Weekly hi def sales numbers - Nielsen/VideoScan - Page 8

ppltd · 07-02-2007, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce

I think SACD/DVD-A went no where because the general public didn't even know these formats existed and probably wouldn't have cared if they did.

Doug

It is hard to make a sucess out of a product that has no need in the general public. No one but a handful of audiophiles ever thought they needed better sound quality than CD's allowed for. This is the same problem the HD formats are having. They are products that require selling the need to the general public who really don't care. If there were only one format, nothing would have changed, other than higher prices and less sales.

Chris Gerhard · 07-02-2007, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ppltd

It is hard to make a sucess out of a product that has no need in the general public. No one but a handful of audiophiles ever thought they needed better sound quality than CD's allowed for. This is the same problem the HD formats are having. They are products that require selling the need to the general public who really don't care. If there were only one format, nothing would have changed, other than higher prices and less sales.

SACD has over 5,000 titles and millions of discs sold, please point it out when you see HD DVD accomplish the same.

Chris

ppltd · 07-02-2007, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

but I think SACD could have reached maybe 25%, maybe 30% of homes without the confusion and reluctance to get involved because two formats existed.

Maybe 5 to 10 %. And that would be a long shot. There just are not that many audiophiles out there that are willing to spend the money, or even care.

ppltd · 07-02-2007, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

SACD has over 5,000 titles and millions of discs sold, please point it out when you see HD DVD accomplish the same.

Chris

In five years. My previous estimation of 5 to 10 % was wrong. Based on your figure you stated, my number of 5 to 10 % maybe should be changed to 1/2 to 1 %. Very positive numbers, there.

Edwin-S · 07-02-2007, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ppltd

Maybe 5 to 10 %. And that would be a long shot. There just are not that many audiophiles out there that are willing to spend the money, or even care.

If they don't care or are unwilling to spend the money then they are not audiophiles.

Douglas Monce · 07-02-2007, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

I don't believe either would have been mass market successes, but I believe there is a significant market for high quality audio and one or the other, my preference was SACD, would have done well. Both continue on today as tiny niche formats, but I think SACD could have reached maybe 25%, maybe 30% of homes without the confusion and reluctance to get involved because two formats existed. I don't think either next generation format replaces DVD and didn't think either of those would replace CD, only be a higher quality alternative for that segment of the market that wanted it. I wouldn't be surprised to see HD DVD and Blu-ray do poorly for their lifetimes as well if this continues, then whatever is going to replace DVD will end the run of all three at the same time, if Blu-ray and HD DVD haven't thrown the towel in earlier. The losses for SACD and DVD-A were huge, I don't know how many tens of millions, hundreds? Sony lost. The biggest DVD-A provider, 5.1 Entertainment Group had to have lost tens of millions as well. Neither do anything much with the formats now, but there are several low quantity, high quality labels still involved. Telarc, Linn, Mobile Fidelity, Denon, Oppo and a few others are still involved with SACD while AIX, Denon, Oppo and a few others still involved with DVD-A. I loved both formats and have over 300 titles combined and over 10 players to guarantee playback for the remainder of my life. I am not buying much of either of these new formats unless only one survives.

Chris

To be perfectly honest, I didn't know that ether of these formats existed until about 2 years ago when I started reading this forum. Now I was an early adopter of Laserdisc, VHS and DVD, so I'm not exactly out of the loop when it comes to electronics. I can only assume that they were only marketed to audiophiles, or I would have at least known a little something about them.

Doug

Douglas Monce · 07-02-2007, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

SACD has over 5,000 titles and millions of discs sold, please point it out when you see HD DVD accomplish the same.

Chris

Well in the first year there are over 300 HD DVD titles available and over 1 million discs sold. How many were available and sold in the first year of SACD?

Doug

Marc Colella · 07-02-2007, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce

Well in the first year there are over 300 HD DVD titles available and over 1 million discs sold. How many were available and sold in the first year of SACD?

I don't think SACD had that many titles in the first year, maybe about 100-150... and definitely didnt have 1 million discs sold.

A nice chunk of the "over 1 million discs sold" for SACD is due to the hybrid release of the remastered Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan discs. The Stones discs made no mention of a SACD layer on the packaging (I'm not sure about the Dylan discs). You can bet 99% of those sales were from people playing the CD layer. The Hybrid discs were discontinued a few months after their release and the labels just pressed them on CDs.

I like the SACD format and enjoy my player and discs, but this format (as well as DVD-A) are as niche as you can get.

Ed St. Clair · 07-02-2007, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austan

Hyper-Pathetically... Let's say that this Holiday season combo players out sell everything else and becomes the standard player... What incentive do BR studios have to start producing HD DVD discs???

None.
What incentive would HD DVD studios have to start producing BD discs???
None.

EDitEDbyED:
Wonder what all the "combo naysayers" will say when Denon announces a combo at CES '08 (IMO)?
Or do people really think Denon hasn't noticed that none of their DVD players are #1 at Amazon currently. Or even, a DVD player isn't #1 on the Amazon DVD players list any more, butt a HD Disc player is.

Douglas Monce · 07-02-2007, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marc Colella

I like the SACD format and enjoy my player and discs, but this format (as well as DVD-A) are as niche as you can get.

Sounds more like a club house where you have to know the special knock and the secret hand shake!