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Blockbuster expands Blu-ray offerings photo

Nearly ten months ago, Blockbuster announced that they were going to drop HD DVD from their retail stores across the nation. Now that the format war has been officially over for almost two months, Blu-ray.com is reporting that the movie/videogame rental giant is going to go big with Blu-ray this week. Until now, you could only find Blu-ray Discs at about 1,700 of Blockbuster’s brick-and-mortar locations, but now every single Blockbuster in the US and Canada — almost 5,000 total — will rent and sell Blu-ray Disc movies.

In addition, Blockbuster will be bringing the PS3 and Blu-ray to the forefront of their marketing. Each of the North American Blockbuster stores will soon have a PS3 hooked up to a 42-inch HDTV to show off Blu-ray Disc movies. I don’t know about you guys, but this will be a huge technological jump for my local Blockbuster, which currently has around five small CRT TVs hanging from the ceiling, playing endless loops of movie trailers. Isn’t that standard?

[via Blu-ray.com — Thanks, Jonathan!]


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26 comments | showing # 1 to 26

razerangel's Avatar
razerangel at 04/10/2008 13:33
Try going to my local blockbuster. its the size of a smallish living room with really disgusting looking carpets and shelf with a 14 inch tv hanging from the ceiling in the most awkward of positions that they could have put it. The staff aren't much better either.
ceark's Avatar
ceark at 04/10/2008 13:36
do you guys live in ghettos or something?
wario67's Avatar
wario67 at 04/10/2008 13:37
the blockbuster near by me has a ps3 setup with movies playing

and they have alot of blu-ray movies for rent
Cheeburga's Avatar
Cheeburga at 04/10/2008 13:37
Moar Ricky Bobby.
mix's Avatar
mix at 04/10/2008 13:42
Should be cool, I'm not sure what my local BB is doing or what they have.

I stopped hitting up BB after I rented 2 Xbox games for $19.84, I nearly puked when they told me the price. I can rent 2 games at Rogers for around $10, screw BB!
MrSadistic's Avatar
MrSadistic at 04/10/2008 13:43
Dude, every Blockbuster in this city is so ghetto. I remember when the Nintendo 64 came out and wanted to play it so badly. The majority of Blockbuster video stores here either had broken down machines or they weren't even hooked up/on display.
broonor's Avatar
broonor at 04/10/2008 13:48
Same as mine. I was disappointed in their lack of blu-ray choices (now i just hope they don't charge extra for them).

I loved how their sign was blacked out behind the register instead of changed "AVAILABLE IN ********AND DVD $3.99" or whatever their price is per rental.

Even without an hd display i'd be willing to rent the blu-ray version just for the extra features on bd-roms
parrothead's Avatar
parrothead at 04/10/2008 13:48
I am not sure where a Blockbuster is here in Fort Lauderdale. None by my house.
Y0j1mb0's Avatar
Y0j1mb0 at 04/10/2008 13:49
I second wario67. My local Blockbuster is bangin' that PS3 set up with plenty of Blu-rays. Where do ya'll reside..Harlem??
moocow21's Avatar
moocow21 at 04/10/2008 13:59
I wish I had a Blockbuster around here. Not sure what our FamilyVideo has to offer Blu-Ray wise; haven't been there in a while.
MaxVest's Avatar
MaxVest at 04/10/2008 13:59
Nice. There's a Blockbuster a few miles away that rents BD, but the one just down the street does not. I'm hoping they get it updated before downloadable media becomes dominant. Which (depending on who you ask) is anywhere from about two weeks to fifteen years.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 04/10/2008 14:00
It’s not that I live in the ghetto. The three Blockbusters in my area all rent Blu-ray Discs, but I was just commenting on the store displays. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a video game console kiosk in a Blockbuster.
brainderailment's Avatar
brainderailment at 04/10/2008 14:06
My blockbusters aren't doing so well. Everyone here uses Hollywood Video. This will be a huge technological leap for them. Also, I might start buying blurays now that they will sell them used. Maybe, hmmmm.
razerangel's Avatar
razerangel at 04/10/2008 14:11
@ Ceark: No but I live in Scotland which is basically the same.
MechaMonkey's Avatar
MechaMonkey at 04/10/2008 14:20
I worked at a Blockbuster for a few years, and I can guarantee that if we had a PS3 in the store it would be featuring far more games (played by us) than movies.

Come to think of it, I worked at one of the bigger stores, so they'll probably get one. Time to visit my old chums...
loki d20's Avatar
loki d20 at 04/10/2008 14:26
There's two blockbusters in our area that have a big screen TV built in behind the back wall of the store. Those would be used to play the blu-ray movies. Not sure what they'll do at stores that don't have these, but don't see it being impressive showing blu-ray movies on 23" HD TVs that hang from the ceiling.
JJ Rage's Avatar
JJ Rage at 04/10/2008 14:33
I work for Blockbuster, and we started getting Blu-Ray last week, mostly copies of stuff coming out later this month like Juno and AvP: Requiem. Yesterday though, we got TONS of Blu-Ray stuff, new and old.

My store also finally started getting Nintendo DS games. We've been told that the company is trying to put more focus on games, since the movie rental business is changing so dramatically. So if your local store starts asking you to pre-order Mario Kart, GTA4, or MGS4, you know why.
protoknuckles's Avatar
protoknuckles at 04/10/2008 14:33
The BB I work at sucks. We have 4 tvs hanging from the ceiling, and we're getting Blu-rays next week. The one I was working at before they relocated me had Blu-rays since last Novemberish....I think....anyway they were so annoying because people would rent them not knowing they need a blu-ray disk player....after we asked if they had a blu-ray disk player. -_-
I had 1 customer tell me he "wanted to see if it would work anyway"....thanks asshole.
BluDesign's Avatar
BluDesign at 04/10/2008 14:37
I do not rent. I had one of those all access things for like 5 months once and half the discs I grabbed to watch were too scratched up to enjoy the movie.
JJ Rage's Avatar
JJ Rage at 04/10/2008 14:45
@protoknuckles


Yes, as it turns out, 90% of humanity is fucking retarded.
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 04/10/2008 15:03
MOAR TALADEGA
SyphonBlue's Avatar
SyphonBlue at 04/10/2008 15:46
Blockbuster has been bleeding money for the past 5 years, how exactly are they going to be affording all this?

I mean, aside from raising fees past ridiculous and into ludicrous?
necrozen's Avatar
necrozen at 04/10/2008 17:26
I'll be sticking with Netflix personally, I bought my samsung bluray player at launch and they've kept me knee deep in great films ever since.
HarassmentPanda's Avatar
HarassmentPanda at 04/10/2008 19:53
I haven't been to a Blockbuster in years, but I suppose this is cool.
manasteel88's Avatar
manasteel88 at 04/11/2008 09:43
yeah my blockbuster is selling PS3's...I think it has something to do with bluray?
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 04/13/2008 01:18
Swell, once I get a PS3, I'll convince my family to start renting movies on Blu-ray instead. Well, when I'm not playing games.
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