Blu Ray and HD DVD / Format War
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Written by Michael Lankton
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Thursday, 13 December 2007 |
 This week on VideoBusiness, market analysis firm The Diffusion Group thinks the first group of HD adopters was weighted with technophiles and videogamers. Their research suggests that the next wave will be more price conscious.
They say this may favor HD DVD, as HD DVD players average about $100 less than Blu Ray players. As the number of people looking to adopt increases, age and average incomes decrease. Taking a survey of people who say they are likely to buy either HD DVD or Blu Ray in the next six months, 43% responded that HD DVD was their preference, compared to 27% for rival Blu Ray. 30% of those questioned remain undecided. “The strength of this preference and its correlation to mainstream
attributes are notable,” stated Michael Greeson, president and principal
analyst at TDG. “Today’s high-def DVD owner is likely an early
adopter with a knack for power gaming; most certainly tech
sophisticates not at all mainstream in temperament. The next wave of
buyers is comprised of early mass-market consumers, a much larger
segment with focus on practical considerations such as price. It is
TDG’s opinion that the format which can best address the needs of
mainstream consumers will emerge as the winner of this format war.”
There is still a major battle for hearts and minds being waged this holiday shopping season. It will be interesting to see how the numbers shake out for the Harry Potter movies, which are on both Blu Ray and HD DVD.
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Written by Michael Lankton
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Wednesday, 12 December 2007 |
Market analyst DisplaySearch has released some data for the crucial Black Friday week, ending November 24.
On the HD stand-alone player front 57,000 units were moved. HD DVD accounted for 62% of player sales, with rival Blu Ray claiming 37% of units sold. This in contrast to 600,000 standard dvd players sold in the same week. Despite the lower number, Blu Ray claimed 52% of revenue for HD stand-alone players that week, due to the higher margin on their hardware. Things looked a little gloomier for HD DVD on the software sales front that week. With a slew of new releases facing little to no competition from HD DVD, Blu Ray accounted for 72.6% of software sales.
DisplaySearch postulates that not much will change with the sales trends we've seen this fall. They predict year-end installed hardware base at 678,000 HD DVD players and 461,000 Blu Ray players. |
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Written by Michael Lankton
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Tuesday, 04 December 2007 |
The BDA is reporting that sales of Blu Ray players have topped 2.7 million units to date.
Figures include both stand-alone players and Playstation 3 videogame consoles. The HD DVD Promotional Group had reported last week that HD DVD player sales had hit the 750,00 mark, that figure including Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on units. On the software front, Blu Ray has sold over 4 million discs since inception through November, with HD DVD accounting for 2.5 million units in disc sales. HD DVD has enjoyed the upper hand in stand-alone player sales throughout the Format War, and with the BDA not claiming a victory in stand-alone player sales, it's safe to assume that Playstation 3 videogame consoles still account for the majority of Blu Ray hardware sales.
It's business as usual this week in the Format War, with both sides trying to dress up weak PR announcements as trumpets of the other side's apocalypse. Neither side has begun to act like they really want to win, and we're still stuck with a fractured HD media market.
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Written by Michael Lankton
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Friday, 09 November 2007 |
Sony Corp. C.E.O. Howard Stringer was quoted Thursday as saying that the Format War is a "stalemate".
Quite the turnaround to the many and repeated statements of victory that have come from the Blu Ray camp in the last year. Stringer called the duel between Sony's Blu Ray and rival HD DVD "a difficult fight". "We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides," Stringer stated. Stringer shrugged off the importance of the fight between the rival formats, saying it was mostly for bragging rights. "It doesn't mean as much as all that," said Stringer. He did express regret for the two sides not being able to come together behind one format before the launch of both Blu Ray and HD DVD.
Sony's C.E.O. expressing such sentiments publicly should alarm all Blu Ray advocates. It demonstrates a waning commitment to their format, or at the very least, a serious decline in the confidence they have in their format's chances in this struggle for HD optical supremacy.
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Written by Michael Lankton
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Tuesday, 06 November 2007 |
 As one of the main battlefields in the Blu Ray-HD DVD Format War has become more and more reminiscent of the flamethrowing of Usenet past, AVS Forum owners have given their Blu Ray and HD DVD forum area a three day timeout.
During the three day closure, no new posts will be able to be posted in the Blu Ray and HD DVD section of AVS Forum. The formal announcement was made yesterday, in which AVS stated their displeasure with some of the behavior that has been occurring in these areas. They also state in the announcement that AVS is format neutral, and would remain so.
AVS sees 200,000 visitors a day, and is the internet's premier AV community. Obviously with so many visitors and with such a heated topic as the Format War, they have seen some bad behavior in the Blu Ray and HD DVD area. It shows how thoughtful AVS is of their users, even when their behavior hasn't been so exemplary, that they would take this step before just banning the offending parties, or getting rid of the area altogether. Read the announcement, and mind your manners when the Blu Ray and HD DVD forums reopen.
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