Blu-ray sales top HD-DVD

[navychop]

I believe the link is saying since inception.

"...preliminary Nielsen VideoScan stats show the BDA's baby sold more -- a ratio of 100 Blu-ray to every 98.71 HD DVD discs..."

 

[teamerickson]

Yup.

 

[John Kotches]

HD-DVDs lull in titles is partially responsible for this.

Is Warner holding back so that they can release HD-DVD and Blu-ray versions simultaneously?

Cheers,

 

[navychop]

HD-DVDs lull in titles is partially responsible for this.

Is Warner holding back so that they can release HD-DVD and Blu-ray versions simultaneously?

Cheers,

You know, I didn't think of that. Warner and Paramount could well want to do it that way- maybe as a way of testing the waters.

One more thing to watch.

 

[John Kotches]

You know, I didn't think of that. Warner and Paramount could well want to do it that way- maybe as a way of testing the waters.

One more thing to watch.

I can't think of a better reason, as (to the best of my knowledge) they have been quite pleased with the sales results to date. Also, the tools for HD-DVD are developing at a blinding pace. I wish I could say the same for BD.

Cheers,

 

[JoeSp]

John, the BD-Java will be out with the Pirate titles from Disney. There is going to be some cool things going on with the Bd-Java just like iHD. Also, wouldn't you agree that the BD camp has MPEG4AVC cooking right now? Their latest titles using AVC have been outstanding!

 

[JoeSp]

On another note, can anyone explain why all of a sudden HD-DVD releases have almost dried up? Release 8 to 10 titles a month is not going to get it. I think that Warner is going to be pushing THD discs and Universal is going to be pushing those Combo discs.

Do you HD-DVD fans really like all these differant HD-DVD discs? I have even read where Universal is playing with releasing HD-DVD movies on DVD-9. The movie would be 720p and have lossey codecs only. You would still have to have a HD-DVD player to play these movies back. Seems like what M$ is trying to do with their high-def movie downloads. Is this the future of HD-DVD?

 

[jgags6]

I think its a load of crap that HD DVD doesnt have more titles coming out each week. How the hell can they expect to win, or even keep up with BD if they release 2 DVDs compared to BD's 6 a week. I think its rediculous. Im really disapointed. Its almost like they have given up they are just hoping that sony will screw it up somehow.

 

[navychop]

And Sony just might.

 

[John Kotches]

John, the BD-Java will be out with the Pirate titles from Disney. There is going to be some cool things going on with the Bd-Java just like iHD.

So roughly a year from launch, BD might catch up to capability that shipped with HD-DVD day 1. What about the potential issues with the first gen players that are reported not to support BD-J? Then there's the development complexity of BD-J vs. iHD. Code complexity increases costs to deliver titles.

Also, wouldn't you agree that the BD camp has MPEG4AVC cooking right now? Their latest titles using AVC have been outstanding!

No better than anything released in VC-1. Additionally the H.264 encoders aren't evolving anywhere near as rapidly as VC-1. The release schedule is 2-4 weeks for a new version of the VC-1 encoder vs several months between H.264 encoder updates. We haven't even talked about cost differentials which are dramatic as well.

In the end, this is really a non sequitor.

 

[BobMurdoch]

I agree that HD DVD has pretty much ceded January and February to BluRay. They have a treasure trove of content to draw on, and they give us.... nothing. The Departed, Babel, and not much else. How many times do they think we will buy Serenity and Batman Begins?

Back to The Future, Jurassic Park, Battlestar Galactica, you name it.... They could be at least putting up a fight and trying to keep pace with new releases....

 

[navychop]

Exactly. And they certainly have the production capacity. Other than the Spielberg concern, why aren't they pumping them out? DRM? Even if they figure they've lost the war, there's money to be made selling the discs- and worst case, sell them again one day in BD.

 

[JoeSp]

There is no way that the HD-DVD camp is giving up this early. I expect that with Universal it is their decision to go to Combo discs that is holding up their title releases. And with Warner it might be those THD discs they say that they are going to be bringing to the party. Why everyone wants their own format on HD-DVD is troubleing. The cost is more both to the studio and to the consumer. I think it is counterproductive to the advancement of HD-DVD.

Another reason I like BD. One format -- one discs.

 

[navychop]

Ah- but HD-DVD costs less! Right. I say again, costs are not so different to be the driver.

Maybe some studios figure they have plenty of breathing room right now, that the show won't start heating up until summer or fall. So there's plenty of time to roll out new disc formats. Who knows?

 

[navychop]

MARCH 9 | Blu-ray Disc movies continued to outsell rival HD DVD through the month of February by a two-to-one margin, industry sources said as the first final numbers for the month began to trickle in.

Consumers bought around 250,000 units of Blu-ray movies during the month, compared to the estimated 125,000 units of HD DVD movies, according to industry sources.

 

[riffjim4069]

To put this Blu-ray vs. HD DVD thing into perspective, based on the above numbers roughly one (1) BD was sold for every 1,205 people living in this county, and roughly one (1) HD DVD was sold for every 2,410. At this rate, if we multiply by 12-months there be one one (1) BD/HD DVD sold per every 75 people this year. These numbers are almost meaningless until there are at least 10x more buyers.

While many of us have had HDTVs for a number of years (5 years and 4 HDTVs for me), let's face it...a fair number of cable and satellite installers are still hooking up HD receivers using composite cables, and almost half the HDTV owners don't even know they aren't watching HD on their big ticket purchase.

 

[navychop]

No doubt true.

But I'm sure there are many people like me, to some extent waiting for a clear winner- although at this point I'm all but convinced Blu-ray has it. But moreso, waiting for a Blu-ray player with an ethernet connection; support for all the audio formats, including uncompressed; and plays CDs and all or nearly all DVD formats. It also needs to have smooth FF search ability. And yes, I'd pay $600 for it. Not sure I'd pay $1,000.

Perhaps many of today's HDTV owners would buy a player, once they saw someone else's HD player in action. Then they'd know they had an HD source, and a darned good one at that. But again, I think they'll need some confidence their investment won't be in the 21st century laserdisc.

 

[JoeSp]

Then navychop you are waiting for -- the PS3? But it is already out? Lets see, it supports uncompressed PCM on HDMI 1.3, plays CDs, decodes TrueDolbyHD, will soon decode DTSMasterHD, upconvert regular DVDs, do 24FPS and has an ethernet connection! :yikes It does smooth and quick searches and looks pretty good. Gee navychop, I guess the abiltity to play games is what is throwing you off.

 

[VinceT3]

Arean't sales 4-1 in the other direction over in Europe? how are sales in japan?

 

[navychop]

Then navychop you are waiting for -- the PS3? But it is already out? Lets see, it supports uncompressed PCM on HDMI 1.3, plays CDs, decodes TrueDolbyHD, will soon decode DTSMasterHD, upconvert regular DVDs, do 24FPS and has an ethernet connection! :yikes It does smooth and quick searches and looks pretty good. Gee navychop, I guess the ability to play games is what is throwing you off.

I've read the PS3 does NOT support uncompressed or TrueDolby. Is this a capability that they've added since rollout? Is there some other unsupported audio format?

I'd also prefer it to also play DVD-audio, but I guess I can leave my old player connected.

Is there any capability that the PS3 does NOT have, that the stand alone players do? Both the ones currently available, and the ones due out this summer?

I guess it's that 4 letter word on the case that's throwing me off.