Woolie Rolls Out HD DVD Formats

All 820 Woolworths stores will sell major release HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray discs from today (Monday 1st October).

Woolies is the first major retailer to roll out high definition DVD formats to all stores and will become the biggest high definition retailer as a result.

The first release to be sold on all three formats (DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) will be the Jack Snyder film 300, released today.

Up-and-coming releases that will be sold in high definition include Fantastic Four (Blu-Ray), Spiderman 3 (Blu-Ray), Transformers (HD-DVD) and Planet Earth (both formats).

Prices will depend on the title but retail prices are expected to be between £20 and £25. 300 will cost £22.97 for both high definition formats and £14.97 on DVD.

Steven McGunigel, DVD buyer at Woolworths, says: “DVD is far from finished and will remain the dominant format for some time. But high definition will start to grow rapidly in the next twelve months and it is important for us and our customers that we lead in the format.

“Currently Blu-Ray discs are outselling HD-DVDs four-to-one, but, with the studios split on which format to back, it’s really important for us to offer both. If we don’t, our customers will not have the chance to buy big titles on high definition like Transformers, which is only being released on HD-DVD.”

“We were the first retailer to offer pre-recorded videos nationwide back in the mid-1980s, we were amongst the leaders in the DVD retail revolution in the mid-90s and now we’re pioneers of high definition DVDs.”

Blu-Ray, backed by Sony, versus HD-DVD, backed by Toshiba, has been likened by commentators to the battle between Toshiba’s VHS and Sony’s Beta-Max in the 1980s.

The new format war has split the electronics and entertainment industries. Blu-Ray has been backed by Samsung, Dell, Apple, Disney and 20th Century Fox. HD-DVD has been backed by NEC, Microsoft, Paramount and Universal.

The real winner will, of course, be decided at the tills.

Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs offer much better quality audio and video than DVD and the additional storage means that more time and extras can be packed into one disc.

Larger Woolworths stores will offer a back catalogue section for high definition formats before Christmas and www.woolworths.co.uk already offers all high definition DVDs on UK release. These can also be ordered in any Woolworths store for free delivery to home or to the store.