HD DVD leading in Europe

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
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> The PS3 is most likely going to end that.

Indeed.

HD-DVD was leading in the US until the first month that the PS3 went on sale. That first month, there were more blu-ray players than the total HD-DVD sold to date, including xbox HD drives.

It only took until January for total disc sales to date to catch up, and blu-ray discs are now outselling HD 2-to-1 and growing.

Last month there were also about as many PS3 sold in the US as all US HD player and xbox drive sales to date.

Unless a $200 HD player comes out next month it's looking grim for HD-DVD.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
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The overall numbers for blu-ray disc sales I've read are much higher than at DVDEmpire:
( ( TheDigitalBits )

BLU-RAY VS HD-DVD - SOFTWARE UNIT SALES RATIO (2/25/07 - VideoScan):
Year to Date
Blu-ray Disc: 100 HD-DVD: 48.30 ( i.e blu-ray outsold HD, 2.07 : 1)

Format(s) to Date
Blu-ray Disc: 100 HD-DVD: 94.25
 

hans030390

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Feb 3, 2005
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Originally posted by: VIAN
The PS3 is most likely going to end that.
Probably.

Hey, at least they're finally releasing a Blu-Ray player under $1000, eh? But for the price you may as well still pick up a PS3.

One thing I can't imagine...tiny Blu-Ray players.

 
Dec 27, 2001
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What should end it either way is the first to reach the notebook and PC market. You may or may not have an HDTV, but your monitor is damn sure able to display HD content. Once Dell and HP start including these, it's over. Imo, it will almost certainly be HD-DVD that ultimately wins.
 

DaveSimmons

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Aug 12, 2001
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Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
What should end it either way is the first to reach the notebook and PC market. You may or may not have an HDTV, but your monitor is damn sure able to display HD content. Once Dell and HP start including these, it's over. Imo, it will almost certainly be HD-DVD that ultimately wins.
That most likely won't happen in time to matter.

It will be several years before either HD drive would be an under-$100 option for laptops [ or desktops ] , and by then HD-DVD may already be dead as a movie format.

.... for desktops it just needs to be a reader (if it's a second drive), but for laptops it also needs to be a CD/DVD burner too.
 

Thraxen

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Dec 3, 2001
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Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
What should end it either way is the first to reach the notebook and PC market. You may or may not have an HDTV, but your monitor is damn sure able to display HD content. Once Dell and HP start including these, it's over. Imo, it will almost certainly be HD-DVD that ultimately wins.

I don't know... I'd have to imagine that people who watch movies on their laptops/PCs is a fairly small segment limited to people who like to watch DVDs on laptops while on business trips and HTPC guys. The format that wins the living room wins the whole thing.
 
Dec 27, 2001
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Originally posted by: Thraxen
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
What should end it either way is the first to reach the notebook and PC market. You may or may not have an HDTV, but your monitor is damn sure able to display HD content. Once Dell and HP start including these, it's over. Imo, it will almost certainly be HD-DVD that ultimately wins.

I don't know... I'd have to imagine that people who watch movies on their laptops/PCs is a fairly small segment limited to people who like to watch DVDs on laptops while on business trips and HTPC guys. The format that wins the living room wins the whole thing.

I just wonder which segment is larger....the people who are willing to spend a grand on a new TV and a grand on a HD player and a grand a year for HD television and/or a grand on an HD DVR............................or the people who watch movies on their HTPC or notebook.

I know Asus is releasing HD-DVD in some of their notebooks this year. HP and Toshiba already offer it as an upgrade, but it will be much cheaper in the Asus and should herald the arrival of affordable oem drives. I doubt any manufacturer is going to want to pump up their notebook rival by offering Blue Ray, so it will probably always be a Sony only offering. I'm just saying if it was a $100 option on your new notebook or PC would you not get it and if you did, would you not buy a few movies to watch? If 1/100th of the notebook and desktop purchases this year bought just a few HD-DVD movie that would outnumber all HD-DVD + Blue Ray movie sales to date.

I see the point about it being too late by then and you may be right, but Blu Ray is tied to the PS3 and as it goes so goes Blue Ray whereas HD-DVD has the cheaper player, the PC market likely, and the XBox 360 all slowly and gradually chugging away. Sony has a history of a lack of success pushing their own tech........look at Digital8 compared to Hi8 in camcorders. There's just too little incentive for other manufacturers to give acclaim or revenue to Sony by including Blue Ray in their line-up.
 

DaveSimmons

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Aug 12, 2001
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I just wonder which segment is larger....the people who are willing to spend a grand on a new TV and a grand on a HD player and a grand a year for HD television and/or a grand on an HD DVR............................or the people who watch movies on their HTPC or notebook.
Well, big TV sales were booming before the PS3 was released, and I haven't seen any reports of people deciding to stop buying them.

HD cable and a HD DVR only costs about $15/month over standard cable, so it's a $180/year difference rather than a grand. Netflix (for HD disc rentals) is $250 a year.

HTPCs are a tiny market compared to HDTVs, mostly P2P-using college students, who post here about buying a big HDTV as soon as they graduate and get a job :)

Laptop DVD use is mostly business business travellers, some of whom will certainly get blu-ray or HD-DVD drives if their employer will pay for them, but right now that's a $2,500 laptop instead of a $1,000 one so most won't.

I know Asus is releasing HD-DVD in some of their notebooks this year. HP and Toshiba already offer it as an upgrade, but it will be much cheaper in the Asus and should herald the arrival of affordable oem drives. I doubt any manufacturer is going to want to pump up their notebook rival by offering Blue Ray, so it will probably always be a Sony only offering.
I suspect most laptop manufacturers will offer Toshiba HD-DVD drives or Sony blu-ray drives depending on what customers will buy, just like they've always used HD, CD/DVD and flash drives from Hitachi, Samsung, Pioneer, Panasonic, etc.

Of course we're all just speculating, and blu-ray's current strong lead could disappear if cheap HD-DVD drives and players do become common soon enough.
 

Looney

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Jun 13, 2000
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A big part of the reason why BD caught up with HD-DVD after the PS3 release is because of the $10 coupon. We'll see how the numbers play out in a few more months.
 

flashbacck

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Aug 3, 2001
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Blu-ray also has most of the major movie distributors on board. I think Universal is the last major HDDVD-only studio left. I despise Sony for all their proprietary BS, but it looks like they're going to win this one in the long run.

Unless the porn industry goes HDDVD-only. In that case BD is going down in flames.
 

DaveSimmons

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Aug 12, 2001
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Originally posted by: VIAN
According to this site, HD DVD could be catching up.

http://www.dvdempire.com/Content/Features/hidef_wars.asp
...
Of course these don't paint the whole picture, but there are some rays of hope for HD DVD.
The rays of hope were covered by clouds of loss :)

HD-DVD sold well the first week of March at DVDEmpire but Casino Royale put it back to 38.29% vs. blu-ray 61.71% so far this month.
 

Rage187

Lifer
Dec 30, 2000
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Originally posted by: flashbacck
Blu-ray also has most of the major movie distributors on board. I think Universal is the last major HDDVD-only studio left. I despise Sony for all their proprietary BS, but it looks like they're going to win this one in the long run.

Unless the porn industry goes HDDVD-only. In that case BD is going down in flames.



not true, most people get their pr0n from the internet now.

I never bought a pr0n dvd, but hell if I haven't seen enough on the intraweb.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
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Mar 4, 2000
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Which one has a burner available to consumers? B/R or HD/DVD?
 

DaveSimmons

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Originally posted by: corkyg
Which one has a burner available to consumers? B/R or HD/DVD?
Newegg has 4 blu-ray burners but no HD-DVD that I could find. Of course the cheapest blu-ray is still $570 so you might want to wait until next year :)