Wal-Mart has planned to move out from the HD DVD market and switch over to Blu-ray players. The company will discontinue HD DVD sales from 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores by June. This change suggests that the HD DVD sector could have to wind up its business at present and perhaps be history.
Earlier, the largest electronics retailer Best Buy and the DVD-rental service Netflix called off the availability of HD DVD and preferred stocking only Blu-ray movies by later this year. Similarly, Wal-Mart now wants to pay attention towards high-definition DVDs and players using the Blu-ray format.
Sam’s Club Stores have also move towards the same road of closing the stock of the high-definition players and will concentrate only on Blu-ray movies and hardware machines along with standard definition movies and DVD players.
The reseller will first complete the stock of HD DVD products and within 30 days time it will predominantly move towards Blu-ray products.
“We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases. With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection, and increase adoption long term. We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in hi-definition Blu-ray products, so our customers can further enhance their entertainment experience at home,” commented Gary Severson, senior vice president, Home Entertainment, Wal-Mart, U.S.
Target has also terminated the sales of HD DVD players, however continues online sales.
Sony, Hitachi and Philips are in favor of Blu-ray, whereas Toshiba and NEC support HD DVD.
