View Full Version : Blu-Ray Discs Outsold HD DVD
Shark_Blade
27-04-07, 09:02
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/31718/97/
New York (NY) - More disappointing news for HD DVD came today with the results of Nielsen Video Scan's sales data for high definition DVDs. According to the firm, Blu-ray movies outsold HD DVD by more than 2-to-1 for the third month in a row.
HD DVD says it expects momentum to build for the format with the new exclusive titles that are coming in the next few months. Also, aggressive pricing of players caused a $400 model to be introduced last month, with some online retailers immediately cutting it down to as low as $300.
Blu-ray's dominance last month comes with the release of Casino Royale on the Sony-backed format. It became the first high definition video to sell more than 100,000 copies and reach the top-selling DVD list on Amazon.com.
In an interview with trade magazine Video Business, Sony president David Bishop said, "We think retailers will start to dedicate more space to Blu-ray, rather than split it half and half. That will further send a signal to consumers that it is the dominant format."
:)
Legend of Lara
27-04-07, 13:24
WHO-HOO!!! :yah:
At this point its still a toss-up, but I kind of hope for Blu-Ray to come out on top. It really seems like the superior format.
nice! :tmb:
Can't wait to see more Blu-ray movie titles *cough*Advent Children Complete*cough* :whi:
This is pretty good news, especially as Blu-Ray was effectively playing catch-up to HD-DVD. Purely from a technical point of view it would be great if Blu-Ray 'wins' this format war, because it has a much larger memory capacity. Bigger capacity allows for more content in games and better DVD extras for movie titles, so everyone's theoretically getting better products.
I made the right decision in choosing a PS3 over a 360 to compliment a Wii then.
:wve:
interstellardave
27-04-07, 16:24
It's not over yet, as HD-DVD players are getting much cheaper--and it has it's own big exclusives coming soon (like The Matrix). Still not time for me to pick a side yet... damn.
Catapharact
27-04-07, 16:28
I still hope its a toss up in the market since it leads to an all out battle of quality and wait for it.... Price.
If Blu-ray comes off top, it will have a huge chunk of the market and thus wouldn't mind jacking up its prices to make more profit. Well... assuming they do that, HD-DVDs would make a comeback since Blu-ray could start gouging everyone out. Well lets see how things go.
I made the right decision in choosing a PS3 over a 360 to compliment a Wii then.
:wve:
No offense, but if you're really interested in movies, you'll probably still have to buy a standalone player. The PS3's Blu-Ray player is a very basic model, it has to be quite cheap, otherwise the PS3 would be even more expensive. Good for gaming, good for casual movie audiences, but hardly the right choice for film enthusiasts.
According to Sony and numerous reviewers, the PS3's Blu-Ray player is in fact, the best player on the market. Even better than those $1000 stand-alone players.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/sony-ps3-best-bd-player-out-there-225490.php
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9667998-1.html
@Cat: To be honest, whom ever wins will most likely price gouge. I'm hoping Blu Ray will win due to it's larger storage capacity but it's too soon to tell. It's Betamax vs VHS all over again.
dark_angel_7
27-04-07, 16:37
According to Sony and numerous reviewers, the PS3's Blu-Ray player is in fact, the best player on the market. Even better than those $1000 stand-alone players.
Right......
Anyway, I hope this stupidity just stops. Whe will this "war" be over?? I cant decide which format to choose, they both have advantages over each other.
The Great Chi
27-04-07, 16:40
I like many millions of others are holding back from buying anything on disk at all, whether pre-recorded or self-recording, till a final format is the winner.
In fact if they do not get a move on, the ultimate winning market in recording will be 'solid state' recording, where you record, watch, then just record over again, having many Giga Bytes of spare memory :D
It is all just too unpredictable at present :confused:
According to Sony and numerous reviewers, the PS3's Blu-Ray player is in fact, the best player on the market. Even better than those $1000 stand-alone players.
Maybe, but those are still first generation players. I'd never buy one of those right away - I'd wait until the technology is a bit older, the problems ironed out and the players much cheaper. It's just like first generation DVD or MP3 players - revolutionary several years ago, crappy and overpriced by today's standards.
illuminati30
27-04-07, 16:41
Who is Nielsen Video Scan's ?
Catapharact
27-04-07, 16:41
@Cat: To be honest, whom ever wins will most likely price gouge. I'm hoping Blu Ray will win due to it's larger storage capacity but it's too soon to tell. It's Betamax vs VHS all over again.
*Sigh....* Well all I can say is in the end, prices will have to fall; considering the fact that we would be seeing Triple HDs in years to come Lol!
*Sigh....* Well all I can say is in the end, prices will have to fall.
Amen to that. How much is a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movie? $35? $40? Some people may buy a few to experience a movie in HD, but they won't build libraries like they do with DVDs at those prices. It's just not worth it, not when you can have a DVD for $15 or $20.
Edit: I just checked the prices on Amazon. Casino Royale is $16 on DVD, $27 on Blu-Ray. Cheaper than I thought, but still too expensive for me.
Catapharact
27-04-07, 16:50
Amen to that. How much is a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movie? $35? $40? Some people may buy a few to experience a movie in HD, but they won't build libraries like they do with DVDs at those prices. It's just not worth it, not when you can have a DVD for $15 or $20.
Yep and consdering the fact that most collectable packages for famous titles still come in DVD formats. Movie junkies won't be letting go of DVDs anytime soon.
@The Great Chi: Yea I remember those days. Sony lost out due to bad marketing if I remember correctly.
@Cat: Once the format war is over and other manufacturers get their hands on the tech, then we might see a price drop. But part of me thinks, "what's the point since in a few years (like you said) we'll have yet another new format." I have the same feelings towards HDTV, who's to say that will stay as long of a constant as NTSC/PAL Analogue:mad:
EDIT: Again, it comes down to the fact that it's new tech and we've become so used to DVD's that only the extreme movie fanatics will go and replace their DVD collection. Everyone else at this point probably don't see the need to.
@Mona: Funny isn't it. Ten years ago the situation was similar with DVD. Too expensive and VHS was the cheaper option. Prices will come down in time. The demand needs to be high enough that other manufacturers will be able to get their hands on the tech. I remember when DVD first came out the first players were 1000+ US dollars. Now we can find one for under 50 Dollars.
illuminati30
27-04-07, 16:57
What region is this? New York? America? What about sales in terms of the whole world?
EDIT: Again, it comes down to the fact that it's new tech and we've become so used to DVD's that only the extreme movie fanatics will go and replace their DVD collection. Everyone else at this point probably don't see the need to.
I agree. That's the difference to the VHS/DVD situation: Upgrading to DVD was like a quantum leap in audio and video quality. While HD DVD and Blu-Ray do look very good, the difference isn't that extreme. I'll probably just wait until one format prevails and then start buying new movies as HD ones, while keeping my DVD collection (with a few select exceptions - maybe the Indiana Jones trilogy or so. Most of my favorite movies are so old the remastered DVDs already look better than the source material, I don't see any potential for further improvements there).
@Mona: Funny isn't it. Ten years ago the situation was similar with DVD. Too expensive and VHS was the cheaper option. Prices will come down in time. The demand needs to be high enough that other manufacturers will be able to get their hands on the tech. I remember when DVD first came out the first players were 1000+ US dollars. Now we can find one for under 50 Dollars.
I remember seeing the first DVDs in stores, with ridiculous $40-50 price tags. I thought to myself, 'nobody's ever going to buy this stuff.' Well, prices did come way, way down in the end. ;)
I agree. That's the difference to the VHS/DVD situation: Upgrading to DVD was like a quantum leap in audio and video quality. While HD DVD and Blu-Ray do look very good, the difference isn't that extreme. I'll probably just wait until one format prevails and then start buying new movies as HD ones, while keeping my DVD collection (with a few select exceptions - maybe the Indiana Jones trilogy or so. Most of my favorite movies are so old the remastered DVDs already look better than the source material, I don't see any potential for further improvements there).
You, me and pretty much every person out there that doesn't want to fork over the cash for new tech.:) Yea, the quality isn't all that it's hyped up to be. I've seen it at a few of my customer's houses. Without an HDTV or a computer monitor, there's no point since DVD is at about the same resolution as NTSC/PAL analogue tv's. I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain that to people who want HDTV with their twenty year old projection screen tv.:)
Indiana Jones fan? Nice :tmb:
I remember seeing the first DVDs in stores, with ridiculous $40-50 price tags. I thought to myself, 'nobody's ever going to buy this stuff.' Well, prices did come way, way down in the end. ;)
Same here. Interesting tidbit of info about Betamax: It's image quality was at 500 lines of resolution, VHS 250. Bad marketing and bad decisions from Sony are what killed the consumer version of Betamax. Commercially it was still used and still is to an extent. BetamaxSP had a resolution of 800 lines, go figure. So when DVD first came out and people were amazed to hear, "twice the picture quality of VHS!" I just remember laughing every time I heard that.
I don't see much future these products either. :confused:
I believe that in five or ten years tera-pen-drive or somethig similar will appear. :)
@Cat: To be honest, whom ever wins will most likely price gouge. I'm hoping Blu Ray will win due to it's larger storage capacity but it's too soon to tell. It's Betamax vs VHS all over again.
And we all know who won that one, even though the Beta was the better product.
I can help but wonder if Sony isn't repeating this blunder with the PS3 vs the XBox360.
And we all know who won that one, even though the Beta was the better product.
I can help but wonder if Sony isn't repeating this blunder with the PS3 vs the XBox360.*nods* That's the buzz I've been hearing on the internet. "Sony still hasn't learned from their mistakes." They probably think that since they were the world leader in electronics that they can dictate terms. That didn't work during the Betamax debacle. I think the only thing that may save them is if Blu Ray does manage to take off.
And we all know who won that one, even though the Beta was the better product.
You are mistaken, “system 2000” (Philips & Grundig) was the best one and still it lasted less :confused:
You are mistaken, “system 2000” (Philips & Grundig) was the best one and still it lasted less :confused:
I remember seeing a few of those. If I remember correctly, they had a late start into the format war and wasn't able to compete with VHS and Beta's already growing market. The technology was innovative, having a video and data track on the same tape but I think it also had a lower resolution than VHS/Betamax:confused: I can't remember for sure.
*nods* That's the buzz I've been hearing on the internet. "Sony still hasn't learned from their mistakes." They probably think that since they were the world leader in electronics that they can dictate terms. That didn't work during the Betamax debacle. I think the only thing that may save them is if Blu Ray does manage to take off.
Even then Microsoft has modularized their system so that if Bluray wins they can still offer a stand alone Blu Ray drive as an add on. By building the Blu Ray into the PS3 Sony did try to dictate to the gamers that it was a take it or leave it proposition.
Alao as Mona pointed out I am not certain that many gamers use their gaming console as a movie machine.
Even then Microsoft has modularized their system so that if Bluray wins they can still offer a stand alone Blu Ray drive as an add on. By building the Blu Ray into the PS3 Sony did try to dictate to the gamers that it was a take it or leave it proposition.
Alao as Mona pointed out I am not certain that many gamers use their gaming console as a movie machine.That reminds me. I could have sworn I heard a few years back that when the PS2 first came out, using it to play DVDs too often would wear out the drive. *shrugs* Good point though. Most people I know don't use their console for dvds.
I remember seeing a few of those. If I remember correctly, they had a late start into the format war and wasn't able to compete with VHS and Beta's already growing market. The technology was innovative, having a video and data track on the same tape but I think it also had a lower resolution than VHS/Betamax:confused: I can't remember for sure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_2000 ;) :wve: .....see the "Technological innovations"
sorry off topic :o
Even then Microsoft has modularized their system so that if Bluray wins they can still offer a stand alone Blu Ray drive as an add on. By building the Blu Ray into the PS3 Sony did try to dictate to the gamers that it was a take it or leave it proposition.
Alao as Mona pointed out I am not certain that many gamers use their gaming console as a movie machine.
I kind of agree with you but:
1. A built-in greatly helps the format.
2. I would be ticked if i manufactured HD-DVD's and Microsoft switches to Blu-Ray the second it starts to come out on top.
dark_angel_7
27-04-07, 20:26
From an Engadget RSS Feed:
It just wouldn't be a proper format war without a rebuttal from the opposing side about this week's announcement that Blu-ray has sold over a million discs. The HD DVD PR machine scrambled to life to point out that they, too, are so close to that magic million, with their own sales numbers showing 998,000 units sold, up from the 937,500 reported by Home Media Research. The HD camp also points out that -- not including the PS3 or Xbox add-ons -- standalone next-gen DVD hardware is selling 4-to-1 in favor of HD DVD this month, and content sales numbers are very close week-to-week between the two formats. Meanwhile, the average consumer sits on the sidelines waiting for a winner to emerge from the fight -- that is, if they can even spell it.
It's always one saying 'we've sold more' then the other claiming the same thing. We'll never see then end of this if thats how they're going to act all the time. Also has anyone noticed that Blu-ray has a good chance of failing. I mean its all good technologically, but looked at Sony's past with formats - Betamax failed, UMD failed, numerous other formats (audio,etc.) failed and will Blu-ray share the same fate? For me its too early to decide.
Well, its not really bad news for Microsoft and the 360, they said that they've left there HDDVD Player external by choice so that they can make a Blu Ray one if that wins...
dark_angel_7
27-04-07, 20:32
Well, its not really bad news for Microsoft and the 360, they said that they've left there HDDVD Player external by choice so that they can make a Blu Ray one if that wins...
Good thinking of Microsoft :tmb:. Luckly they didn't force people to buy a next-gen movie player with their console like Sony did. Because if Blu-ray fails Sony will have huge losses, while if HD-DVD fails Microsoft can just stop production of the external HD-DVD player and make external Blu-ray players for the 360.
I think the biggest nightmare would be if neither of the two formats failed (hard to imagine, though). If Sony Pictures and other studios continued to produce exclusives like Casino Royale and The Matrix, a serious movie buff like me would have to buy two HD players. That would only be a problem if the war still isn't decided by the time the production of DVDs is discontinued, of course.
dark_angel_7
28-04-07, 10:44
It's also harder now with LG and Smsung releasing players that can play both HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies (however I like the idea of a player that has both next-gen dvd drives so I can buy both formats without having 2 seperate players). This war will never end. And just recently I read an article saying that now Europe would have its own next-gen dvd format called HD-VMD. :yik: This is going to take forever for a winner to emerge :(.
HD-VMD Link:
http://www.itweek.co.uk/vnunet/news/2187912/third-gen-hd-disc-format-gains
Shark_Blade
28-04-07, 11:48
There must be a winner at one point in the future. I think the Blu-Ray will win imo because of it's more advance feautres.;)
dark_angel_7
28-04-07, 11:50
There must be a winner at one point in the future. I think the Blu-Ray will win imo because of it's more advance feautres.;)
Betamax was more advanced the VHS but that didnt make it win ;). This war is more about which format is more advanced. Sony relies to much on advanced products (e.g.PS3) yet they don't seem to do that well.
Shark_Blade
28-04-07, 12:03
lol I've never heard of Betamax all my life :p
*googles it*
dark_angel_7
28-04-07, 12:05
lol I've never heard of Betamax all my life :p
*googles it*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax from wikipedia
I think the biggest nightmare would be if neither of the two formats failed (hard to imagine, though). If Sony Pictures and other studios continued to produce exclusives like Casino Royale and The Matrix, a serious movie buff like me would have to buy two HD players. That would only be a problem if the war still isn't decided by the time the production of DVDs is discontinued, of course.
That's the big issue for most of us. The war has just heated up and no one wants to get involved since we don't want to invest in a tech that will go belly up. Eventually we'll get a winner...hopefully:whi:
There must be a winner at one point in the future. I think the Blu-Ray will win imo because of it's more advance feautres.;)
Well, Betamax was the superior tech and it lost out. This is a marketing war and Sony doesn't appear to have learned it's lessons.
lol I've never heard of Betamax all my life :p
*googles it*
Well before your time, barely my time actually :) Beta had dvd quality video and yet due to easier manufacturing capabilities, VHS won in the consumer market and Betamax became the tape of choice for news and television production for years.
Well before your time, barely my time actually :) Beta had dvd quality video and yet due to easier manufacturing capabilities, VHS won in the consumer market and Betamax became the tape of choice for news and television production for years.
Apparently the porn industry wasn't completely innocent, either (was VHS cheaper?). That's why I think Sony trying to keep manufacturers from releasing porn movies on Blu-Ray could be a huge mistake - it is a gigantic business, like it or not. In 2006, the industry's revenue in the US alone was $3.62 bil (that's $3.620.000.000!) while the overall revenue from DVD rentals and sales was $23.6 bil (source (http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6404388.html)). That means, 10% of sales and rentals are adult movies. Let's face it, people aren't going to stop buying adult movies just because they're not on Blu-Ray. Seems to be quite a bold move to just let that kind of money go down the drain or even worse, straight to the competition.
interstellardave
28-04-07, 21:46
Apparently the porn industry wasn't completely innocent, either (was VHS cheaper?). That's why I think Sony trying to keep manufacturers from releasing porn movies on Blu-Ray could be a huge mistake - it is a gigantic business, like it or not. In 2006, the industry's revenue in the US alone was $3.62 bil (that's $3.620.000.000!) while the overall revenue from DVD rentals and sales was $23.6 bil (source (http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6404388.html)). That means, 10% of sales and rentals are adult movies. Let's face it, people aren't going to stop buying adult movies just because they're not on Blu-Ray. Seems to be quite a bold move to just let that kind of money go down the drain or even worse, straight to the competition.
Porn has always driven technology... even back to the printing press! I'm not sure if it's still true today but just a few years back it was common knowledge that most internet sites that actually made a profit were porn sites... porn drove the early success of the internet and, of course, is still going strong. BTW, I posted a news story a few months back where the porn industry was backing HD-DVD too.
Yeah, I have to agree with this one too. Sony discouraging the release of porn movies on the Blu-Ray format could prove to be a nasty case of shooting themselves in the foot. Ok, it's not necessarily a desirable market to be associated with from a PR perspective, but it's not going away anytime soon, and it's big business too. The porn industry was more or less the decider of the fate of Betamax; VHS was cheaper to buy and film for, and so most adult movie studios chose to use it. Consumers obviously followed suit, and VHS eventually became the standard. It had a much bigger part to play in the whole affair than Sony would probably be willing to concede. In short, if you're hoping to be the bigger format, you've more than likely got to get the porn industry onboard.
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