Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass One Million Mark

bmer · **Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass One Million Mark -** 04-24-2007, 01:03 PM

Blu-ray burning its high-def DVD rival

Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:03AM EDT

By Thomas K. Arnold
LOS ANGELES (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 trade publication Home Media Magazine.

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.

What's more, when given the choice, consumers are going with Blu-ray. Warner Home Video released "The Departed" the same day, February 13, in both formats. Between then and March 31, consumers bought 53,640 copies of the film on Blu-ray Disc and 31,590 on HD DVD, according to Home Media's market research, based on studio estimates and Nielsen VideoScan point-of-sale data.

Research also shows that eight of the 10 top-selling high-definition titles in the first quarter were on Blu-ray Disc. At the top of the list was "Casino Royale," which sold through to consumers an estimated 59,680 units in the period. The Blu-ray Disc edition of "Departed" finished second, while the HD DVD version of that Oscar-winning film placed third.

From January 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.

Observers aren't surprised by the disparity, noting that Blu-ray Disc enjoys the support of five of the six major studios, while HD DVD is supported by three of them. Three studios -- Sony, Disney and Fox -- are exclusively in the Blu-ray camp, as is mini-major Lionsgate. Paramount and Warner support both formats. Universal is the only major studio to release titles only in the HD DVD format, which backers claim is easier and cheaper to produce.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

zetableh · **Re: Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass One Million Mark -** 04-24-2007, 03:13 PM

I own 4 BluRays currently, including 1 that came free with my PS3. I must say, I really like them, lots of stuff put on a single disc, and frankly, I feel like the picture quality is better even at 480i, which is all I get on my school TV, than a DVD.

Giannis · **Re: Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass One Million Mark -** 04-24-2007, 04:07 PM

My DVD supports Blu-ray but i haven't tried it yet. Aren't they very expensive??

Yannis · **Re: Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass One Million Mark -** 04-24-2007, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giannis

My DVD supports Blu-ray but i haven't tried it yet. Aren't they very expensive??

There is no DVD player that can support blu ray disks Giannis.

Only Playstation 3 and Blu Ray players (which cost more than 1,000 euro right now) can play Blu Ray disks.

Giannis · **Re: Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass One Million Mark -** 04-24-2007, 06:18 PM

Oh, sorry. It supports dual-layer, not blue ray... I think i am very tired-have to go to bed

Centurion · **Re: Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass One Million Mark -** 04-24-2007, 08:19 PM

Stupid format war. One advantage Sony has in the war is that they own Sony and Columbia Pictures which give them the opportunity to use ugly tricks and launch movies like Spiderman 3 exclusively for Blu-Ray only. On the other hand HD-DVD does have some major production companies behind it. More over Sony also has PS3 which will help them significantly. Microsoft on the other hand made a good movie by not equipping the 360 with either of the format since we basically don't know who is going to win. It would have been a pity if the 360 had a built in HD-DVD drive and end up loosing the war, making 360 owner angry over having to pay a gigantic sum of money for a next gen drive which will become obsolete.

IMO Sony are to blame for this. They love new formats, does Betamax, Mini disc, UMD, ATRAC, Super Audio CD, not to mention all the gazillion different Memory Stick cards which are in existence ring a bell?

There is a chance that it will end up like the DVD-R and DVD+R war where every single dvd player has ended up supporting both formats. Or it might end up like the SACD vs DVD-Audio war where the format war has halted the technological advancement. For you who don't know what SACD and DVD-Audio, they are formats for the next generation audio CD format. The truth is that they have existed since 2000 and there are a whole gang of albums on both formats but none of them has managed to replace the good old 650MB CD thanks to companies behind both formats refusing to give up. I got a DVD-Audi disc with my sound card three years ago and damn the sound quality is sweet. I was hoping that just about every single new album would be available on DVD-Audi but that hasn't been the case. The situation is almost unchanged. The only DVD-Audi albums out there are classic albums from Pink Floyd, MJ, Mariah Carey, Madonna and other big artist. It's a real pitty.

bmer · **Re: Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass One Million Mark -** 04-25-2007, 12:07 PM

We should blame the companies and the authorities. Their inability to make a compromise and find a common solution to their disagreements has created this jungle of different formats and incompatible technologies. In addition to those that Luw mentioned we also have PAL and NTSC; ATSC, DVB & ISDB; GSM and CDMA, UMB and LTE etc.