Blu-ray outselling HD DVD
Preliminary data from Nielson VideoScan research group suggests that the total Blu-ray Disc units sold has surpassed the total HD DVD units sold as of the week ending February 18th. There are not any exact quantities or hard data provided, but instead a rough ratio has been published that states that the Blu-ray format has sold 100 units to every 98.71 HD DVD units sold.
No surprise here
This really isn’t that surprising considering that Blu-ray now has more total movie titles available than HD DVD, the Sony PS3 was launched a few months ago and Hollywood studios have released more new titles onto the market on the Blu-ray format than HD DVD in the first couple months of 2007.
What’s coming next?
As the format battles continue, it will be interesting to see how the HD DVD camp responds to the latest flurry of Blu-ray “wins”. I expect to see some type of aggressive response from the HD DVD camp in the near future. Will HD DVD respond with a surprising move? If you have any predictions, let us know what you think will happen next…
Nothing for the HD-DVD camp to do, really, but watch the Sony financials next two or three fiscal quarters: if the PS3/Bluray division repeats anything approaching the staggering $1.5-BILLION loss last quarter, you can BET they’ll drop the Bluray project like a flaming turd. This is still, after all, above all a BUSINESS. Sony is a big company, but not big enough to absorb repeated losses of that magnitude. Starting out $1.5 BILLION in the HOLE on the project just makes the effort to get into profit an ENORMOUS hill to climb. For its part, Toshiba, if it wishes to do so, can relentlessly undercut Bluray because of the intrinsically lower cost structure of the HD-DVD format. Prediction: first format with a street price $169 player ‘wins’ the war; and who is in a FAR better position to do just that? Easily HD-DVD. Just sit back, relax and watch the financial pages; it’s like having your own REALLY GOOD crystal ball.
Milt goes around the web posting the same stupid thing over and over again which is contrary to all facts presented by the professionals. He doesn’t recognize Neilson or NPD as reputable sources calling them “unaudited.”
He’s probably right that if Sony lost $1.5bil. per quarter they would try to fix something, but what? Blu-ray would stay and PlayStation would go. But Sony has mixed everything together so much it will be hard to drop one thing. Sony couldn’t drop Blu-ray because the PS3 is built on that technology.
There is also no evidence to suggest that HD DVD is inherently cheaper to manufacture. In fact if it was cheaper you would expect to see cheaper players on the market, but Toshiba is still the only manufacturer of HD DVD drives.
Check out the 50% off list on select Blu-ray titles on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=xs_gb_email_BestDeals_8033?ie=UTF8&docId=1000062781
Hi Steve, thanks (as always) for your take on this topic.
I heard also heard about the Blu-ray sale at Amazon. Blu-ray movies are selling like hotcakes!
http://eproductwars.com/dvd/