Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE: CC) is joining competitor Best Buy Stores, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) in trying to pump up the slumbering Blu-ray disc format by introducing many titles at up to half off. The latest promo puts many Blu-ray movie titles at $14.99, a discount figure of up to 40%. The main reason: Blu-ray movie titles aren't exactly flying off the shelves these days, regardless of the high-definition resolution that fanatics claim make movies way more enjoyable.

Last week, I wrote about Best Buy's Blu-ray disc player price drop from $399.99 to $349.99, which was a complete non-event. The hardware manufacturers must _MUST_ get Blu-ray hardware players down to under $200 or Blu-ray will never become mainstream. Of course, the manufacturers and retailers are trying to milk the early period with profits, which is a standard exercise. Promoting Blu-ray movie titles to $15 (and even $20) is a great way to drum up interest in the format. Circuit City's move here, while great, still won't make up for the fact that the hardware is still too expensive for mass appeal.

Toshiba (OTC: TOSBF), the company that lost out in the high-definition disc format war to Sony Corp.'s (NYSE: SNE) Blu-ray, even rolled out a new upconverting standard DVD player so that consumers could watch existing DVDs in near-HD format if they didn't want to invest in Blu-ray's expensive hardware prices just yet. So far, the retailers championing the Blu-ray format are promoting the format well, but it will need much more before becoming a mass format like DVD has become. Is standard DVD good enough for you? Sound off in comments below and let me know.