ppltd

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Harbaugh Two formats can survive. They are DVD and HDM. Two competing HDM can not survive. There's no room for 3 formats, 2 of which do the same thing but require both to get all of the titles. The format war is hurting sales. How much, we won't know until there is only one format.

I doubt that sales would be any better if there were only one format, In fact, I conjecture that prices would be up and less hardware would have been sold making for less content sales, not more.

• Toshiba HD-XA2, HD Add-on, Panasonic DMP-BD10A
• Pioneer VSX-94TXH, Panasonic PT-AE 2000U 1080p (delivered but not mounted yet)
• 252 HD DVDs, 65 BD DVDs, and over 1560 - SD DVDs and going down
• New buying strategy - I will continue to buy Universal and Paramount HD DVD's, but if it available in both formats, Blu-ray now gets my purchase.

ppltd

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Arnette However, a prolonged format war will do nothing but assure the failure both formats in my opinion. Certainly failure in terms of mass-adoption, although I think we all admit that is unlikely even under the best of circumstances. But if I had a better idea of what the adoption of Laserdisc looked like, I might even say failure in that regard as well. Afterall, right now even the "winning" format only has 65-70%, roughly, of sales.

While I agree with the general concept that when these products are ready for the general consumer, having only one format might be advantageous. But until we get to that point, IMHO, worrying about dual formats is rather pointless.

The second the general consumer finds out he has to contact the hardware manufacturer or download an update and burn a dvd every three or four weeks just to be able to play the latest movies being released that player will be returned to the store it was purchased from. These formats are at best stop gaps while the industry actually works on producing the non-beta hardware. I think we are a year or two away from that.

In the meantime, I will enjoy the benefits of this battle with lower costs and put up with the product's technical immaturity. Seems like a ok trade off to me.

• Toshiba HD-XA2, HD Add-on, Panasonic DMP-BD10A
• Pioneer VSX-94TXH, Panasonic PT-AE 2000U 1080p (delivered but not mounted yet)
• 252 HD DVDs, 65 BD DVDs, and over 1560 - SD DVDs and going down
• New buying strategy - I will continue to buy Universal and Paramount HD DVD's, but if it available in both formats, Blu-ray now gets my purchase.

Dave_P.

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

Yep

Paul Arnette

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

The previous week's numbers reported above are the first week after the Blockbuster announcement, correct? I am interested in seeing if a sustained trend develops from that statement.

Chris Gerhard

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

I can't count how many times I have seen posts indicating someone is waiting for the format war to end and only one format of the two to exist before getting involved. I will guess the market quickly triples with only one format. I completely disagree that two formats does anything other than hurt HD on disc in the marketplace. I don't dispute that Blu-ray sales are pathetic now too, although I do dispute over half the BD titles released have sold less than 2,500. The sales are so pitiful for each format, the level of pitiful isn't worth disputing.

The format war is the only possible reason the HD disc market isn't going to be profitable and unless the format war ends soon, that won't change in my opinion.

Chris

Fozziwig

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Arnette The previous week's numbers reported above are the first week after the Blockbuster announcement, correct? I am interested in seeing if a sustained trend develops from that statement.

These figures do cover the Blockbuster announcement week so there may be a small Blu-ray boost in these numbers. The main effect should occur when the actual expansion into the additional 1,450 stores happens in July.

In the meantime, despite the tens of thousands of el cheapo Toshiba HD DVD players, Blu-ray seems to be maintaining it's 2:1 YTD advantage quite comfortably.

You know I could have sworn that some time ago I was told that by now the 'PS3 effect' would have ended and that HD DVD would be selling equally well. Maybe I imagined it!

Very interesting Nielsen figures next week. The big HD DVD back catalogue goes up against nothing exclusive on the Blu-ray side. Blu-ray will be mainly relying on existing catalogue to win that week (+ a couple of neutral titles). I reckon Blu-ray will win quite comfortably. Probably not 70:30 but I think 60:40 will do nicely.

Shawn Perron

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

No matter how many people say that, the same couple people keep coming back saying it's not true. Let's just wait a bit for the usual suspects to chime in.

Paul Arnette

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

I was actually thinking in terms of the announcement affecting HD DVD sales negatively, but you're quite correct. It should also be interesting to see if the increased store presence BD receives from being placed in those additional 1.450 stores has any positive affect on BD sales.

Jason Roer

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

This is an incredibly arrogant and downright stupid statement to make. You like Bluray - fine; it's a great format. But don't make a comment that insinuates Toshiba players are junk. They aren't. If that isn't what you meant, I'm sorry for this post. But I'm sick of Bluray supporters (or HD-DVD supporters for that matter) that keep going with this playschool mentality of "I like this so it's better than yours". Post after post these days makes me feel like I'm in elementary school again. It's pathetic.

Cheers,

Jason

Jason Roer

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

I agree that 1 format would help the influx of HD Optical into the market. However I can see how 2 competing formats has helped lower the costs of the machines and thus made it affordable for people to enter the HD game. I know I was only able to afford HD because of the lowered pricing (I got a kid on the way; can't have too open a wallet right now ).

Once the players get a bit lower, then I would say we should get this down to 1 format. Because right now, 1 format would only help those on the fence to make the leap. But the players are still out of range for the masses. And I'm not sure if the fencers are enough to get those player prices low enough, while the format war just might.

Cheers,

Jason

BrettB

Re: Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan

Here it is...

HMM July 1 - 7