At the DisplaySearch conference held yesterday, attendees were treated to the latest information regarding the format war. Warner announced that '300' has sold over 250,000 copies on Blu-ray since it was released in July, twice as many as has sold on HD DVD. Sony also announced that the PS3 would soon be receiving a firmware upgrade to boost its Blu-ray interactivity functions.
On the whole, HD players have increased their market share, now at 5%, since August when it was only 1.3% of total DVD player sales. Additionally, HD players accounted for 27% of the revenue in the DVD player market. This trend is expected to continue through the upcoming holiday season.
My guess would be the ps3 update comes on or before the ps3 birthday on Nov 17. I would also guess this moves it to profile 1.1 or whatever is current. I have no doubts the Ps3 will eventually be updated to meet whatever the final profile is.
QFT: “For people who buy HDTVs, the intent is not to interact with it—it’s so they can have high-definition viewing,” said Andy Parsons, senior VP at Pioneer Electronics and chair of the Blu-ray Disc Assn.’s U.S. Promotion Committee. “Interactivity is nice, but it’s not causing people to say I won’t watch the movie [if it’s absent].”
Take that with your recyclable toilet paper and rain barrels!
I like how Warner Bros. admits that the 300 Blu-ray outsold the HD DVD copy by a margin of 2:1.
Warner has never really given official sales #s comparing Blu-ray sales to HD DVD sales. Hopefully a
sign of things to come....
The 300 sales information is especially good because anyone comparing disks between the HD-DVD and the BluRay can easily see that the extras on the HD-DVD were far superior. Despite that, Blu kicked its butt.
Also great to see some recognition of PS3's contribution to BD sales. I'm one of those "low attach rate" PS3 owners since I currently "only" own 5 BDs (all purchased vs given away) with another 3 on order. :-)
Adding to mh466 comment, I'm glad PS3 received recognition because I bought it as a replacement to both my DVD upconvert player and PS2. I bought it for its blu-ray player first, game console second. I own about 20 blu-ray movies so far since purchasing in August.
While Blu-Ray may not have all the "extras" that the HD-DVD camp is all giddy about, its really the lower price for the less-features Blu-Ray titles that draws the consumer. While I personally would like to have the extras that the HD-DVD's have that are always absent on the same Blu-Ray titles, the $4-10 cheaper pricetag is what really matters in the end. Go Blu!
i liek how warner borthers showed how much more 300 sold on blu ray. 300 was made for the exact same audience as Transformers, i bet paramount is regretting there decision right now.
wait a minute....since toshiba doesnt count the ps3 as a blu ray player....does that mean the 100,000 people who do own stand alone blu ray players buy 2-3 of the same disc??
joevfx » Oct 11, 2007 13:00 :i liek how warner borthers showed how much more 300 sold on blu ray. 300 was made for the exact same audience as Transformers, i bet paramount is regretting there decision right now.
I doubt Pramount is the least bit concerned. Basically, they accepted $150,000,000 up front in return for not releasing any new Blu Ray discs and not continuing to produce copies of those already released, until February 2009. After that they can release all the Blu Ray discs they want to. Not to mention the fact that films by Steven Spielberg are specifically exempt from this restriction. There is no way Paramount/Dreamworks would have made $150 million net on Blu Ray sales over the next 18 months anyway so they come out a financial winner, which is all they care about.
If Sony upgrades the PS3 in the next 3-4 weeks and introduces the 40 gig version at $400, how will they give away the S500, set to debut at $599 and not 1.1/2.0 compliant (at least not right away)?
And what will their BDA brethern think of them, since no one other than Denon (as far as I can remember) has announced a 1.1 or 2.0 BD player for the very near future.
I guess we'd learn pretty quickly how upgradable the other BD players actually are.
Glad I bought a PS3 finally; after almost going HD-DVD. I bought it primarily for the Blu-ray player, but also so my grandson, (yes, even us older guys love Blu-ray), can play games. He has a PS2 and now is the proud owner of half a PS3.
As for the fuss about Transformers, the PS3 does an excellent job of upscaling the majority of dvd's, so I'm sure I'll be able to live with the upscaled standard version, I certainly don't feel the need to rush out and buy a HD-DVD player just for one film.
PS3 and Blu-ray are the kings so far as I'm concerned.
Paramount would have made 9.5 million on Transformers if 300 sold 250,000 copies. Oh well.
Warner obviously pay attention. Will be interesting to see how the holiday release figures go. I for on
am getting all the Harry Potter's, Blade Runner, 2001 A Space Odyssey, & Aviator when these are
released in Oz.
How about we organise a worldwide Warner Blu-ray Buy-athon? (that sounds good together)
Yes Paramount did a shameful thing in turning to HD DVD with the release of Transformers right around the corner. That movie would have made mega bucks on Blu Ray this holiday season. This only leads me to believe that they were paid out because what company in their right mind would make such a move to lose money? Blu Ray was clearly in the lead until this happened and to me it's just another set back to the inevitable. Blu Ray will be the standard.
i cant believe there not going to realease transformers on blue ray thats a joke and will cost them in the long run i was really looking forward to buying that ohwell
At the DisplaySearch conference held yesterday, attendees were treated to the latest information regarding the format war. Warner announced that '300' has sold over 250,000 copies on Blu-ray since it was released in July, twice as many as has sold on HD DVD. Sony also announced that the PS3 would soon be receiving a firmware upgrade to boost its Blu-ray interactivity functions.
