The first quarter seems to have been a win for Sony's Blu-Ray format:
Of the high-definition discs bought by consumers in the first quarter, 70% were in the Blu-ray Disc format and 30% were HD DVD, according to sales figures provided by trade publication Home Media Magazine.
Blu-ray took the lead in February, and its percentage of total sales accelerated to the point where it accounted for nearly three out of every four high-definition discs sold in March.
What's more, when given the choice, consumers are going with Blu-ray. Warner Home Video released "The Departed" the same day, February 13, in both formats. Between then and March 31, consumers bought 53,640 copies of the film on Blu-ray Disc and 31,590 on HD DVD, according to Home Media's market research, based on studio estimates and Nielsen VideoScan point-of-sale data.
-- Blu-ray burning its high-def DVD rivalBlu-ray took the lead in February, and its percentage of total sales accelerated to the point where it accounted for nearly three out of every four high-definition discs sold in March.
What's more, when given the choice, consumers are going with Blu-ray. Warner Home Video released "The Departed" the same day, February 13, in both formats. Between then and March 31, consumers bought 53,640 copies of the film on Blu-ray Disc and 31,590 on HD DVD, according to Home Media's market research, based on studio estimates and Nielsen VideoScan point-of-sale data.
Some credit has been given to the PlayStation 3 as well. If these numbers are solid, someone over in Japan is probably smiling right about now. I find it funny when people "feel sorry" for Sony, having the #2 best selling console hardware and just recently the #1 game title (God of War II) and now are apparently getting a lead in what might be the most important format launch they've had in about a decade.
Yeah, boo hoo for Sony.
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2 comments:
Too bad the original article doesn't allow commenting. I have no reason to think either will be more successful than the other, however I do believe two things:
1. Whichever platform WalMart supports will win.
2. They are both obselete. This is the real reason Microsoft doesn't include HD-DVD with the Xbox. Soon enough, HD video will be on-demand via Web services or Cable, and 'Data Storage' will be primarily solid state memory.
Neither standard will see the glory of DVD.
Wal-mart will definately be a huge deal. Course, HDTV prices need to fall dramatically as well - but that's happening. If 2007 sees cheap 720P LCDTV's and a cheap HD player - that's a huge boost to the high def adoption.
I think the real test of either HD format will be how much stuff they can fit on a disc. People will pay for convenience. If can could, for instance, get a whole season of television on one or two discs instead of say, twelve, that would be nice.
It won't be resolution alone. People can easily download high res videos these days.
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