HD-DVD outselling BD less than 3:1, not 11:1 as projected based on Amazon sales (1 Viewer)

[Dah-Dee]

I was asking the author, not you, and "certain people" could mean anything, but thanks anyway; and one of my points is that it makes no sense for use of a format ("purchasing") to require some significant emotional investment in same ("my format"). Two different things, and I was pretty clear about it. So how did you not understand what I was saying?

 

[Rob_Walton]

Austan nailed it. The certain people are just over-enthusiastic consumers (at least I hope that's all they are). It should be fairly clear just how extreme some people have taken this whole format war: from having signitures promoting "their format", trolling threads discussing aspects of the rival format, and even going to stores and handing out flyers pushing their prefered disc. It's madness. Madness I tells ya!

BTW, I just realised my earlier post could be interpreted to mean I was pointing the finger at you, John. Just wanted to say this wasn't about you at all, mate.

 

[AaronSCH]

If Disney and Fox agree to produce software for HD DVD this thing will be over by the end of next year. The combination of nearly complete studio support and lower cost stand-alone players (please withhold your PS3 comments cause I don't buy into the insane strategy) will leave Blu-ray little if anything to bark about. That is why I doubt it will happen anytime soon. Too many people have invested money and reputation on Sony's new folly to abandon it so quickly.

 

[AaronSCH]

Hmmmmm. How would you know if you aren't reading all of it?

 

[ReggieW]

I can assure all of you here that FOX has no intention of supporting HD-DVD at this present stage.

Trust me on this.

Lions Gate will likely start releasing titles on both formats within the next few months.

I do not believe this "war" will be decided by PS3, X-Box 360 or any other video game console. Those who think the PS3 will be the death knell of HD-DVD are fooling themselves. I have three gamers who live in my apartment complex and not one of them said they were purchasing PS3 for Blu-ray playback. In fact, two of them simply didn't care. IF this will be the sentiment of early purchasers of the PS3, then we can expect the war to continue unabated as the battle is likely decided elsewhere. Because we are all enthusiast here (for the most part), we tend to lose prespective and not realize that the enthusiasm we may feel regarding these formats may not extend to the general public.

 

[Cees Alons]

I think so too. It's the copy-protection.
Fox was also the last studio to abandon DivX, back in 1998 (or was it 1999?), and switch to regular DVD.


Cees

 

[Tim Glover]

And after Ron's recent report on Fox...it will be awhile before they commit to HD-DVD. Sales and the consumer trend will dictate this...

 

[ppltd]

For what is worth, I tend to agree with your assessment of Fox moving to HD any time soon. But as I look at the release schedule, more of the smaller studios will be releasing in HD-DVD, and I think Disney will be the first 'major' studio in the BD camp to jump ship.

I have just read through a dozen or so news releases from the last year and a half, and Disney never has seemed to be a lock in for BD as Fox is.

Once one major moves to supporting both, the walls will crumble on exclusivity. I would be surprised if Universal stays exclusive to HD for a lot longer. The cost of producing in both formats is a lot less then the loss of revenue from not.

 

[Rob_Walton]

I'm not sure what you mean by this comment. It's not necessary to read every thread to see these things.

 

[MarekM]

I don't see any MOVEMENT that Disney will jump to HD-DVD, I read so many so called rumours on avs forum that it's not even funny how everybody there THINKS Disney will jump soon....

there is not even small info about Disney jumping ..........
revenue of HD-DVD and Blu-ray are so small now, it will be interesting a YEAR from now, when we will possible see a million discs sold by one movie..., but now ? what are few thousands, if they are looking forward MILLIONS hmm

Marek

 

[Mark Zimmer]

It took Disney 9 months to give up on DIVX; until they did so, they looked rock solid then too. It's still very early on and plenty can change.

I spoke directly with an AC Nielsen representative yesterday, by the way, and she confirmed that Amazon.com is indeed represented in these numbers, as are many etailers, so I stand corrected on that point. The only major HD DVD/BD seller not represented is Wal-Mart/Sam's Club, and reports from AVS certainly seem to indicate their participation in either format is spotty at best.

 

[ppltd]

It won't take any where near a 1 million sale to cause this to happen. A 100,000 sale on either formatcould shake the boat pretty well. That equates a loss of near a million dollars in revenue. No small amount.

My guess is that with the current qty of players in the market (HD) we could see Superman Returns being the beginning of the change. I expect the first defections the first quarter of 2007, if the numbers are right.

 

[MarekM]

if the numbers are right in first quarter of 2007, BD will be outselling HD-DVD

 

[ppltd]

It will make no difference who sells more, just that large qty's are sold. My post had nothing to do with who will sell more disks, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. It is a non-issue when it comes to studio support for one format or the other.

This assessment includes not only the BD camp studios, but also Universal. Revenue is Revenue, and given enough sales, I doubt the studios will let the loss continue.

As far as I am concerned, I hope both formats survive, and I think they will.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

It would be better for one of the formats to die asap. The presence of two formats will always be an impediment to the growth of HD.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Well, the presence of two formats did not exactly hurt the VCR market

 

[Juan C]

I read a lot of it and I can attest to that. Some people are just incredibly militant/partisan. They are on a mission.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

The one thing I totally fail to understand is, why such a strong desire to see HD-DVD survive. Toshiba and others with vested interests, I can understand, but from the average consumers point of view, what is the great attraction to HD-DVD? Is it the price of hardware? Because it most certainly cannot be the features, since Blu-Ray has HD-DVD beat on that count quite clearly. It also cannot be the quality, since by now it is apparent that neither format is inherently better than the other as far as audio/video quality is concerned. Differences in quality, if any, are pretty much due to the differences in transfer & authoring of the discs and to some extent the codec used. But since both formats support the same codecs, that too is a moot point with Blu-Ray also starting to use the more advanced codecs. So basically the only plausible reason I can think of is the hardware price and that too will even out given some time for the products to mature. So can someone please tell me, why do some of you want HD-DVD to survive and that too with such strong feelings?

This is a honest question and I don't wish to get into any arguments over this format is better and that is not, I have heard and read all the arguments related to that debate. What I am interested in knowing is why such a strong desire to see HD-DVD survive and or triumph, inspite of Blu-Ray apparently having more features and being more future proof due to it's greater storage capacity?

 

[Cees Alons]

Well...

You "don't wish to get into any arguments over this format is better and that is not", but you just want to state that BD is "better" in your opinion. And others have to explain why they don't condemn HD DVD right away or even defend it.

Difficult, because apparently a lot of people think Blu-ray is not "better". But saying why would start a debate and get into arguments... all over again, BTW.


So, let's just say then that all these HD DVD proponents have vested interests, are really stupid, don't see the advantages you see and/or are plainly wrong anyway.
And the advantages they think they see in HD DVD aren't true either. And what they don't like about BD, or even can't see because it still isn't there yet, is unimportant.

And those, who don't favour any of the two formats, but enjoy what they get, are short-sighted.

That must be it!


Getting into another argument is what we don't want either: many arguments have been exchanged in many threads on this forum in the recent past.

HD DVD outselling BD with a factor 3:1, or more (the topic of this thread). Why?
Stupid J6P, perhaps?


Cees

 

[Tim Glover]

Good post Cees.