest Blu-ray player here in Australia costs just about the same as my spending above, I think it’s money well spent!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm and is filed under High Definition (Blu-ray/HD DVD/4K). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.