Blu-ray surpasses HD DVD in disc sales for the first time
By Richard Lawler 
posted Feb 23rd 2007 3:52PM
posted Feb 23rd 2007 3:52PM
The Blu-ray and HD DVD battle has entered a new era, as preliminary Nielsen VideoScan stats show the BDA's baby sold more -- a ratio of 100 Blu-ray to every 98.71 HD DVD discs, sorry still no hard numbers here -- since their inception last year. As we all know, HD DVD was first to market and had enjoyed a lead on Blu-ray ever since, but then things started to turn with the launch of the PlayStation 3. The studios supporting Blu-ray finally began releasing significant numbers of titles and haven't looked back. Each team put its own spin on the numbers, with HD DVD-backing Universal pointing out that despite a 5:1 advantage in hardware due to the PS3, disc sales are still nearly even, while Blu-ray supporter 20th Century Fox sees the format war as being in its "final phase," and fence-straddling Warner merely noting that both formats are "selling well". Still, with the exception of the LG combo playing BH100, none of the major players have shown any plans to change sides, so until they do, prepare for a prolonged stalemate before this war is truly over.[Thanks, Jason]
Well with a million PS3s out now errr...million BluRay players, it would be shameful if they weren't ahead. BluRay should be significantly ahead at this point, why the lag?
And before douchebag Dave comes in and starts spewing Sony fanboy crap...SAVE IT
Exactly. The fact that there are so many PS3 units out there but Blu-Ray is currently only slightly ahead of HD-DVD in sales, means that HD-DVD is actually out selling Blu-Ray on a per installed base unit basis.
It's not so strange - There are a million PS3s in the US. Not every PS3 owner is buying Blu-Ray movies. Perhaps 60% according to some sources.
So, that leaves us with some 600.000 blu-ray players vs. some 300.000 tosh+360 drives. And guess what - according to the nielsen numbers Blu-Ray sells 2 to 1!
Nothing strange with the numbers at all. What's in the future is a steady increase in the PS3 install base. 5 million in the US before the year is over wouldn't surprise anyone. But unless something strange happens, Tosh+360 won't sell even a million in that time. Blu-Ray momentum will thus only increase with time.
Alex, it sucks to be you!
You hd dvd loosers finally got what you deserved, and i laugh @ you now!
It`s only going to get worse for you.
You are so blind eyed i cant stop LOLing.
ENJOY!
I hope one format wins soon! This is so damned stupid. And I can't believe some people are so passionate over either format, it's just wierd. It seems to me that supporters of HD-DVD are buying every title they can, just to make sales. Now, I am sure there are Blu-ray supporters doing the same thing, but I bet there are many more people buying fewer Blu-ray dics that they actually want and don't feel like they just gave the format an extra second of life every time they hand over their MasterCard. Therefore, to many anyway, it sounds like Blu-ray will succeed. Anyways, that's my two cents.
I don't know if this means anything or not, but I haven't heard anybody mention it before. Microsoft and NBC are partners in the news channel MSNBC. NBC and Universal are sister companies. Microsoft and Universal both support HD DVD only. A coincidence, I think not. It could be a long time before Universal supports Blu-ray if ever.
Uh, retards... The point is that Blu-ray is gaining momentum with the day and HD-DVD is losing it. If you'd been visting www.thedvdwars.com, every day Blu-ray is better. Right now it's winning in every category, and every day HD-DVD is looking worse. Numbers for Blu-ray will keep growing with time, while HD-DVD will remain a niche.
Poor, sad, early adopters and HD-DVD fanboys.
The only reason for this is because of the PS3. And Sony has to sell the PS3 at a loss to artificially get more Blu-ray players out into the market too. Obviously, they are falsely trying to up the numbers to try to sell the DVD industry on Blu-ray.
If Blu-ray was actually better and smarter for the consumer, Sony would not have to do this because people would be flocking to the stores to purchase only Blu-ray DVDs.
(quote)
bootsielon @ Feb 23rd 2007 6:31PM
Uh, retards... The point is that Blu-ray is gaining momentum with the day and HD-DVD is losing it. If you'd been visting www.thedvdwars.com, every day Blu-ray is better. Right now it's winning in every category, and every day HD-DVD is looking worse. Numbers for Blu-ray will keep growing with time, while HD-DVD will remain a niche.
Poor, sad, early adopters and HD-DVD fanboys.
the only reason BD is gaining momentum is PS3 owners are bord that their $600+ machine doesnt have any great games..yet only other thing to do is play movies since Sony's online store is lacking too just like BD's features and higher price point
Yea, this has nothing to do with hundreds of thousands of PS3s out and a larger movie library I guess? So, if BRD has more titles, safe to assume they'd sell more if everything is equal? How many more titles did Sony release in January compared to HDVDVD? This in no way does anything towards choosing a winner because it will not sell enough to go mainstream at current prices. If anything, Sony wins and BRD joins SACD. Of course I don't expect fanboys to logically accept that.
And by the way, most other video sales sites favor Blu-ray way more than dvdwars.
Why do people not like Blu-Ray? Well lets see...it's virtually the same technology as HD-DVD, only Sony is behind it. Let me summarize: Sony.
Sony is notorious for trying to push proprietary formats on the world that nobody wants or needs that aren't even technologically innovative and then they charge too much for them (most recently MemorySticks).
Oh, and I'm sure they're trying to find a way to have Blu-Ray disks install rootkits on your computer too...haha.
sorry about the double post was an accident
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(quote 0ndsk4 @ Feb 23rd 2007 7:11PM)
Tosh+360 won't sell even a million in that time. Blu-Ray momentum will thus only increase with time.
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not sure how you think Tosh+360 cant hit a million by year end since there are already close to 10million 360 owners all they need is the cheapest HD player out there ($199 US and CAD)the 360 HD-DVD player and its much easier to get than PS3 even now. as an added bonus the 360 HD-DVD works nativly with Vista and XP no drivers needed !!! also 3rd party PC software was first to support HD-DVD a lot of BD ripping/backup/playback software isnt even out yet but the HD-DVD software will
not too mention BD's higher product costs adn Sony's higher licensing fee's it really remarkable that BD is still here (guess we can thank the PS3 for that) but even though its gaining momentum now that not to say it will stay that way (movies sales have supassed HD-DVD for first time and so far the only time)
Absolutely. It doesn't take an actuarial genius to interpret these numbers. People who want great video, not game players, are buying HDDVD. Like me. I have no interest in PS3 games and if I did, I don't know that I would rely on a game player to play high-def video and audio. I bought HDDVD for the simple reason that I could get in for under $400 and get discs at Netflix. I am very, very, happy with the Toshiba A2 player and won't look back. I might even buy a BR player when those prices come down. But not until. I firmly believe, like others, that Sony is running a racket by attempting and often succeeding, in getting people to buy proprietary goods and standards. I bought a Sony HD Camcorder and I am, honestly, happy with it. But the Vegas Software only burns to BR. So, some day, I will buy into the BR -- maybe. THe Toshiba does a nice job of upconverting the regular DVDs, so maybe I'll just have them cram it.
Hank,
Consoles always sell at a loss when they are first released. this is the norm they make it up in game licensing fees on the backend. The xbox 360 was the same way when it came out as was the original xbox and the ps2 etc. This isn't like other CE devices with huge markups. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if toshiba wasn't losing money on the $500 units to keep cost down. Cost estimations put the original tosh players at about a $60 loss by the time they factor in marketing, packaging, cost to ship to stores etc.
Hank, great point, I agree 100%.
Mike, where are you getting your stats? If you know anything about law then you know dumping is illegal. Selling units for substantially below cost is considered dumping...so there is no way Sony or MS would do it publicly...so again, where did you get your data that Xbox360 and PS2 where sold at a loss?
corey:
Selling below cost is not illegal. Period. Companies do this all the time, like, as pointed out, for gaming consoles.
"Dumping" has nothing to do with the cost of manufacturing. Selling below the market value in the home country is 'dumping'. As long as Toshiba sells the hd-dvd in Japan (ro elsewhere in large qty's) at the same 'loss' then there is NO DUMPING. Ditto for Sony.
Dunmping laws were created to prevent foreign compeition from grabbing market share in the US by getting rid of exxcess capacity , ie 'dumping' on the US market. It is usually used for captial intensive bulk industries with huge economies of scale, like steel production. RCA tried to use it agaisnt japanese tv producers in the 80's, but it turned out that the tv's really were that cheap to produce and sell in Japan...
JON
(quote Corey)
Sony is notorious for trying to push proprietary formats on the world that nobody wants or needs that aren't even technologically innovative and then they charge too much for them (most recently MemorySticks).
I Agree but wasnt the most recently fialed proprietary format from Sony the UMD in the PSP? although used for the PSP games the format is virtually dead for movies
I have read quite a few BD/HDDVD same title reviews and the HD-DVD always wins with its In Movie features and its use of a better codec Blu ray is compatible with but has yet to use BD is still using MPEG 2 on all of its titles which is totally lame for a "next gen" format IMHO
oh also was Sony the loser of the last video format war aka VHS/Betamax
like BD and HD-DVD the Beta technology had distict advangages over VHS but the market chose VHS.
Sony's Beta lost to VHS
Sony Mini Disc couldn't dethrone Compact Disc
Sony's Memory Stick couldnt keep up with SD/XD/CF media
Sony's UMD lost to itself or rather lack of PSP sales to keep the studios interested (only odd movies for PSP are also BD candidates)
i dunno about all you but i see a pattern here not sure what it could be though...
(quote)bootsielon @ Feb 23rd 2007 6:31PMUh, retards... The point is
that Blu-ray is gaining momentum with the day and HD-DVD is losing
it. If you'd been visting www.thedvdwars.com, every day Blu-ray is
better. Right now it's winning in every category, and every day
HD-DVD is looking worse. Numbers for Blu-ray will keep growing with
time, while HD-DVD will remain a niche.Poor, sad, early adopters and
HD-DVD fanboys.the only reason BD is gaining momentum is PS3 owners
are bord that their $600+ machine doesnt have any great games..yet
only other thing to do is play movies since Sony's online store is
lacking too just like BD's features and higher price point
Just to let you know I have an Xbox360 and I will never purchase a HD-DVD player. Therefore, I bought a Blu-Ray player.
Do you not see why Microsoft had released the HD-DVD player? Because they know majority of gamers are “fanboys” and do stuff without reason. They knew it if they would release it then fanboys would buy it without thinking. Microsoft knows that Blu-Ray is better; however, they want to defeat the PS3. The Xbox360’s HD-DVD drive does not even have a HDMI input, therefore the entire signal will be in 480i/p on component and 480i/p, 720p, and 1080i/p through VGA, however, not all TVs have a VGA input and 1080p VGA is a long shot.
Even though your Xbox360 can be set on 720p and 1080i/p, however, movies cannot be displayed on those signals through component, all the movies will be downscaled. This is to prevent people from making copies of the movies, since none of the recorders feature a VGA, therefore, only VGA can display in full 720p and 1080i/p.
Do not forget when the HDCP kicks in within one or two years the Xbox360’s drive will be useless, since HDCP works only on DIGITAL input.
Do you not see many gamers are fanboys and would do anything to support their product without thinking; this is Microsoft’s (all gaming industries) advantage over consumers. Microsoft had released a shitty (non-future proof) product to cut down the costs, and they knew even if it was shitty, fanboys will still buy it.
“as an added bonus the 360 HD-DVD works nativly with Vista and XP no drivers needed”
Now that is bullshit, you do need a driver for it. I also believe pirating is illegal and people should not go to prison for it, since it will be overload, however, they should get their equipment taken away and get a $100,000 USD fine.
The more we get these stupid graphs the more convinced I am that some one is hiding something. Why are they not releasing real numbers?
Do some research and you will see what is the superior format in PQ. To hell with sales numbers, neither is going anywhere for a long time. And a gamer "fanboy" blindly drops $200 on an HDDVD player, or goes out and buys a game system that is overpriced, with no good titles, and based on an unfinished format. Which makes more sense?
Ed: stop lying in every thread. Talladega Nights was not included in those sells numbers.
It is interesting to see HD-DVD supporters attack the sales numbers by saying there were only a few HD-DVD titles released in January. Well, yeah...BECAUSE ONLY UNIVERSAL SUPPORTS IT EXCLUSIVELY. You'll see that trend continue all year and on. Blu-ray will most likely have more movies released every week.
Itsinthhole, that's an interesting connection you made: "I don't know if this means anything or not, but I haven't heard anybody mention it before. Microsoft and NBC are partners in the news channel MSNBC. NBC and Universal are sister companies. Microsoft and Universal both support HD DVD only. A coincidence, I think not. It could be a long time before Universal supports Blu-ray if ever."
However, if blu-ray continues to game momentum throughout the year (with a launch in Europe and Australia for the PS3 as well as continued dominance in the US and australia already), at some point Universal may be forced to conceed.
Also the reason why in January Bluray sold HD DVD 2:1 was because Niesel counted the movie Talladega Nights that came with the PS3 and the movies that where bough with $15 off coupon that all PS3's came with. HD DVD players still outsell Bluray players.
"The Xbox360’s HD-DVD drive does not even have a HDMI input, therefore the entire signal will be in 480i/p on component and 480i/p, 720p, and 1080i/p through VGA, however, not all TVs have a VGA input and 1080p VGA is a long shot."
Uh, no. The 360 can output HDDVD discs in 720p through 1080p via component. The question is whether the tv set supports 1080p via component or not.
ICT is years away. We won't see content that is ICT enabled for another 3 years at least.