HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on June 5th, 2007
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jun 4th 2007 4:12PM
posted Jun 4th 2007 4:12PM
Another week of catalog titles, don't get us wrong we like classic movies as much as the next, but there is nothing like new releases to drive us to buying. One title that is kinda new is Blood Diamond, at least to Blu-ray. What is interesting about this title is the fact that the Blu-ray version is coming out before the HD DVD, usually Warner does things the other way around. Two titles this week that are classics are two of the best Eddie Murphy movies ever; Trading Places and Coming to America. HD DVD starts off slow this month, but watch out, because they have a bunch (29) of titles coming in the next few weeks, and most of them are HD DVD exclusives.HD DVD 207 vs Blu-ray 243.
Updated totals, after recounting from the beginning.
HD DVD 212 vs Blu-ray 247.
Blu-ray
- Blood Diamond (Warner)
- Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band: Live in Dublin (Sony Music)
- Coming to America (Paramount)
- The Cowboys (Warner)
- Hellboy (Sony)
- The Messengers (Sony)
- Norbit (Paramount)
- Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season (Sony)
- Rio Bravo (Warner)
- Trading Places (Paramount)
- Coming to America (Paramount)
- The Cowboys (Warner)
- Norbit (DreamWorks)
- Rio Bravo (Warner)
- Trading Places (Paramount)
Anxious to see Blood Diamond and Hell Boy... BUT does anyone have any news on a potential Gladiator or Braveheart releases!?
Ben was accused today for being and HD-DVD secret supporter in the post on the new Sony BD player, let's see how long it takes someone to spin this toward the post being BD supportive.
I didn't even write that post, where is the comment I don't see it.
I watched Blood Diamond on HD-DVD months ago. Why are they even bothering with these old westerns? Not the kind of my movie that makes me go..."damn! can't wait to see that in HD."
Yet another win for Blu-Ray. :-(
It's obviously going to be a good week of sales for blu-ray. Hard to argue it any other way.
@Ben, sorry, sorry, you're right someone else made that post this morning not you, I was referencing a post from "Mak" the 4th down.
The HD-DVD version is coming later because it's going to have special features... including in movie experience and the first ever disc with web-enabled special features. So I think HD-DVD users win there.
Here we go again Ben. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but you've still not reviewed your HD-DVD count. There are about 235 HD-DVD's available in region 1 (North America), and you've said for weeks that you'd correct your numbers.
ALSO: The HDDVD count last week was 203. Now you've added 5 movies this week, but your total is 207 ??. Again, not trying to give you a hard time, but please fix this.
The number last week was 202.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/05/29/hd-dvd-and-blu-ray-releases-on-may-29th-2007/
I will try to go back and count them all again, soon.
What's a region? HD DVD doesn't have regions. Which brings up the issue of just how many movies ARE on HD DVD. They have over 500 for sale at Amazon.co.uk....
There you go I updated it. Most of the missing titles were music videos available on both formats which is why the spread really wasn't affected.
Unreleased movies don't count.
"500 HD-DVDs for sale on Amazon.com.uk" - This is NOT true for "actual" titles. Yes, there may be 500 place card "headers" for eventual title releases, but as of right now, the U.K. does NOT have 500 titles available (nor here in the USA).
Earlier post, somebody said "I watched Blood Diamond on HD-DVD months ago." - Again, NOT true, as it's not been released yet on HD-DVD, which will include special features NOT available on the recent Blu-ray. And Warner usually gives the HD-DVD edition the better audio-soundtrack specs.
Last week I said Blu-ray had 15% more titles in it's Catalog, this week it's the same.
If the total movies increase that same 15% just represents more and more and more.
In one year we have about 250 titles out. By the holiday Season that Difference might be as large as 100 TV/movie titles.
Time is not on your side HD DVD
Price is on HD DVD's size...mr fizzlepants
Only because of the HD-DVD fire sale...
I believe the fire sale was only for fathers day, and has now gone back up...
Didn't the Betamax thing teach anyone anything? You need media studios on your side. HD-DVD simply has not got that...
More miss information...it was even posted here...1st the A2 is $100 off then all Toshiba players are $100 off till mid or late June.
The movie studios will follow the money...if Disney can turn a profit on HD DVD when there are more HD DVD players on the market..they will.
Consumers will go to save money..the studios will go to make money.
uh .. Mak ... not only has the price not gone back up, but Father's Day is June 17th, which is still in the future. Look for official $100 drops on the A20 and AX2 next week.
Do prices go back up on the 18th? Doesn't seem likely.
"The movie studios will follow the money...if Disney can turn a profit on HD DVD when there are more HD DVD players on the market..they will."
While I agree that they will follow the money, I continue to ask myself why they don't.
Warner right now is making more than anyone by selling to both sides. Meanwhile some studios pick sides and watch Warner make all the money. This makes me think that to them it's about the long term, so until either side gives up, no studio is going to change sides. One will only give up if the other is winning with so much conviction that the other side loses hope of ever being dominant.
Either way we are long way from that and both sides have quite a few tricks up their sleeves.
Uh Mike, not necessarily. Blu-Ray has been consistently outselling HD-DVD week by week since the beginning of the year, yet Universal hasn't yet released one Blu-Ray title.
I don't think that 47,000 sales of Pirates was profitable.
But when Toshiba has 500,000 HD DVD on the market as opposed to 200,000 now (counting the 360 add on that only plays movies)...then I think releases will be more profitabe.
This is why blue ray is worried...
"I don't think that 47,000 sales of Pirates was profitable."
I spoke with the VP of Home Media at one of these companies (he won't let me say which) and he said, "Our business decisions are based on ROI" so I asked him, "Do you make money on every title" and he said "Yes".
That being said, if and when a time comes that the ROI is so great, and their horse can't win, then they will switch, but if they are leaving all that money on the table now, how much are they willing to leave on the table before they give up?
quote - "leaving all that money on the table now"
It's ironic that people above are using this phrase in relation to Blu-ray and HD-DVD, when according to an industry report a few months ago [end of 1st qtr '07], the two formats combined market penetration in software sales [the discs] is.. ONLY 1%!
Yes, just 1% combined(!), while VHS still gets 3% to 5% in sales, DVD is around 90%, and the remaining small percent is made up of download/streaming services, plus a very small percentage for PSP (UMD) movies [which is mainly supported by Sony's distributed content, as some studios no longer release content for PSP].
So, let's don't get bent out of shape in relation to HD disc sales, when they BARELY represent anything meaningful to studio profts right now!
The next-gen console war I think will play a bigger factor in this format war than most people realize. Currently Microsoft has the upper hand, and if Bungie delivers the good in September...watch out.
I don't think that'll matter at all for HD-DVD, since Microsoft decided not to put a HD-DVD drive in every console, if they did I would agree.