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Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass HD DVD

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

February 23, 2007, 4:57 PM

Data from Nielsen indicates that sales of Blu-ray media for the first time has outpaced that of HD DVD; however, as expected, both camps in the high-definition format war have different ways of interpreting the data.

For the week of February 18, Blu-ray sold 100 units for every 98.71 units of HD DVD. That culminates a several week period where sales of the disc format began to catch up to HD DVD after nearly a year of slow sales.

Analysts credit the launch of the PlayStation 3, which includes a Blu-ray drive, as helping to boost sales. The resurgent format also seems to have a five-to-one advantage over HD DVD in actual player sales.

However, this is where supporters of HD DVD step in to defend their own format.

"Given that the life to date title sales ratios are close to 1:1, and given that Blu-ray has a 5:1 ratio right now on the hardware side due to the PS3, it poses an interesting question for the Blu-ray studios of why Blu-ray software sales are not outpacing HD DVD by a similar ratio?" Universal's HD DVD chief Ken Graffeo told BetaNews.

He noted that while sales are now basically even, HD DVD players still sport an attach rate than is five times higher than Blu-ray's. Furthermore, the #1 selling title across either format is Batman Begins, available only on HD DVD. The #2 title Superman Returns, while available in both formats, shows higher sales for HD DVD copies than the Blu-ray version, the HD DVD Promotional Group noted.

Representatives for Sony's Blu-ray format sing a different song, saying that surpassing HD DVD in disc sales was no big surprise. Chief among its newfound dominance, they claim, are the technical superiority of the format, the launch of the PS3, and better availability of titles and players.

It should be noted that so far this year, Blu-ray titles have outpaced HD DVD releases by a 2-to-1 margin.

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By Soundzilla

edited Oct 20, 2007 - 6:50 PM

I bought a PS3 for the Blu-ray player, not for games.
You telling me I'm in a "small minority"? Someone's buying blu-ray discs faster than HD-DVD and my guess is that it isn't a "small minority".

Score: 0

By yosemite

edited Mar 18, 2007 - 1:43 AM

well i think thats because people want to play games, thats why they bought a ps3 but in the long run we will recognize the benefit of not having to buy an expensive blu-ray player. though the reason i didnt play dvds on my ps2 was because the player deteriorated with more playing, which sucked. plus i had two dvd players before i even got a ps2. but i think that problem isnt with the ps3 so i'll stick with it as a blu ray player, but maybe i'll buy one

Score: 0

By ianpac

edited Mar 12, 2007 - 12:20 AM

Errr...so there are 5 times more BD players (almost all PS3) than HDDVD players yet the movie sales are 1:1. Also the top selling movie is HDDVD only.....

Just goes to show that most people treat their PS3 as a games machine and only a small minority use it for movies, just like for the PS2, everybody bought a dedicated dvd player even if they already owned a PS2.

The truth is the winner, if there is, will be the one which sells the most dedicated players that will sit under the main TV in the living room. This will have nothing to do with PS3 or XBOX360 sales.

The first opportunity we will have to see this will be Xmas 2007 when player sales will be significant enough to see the long term trend. And being a consumer item, the winner will almost certainly be the cheaper option, which is probably going to be HDDVD.

I don't care which format dominates as dual players will be the choice of the wise in the long term. And the truth is the average consumer cannot see the difference in picture or audio between the 2 formats. But as others have said standard DVD will outsell these for at least the next 2-3 years by which time there will be more new formats emerging such as holographic discs which hold 10 times as much data making both BD and HDDVD look crap since there will be no need for any compression.

Score: 0

By tjlazer

posted Mar 11, 2007 - 9:44 PM

A friend of mine suggested I buy Betamax, does this format support dolby digital and HDTV?

Score: 0

By tjlazer

edited Mar 11, 2007 - 9:36 PM

I am waiting for BLURAYHDDVD to come out. It operates at a quassy metric bionice pulse transforming deltron optical assimilation techno ramPC133 induced warp drive 7.5 ensen engage uss enerprise.

This new format will support holigraphical images and you will no longer need a TV just like captain pickard and the uss enterprise.

Ensen one to beam aboard

Score: 0

By kazman13

edited Mar 2, 2007 - 11:48 AM

ya cause where i live f#@k walmart carries like 5 hdvd movies and about 40 bluray!!!
money talks but i always see ps3 on the shelf but no wii and 360 come and go all the time.
sony u suck

Score: 0

By midfingr

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 12:55 PM

Too little too late. In my opinion, it's taken far too long for hi-def to hit the market. I could careless who sells more or less. It's been turned in to a consumer hostile technology and could've been a great return on investment. However with these ultra paranoid kooks in Hollywood, locking the consumer in to proprietary hardware, it's worthless to me.

Score: 0

By ladylust

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 4:07 AM

Christ.. 100 vs 98.71 . who the hell wrote this.. someone with stock in Blu-Ray?

Score: 0

By The-One

edited Feb 25, 2007 - 3:06 PM

I am wondeirng about the rentals as well. I only bought 1 HD DVD movie, I rent the rest of them. I wonder what Netflix can say.

Though this whole war seems to have ended rather abruputly, Best Buy is now selling the HD DVD/BluRay combo. Other manaufacturers are sure to follow (remember DVD+-R?) and we can all enjoy porn on HD DVD as well :)

Score: 0

By zridling

posted Feb 25, 2007 - 4:40 PM

Hi-definition porn is not a good thing. Playboy didn't sell a zillion magazines without lots of body makeup and diffuse lighting. I don't want to see a mole in hi-def, since it transforms into an x-ray and every blemish looks cancerous. Also, have you noticed how Blu-Ray is being marketed at Wal-Mart, on DVDs, in commercials. It's subtle, but it's there.

Oddly, the "20G-movie" will reduce piracy, unless some folks with their Quad-cores get busy and do some conversion work.

Score: 0

By uberfly

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 3:55 PM

Geeze, you're so right. Never considered the drawbacks of high-def porn until now.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Feb 25, 2007 - 3:25 PM

The LG Blu-Ray/HD-DVD combo player is a piece of garbage (I assume this is what you are referring to since it is the only combo player available). For either format to succeed, hardware manufacturers need to develop a real combo player that fully supports all of the features that both formats have to offer including the HDi feature that lets you access the bonus features on HD-DVD's.

Score: 0

By hmmm

edited Feb 24, 2007 - 4:49 PM

That's a lot of math but it doesn't seem as if you read the whole article which states "Given that the life to date title sales ratios are close to 1:1...", the short answer is TIME, If HD has 2 days to sell 100 units and BD has 1 day to sell 100 units and in the end the are at 98.71 units to 100 units relatively, that is 2:1 as it was done in half the time, HD-DVD has been out longer that Blu-Ray, without the exact date I'd say twice as long from the article.

Score: 0

By Ramhound

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 1:50 PM

100 units to 98.71 units.

So lets round the 98.71 units to 99 units. How do they get the 2:1 ratio exactly?

Lets do some exact math lets multiply each by a million.

98710000 vs 100,000,000

Lets find the exact difference: 1,290,000

Lets round that number to 1,300,000 which is close to the number of Playstation 3 units sold.

98710000/100,000,000 = 0.9871

I am not sure where I am going with this post, anyways lets multiply that by 100 = 98.71, which is the number of units sold.

Lets add the million units to get rounded to 200 million total units int his example, which will give a percent HD-DVD has on the market, with the
million units.

98710000/200,000,000 = 49.355%
100,000,000/200,000,000 = 50%

Difference: 0.645%

200,000,000 * 0.645 = 129,000,000

Anyways 130,000,000 units out of 200 million, not as impressive has the 2:1 ratio now is it :-)

Clearly I have rounded up on some of the numbers, and 200 million units might not even right, but the ratio will stay the same. So lets just say its correct and I did the math correct.

Score: 0

By Paul Skinner

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 7:40 PM

By the sound of the article, 'units' doesn't just imply movies.
I believe it includes players and other associated crap.

Score: 0

By ramius

edited Feb 24, 2007 - 1:40 PM

On DVD Empire, Blu-ray movies are outselling HD DVD movies by almost 2 to 1. You can see the weekly numbers here:

http://www.dvdempire.com...s/hidef_wars.asp?view=1

Stick a fork in HD-DVD.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

edited Feb 26, 2007 - 11:55 AM

Neither high def format is selling well
(and this laughable playing of ratio or percentage games whilst steering well clear of talking about the actual numbers of discs sold is a pefectly clear indication of that).

There's the truth the Blu-ray fanclub steer well clear of.

SD DVD sales dwarf both high def formats and will do so for many years to come yet.

.....and during those years both high def formats will still be around.

The idea that either are going away anywhere is absurd.

But it is absolutely typical of the insulting and insane black and white fanboy-ism and 'viral marketeering shilling' that is, sadly, all too apparant.

Score: 0

By rawd

posted Feb 25, 2007 - 7:12 AM

haha awesome

Score: 0

By Ray Dorset

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 11:27 AM

A European launch of PS3 in 3 weeks time, will further boost Blu-Ray sales totally out of reach of HD-DVD once and for all.

If course sites like DVDWars won't b reflect this, as they are US based sales, but in a few weeks time, Blu-Ray will be slaughtering HD-DVD.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 12:06 PM

Ray you've got to be kidding.

The PS3 won't be selling so well in Europe (certainly nothing like as well as the initial projections, just like everywhere else).

There will be a short fanboy rush and then stalled sales, just like everywhere else, their pricing guarantees it.

Blu-ray will get a little boost, sure, but then how could it not with so many PS3s knocking about with so few games worth playing on them & a stack of discount vouchers in every machine sold to be used up?

(same as the Blu-ray boost in the USA was hardly unconnected to the 7 x $10 money off vouchers in each PS3 box)

But the truth is that (just like everywhere else) that 'boost' will be deeply unimpressive and pretty much will be over once those vouchers get all used up.

It will not herald an avalanche of Blu-ray movie sales.......same as it hasn't done anywhere else.

The Departed came out on both formats (and long after the launch of the US PS3).
It sold about the same on each format.

The idea of a 'once and for all' event is a fantasy.

Both formats are going to be around for years.

This remains true no matter how much the Blu-ray fanclub have, rather transparently and ridiculously
(.....hey, why not declare another win for yourselves guys *guffaw!*)
been trying to talk up their 'momentum' since CES.

Score: 0

By Ray Dorset

posted Feb 27, 2007 - 5:10 PM

You can carry on deluding yourself if you wish, but your HD-DVD army is quickly diminishing, HD-DVD is dead, get over it...

Blu-Ray have come from out of nowehere and overtaken HD-DVD in 3 months, despite HD-DVD's 6 month head start...

Score: 0

By DaveBG

edited Feb 24, 2007 - 6:42 AM

:-D

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 1:37 PM

Fanboy finally logged in under his own name. But cheap a** still doesnt own a PS3, 360, HD-DVD or BD player.

It must suck to love something so much that you cant afford. Meanwhile, I've already got the XA2 for free, and the XA1 is now in my master bedroom and the 360/HD-DVD is in the basement. When I was down in Miami this past week, I decided to get a second PS3 as well. As long as it's still costing Sony money, I'll keep buying them. Also, Grand Turismo HD on the PS3 is the most boring game I have ever played. I prefer UNO and Paperboy on the 360 over that garbage.

Although HD-DVD has it's head up it's ass, it's still the better looking format.
You should be banned on commenting about formats or consoles you don't own.

Score: 0

By DaveBG

posted Feb 25, 2007 - 6:11 AM

Retard...

Enjoy!
http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Feb 25, 2007 - 2:35 PM

I love it. DaveBG points me to thedvdwars after i call him out for being a cheap non BD owning idiot.

We all know that BD software sales are outselling HD-DVD.....finally. What did you expect when half of the PS3's are being bought as cheap BD players. That's why I have two.

The sad fact is the PS3 game sales are less than 1 per PS3 sold. What a huge success.

You didnt even try to defend yourself against my comments about you being a broke fanboy, you sir are the retard.

Score: 0

By Steve Austin

edited Feb 25, 2007 - 4:40 AM

Blu-Ray looks and sounds better fact, as it's accurate repsentation of the original content, HD-DVD messes around with the picture using noise reduction (likely because of the higher compression needed due to lower storage space). This gives a softer picture, akin to listening to music with cotton wool in your ears.

Some people like the noise reduction muddy look of the HD-DVD (mainly early HD-DVD adopters who are blinded by their purchase), however most people prefer to watch the movie as the director intended with the sharper image, they have the choice to use post processing noise reduction.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

edited Feb 25, 2007 - 2:43 PM

Steve,

Are you telling me you own both HD-DVD and Blu-ry and have tested them on your own system so you can truly determine which is better. I thought not.

Well I have, and you most certainly have your head up your ass.

All of the first gen BD movies use MPEG2 and not VC-1 compression, you have no idea what you are talking about. BD switched to VC-1 when they realized everybody couldnt tell the difference between BD and standard DVD movies.

Even with VC-1, the picture is riddled with artifacts and skips/hesitates whenever it feels like. The colors are way out of whack so they movies look "more dynamic" and the black levels are more like dark grey compared to HD-DVD's superior black.

I can switch between the two whenever I like to see the A-B comparison with the same movie. This is precisely why I use Netflix. I can rent the same movie with both formats to see the actual differences.

If you are telling me you have A/B'd them on the same monitor with the same movie, you are full of s***.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Feb 25, 2007 - 3:31 PM

You forgot to mention the superior audio quality on HD-DVD's. A significant amount of Blu-Ray movies only have an old 5.1 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack identical to the audio on standard definition DVD's. HD-DVD on the other hand has always used the newer Dolby Digital Plus audio format (and in some cases added an additional Dolby TrueHD audio track).

Score: 0

By Ray Dorset

posted Feb 27, 2007 - 5:16 PM

"You forgot to mention the superior audio quality on HD-DVD's."

http://gizmodo.com/gadge...ts-not-equal-238336.php

"Significant review averages tell us that Blu-ray titles were slightly, but definitely superior in audio playback."

http://www.avguide.com/t...ct-vision/76/bluray.php

"Kane points out that Blu-ray has the potential to be even better than HD DVD for a number of reasons. Chief among them is the fact that Blu-ray players have twice the buffer memory of their HD DVD counterparts, which allows the peak data rate to extend much higher on variable bit-rate (VBR) titles, improving the picture quality of complex scenes. Also, Blu-ray titles are flagged for 1080p/24 playback, which results in much smoother motion on a display that can show frames at multiples of 24fps. By contrast, HD DVD defaults to 1080p/60, adding judder (jerkiness in the moving image), though it is possible to output 1080p/24."

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

edited Feb 25, 2007 - 9:34 PM

People like Dave and Steve are typical uniformed fanboys. I bet Steve doesn't own a PS3 or a BD player either.

I am difinetely a videophile, but the audio on HD-DVD is overlooked. The difference between standard DVD and HD-DVD is stunning. BD has decent audio but nowhere near HD-DVD.

I've also notice quite a bit of "stairstepping" on BD compared to HD-DVD, that format can't do a straght line on the screen without it looking like it was created in MS Paint (which has no anti-aliasing). This is on the same projector, being switched through the same receiver and both are hooked up to the optical audio input.

Very few people know the actual on screen differences between BD and HD-DVD. I hope they do a good job with Cars on BD because it's the only movie I truly want to see in HD on BD. The good news is we should see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on regular and HD-DVD by Christmas.

BD seems like the McDonalds of HD movies and that probably explains why America will choose that format. The majority of this country thinks BOSE makes good audio gear.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 4:10 AM

So does the audio and video on the Toshiba XA2 skip and stutter as much as the first generation HD-DVD players? I have the Toshiba HD-A1 player with the version 2.0 firmware connected by HDMI through my Yamaha HTR-5990 receiver and by DVI to my Gateway 24-inch 1080P monitor and it seems to lose audio/video synchronization after a brief loss of audio about halfway through a lot of movies even if the movie in question happens to be a brand new HD-DVD disc VS a Netflix disc. This is easily solved by pausing and unpausing the movie but it's still annoying.

As for Bose speakers, the only bad ones are the cube speakers with a 230Hz crossover between the speakers and subwoofer. The bookshelf and tower speakers have amazing sound.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 9:39 PM

I don't touch HDMI connections. I am running the component at 1080i into my projector. I have had no problems with the XA1 or A2. I read something about the HDMI having isuues because of the bad way the connection itself is designed.

Did you notice the cable tends to sag just under it's own weight? I hate HDMI, there is no difference in video quality to component. I've tried both HDMI and component to see which one looked better, the HDMI seemed to be "digital looking". It's hard to explain but I could tell you the difference between HDMI and component on any TV with any source that has both outputs available.

If you think BOSE sounds amazing, you need to listen to great speaker system like a Dynaudio or even Paradigm Reference on a lower price scale.

p.s. I have never update firmware on anything that was already working fine.

Score: 0

By Paul Skinner

edited Feb 24, 2007 - 4:44 AM

And as if by magic, the PS3 is doing its job.

"it poses an interesting question for the Blu-ray studios of why Blu-ray software sales are not outpacing HD DVD by a similar ratio?"

Because it's a games console and not many people want to watch movies on a games console.
However there are clearly enough (one in 5) who think it is good enough.

I'm willing to bet that quite a few of those who have bought a PS3 and haven't used BlueRay also have a standard definition TV.

However, it's doing enough (if it continues) to win the 'war' for BlueRay.

Score: 0

By womfalcs7

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 8:09 AM

I'm one of them.

I haven't used my PS3 for its high-definition capabilities. I play on 480i.

I don't know if I'll ever buy an HDTV during the lifespan of the console... I might move twice in the next 4 years.

Score: 0

By Paul Skinner

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 7:37 PM

Excellent. I expected more trolling, but I actually got a nice comment and someone proving my theory.

Cheers.

Score: 0

By Natrunner

edited Feb 24, 2007 - 3:49 AM

Only early adapters need apply. Until the drives get near the $100 dollar mark and there is a clear format war winner, this is useless info.

Score: 0

By uberfly

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 2:55 AM

100 units for every 98.71 ???? Well I guess the format war is over then.

Score: 0

By womfalcs7

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 8:11 AM

It's not, but this is a significant moment.

The blu-ray format has been selling well over the past two months.

2 to 1 ratios, and with one week being 3 to 1 against HD-DVDs.

Score: 0

By PSXp-ONE

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 1:41 AM

Ooh!!! looks like its time to move on to blue-ray now huh!?! hee hee hee..I love it!

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

edited Feb 25, 2007 - 6:57 PM

Free discs don't count but the heavily discounted sales do
(like those resulting from sales from the 7 x $10 off vouchers included with the US P3s).

Note how they love to play ratio & percentage games & almost never speak about actual numbers sold.

Of course Blu-ray got a boost from the PS3s sold (never mind that ridiculous 'shipped' nonsense.....are we supposed to believe that they don't know how many have actually been sold!?) along with the vouchers included it'd be hard not to have seen any rise in Blu-ray sales.

But the real issue here is just how little impact those PS3s have had.

Sadly for the Blu-ray side the big 'strategic' move in bringing out the Blu-ray equipped PS3 did not create an avalanche of Blu-ray sales.

The supposedly 'best selling' Crank movie sold just 7500 Blu-ray copies.

Which just goes to prove how far away from mainstream or mass-market both of these new formats are.

It might make for debate between a/v fans or tech heads but the general public is perfectly happy with SD DVD and still buying them in multi-millions....utterly dwarfing those high def sales.

But those tiny high def sales numbers show what a transparently pathetic & totally empty push for 'momentum' the Blu-ray side have been trying for ever since CES
(why not declare yourselves 'winners' a 3rd time guys, see if anyone's listening this time?
Jeez self-declared 'winners', how sad is that?).

Look for the sales numbers, they show the truth, forget this idiotic ratio game-playing & stupid insulting percentage spin.

They avoid talking about the real and actual numbers sold like the plague for a reason.

The real truth is that the 'format war' hasn't even got started yet.

Next up will be HD-DVD's 2 big 'strategic' moves.
1) HD-DVD PC burners due very soon & at a price "significantly cheaper than the Blu-ray competition".
2) Inexpensive HD-DVDplayers from China.
Sub $200 players = game over for Blu-ray & it's relegation to PS3 proprietary format.

Also of probable major impact will be 3X HD-DVD, if it's incorporated into the PC burners the HTPC scene will kill for them.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 1:39 PM

If the HD-DVD drops to under 200 bucks, I'll buy seven of them. I may get my hands on a Kaleidescape this March, I heard they will add BD and HD-DVD support later this year. Which means I'll have to buy more movie players and a new ripper but who gives a s***.

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Feb 23, 2007 - 5:52 PM

"For the week of February 18, Blu-ray sold 100 units for every 98.71 units of HD DVD. That culminates a several week period where sales of the disc format began to catch up to HD DVD after nearly a year of slow sales."

Okay, I'm still not sure if this is talking about the movies themselves, the "discs" themselves, or the players. WTH is up with 100 Blu-Ray "Units" compared to HD-DVD 98.7 "Units"? WTF is a unit?!?

"It should be noted that so far this year, Blu-ray titles have outpaced HD DVD releases by a 2-to-1 margin."

Okay, this means that there are twice as many movie titles being released on Blu-Ray than there are on HD-DVD, I presume?

As anyone else as confused as I am about this, or am I just a moron or something?

Score: 0

By Grazer

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 1:17 PM

Well, it could imply that these sales really aren't setting a new trend but represent the current Bluray install base finally getting movies worth buying. Not so much "picking up speed" but "catching up".

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted Feb 23, 2007 - 5:35 PM

Does it count when the discs are bundled free with a PS3?

Score: 0

By speedbump781

edited Feb 23, 2007 - 6:07 PM

What about a major retailer like Best Buy running buy one Blue-Ray movie and getting a second free. Being that Best Buy is a rather large retailer that should have a bit of an effect. That deal has been running on their website site for two weeks that I know of. No deals like that for my HD-dvd's.

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Feb 23, 2007 - 6:15 PM

Sony isn't stupid by any means. They know how to make a catastrophe appear to be God's gift to the world through Sony. They could make LaserDiscs sound like they were so happening back in the late ninety's, they make SACD's sound as if they're cutting edge and the "in" thing. In the end, though, the proof will be in the format that outlasts the other--if one outlasts the other, that is.

Score: 0

By kashin

posted Feb 24, 2007 - 6:29 PM

"Sony isn't stupid by any means. They know how to make a catastrophe appear to be God's gift to the world through Sony."

That's quote of the day right there. You forgot that proprietary MiniDisc crap Sony tried to pull. They were so popular, if you ask someone in the United States, 19 out of 20 will have no idea what you're talking about. MiniDisc was a niche market and PS3/Blu-ray is heading down that road as well. Selling a few movies and slightly outpacing HD-DVD means nothing. HD-DVD is selling like crap and Blu-ray is (currently) doing slightly better. What does it mean? See the quote above.

Score: 0

By Soundzilla

posted Oct 25, 2007 - 12:38 AM

I am so sick of people comparing Blu-ray to beta, or to MiniDisc. COmpletely different products and decades apart.

We're not just chosing a video format, we're choosing the optical media format for computers for the next decade. Blu-ray is the only choice for me, given the storage capacity. I don't want to get stuck 10 years from now saying, "Damn I wish I had that extra 20GB...too bad HD-DVD video players were so cheap that everyone bought on price instead of capacity."

I don't hink video is all that different between the two, with the possible exception of the comments on this thread about the framerates. If that's true then Blu-ray has another advantage.

Score: 0

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