Posted Wed Aug 15, 2007 at 08:00 AM PDT by
Yes, the two competing high-def disc formats are confusing, but you'd think the nation's third-largest electronics chain would be able to keep them straight.
Sometime early this week, Circuit City updated their web listings for Toshiba's HD DVD players, and apparently someone at the retail giant got their wires crossed.
Instead of listing the HD DVD camp's "five free HD DVDs" offer among the list of rebates included with the Toshiba players, Circuit City listed the Blu-ray camp's "five free Blu-ray discs" offer instead (view screenshot).
Of course, while it's fun to imagine Aunt Batsy returning from the mall with a new HD DVD player and five incompatible Blu-ray discs, the reality is this typo could never get that far, since both promos are mail-in offers that require proof that you've purchased a player of the appropriate format.
Still, the error does underline a continued problem in the marketplace. If the retailers themselves can't make sense of the two formats, who's there to educate the average consumer?
If the hand-written signs taped to the HD DVD/Blu-ray disc displays at our local big box outlets with warnings like "won't play on regular DVD players" are any indication, it would seem that duty may currently be falling to the returns department.
UPDATE: Aunt Batsy is safe. Circuit City has removed mention of the Blu-ray discs promo from their Toshiba HD DVD player pages. Still no sign of the HD DVD discs promo, though...
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