Posted On another Forum: Greetings, This just in.....: HD DVD Outpacing All Next-Gen Formats in Sales Growth Promotional Group announces record HD DVD hardware and software sales increases from Q1-Q2 2007 LAS VEGAS (July 17, 2007) – At the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) Home Media Expo 2007, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group today announced that overall HD DVD hardware sales were up 37 percent from Q1 to Q2 2007, while software sales experienced a 20 percent increase in growth. The data is based on NPD reports, Nielsen Netratings reports and point of sale data from the studios. During the same time-frame, overall Blu-ray hardware sales saw a 27 percent decline from Q1 to Q2, and Blu-ray software sales were down 5 percent. Driven by major spring marketing efforts which brought standalone HD DVD players down to an industry first $299, dedicated HD DVD CE players experienced an astounding 183 percent quarterly increase. There are currently more than 180,000 dedicated HD DVD CE players in the market. “The numbers are clear – HD DVD is steadily gaining momentum and market share,” said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group. “With HD DVD CE players now at MSRP prices starting at $299 and with strong marketing campaigns around new HD DVD titles with web-enabled interactive features, we’re continuing to raise the bar for the consumer experience.” Recent studies[1] have shown most consumers are basing their purchasing decisions on pricing. Benefiting from more than a decade of DVD technology advancements and improvements, HD DVD hardware pricing has already dropped from $499 to $299 since the first players were introduced last year as a result of manufacturing efficiencies, while still maintaining a consistent consumer experience. “With the total number of titles available for each format differing by only 20-30 titles at this time, the real-world gap in content between the two formats is in actuality not as large as many would perceive," said Paul Erickson, market analyst with IMS Research. “Consumers in the US and Europe continue to show the greatest sensitivity to price, rather than content or branding, in their purchase decision for standalone high-definition players." With titles like "300" coming later this month from Warner Home Video and "Heroes: Season 1" to be released in August from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, HD DVD owners will have close to 1,000 titles worldwide to choose from by the holidays. About HD DVD HD DVD is the next generation, post-DVD standard for high capacity, high definition optical discs, approved by the DVD Forum, which develops and defines DVD formats. Its more than 220 strong membership brings together leaders in movies and entertainment, computing, consumer electronics and software. HD DVD is fast becoming the primary visual medium for the age of high-definition TV. The North American HD DVD Promotional Group, Inc. is an organization established to promote the HD DVD format and educate consumers in North America. For more information and a complete listing of HD DVD launch titles please visit http://www.TheLookAndSoundOfPerfect.com.
I think they are all screwing the customer over. Yes, we all benefit from competing prices, but they are all making money and no matter who wins, they will all continue to make money--in fact, even more because people will have to re-buy to make up for the losing format. The DVD Forum officially supports HD DVD ( http://www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com / http://www.dvdforum.org/forum.shtml ), yet nearly all the Blu-Ray ( http://www.blu-raydisc.com )folks are on the DVD Forum. Then you have those who are on BOTH the Blu-Ray and HD DVD Forums (at least 40% of the HD DVD members are on the Blu-Ray forum), and that is not even connecting the corporate ladder--who actually owns whoa nd then how closely connected the groups truly are. Format competition? Yes. Corporate competition? Certainly not as much as they like to portray.
Blockbuster has landed the biggest blow and will definetly hurt HD DVD..For now I am sticking with Blue-Ray..Everyone is doing Blockbuster online and their carrying only Blue-Ray ..Hmmm
I have to post this because I am just fed up with all this crap. Are they ever going to decide who wins. I agree with the other response as we all get screwed and have to rebuy stuff. And the studios screw us over in other ways. For example I bought the Troy HD DVD, now there is another coming out, the Director's cut with 30 mins additional footage. Screwed again. This is when I get back at those bastards and "backup" my movies, just as I did my hundreds of dvds. Just wait I will have them all in the next gen format soon enough, hahahaha!!! Sorry for venting. I've just had enough of this bs.
Blockbuster Online isn't Blu-Ray exclusive and neither are all the stores. The majority will only stock Blu-Ray movies but some will still carry both, plus the online store carries both HD DVD and Blu-Ray. And are you forgetting about the company that almost put Blockbuster out of biz. is still format neutral! I'm speaking of NetFlix... High-def Digest: http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/s...buster_to_Go_Blu-ray_Only_in_1400+_Stores/707 Ced
Blockbuster sucks. Netflix has a way way bigger selection and both blu-ray and hd-dvd. But as someone else already said, apparently blockbuster has both formats as well.
yeah. I follow the discussion a thacking netflix on this. It clear from posters there including blockbuster store managers that this announcement by blockbuster was in fact never implimented. they seem to have bought and have every hd dvd released since the announcement months ago. Nothing new, blockbuster changes policy with the the wind. Adn they are not exactly market leaders or even reflectors if you recall that they stubbornly held onto vhs for so long. I dont really care about the format war. I have a ps3 and just bought a toshiba a2 ($208 with eight free movies). but I do know something about consumer electronics ands wrote a bit back in business school on s dvd adoption. If you recall what mattered was the drop down below $100 for standalones. this was a threshold that created an avalanche. If you follow international consumer electronics trade pubs what you see is hd dvd about to come under mass production in china. no bd. just hd. we will see walmart pushing hd dvd standalones for under $100 by spring.
