Future Shop offers HD DVD trade in

One of those early adopter types who figured HD DVD might have a shot at winning the high-def DVD format war? Stuck with an HD DVD player that is suddenly and instantly yesterday's technology?

Future Shop can help.

Until April 3, Future Shop is offering consumers the opportunity to trade their HD DVD player for a $100 discount on a LG or Samsung Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD combo player.

This allows people who have a library of HD DVD movies to continue being able to watch them, while getting a Blu-ray player which is the new single format for high-definition DVDs.

Better yet is that it doesn't matter where you purchased the HD DVD player from. Future Shop is offering the $100 discount to customers whether they purchased their player at Future Shop or another retailer.

HD DVD players - which, it should be noted, are still useful as upconverting DVD players - that are collected by Future Shop in the campaign will be donated to Boys and Girls Clubs locations across Canada for use in their after-school and evening programs.

So you can upgrade your experience, while upgrading the experience of kids across Canada. Feel good about it all.

Get full details at your local Future Shop store.

HD DVD calls it quits

In a press release, Toshiba, the driving force behind the HD DVD high-def optical disk format, has announced it will stop promoting and marketing HD DVD products, including players and movies, for which it had been performing mastering tasks.

The format war is over, people. Blu-ray Disc wins this one.

HD DVD as the Black Knight

Great bit in the Wired Blog Network on Epicenter, comparing HD DVD (the Toshiba-championed high-def DVD format) to the Black Knight, from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Recall the scene in which Arthur (Graham Chapman) confronts the Black Knight, who won't allow anyone to cross the bridge he guards:

King Arthur cuts off Black Knight's left arm.

King Arthur
Now stand aside, worthy adversary.

Black Knight
'Tis but a scratch.

King Arthur
A scratch? Your arm's off!

Black Knight
No, it isn't!

King Arthur
Well, what's that then?

Black Knight
I've had worse!

King Arthur
You liar.

Black Knight
Come on, you pansy!

It's a great metaphor for the extraordinary efforts the HD DVD group is making to keep themselves relevant. We learned today that despite cutting the price of their HD DVD players by up to 50%, Toshiba still got outsold by Blu-ray at a 2-1 margin.

Toshiba still plans to spend $2.7 million for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial.

Like the headline at Wired reads: It's not just a flesh wound.

More bad news for HD DVD

London's Financial Times is reporting that Paramount is about to drop its support for HD DVD.

This news comes on the heels of Warner Bros. making a similar announcement last Friday, days before the start of CES 2008.

The difference is that only last summer, Paramount made the decision to support HD DVD exclusively, stimulated in part by a hefty promotional fee of $150 million paid to them by Toshiba and HD DVD. That deal included all movies distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment: Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies, and MTV Films.

FT claims that Paramount has a clause in its contract with HD DVD that gives the company an out in the event that Warner Bros. backed Blu-ray.

Pretty slick negotiating by Paramount, if you ask me.

EDIT: Paramount spokesperson Brenda Ciccone has responded to the report, saying in an e-mail to Bloomberg.com that, "Paramount's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format."

As noted by others, the key word in that statement is "current". As recently as a month ago, Warner Bros. said they had no plans to stop releasing in HD DVD.