Transforming experience

by David Field on Jan 10, 2008

When consumers balk at high HD prices, there’s only one solution for retailers

In a backflip last month, JB-brick-through-window-Hi-Fi announced it would start stocking HD DVDs in its stores, and in the process added its old Blu-ray only policy to the list of things they’re using to smash prices.

Personally, I find this hugely amusing, because at Blu-ray’s launch one of JB’s product managers was on stage singing the format’s virtues. He talked about selling an experience, not just a new player (experience in this case translates to Blu-ray media, a Blu-ray player, a huge TV, amplifier, speakers and possibly a learning remote and a Monster Cable), because the format offered so much detail that the whole shebang was necessary to properly appreciate Blu-ray’s (visually insignificant) advantage over HD DVD.

Now, JB’s range and prices make it one of my favourite stores. My self-imposed JB shopping rule states that I can only enter a store once a month and on that occasion buy anything – provided I can carry it to the counter in one hand. This works well for stacks of music, games and DVDs – and recently scaled to accommodate a new set top box. But I’d be apprehensive about buying a quarter of their electrical department just to watch Transformers in HD.

Of course, I’m using Transformers as an example because it’s one of the first big name films that can only be bought on HD DVD since Paramount ditched Blu-ray. As a bonus, I can criticise it to my heart’s content while safe in the knowledge that people are going to buy it anyway. With that in mind, Transformers wasn’t very good – it was really Michael Bay’s second bite at the Armageddon cherry, with better visual effects, a story told entirely with sappy bit characters and featuring one-line cameos by the robots the film was named after.

A complete HD setup requires a huge outlay for many components that I couldn’t see being successfully sold in a retail outlet in one hit. This applies to both HD disc formats, of course, but at the time of the Blu-ray launch I felt (and still feel) that consumers have become so accustomed to the low prices of DVD players and media that HD players alone would be too hard for most to justify.

It seems I was right.

As you’ll have read in the news, K-Mart in the US has dropped Blu-ray players due to their cost. It follows that many are unwilling to spend the extra money on an HD home theatre setup. And that means DVDs set the bar for consumer digital media too high too early, and the HD battle will be reduced to a price war.

One of the reasons why I love AV technology is that it doesn’t date anywhere near as quickly as computer technology. The audio gear I’ve slowly pieced together in expensive one-off purchases over a decade is still crystal clear. Optical and coaxial connectors do their job beautifully, and I don’t see the need to junk my gear just because HDMI has come along to eliminate one cable per device.

I’m not even sure there’s room at my place for an extra pair of side speakers.
I am sure, though, that those content to buy $50 DVD players will examine the price of a new format before glancing at any of the incremental benefits it would bring to their old SD setup. And there you have my rationale behind JB’s rationale. It’s what happens when consumers start voting – either actively or passively – with their feet.

Now if only the marketing buzzword “experience” could suffer a similar fate...

This article appeared in the January, 2008 issue of PC Authority.