macnn/electronista

01/22/2008, 1:55pm, EST

Tuesday, January 22nd

Blu-ray hardware sales dominating HD DVD?

Sales of Blu-ray devices soared in the immediate wake of Warner Bros' Blu-ray decision, say new findings published by the research group NPD. Although sales of devices that can play the two formats were virtually even in the first week of January, with Blu-ray only just holding the lead over HD DVD at 51.1 percent, the results are said to have tilted dramatically in Blu-ray's favor in the week afterwards. Just over 92.5 percent of buyers chose a device with the format while less than 7.5 continued to buy HD DVD equipment, the study notes.

In turn, the results for the first two weeks of January also point to longer-term gains, with about 69.4 percent of sales during the first part of the month going to Blu-ray versus just 60.1 percent for the whole of December. Neither this nor the week-by-week tally includes Sony's PlayStation 3 console, which is believed to be skewing results further in favor of Blu-ray.

The sudden shift is credited almost exclusively to Warner, whose decision to drop HD DVD releases will place more than 70 percent of all HD movies in the Blu-ray format when the switch takes effect in June. A number of retailers have already announced retail plans to scale back HD DVD shelf space or introduce HD to stores only in Blu-ray format since the Warner announcement. The news is expected to have a significant impact on computer releases as well, with computers using Blu-ray drives more likely to be chosen than HD DVD-equipped models. [via Digital Bits]




Filed under: industry
Other story tags: blu-ray, HD DVD, Warner

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vasic
Peace is at hand?
0
01/22, 3:05pm, EST
Looks like the format war might be in its final months. If retailers continue to be as aggressive as in the first two weeks, we could see Toshiba capitulate by the early summer, which would then give everyone enough time to thoroughly prepare for the "Christmas of the HD" season. With a single format, everyone will jump on board. HDTVs have been selling quite well despite the clear situation with the optical disc formats. Final resolution to this case could catapult sales of everything HD, which just might stimulate this dreadful economy.
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gskibum3
Stimulate
0
01/22, 3:32pm, EST
vasic, you actually expect that the sales of HD & Blu-ray are significant enough to impact the economy in any significant way? If so, what percentage of the economy does HD & Blu-ray sales account for?
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testudo
percentages
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01/22, 3:42pm, EST
Meaningless percentages. For all we know, it just means they sold 30 BlueRay devices over last weeks' number of 23.
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yticolev
stimulus
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01/22, 3:43pm, EST
Recent history shows what happened after the introduction of CDs, DVDs, and even when VHS became dominant. In every case, there was a huge impact in the billions of dollars. This will create focused competition, prices dropping rapidly, and consumer adoption. Billions of dollars of stimulus is always a good thing no matter what the actual figure and can assist in regaining manufacturing and consumer confidence.
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Athens
hum..
0
01/22, 3:53pm, EST
I dont see it having a massive impact, DVD sales will start going down, HD sales will start going up. Players will be the only new factor in this with players being bought to support a format. But again I cant see much effect on this either as the benifits will be negated by DVD player sales dropping.
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Titanium Man
ignorance must be bliss
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01/22, 6:59pm, EST
Testudo, you need to take your fingers out of your ears. How about these numbers: In the first week, Blu-ray sold 15,257 players, a number that jumped to 21,770 in the second week. In the same time span, HD DVD sales fell from 14,558 to 1,758 players. Ouch. This does not include PS3s or XBox add-ons. Is it any less "meaningless" now?

Oh, BTW, it's Blu-ray, not "BlueRay." Yeah, you sure know a lot about the format war.
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coldfusion1970
ps3
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01/22, 7:48pm, EST
Well it was always likely that Blu-ray would win as its a free component in every PS3.

Unfortunately for HDDVD, it didnt have any mass market product to promote it and get it into peoples living rooms.

But i'm glad we now have a clear winner. It means that i can now buy HD with certainty when i get round to upgrading.
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testudo
re: ignorance
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01/22, 10:47pm, EST
OMG! I said BlueRay instead of Blu-Ray! My life is over. The world will come to an end! Its the end of days! Next thing you know, you'll be writing XBox instead of Xbox, HD DVD instead of HD-DVD, so I guess you don't know much about the format war as well, because spelling the names of devices is indicative about your knowledge (then again, who the hell cares anything about the 'format wars' until one side wins, since you'd be stupid to pick a side until one wins).

Then again, you suggested someone take their fingers out of their ears in order to read an article.
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Titanium Man
you're an idiot
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01/24, 7:53am, EST
No wonder everybody calls you an idiot. I'm done with you if you don't know either the official, trademarked names of Blu-ray or HD DVD. Gave you the figures you demanded then you just ignored them completely. You really are an imbecile.
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