My new BFF Dave Karraker just sent over a message with a not-so-gentle nudge to the fact that the Sony-backed Blu-ray format is, in some ways, a success in the next-generation DVD war. Karraker points to these facts detailed in The Hollywood Reporter:
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 Home Media Magazine's market research department. 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.
From Jan. 1-March 31, consumers bought almost 1.2 million high-definition discs -- 832,530 Blu-ray units and 359,300 HD DVDs -- according to Home Media Magazine. In March, consumers bought 335,980 Blu-ray Discs and 119,570 HD DVDs.
Since the high-def format's inception -- HD DVD launched in April 2006, while Blu-ray got rolling two months later -- more than 2.14 million discs have been purchased by consumers: 1.2 million Blu-ray Discs and about 937,500 HD DVDs.
All lingering fanboyism aside, once you watch a Blu-ray movie on an HD set, you never really want to go back to a regular old DVD. And, simply because the PlayStation 3 has an included Blu-ray player, I prefer this format. The only barrier for me when buying Blu-ray is the price. It's a good thing God invented Netflix.
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Contest:
11:37 AM on 04.23.2007
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sounds about even to me. I predict both formats will fail unless they come down in price quickly enough. middle america just figured out to use their DVD players, the price is not incentive to chuck your whole dvd library and upgrade. The real winner will be digital distribution of HD content
But having seen/used both I think HDDVD has a much cooler set of features I haven't seen on Blu Ray. Like the ability to turn on storyboards that play in a little window while the movie is going.
A quick example of what I'm talking about can be seen in this old Gizmodo article.
HD-DVD?! More like... um... uh...It Sucks! Amirite?
Same here.
Summa, did you try an HD-DVD movie as well, just for comparison's sake?
BTW, I tried out the XBLM HD movie downloads this weekend. It was quite sad. I downloaded Saw III and you coulda been blind and seen that it wasn't good HD. I've downloaded smaller HD torrents of TV shows that had less compression than this fucker did.
Digital downloads for movies won't be in my future if this is what they're prepping us for.
Even with compression issues aside there was nothing in the movie to suggest it was anything more than 480p cheated up to 720p by upscaling.
Blu-Ray jumped once the PS3 was released, but (and I don't mean this sadistically) what else are PS3 owners going to do? Once you have played through Resistance, you almost have to start renting/buying Blu-Ray movies to justify the price.
But, what will happen once the 360 takes off even more? The PS3 is far away from being purchased by the masses as a second or third console. This means most people won't own a Blu-Ray player unless they go buy a standalone player (or get a PS3). Meanwhile, those same 360 owners who have financially recovered from their 360 purchase may start buying HD-DVD players to compliment their setup.
dv8withn8 brings up a very good point about the feature-set of HD-DVD, and once Vista sales pick up and people realize that Vista will let you legally rip a copy of the movie to your HDD, sales may pick up even more.
People haven't forgotten about Sony's history with format wars, either.
I'm not saying Blu-Ray will lose, but I think they are far from winning.
No, I haven't. Nor do I care. I have a Blu-ray player and movies look amazing on it. There's no need for me to have HD DVD.
If HD DVD were included in the 360, then I'd probably be all over that format as well.
...unless you want to watch a Universal picture.
Personally, in a side-by-side comparison, I prefer HD-DVD, but that's because of its built in features. Blu-Ray has the edge when it comes to studio backing, but so far that hasn't led to more/better movies.
to Blu-Ray...
I only had Batman Begins and Enter the Dragon,
but since they are WB movies, they are now on Blu-Ray too.
HD-DVD has so little studio support. the delay
between movie releases is so SO long !
i'm going Blu-ray too.
not the video quality is the same cause they are
using MPEG 4 & VC1.
movies, i kinda like the lower def. i don't wanna be able to point out everything thats been machine generated vs what was actually in studio. i kinda think dvd is clear enough, and the price is right, and its widely available.
The Wii MAY deserve it... but not the preciouses..
How did Beta owners feel once VHS won?
Oh well.
Honestly I really don't care right now. Just want to play games, not get stuck in the middle a format war.
strikethrough!?!?!?Anyway, I do prefer HD-DVD to Blu-Ray, but I just wish the format war would end already.
Interestingly, Wal-Mart recently purchases a shit ton of HD-DVD lasers and assemblies from China that are supposedly going toward a Wal-Mart exclusive budget-minded HD-DVD player. It's rumored that the target price is around $275-$300 for a standalone player.
If those players take off, Blu-Ray could have shaky days ahead of them because Wal-Mart dominates the market in pretty much all regards in the US.
If HD DVD were included in the 360, then I'd probably be all over that format as well."
What Summa said.
Too bad Microsoft didn't include HDMI in their original 360 too.
"The average consumer isn't about to repurchase their entire movie library AGAIN after DVD"
I dont think the "average" person even went out to buy all their VHS on DVD (waste). As there is really no point unless the movie is absolutely kick ass and what not and I dont plan on buying any dvd I all ready own on blu-ray I'll get the new ones on blu-ray while still supporting dvds.
I only own one blu-ray movie, Saw III, and it was only $25 (CDN) and it's awesome quailty. Hd-dvd and blu-ray movies are around the exact same price it's just that all the good movies go to Blu-ray as I have not once seen a theatre add that says coming to dvd and hd-dvd its always dvd and blu-ray and that support alone should provide enough backing with what format is going to win. If you dont have the movies you obviously cannot supply the demand as you cant provide that movie in Hd.........
Actually, a lot of non-techy people I know rebought all their favorite VHS movies on DVD once they finally gave in to the format. Tons of people did the same going from tapes to CDs.
n3wb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Actually, a lot of non-techy people I know rebought all their favorite VHS movies on DVD once they finally gave in to the format. Tons of people did the same going from tapes to CDs."
Exactly, someone like myself...sort of. We DO NOT need this new goddamn video format so early when we've only just had like, what, 7 years of the DVD? We had gone through at least 30 years with VHS itself before coming to a new format. This is just another mistake for Sony on the market when even though they will get some sales there won't be enough to back them up, much like the PS3. Not every damn person wants to rebuild their library of DVDs just for the sake of "looking better" on a nice TV. And if the DVDs are 30$ a pop then how much do you think the boxsets are going to cost?
DVD > Blu-ray. That will only change in 8-16 years. I'm gonna put it all on hold as well.
Been actually wanting to post that for a couple months now...
Kevvo, just popped his Summa cherry!
Welcome to the ever-growing club my friend.
secondly, however - I don't even fucking own an HD-TV. I think this format war comes a bit too early - most non-techies really dont give two shits about it.