HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on June 26th, 2007
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jun 25th 2007 2:19PM
posted Jun 25th 2007 2:19PM
For anyone who thought Universal was going to switch sides, think again, because they have 11 of the 14 titles for HD DVD this week. Blu-ray only has two this week, and to add insult to injury they are not exclusive. So while the Blu-ray camp basically mailed it in this week, HD DVD has closed the gap to within 20 -- we're not sure how we feel about counting re-issued titles, but for now they count. But there are lots of quality catalog titles, and not many new releases. We don't know about anyone else, but the next big title to us -- for either format -- is 300, due at the end of July.HD DVD 237 vs Blu-ray 257.
Blu-ray
- Black Snake Moan (Paramount)
- Hustle & Flow (Paramount)
- American Me (Universal)
- Army of Darkness (Re-issue) (Universal)
- Being John Malkovich (Universal)
- The Big Lebowski (Universal)
- Black Snake Moan (Paramount)
- Bulletproof (Universal)
- Dead Silence (Universal)
- Freedom: 1 (Bandai Visual)
- Hustle & Flow (Paramount)
- Mallrats (Universal)
- Meet Joe Black (Universal)
- Mystery Men (Universal)
- Unleashed (Re-issue) (Universal)
- The Watcher (Universal)
Bah, don't count re-issues unless there is a substantive change. Going from combo-disc to HD-DVD is not worthy of double book keeping. Neither is a re-release due to an initially crappy transfer (ala Blu Ray).
Even though this was a catalog bonanza, it's good to see an influx of more content.
I still think that this week could be a market test for Universal. If this big release week does not put a dent in Blu-Ray sales, we could see Universal considering going neutral soon.
So far, the Amazon sales figures are only showing The Big Lebowski and Mallrats being the only Universal titles from this release breaking the HD DVD top 20 and Black Snake Moan being the only other HD DVD movie being released this week in the top 20 for HD DVD. With The Big Lebowski being #2 for HD DVD, it falls between the #5 and 6 titles for Blu Ray, Black Snake Moan is #9 on the HD DVD list, placing it between the #19 and 20 Blu Ray titles, while the Blu Ray version has an overall sales rank half that of the HD DVD version (511 for Blu Ray vs 1038 HD DVD) and is ranked at #11 for all Blu Ray titles. Mallrats, ranked at #19 for HD DVD is 600 overall sales rank ticks behind the #20 Blu Ray title.
here marks the first HD movie release I have ever want to own and it's on the format I don't have. This stinks. The dude's mellow is officially harshed.
"Freedom: 1" looks interesting. I don't have a great deal of interest in the story, but the new features and the dual DVD/HD-DVD on the same side (not dual sided) made me add it to my Netflix queue.
So, who's up today to start the usual "you're so biased Ben, that's unfair, blah blah blah, bitch bitch bitch" crap? Lol...
They're too busy being stunned that he remembered to close all his tags.
Haha, actually I don't edit the tags manually, but I finally figured out that copying and pasting from hidefdigest.com was causing bad tags, that I needed to clean up manually.
An obviously Blu-ray biased post ;)
How could anyone NOT be psyched for the "Army of Darkness" re-issue in hi-def? Yes, Bruce Campbell is a cult favorite, as are his movies, but oh what a cult it is. And his old "Briscoe County, Jr." show rocked as well. What is it with Fox cancelling sci-fi-themed westerns anyway?
@ crycry: I'm curious to know which title you're referring to. Whatever it is, I have trouble believing it's the only one you "ever [wanted] to own" out of 237 releases. Not trying to start anything, but no "Bourne," "Serenity" or "Children of Men" or (gasp) "Being John Malkovich"? Sounds a little extreme...
He was referring to the Big Lebowski...Note the "Dude" reference. Sounds like you haven't seen it yet... buy it :)
OK maybe, kinda, sorta the Bourne series...if they were on sale. I'm talking about movies I want to OWN, not rent. I'm talking movies I will watch many times and will pay the $30+ to buy, and so far the Big Lebowski is my only movie I would purposely go and pick up at full price. Seriously is it that big of a secret that they haven't bothered to release one "classic" on either format? Serenity sure as hell doesn't count. Really the Big Lebowski is also a cult/semi popular release, I just happen to love it. Children of Men and Being John Malkovich, yep saw them, liked them, done/would watch them if they came on TV.
A poor showing (unable to reach a ratio of 45-55 or better) would tell me that bluray has a lead that's close to insurmountable.
I think there should be a bounce, but I don't expect some massive turnaround. Blu still has the lead with the PS3 launch. Now that standalone HD machines are ramping up (and PS3 is ramping down), with the 4 or 5x better sell through for standalone, I expect a slow but steady climb.
I'm amazed at the gall of the BD crowd, where they cherry-pick numbers from their best 2 quarters they ever will have (right after the big-bang launch of PS3), and then assert that this is in some way sustainable.
Wait until Sony allows some actual games to go out to PS3 owners and see how much time they spend watching movies.
I see ps3s hurting standalone sales since they still must compete with one another, and I dont expect Sony to throw ps3 owners under the bus by not having the ps3 remain the latest and greatest... if the ps3 cant be updated to support something, dont expect it to become a prominent feature in bluray and as long as that mentality remains with BD, any bd player will look unfavorable next to the ps3 without a significant price difference. $300 may be enough of a price difference to matter but I don't think $200 will.
Dude, 300 was so bad-ass. Just thinking of it makes me poo my pants.
lol Universal is trying to keep HD-DVD going.. Without them there is no HD-DVD, they need to just give it up already and just support Blu-ray.
According to Amazon---which is typically very accurate, there are 317 Blu-ray titles available vs. 244 HD DVD titles, with 215 being exclusive to the BD format, and only 147 being exclusive to the HD DVD format. These figures include titles released domestically in the US by large and small studio labels. This highlights the larger studio support for the BD format, just one of HD DVDs Achilles heels.
@ Evan
That went right by me! Incidentally, I HAVE seen it, and it's one of the strangest movies I've seen in a while. It ranks up there with "Wild at Heart," "Barton Fink" and "American Psycho" for sheer eccentricity, but I enjoyed it anyway.
How's this for cherry picking numbers:
Nielsen/VideoScan Numbers June 17th
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ques...2407/index.php
WE: BD-64% HDD-36% YTD: BD-67% HDD-33% SI: BD-59% HDD-41%
Top Grossing Films to date for 2007:
1-Spider-Man 3 Sony $331,248,484 (BD Exclusive)
2-Shrek the Third P/DW $302,154,854
3-Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End BV $279,799,630 (BD Exclusive)
4-300 WB $210,300,035
5-Wild Hogs BV $165,788,226 (BD Exclusive)
6-Blades of Glory P/DW $117,256,999
7-Ghost Rider Sony $115,802,596 (BD Exclusive - released)
8-Knocked Up Uni. $98,346,250 (HD-DVD EXCLUSIVE)
9-Meet the Robinsons BV $96,287,733 (BD Exclusive)
10-Norbit P/DW $95,360,247
11-Bridge to Terabithia BV $82,142,8093,210 (BD Exclusive - released)
12-Ocean's Thirteen WB $79,668,309
13-Disturbia P/DW $78,428,933
14-Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Fox $77,453,559 (BD Exclusive)
15-Stomp the Yard SGem $61,356,221 (BD Exclusive - released)
16-TMNT WB $54,149,098
17-Music and Lyrics WB $50,572,589
18-Are We Done Yet? SonR $49,212,297 (BD Exclusive)
19-Premonition Sony $47,852,604 (BD Exclusive)
20-Shooter Par. $47,003,581
And here's some more cherry picking:
Blockbuster goes Blu-ray exclusive in 1450 of its stores nationwide
Starz Home Entertainment (Anchor Bay) to release exclusively on Blu-ray http://www.homemediaretailing.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?sec_id=2&&article_ID=10786
Exoptron Limited announces Blu-ray Exclusivity http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=269
So, let's tally it all up, shall we?
Blu-ray
(Studios):
Sony (Tri-Star, SonyBMG, MGM. etc.)
Disney (Pixar, BuenaVista, etc.)
Fox (MGM, etc.)
Lionsgate
Starz Home Entertainment
Exoptron Limited
Neutral:
Warner
Paramount
Magnolia
(CE)
Sony
Phillips
Panasonic
Samsung
Pioneer
Apple
Dell
Acer
HP
Funai (Sylvania, Magnavox,Emerson, etc.)
HD-DVD:
Studios:
Universal
Weinstein
(CE)
Toshiba
Uh, yeah, right. Game over.
Your facts are wrong... the Laptop I'm waiting to buy is an Acer with HD DVD. Go to the HP website they offer a laptop with HD DVD but I don't see any offering for Blu-ray. They are also releasing an HD DVD-R laptop... go check www.hp.com.
In addition for standalone units you have RCA & Okoyo (SP?).
And in terms of standalones, HD DVD is still rocking...
At some point in time it might be nice if you checked your facts.
First as stated above there are currently 237 HD DVD releases and 257 BD releases available in North America.
Of those over 30 BD exclusives (XXX, Reign of Fire, Underworld, The Prestige, et al) can be imported and played on North American HD DVD Players. In fact in one month the extended edition of Underworld will be available in Germany on HD DVD. That being the case HD DVD is the only place where one can see the entire “Blu-ray Exclusive” Underworld franchise since a BD version of Underworld has not been announced for the NA market. Plus the HD DVD version of Evolution has better PQ than the BD version.
There are a few import BDs that will play in North American BD players and more than a few import HD DVDs that will play NA HD DVD players. For those that don’t know this is because BD uses region coding while HD DVD does not. Considering these imports we come up with some new numbers.
HD DVD BD
North American releases: 237 257
Imports that will play in NA devices: 54 4
Total 291 261
Now let’s look at the companies that are members of the HD DVD Group. You said it amounted to 3 members (Toshiba, Universal and Weinstein) and then there’s the real list:
Chair Company Toshiba Corporation
Vice-Chair Company Memory-Tech Corporation, NEC Corporation
Auditor SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
Secretary Toshiba Corporation
Managing member Memory-Tech Corporation
NEC Corporation
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
Toshiba Corporation
General member : 62 companies
ALMEDIO INC. Moser Baer India Ltd
ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC. NEC Corporation
BANDAI VISUAL CO., LTD. NEC Electronics Corporation
Broadcom Corporation NIHONVTR INC.
CANON INC. Oerlikon Japan Co., Ltd.
CMC Magnetics Corporation ONKYO CORPORATION
D&M Holdings Inc. Paramount Home Entertainment
Digital Theater Systems PONY CANYON INC.
EXPERT MAGNETICS Corp. PonyCanyon Enterprise INC.
FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. Prodisc Technology Inc.
Fujitsu Limited. Protron Digital Inc.
FUNAI ELECTRIC CO., LTD. PULSTEC INDUSTRIAL CO.,LTD
Gibson Musical Instruments Q-TEC,INC.
GM Records RICOH COMPANY LTD.
Hewlett-Packard Company RITEK CORPORATION
Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
Imation Corp Sonopress GmbH
Intel Corporation TAIYO YUDEN CO.,LTD.
InterVideo, Inc. TEAC CORPORATION
ITRI TEIJIN CHEMICALS LTD.
Justsystem Corporation Toemi Media Solutions Limited
KADOKAWA HOLDINGS,INC. TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD.
Kenwood Corporation TOSHIBA CORPORATION
kinyosha printing co.,ltd. TOSHIBA DIGITAL FRONTIERS INC.
Konica Minolta Opto, Inc. TOSHIBA ENTERTAINMENT INC.
Lenovo Japan Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation
McRAY Corporation TOSHIBA-EMI LIMITED
Memory-Tech Corporation TRENDY Corporation
Microsoft Corporation Ulead Systems, Inc.
Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd. / Verbatim Universal Pictures
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. Warner Home Video Inc.
Associate member : 70 companies
Acer Inc. JP Co., Ltd
ACSES Co.,Ltd. Kaleidescape, Inc.
Ad Seeds Co.,Ltd Megan Media Holdings Bhd
ALTECH ADS CO., LTD. MITOMO CO., LTD
ArcSoft, Inc MPO INTERNATIONAL
AudioDev AB Nero AG
B.H.A Corporation NICHIA CORPORATION
BEKO Elektronik NIKKATSU CORPORATION
CDN Corporation, LTD. nixbu Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG
Clariant Japan OMNIBUS JAPAN
CyberLink Corp Onken Corporation
DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, Ltd. Online Media Technologies Ltd.
Daiko.co,ltd. Origin ELECTRIC CO.,LTD.
Daxon Technology Inc. OUTPOST FX (AB) International
Dedicated Devices, Inc. Pegasys, Inc.
DigiOn, Inc. PICO HOUSE Co.,LTD
Digital Site Corporation PIXELA CORPORATION
DISC LABO CORP. Plasmon OMS Sarl
dr. schwab Inspection Technology GmbH PROBOXX.inc
DT JAPAN INC. PRYAID RECORDS INC.
EBISTRADE,INC. Query inc
Entertainment Network Inc. Sanken Media Product Co., Ltd.
EXA INTERNATIONAL Shibaura Mechatronics Corporation
Finepack . Co.,LTD Sonic Solutions
Flag,Inc. SUMITOMO HEAVY INDUSTRIES. LTD
FUJI PLASTIC CO LTD SUPER VISION, INC.
FUJI SEIKI CO., LTD. TOEI VIDEO CO., LTD.
GEAR Software, Inc TOHO COMPANY, LIMITED.
Hamamatsu Metrix co.,ltd. tokyo laboratory ltd.
Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation TOPTICA Photonics AG
HOEI SANGYO CO., LTD. TOYO RECORDING CO., LTD.
IDE-AVA TRANSMIX Co., Ltd.
IMAGICA Corp. U-Tech Media Corp.
Info Source Multi Media Korea Ltd. VAP inc.
INFODISC Technology Co., Ltd. Visionare Corporation
Three? Try almost 140. I’m saying you better not give up your day-job because research and analysis are not your strong suit.
Then one needs to keep in mind that while it sounds good that Fox and MGM are BD exclusives neither one of them has released ANYTHING since April. One also need to remember that Warner, while neutral, favors HD DVD and has released many marquee titles exclusively on HD DVD such as Batman Begins, V for Vendetta and The Matrix Series.
The BD catalog is also not as diverse as the HD DVD catalog. There are virtually no films in the BD library that are more than 10 years old. It’s almost as if cinema didn’t exist before the mid-90s in the land of Blu. If you like pop-corn fare and “quality” films like The Marine, Cruel Intentions and Crank BD has you covered, but if you want a truly diverse selection of films including movies from the 70s and 80s you better look at HD DVD.
So if BluRay already won, how come you guys still fighting?
Some people think it's over and that Blu Ray won. But, shouldn't we wait until after the holiday season? HD DVD players will likely drop in price (or be on sale again like last month), along with the release of "Knocked Up" "Evan Almighty" "Hot Fuzz" and the "Bourne Ultimatum" that could really pump up HD DVD, right? While I do think Blu Ray is winning battles, I just don't think the war is over quite yet. If Toshiba and Universal are smart and really want to win the war, they need a huge push over the holidays. Comments? Freddy
I dont see how it will turn back to normal, since the hddvd is clearly the easiest to copy, and appeal greatly to pc users with its price. The war is not about the quality or the space or anything near, it is about copy protection, and in this domain, even if its not perfect, sony is the leader ( and it cost them a lot when cdrom were not playing audio cds... )
I jus came pack from hongkong and singapore, and where you can find BR in every small store ( specialy video games store ) Hddvd cannot be found. The only place ? HMV, wich dislpays 3 times less hddvd than BR.
I dont care the issue of this war, but i think BR is slightly winning. With disney ( including pixar ) releasing films like NEMO, the war will be over. Because author movies rocks, but 3d cartoons sells.
Ok Hp and some retailers propose only hddvd, like microsoft and their 360. But APPLE, is proposing soon BR only computers. And sorry to say, but this is far more important than universl or toshiba.
Apple was one of the reasons people started to buy dvds, to try them on their brand new IMAC ( first generation )...
For the cost of both format, BR is more expensive to produce, but chinese companies found a way to reduce this cost by 20%. And if HDDVD is cheaper to do, why is the price the same in store ???
The true winner will not be the one that propose the cheaper drive, but the one that cut its film price. Sony had a bad experience with UMD ( a great format for movies ), damn too expensive...once they really cut the price, suddenly it sales, and retail store put them on shelves again...
I dont care the hddvd die or not, but i can just see the end coming.
Is anyone else sick of Sony shoving their propriety crap down our throats? That's gotta be my number 1 reason for supporting HD-DVD.
From Betamax, minidisc, atrac, UMD, and memorystick, it's all crap. I mean seriously, did Sony have to introduce yet another flash memory format, when the existing formats were plenty good? That's as big an FU to the consumer as it gets. Well I'm sticking my middle finger right back at them and supporting HD-DVD.
Those backing Blu-Ray are part of the PS3 herd. After realizing they spent way too much for a mediocre game machine, they need some way to justify their $600 purchase, and that's by supporting BD.
@ crycry
Thanks for responding, but watch what you say about "Serenity," mister! That was one the very first HD DVDs and one of the best transfers yet. Yes, the film didn't gross as much as expected, but the fact that it was even made (rising from the ashes of a cancelled TV show) and continues to sell well speaks volumes.
Many sites advise owning this gem. Plus, it's a solid, entertaining film. I'm sure many HD DVD owners would agree, but you're welcome to your own opinion! As for the "Bourne" films, with the "Ultimatum" sequel looming, they would be awesome to own as well. Universal would be crazy not to heavily promote the inevitable three-movie set this winter.