HD DVD Surpasses 750,000 Dedicated Players (1 Viewer)

[London Lawson]

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...4711631&EDATE=
Promotional Group announces record HD DVD hardware sales following Black
Friday

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Following landmark Black Friday
promotions through major retail chains, the North American HD DVD
Promotional Group today announced that sales of dedicated HD DVD players
exceeded the 750,000 mark. The data is based on retailer reports and other
point of sale data, and includes standalone set-top players as well as the
Xbox 360 HD DVD player.

"HD DVD continues to gain momentum and market share with consumers,"
said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for
Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and co-president of the HD DVD
Promotional Group. "With more than four weeks left for holiday shopping, HD
DVD is turning out to be a perfect consumer electronics gift."

HD DVD continues to step up marketing and education efforts, helping
consumers to see the quality and value of the new format. In addition to an
enhanced presence at major retailers, HD DVD has added educational sections
to its website at http://www.TheLookAndSoundOfPerfect.com.

About HD DVD

HD DVD is the next generation, post-DVD standard for high capacity,
high definition optical discs, approved by the DVD Forum, which develops
and defines DVD formats. Its more than 220 strong membership brings
together leaders in movies and entertainment, computing, consumer
electronics and software. HD DVD is fast becoming the primary visual medium
for the age of high-definition TV. The North American HD DVD Promotional
Group, Inc. is an organization established to promote the HD DVD format and
educate consumers in North America. For more information and a complete
listing of HD DVD titles please visit
http://www.TheLookAndSoundOfPerfect.com.



SOURCE North American HD DVD Promotional Group

 

[Chris S]

I'm very glad to see HD taking off this holiday season. I thought they would do well but so far they are well exceeding my expectations.

 

[bigluigi]

Anything that will directly or indirectly result in more HDM releases for 2008 is O.K. in my book. CHEERS!!!

 

[PeterMano]

Lame pr. Why would anyone bother to announce 750k sold? What's next, an 800k announcement? And the hypocrisy of toshiba and the hd dvd promotional group is brutal, after all their attempts to disparage bluray sales by treating the ps3 as though it wasn't a standalone player, here they are including 360 hd dvd add on sales.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

There is a big difference between BR players included in a gaming system, and a separate add-on, which must be purposefully bought to play movies.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/....php?f=73&a=50

 

[Bryan X]

Yeah, I agree. Both sides do spin things, but there is a big difference between the PS3 BR player which can be used soley as a game machine and the HD DVD add-on which must be purchased separately and can only be used to play movies, not games.

If you purchase the HD DVD add-on you are necessarily interested in HD DVD movies. If you purchase a PS3 you are not necessarily interested in BR movies.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I agree that this is lame PR. I just bought an HD DVD player. But I go to my local Frys to buy discs, and what do I find? The Blu-ray section is twice as large as the HD DVD section. The HD DVD folks still need to work on equalizing the software offerings. Number of titles released, and the quality/desirability of those releases vs BD.

 

[Bryan X]

I agree about needing more and better HD DVD releases. But I don't think BD offerings are any better. Yeah, most stores have larger BD sections, but I don't even need one hand to count the number of BD releases I'd actually be interested in owning.

Now that player prices are down, the studios really need to kick it into gear.

 

[Brian W.]

I noticed the same thing at Target stores in the Los Angeles area -- the BluRay software section is nearly twice as large as the HD.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

A little perspective here:


This is for total player sales so far. (I saw some other comment that Black Fri sales for HD DVD players was something like 100k.)

I came across an interesting comparison today. Nintendo sold 350,000 Wii's last week in the U.S. They are currently builiding 1.8 million machines a month for the entire world. Sure, the Wii is a game machine and can't play HD DVD's or Blu-rays, but I just thought it goes to show how small the HD DVD and Blu-ray market is so far.

Not that we all didn't already know that, right?

 

[Chuck Anstey]

Time for some perspective. DVD hardware sales at the end of the second Xmas season (same as HDM right now) totalled ~1.25 million players (source DVD information). Given we have two formats and that they do not provide the ancillary improvements (smaller form factor, non-linear access, no rewind, never wear out, "extras", OAR easier to see due to better resolution) that DVD did, I don't see how anyone can state the HDM sales are slow or reduced compared to DVD. I do expect though that shortly HDM will fall behind the DVD sales curve because for most people HDM has zero advantage over DVD.

I think many members here greatly underestimate how much the ancillary benefits drove DVD sales over simply improved picture and sound. Just the fact that kids could play a movie 20 times in a row and it played just as well the 20th time as the 1st was huge.

 

[PaulDA]

Plus no "forgot to rewind" penalties at the video store. That is one thing NO ONE (except, perhaps, the video store owners) mourns.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

What are you saying? Back then I rented plenty of DVD's that had a "Don't forget to rewind!" sticker on them.

 

[Blu]

Remember back in the day when the big debate was OAR vs. NON OAR?

Now it is HD sales vs. BR sales.

Wonder what it will be next?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

We'll probably get back into a DD vs. DTS argument, only this time it'll be Dolby True HD vs. DTS HD MA. The AVC vs. VC-1 arguments have already started.