In the latest advertisement from German retailer Saturn, Sony is offering 150 Euros off the purchase of a Sony BDP-S300 when current HD DVD owners turn in their used players. This is an outstanding deal for those high definition fans in Germany who would otherwise have been left with a very expensive paperweight. Currently this offer is only available in Germany.
Admittedly, the Sony BDP-S300 is more expensive in Germany at 499 Euros ($737), so this offer brings the player down to a more familiar price of around $500. Even so, I'm sure there are plenty of people in US who would love to take advantage of a similar deal. Unfortunately for them, HD DVD adoption is much higher in the US, meaning a similar plan here would cost Sony hundreds of millions of dollars to execute. In other words, don't hold your breath.
I love the idea! Not only are you gaining customers, you're draining theirs. With all those HD-DVD players they should have a bonfire in the name of a 2008 Blu victory! haha
is this part of the "concessions" that the BDA is planning? if so, good job BDA, make some new Bluboys and girls and give the good old middle finga to Tosh & Crew. It's slick, it's classy, and it's in-yo-face... your call Tosh!
Sony dont have to do this, its a good move on their part, at least they are trying to help those who probably want to change to blu ray, or those people who were mis-sold hd-dvd in the shops. Not everyone follows the internet, so i think its a considerate move by Sony.
Great deal if you live in Germany. But Europe is mostly Blu, they should be doing this in the U.S. You're market is the only real hurdle. Can't wait to here what the reds have to say about this. They'll bring up some crap how we're so against Toshiba paying Paramount blah blah blah. I guess the gloves are off. At least Sony cares about those who took the red pill...
Thats awesome for the people of Germany. Can't be any more clear to the Paramounts, the Toshiba's, and the Universals that the party is over in camp HD DVD.
Smart move from Sony. Even it cost Sony millions of dollars but it will be a bigger profit later this year. This format war needs to be over very soon. Paramount, Toshiba and Universal needs to quit and move to Blu-ray. Enough said!!!!!
What a deal! Go Germany!
Now I don't think we can offer something that extreme in the states, but maybe some kind of
incentive for HD DVD owners would be appropriate.
I bet the hard core HD DVD fanboys would be furious at this.
I remember Circuit City doing this when their Divix format failed after less than 10 months of being
on the market.
I have a few friends that would take Sony up on this offer if it were being advertised in the USA. The only thing keeping them from switching to Blu is that they've already invested several hundreds of dollars into the HD-DVD market.
I'm still hoping that Warner Bros. will create a disc exchange program, where you can trade an HD-DVD for a Blu-Ray at a cost of $5 dollars or so...this would be awesome. If they did a trade in your old HD player for Blu-Ray here in America, at Best Buy or Circuit City, can you imagine how awesome that would be? It would definately be the final blow to HD-DVD...even if it costs them millions, it would definately win them the format war, and would be a great "Olive Branch" to the people who bought an HD-DVD player! I won't hold my breath...but a guy can hope.
I hope the BDA doesn't do this in the US! Everyone I know with HD DVD, quite frankly, is least deserving of this sort of subsidy. They've been completely awful, with their whining about price, region coding, web downloads, etc. to try and make me feel bad about my purchase. If anything, give it to the folk who helped Blu-ray win the war.
Sony did a deal like this in the US 2 years ago with laptops. I got $350 dollar rebate on a sony laptop when I traded in my old Dell. They sent it to a harware refurbishing Co. that sends them out to developing countries. The HD-DVD players will probably go to the same place they send the Superbowl champ NFL licenced clothing they print for the losing team before they know who the winner is.
i just really hope it comes to US as it is the area where HD DVD inoculate itself and growing.....
I don't care about the customer (I don't mind Sony extend olive branch to customers), but definitely NOT to "to sheep baa" aka toshiba or M$
Um, this looks like the first example of Bill Hunt's suggestion for an 'olive branch'.
I wonder what Sony will do with all those DuD players?
What a way to win friends.
Ya, blue-ray is great... you only have to get a new firmware everytime a new movie comes out !!!
And when they dont support the player any more you just have to go out and buy the new one. Sony only good player is the PS3, no problem with HD players or movies ???
No sympathy for those who bought into HD-DUD if anyone should be getting any kind of deal it should be US the early adopters of BD, the people who paid $1000 for a player, or $599 for a PS3 when it came out. We are the ones who made this happen.
Wow.
That is actually VERY smart tactic by Sony.
They won't be losing that much money as they would of been since the cost of the Blu diode went down.
Very smart indeed.
To introduce a similar scheme in North American would ease the sting of those duped into buying HD in the first place, welcoming them into the Blu fold without totally draining their bank accounts, and bringing the final curtain down on HD. Semper Blu!
I wish they had this offering in the USA. I could see people buying cheap players on ebay and exchanghing them for blu-ray players. This would save $ and also get those HD-DUD players off the market.
This is a fantastic idea, and hopefully Germany is a trial run for Sony to work out the kinks before unrolling the plan globally.
To those who say HD DVD owners shouldn't be given this chance to come in out of the cold, I say you're being petty and shortsighted. We've all but officially won the war--why be sore winners? We should show grace and magnanimity and ease their pain knowing they picked the wrong side and make the transition from red to Blu easier. Let's be the better people here.
Look at this as the Marshall Plan for the post-format war, helping to rebuild their high-def movie experience following their devastating defeat, creating goodwill toward Blu-ray, and maximizing revenues all around.
In the latest advertisement from German retailer Saturn, Sony is offering 150 Euros off the purchase of a 
