Blu-ray media sales set to shoot past HD DVD purchases
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PlayStation 3 driving demand? Blu-ray Disc is catching up with HD DVD, at least in terms of US pre-recorded media retail sales, the most recently published figures from sell-through video sales tracker Nielsen VideoScan show. In the first two weeks of January, BD media outsold HD DVD.â¦
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A report from NPD Group claimed Blu-ray standalone player sales accounted for 93 percent of the high-def market for the week ending January 12, but NPD itself won't stand behind the numbers, saying they were leaked and that weekly sales data is not a long-term indicator.
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(InfoWorld) - Visitors to the IFA consumer electronics show, which opens Friday in Berlin, will have ringside seats to the war over high-definition disc formats raging between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. As the two formats duel for the title of successor to current DVD movie discs, many European consumers haven't decided which kind of player they will buy. "Everyone is waiting for IFA where many new products are expected to be announced," said Frank Simonis, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc have sold in lower quantities in Europe than in other regions and prices are still relatively high, between â¬599 (US$814 ) and â¬899, according to Simonis. Currently, five manufacturers have launched Blu-ray Disc players in Europe, including Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic). Five additional vendors are expected to launch Blu-ray Disc players at IFA, while companies with players already in the market plan to introduce devices with new features, Simonis said. Many of the manufacturers are major suppliers of HDTV sets and hope to leverage that expertise to "accelerate the adoption of Blu-ray Disc," he said. The format has received a big boost from its use in Sony's PlayStation 3 games console, with sales of more than 1.4 million units in Europe, according to Simonis. The HD DVD camp is also bringing new wares to IFA, according to Frank Eschholz, business development manager of HD DVD products at Sony Deutschland GmbH. "There will be new devices and new features and more." Both types of players are designed with many of the same components inside and offer many of the same features, according to Simonis. But one of Blu-ray Disc's key benefits is its ability to store up to 50G bytes of data, he said. "Studios want to pack a bunch of extras onto discs in addition to the movies, and Blu-ray Disc allows them to do so," he said. The Blu-ray Disc camp, however, was jolted when Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation announced last week that they would align themselves exclusively with the HD DVD high-definition format. The decision comes at a time when market indicators have been pointing to competitor Blu-ray Disc as having the lead. In addition to next-generation movie-disc players, visitors to this year's IFA can expect to see plenty of HDTV sets, camcorders, digital cameras, MP3 players and notebook computers. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will introduce new products in all those categories, according to a spokeswoman. The company may launch two handsets as well, she said. Sony has decided to return to IFA after its absence last year, with plans to exhibit new Blu-ray Disc players, new Walkman music players and HDTV sets, according to a spokeswoman. More information about IFA -- the letters stand for Internationale Funkausstellung, although the full name is rarely used these days -- is available at the show's Web site .
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One of Las Vegas' most epic battles may be drawing to a close, but the spectators in the high-definition format war are already moving on to the next big technology. Are the spoils for Blu-ray enough to sustain the industry going forward?
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Blu-ray takes the lead in the battle of the high-definition DVD formats after Warner backs it.
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U.S. sales of Blu-ray discs, using a Sony Corp.-backed technology, totaled 2.6 million units from January 1 through Sept 30, versus 1.4 million HD-DVD discs sold.
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Sony is poised to kick off the launch of its next-generation DVD technology, announcing the release of high-definition Blu-ray movies from a number of major film studios in conjunction with new hardware on which to play them.
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Some 75 movie titles, including "The Da Vinci Code" and "Chicken Little," will go on sale in Japan later this year using the next-generation Blu-ray DVD format.
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Despite lagging behind Blu-ray in both sales of discs and overall players, HD DVD still put on a happy face for CEDIA 2007 and pointed to its advantage in price and computer manufacturer support in the next-gen format war.
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Blu-ray takes the lead in the battle of the high definition DVD formats after Warner backs it.
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Post Warner announcement trend? US HD DVD software sales slumped to just 15 per cent of the hi-def disc sales total during the week ending 13 January. Throughout 2007, HD DVD's share was closer to 35 per cent of the total.â¦
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In one week's time, the number of Blu-ray movies sold for every 100 HD DVD movies sold since data was first tracked, increased from 85.05 in the first week of January to 92.4 in the second, according to data made public by Nielsen VideoScan in Home Video Magazine.
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Blockbuster Inc. on Monday put its weight behind Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray DVD format, as the No. 1 video rental chain said it would boost its inventory of the high-definition discs to 1,700 stores by mid-July.
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Sony predicts shipments of Blu-Ray DVD players could grow six times in the US as rival format lowers its target.
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Blu-ray prices may drop by $100 soon. It seems a little faster than anticipated.
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Sonyâs announcement this week of a new Blu-ray device in time for the Summer season in the US is more about stopping people going out and buying a HD DVD player, than making more sales of its existing device.â¦
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Defunct format sell-off eBay said today it expects to an increase in listings for HD DVD products following Toshiba's announcement yesterday that it is going to ditch its optical disc format.â¦