Blu-ray high-definition movie discs outsold films on the rival HD-DVD format by 2-to-1 in the United States in the first half of 2007, Home Media Research said on Tuesday. The division of Home Media Magazine said total sales of Blu-ray discs, using a Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research)-backed technology, totaled 1.6 million units from January 1 through July 1, compared with 795,000 HD-DVD discs sold in that period.
HD-DVD was developed by Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and backed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and film studios such as Warner Bros. Both formats were launched in spring of 2006. An estimated 3.7 million high-definition discs have been sold, including 2.2 million in Blu-ray and 1.5 million in HD-DVD through the end of July, according to Home Media.
A Home Media spokeswoman said Blu-ray got a further boost in August from strong sales of the "300" title. Stephen Nickerson, senior vice president, market management at Warner Home Video (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), reported sales of about 190,000 Blu-ray units of the film, versus 97,000 in HD-DVD since July 31.
View: Reuters
News source: Reuters
HD-DVD was developed by Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and backed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and film studios such as Warner Bros. Both formats were launched in spring of 2006. An estimated 3.7 million high-definition discs have been sold, including 2.2 million in Blu-ray and 1.5 million in HD-DVD through the end of July, according to Home Media.
A Home Media spokeswoman said Blu-ray got a further boost in August from strong sales of the "300" title. Stephen Nickerson, senior vice president, market management at Warner Home Video (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), reported sales of about 190,000 Blu-ray units of the film, versus 97,000 in HD-DVD since July 31.
















It is impressive that a more expensive technology is outselling the cheaper version, which was the only advantage HD-DVD had going for it. I hope Blu-Ray becomes the standard quickly as then consumers won't have to worry about whether discs will play.
now as for thercomingforyous . HD-DVD has 15/30/ and 50gig disk Toshiba has shown 50gig disc , now up till recently witch is maby around june and Evan still most of the BD formated disc use Mpeg 2 format as HD-DVD uses VC-1 but that is just quality of video but i assume you dont care about content each format can provide witch means content + interactivity and in this case HD-DVD Wins more features and functions witch currently no BD drive or device supports.
try again.
Yeah, Sony may think that, but no one asked Sony so who cares. :p
They're checking disc sale statistics.
Yeah, Sony may think that, but no one asked Sony so who cares. :p
They're checking disc sale statistics.
and how many movie studios does sony own? and how many does Toshiba own?
Peoples love for a company that is 1 of 5 that control 95% of media in the US and have been convicted many times of anti trust and paid millions upon millions of dollars so they can do it again is beyond me.
PC users are the ones who benefit from the extra storage most. Most of my DVD's extras are sh8 anyways so I can imagine how much more crap they will throw onto the next gen discs because that space isn't going to be taken up by improved quality alone. Of course the extras that will be worth watching wont be on the first release or the second or the platnium or the double platnium editions but hey that's money well spent
And Blu-Ray has demonstrated a 200GB disc and is already selling 50GB discs (with 100GB discs likely to follow). So one Blu-Ray disc would need 4 HD-DVDs to match the capacity, making Blu-Ray more practical for television series.
Most Blu-Ray has moved onto VC-1. It's only early days and the quality of early DVD releases was also poor.
The Blu-Ray specification has interactivity included and is fully featured. Whether a few early players have it missing is irrelevant in the long-run, though it's obviously not helpful.
If you're going to respond then can you please spend a few seconds extra and put some effort into spelling/grammar? I know this is only an internet forum but it's lazy and immature and only serves to undermine any points you make. If you can't put the effort into typing a response then why should I make the effort to read and respond to it?
The space isn't going to just be used for extras - there is only so much you can add and most DVDs already cover that safely. Instead it can be used, as you pointed out, for increased quality or for putting more episodes of a series on each disc for box sets. It seems strange that you're trying to argue that extra storage space is of little benefit.
However "300" on Blu-Ray has sold 2:1 over HD-DVD. Thats how it has contributed; i.e. the install base of Blu-Ray players potentially outweighs those of HD-DVD.
However "300" on Blu-Ray has sold 2:1 over HD-DVD. Thats how it has contributed; i.e. the install base of Blu-Ray players potentially outweighs those of HD-DVD.
If the install base of Blu-Ray players outweighs those of HD-DVD players, then the same could be said about any title that is available in both formats. My snarky point was that the sells record of the title "300" is attributed to the format, and not the other way around as the article put it.
I just want one format that we can all be happy with. Is that too much to ask?
but as of now im happy with current DVD standard, hell i usually just get XviD movies this way i can fit like 3-6movies per dvd disc this way while maintaining close to dvd quality overall.... only down side is you need a XBox1 running XBMC or a standalone player that does DivX... so thats the tradeoff for the more movies per disc but less compatibility.
plus i dont have a HDTV myself (well i sorta do but not in my room plus it's a 50"+ projection 1080i crap which dont look that good in the first place) and neither do the majority of people, so we aint gotta worry about standards to much in the hd-dvd or blu-ray field ... cause once most people do have a HDTV, then people would actually want hd-dvd/blu-ray over standard dvd.
Get your facts straight. The "most of the BD formatted discs use MPEG2" comment is SEVERELY wrong. Yea, maybe a year ago that might have been true, but, almost ALL recent BD releases have been AVC or VC1. And with profile 1.1 coming out in November, the interactive features that HD DVD holds over BluRay(as seen on 300) will be coming. I'm sorry, but, when you have only 1 studio hold out versus 5, your format's likely going to win. HD DVD, as much as I love it, is not going to win the format war. It has too much going against it. My advice...if you're really concerned, buy both. That's what I did.
Get your facts straight. The "most of the BD formatted discs use MPEG2" comment is SEVERELY wrong. Yea, maybe a year ago that might have been true, but, almost ALL recent BD releases have been AVC or VC1. And with profile 1.1 coming out in November, the interactive features that HD DVD holds over BluRay(as seen on 300) will be coming. I'm sorry, but, when you have only 1 studio hold out versus 5, your format's likely going to win. HD DVD, as much as I love it, is not going to win the format war. It has too much going against it. My advice...if you're really concerned, buy both. That's what I did.
yes you are correct about BD getting the same type of features but guess what this means people would need all new hardware. online content needs Lan witch no current player for BD format has except if you account for the PS3 other features include Picture and picture and picture and some other but requier new hardware as no BD player standalone TV player has the ability to do firmware updates to examnd on the list of features in witch it could add with HD-DVD they use HDi HDi Interactive witch is upgradable via firmware as it states here for features or what it can do.
HDi allows menus to be displayed during video playback, like persistent user-defined bookmarks, picture-in-picture (for cast commentaries/interviews, behind the scenes footage, etc.), storyboards and production photos, GPS,[1] calculators (example; body-count, car-insurance/damage, etc.), technical statistics, and network access to download new features, trailers and extras using standard HD DVD set-top players.
HDi is not limited to being used on optical media. It can even be used on media delivered or streamed over the Internet or any other network. The HDi model includes an XML subset for content format of images, buttons, video objects; cascading style sheets (CSS) for layout, color, font types; and SMIL for timing and synchronization as well as ECMA scripts for programmability.
Examples of interactivity available inside HD DVD content include the Universal Studios "U-Control"[1] and the Warner Bros. bookmarks features.
. now again sony accounts every PS3 owner as buying a BD player regardless if their intent is to use it for BD formated movies and right their is a huge Flaw because unless sony can make every place that sales BD and BD players ask each customer who buys the PS3 if in fact their soul purpose is to use it for movies and or if they intent to use it for that at some point as their mian player then i think it is wrong to account each PS3 sale as a defiant BD sale.
now i will admit ther is movies on BD only on Bd mostly sony made movies in witch you cant get for HD-DVD obvoiusly but at some point i may purchase a proper Dual format drive witch currently does not exist
. now again sony accounts every PS3 owner as buying a BD player regardless if their intent is to use it for BD formated movies and right their is a huge Flaw because unless sony can make every place that sales BD and BD players ask each customer who buys the PS3 if in fact their soul purpose is to use it for movies and or if they intent to use it for that at some point as their mian player then i think it is wrong to account each PS3 sale as a defiant BD sale.
now i will admit ther is movies on BD only on Bd mostly sony made movies in witch you cant get for HD-DVD obvoiusly but at some point i may purchase a proper Dual format drive witch currently does not exist[/quote]
What's wrong with them counting PS3's as a BR sale? It shouldn't matter what they intend to do with it, it plays BDs.
HDi is the hardware with upgradeable firmware witch houses all of HD-DVDs features and functions for example you run an HD-DVD on Lgs dual format player that will play both HD-DVD and Blu-ray and well it lacks the HDi chips that is requirement for HD-DVD playback and because it is not there the only thing you can do with the HD-DVD is just view the movie and that is it you get but a small simple stop pause button menu on the bottom screen and PiP is just 1 of many new features to HD-DVD like with the movie (300) you can watch have the screen the finale movie and the other half the blue screened version the unfinished film without the finale look and effects, but one of the biggest features of HD-DVD would be the Web enabled content. anything that HD-DVD does that BD cant do will just mean users who have got a nice $1000 BD drive to then go purchase a new one for all the features.
Like i siad with regaler DVD to people when DVD first started to come out in the first couple of years is if you want just the movie then you can go back to VHS but if you want features and extras then ya watch the DVD version
Last edited by notuptome2004 on 15 Aug 2007 - 19:18
And frankly, there arent that many BD / HD-DVD players out there. I mean, if BD were to be upgraded, leaving no choice to those with certain older players, it wouldn't be a significant amount of players to be considered a huge problem. And let's face, the PS3 is the most popular BD player out there, even if PS3's own owners don't even know they have blu-ray playing capabilities.
As mentioned before, most (if not all) titles released now are released on BD-50 discs with either VC-1 or AVC encoding. As for extras, I've never cared for them on DVD (except for deleted scenes or alternate takes, and for that I don't need interactive crap or internet connection), there's no reason I will do that now.
notuptome2004, the reason people chose HD-DVD/BD over DVD, providing they have HDtvs , is the picture quality, and definitely not the extras.
For me, it's simple. By the end of the year there will be hundreds of good titles on Blu-Ray, enough for me to never look back at the moment I decided which format I would be buying. I got a PS3, just in case BD didn't win, it would still be a nice console.
I was in Dublin a couple of weeks ago. Neither format is very popular, but in some stores there would be BD discs and not a single HD-DVD. In those stores where both formats could be found, there were A LOT more of Blu-ray discs. Right now, Blu-ray is winning.
Get your facts straight. The "most of the BD formatted discs use MPEG2" comment is SEVERELY wrong. Yea, maybe a year ago that might have been true, but, almost ALL recent BD releases have been AVC or VC1. And with profile 1.1 coming out in November, the interactive features that HD DVD holds over BluRay(as seen on 300) will be coming. I'm sorry, but, when you have only 1 studio hold out versus 5, your format's likely going to win. HD DVD, as much as I love it, is not going to win the format war. It has too much going against it. My advice...if you're really concerned, buy both. That's what I did.
HDi allows menus to be displayed during video playback, like persistent user-defined bookmarks, picture-in-picture (for cast commentaries/interviews, behind the scenes footage, etc.), storyboards and production photos, GPS,[1] calculators (example; body-count, car-insurance/damage, etc.), technical statistics, and network access to download new features, trailers and extras using standard HD DVD set-top players.
You do realize that some Blu-Ray players have a floating menu too. As for all that other interactivity, I personally don't care. I just want to watch the movie!
Why not wait 40 years instead? Then you can use your saved money to purchase a UHD player.
My point is that there will always be newer formats on the horizon. So why wait when you can have the latest technology now? (provided it is reasonably priced)
lol
all studios will eventually adopt blu-ray. Porr toshhiba, teamed with the MS for nothing.
errr, you what?!
Last edited by virtorio on 15 Aug 2007 - 21:54
well universal right now is supporting only HD-DVD i think but here is the heroes page for the HD-DVd version and DVD version shows what all it includes. looks good .
http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/dvd/
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