LONG list of stats for Blu-ray

[shug7272]

Ok since this is the sales thread, and the HD DVD defense group seem to like to come in here and write articles of defense... lets look at some facts. Everything in this thread is fact and publicly reported. Then if the HD DVD defense group can come back with fact (doubt it) we will discuss. I imagine they will come back and try to create and pass off some story they cant back up with any mainstream press or support. I know its long, but it is ALL fact. If someone can point out a error I will correct it.

So lets start off with Amazon, since plaz likes to use that as a gage.

http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/index.cfm Lets start off here. At the time of this post. I will try to keep all the numbers in format of Blu Ray first HD DVD second. We will go alphabetically to keep it fair.

300 is ranked 10th in sales on Blu Ray and 19th in sales on HD DVD.

Planet Earth is ranked 29th on Blu Ray and 39th on HD DVD.

The Bourne Identity, a relatively new release is ranked at 113 for HD DVD (exclusive) which is being outsold by a old (remastered) movie The Fifth Element on Blu Ray which is ranked at 88. Both ranked #3 in sales for their respective format.

Blade Runner is ranked at 105 on Blu Ray and 209 on HD DVD.

Lets look at the more expensive box set titles while we are here. Spiderman box set, priced at 89 dollars is ranked 161 (BluRay) while Heros is priced at 69 dollars and is ranked 236 (HDDVD). I know these titles aren't completely comparable, but both are anticipated titles that are above 50 dollars in price with the price advantage on HD DVDs side.

TMNT is ranked 135 on Blu Ray and 357 on HD DVD.

Normally I wouldn't count Amazon data but that is all the HD DVD crowd has left so we will use it. Due to the fact that HD DVD players sales on Amazon will be looked at lets add this to the mix.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestseller....blurayforum-20

At the time of post the PS3 is ranked number 5, beating the much cheaper 360 (without HD DVD) and the Blu Ray remote is ranked 21 by itself. The blu ray remote alone is only six spots lower than the highest ranked 360 on the list. Must be selling well and I think we can agree that if you buy the Blu Ray remote not only are you going to watch Blu Rays you are serious about it. So we can keep that in mind while looking at player sales.

Now lets look at REAL data that the industry watches. They are all that really matter in the format war, doesn't matter what I think or what plaz says. All numbers used will be from the most recent available nielson data.

As of last week Blu Ray format has out sold HD DVD for this year by a margin of 66% market share for Blu Ray and 34% HD DVD.

The since inception numbers are even more interesting with the fact that HD DVD launched earlier and has been cheaper. Blu Ray is at 60% since inception and that leaves HD DVD with 40%, even with a head start on sales and a lower price.

Lets look at the popular format 300, available on both formats with HD DVD having the advantage in "extras". There were a total of 250,000 titles sold with Blu Ray and HD DVD combined. Blu Ray sold 164,000 compared to HD DVD selling nearly 86,000. That means that Blu Ray sold nearly 100,000 units more than HD DVD and will likely hit 200,000 copies sold before or at the time HD DVD hits 100,000 sold. The last sentence is my estimate and by no way fact.

Now lets add in a couple of facts before we go.

*The first Steven Spielberg film will be released on the Blu Ray format and will be Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. HD DVD had announced Spielberg films earlier but had to retract that statement in a rather embarrassing PR slip up. Also Universal, the only major studio to exclusively support HD DVD, has most of Spielbergs popular films. Not one has been announced for release on HD DVD. Spielberg is widely respected in the industry and has alot of pull. The fact that he released first on Blu Ray and so far Exclusively on Blu Ray says alot.

*Blockbuster has announced they will only care Blu Ray titles in their stores nationwide. Blockbuster is the market leader of media rentals and a household name. This was reported by the mainstream media as a blow to HD DVD as well.

*Target announced they will only carry Blu Ray standalone players in their store at least through the Christmas Season. Shortly after this announcment they removed HD DVD standalone players from their website and have not put them back up. This was reported by many, including Forbes, as a blow to HD DVD.

*BJs Wholesale will only be carrying Blu Ray players in their stores.

*The Digital Bits, a well respected website for technology information that was around for and predicted the success of DVD (at that time VHS ruled the lands much like DVD does today), not only picked Blu Ray as their format of choice but also to win the format war.

Combine this with no major announcments for new HD DVD support recently and I think a blind monkey can see whats going on. Wew that was alot of typing... well being bored at work is good for something.

I figure most of this will go unread but it has alot of stats in it for the people who care. If not, well I just got paid to inform some people with real information and not spin, which is something more websites should do. Apparently the Digital Bits are the only ones with enough balls to call it as everyone else seems to see it.

I posted this in the Blu Ray software sales thread at "another" forum after getting tired of all the bs excuses mumbled by The HD DVD Defense Group with no way to back it up. So I posted a list of facts. Feel free to critique it or suggest things to add.

[dialog_gvf]

HD DVD has probably one more chance to win a week EVER. That will be August 28 with the release of Heroes. Although Heroes' numbers on Amazon are pretty poor (#282) so close to release. Despite not being a combo, I think the problems with HD DVD have already harmed sales of Heroes. People are waiting for reports of PQ and reliability. That's not a viable position for a new format.

As of September Blu-ray is a snowball rolling down a mountain of sticky snow.

At this point it looks like Blu-ray is going to obliterate HD DVD for Blade Runner. The expensive Ultimate version is WAY ahead of even the Complete version on HD DVD.

Amazon numbers represent a base from which Blu-ray sales explode with major B&M domination.

Gary

[monkeytap]

Originally Posted by shug7272

I posted this in the Blu Ray software sales thread at "another" forum after getting tired of all the bs excuses mumbled by The HD DVD Defense Group with no way to back it up. So I posted a list of facts. Feel free to critique it or suggest things to add.

i enjoyed that, thanks!

[shug7272]

Originally Posted by monkeytap

i enjoyed that, thanks!

Your welcome, and like I said if I missed something please let me know. I will add it and give you credit. Only facts that can be proven though. No spin.

[darkblueme]

Awesome stats! Thanks for starting this thread, Shug.

[ReduxInflux]

thanks for the time you devoted to loading this post with sweet info.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

I'm desperate to find out what the replies are like... could you post some here when they pop-up? And why the secrecy regarding the specific forum? Or was that sarcasm that implied it was AVS?

[BluBerry]

Do you have a link or specific reference to the Nielson data?

[darinp2]

Originally Posted by shug7272

*Blockbuster has announced they will only care Blu Ray titles in their stores nationwide.

It was actually that the 2nd phase rollout to 1450 stores would be Blu-ray only. The first 250 still have both.

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

HD DVD has probably one more chance to win a week EVER. That will be August 28 with the release of Heroes.

Given how well new releases tend to do, I think their best chances are probably the week that Knocked Up comes out (September 25th) and the week that The Bourne Ultimatum comes out (I'm guessing December 11th or 18th).

--Darin

[darinp2]

Dang. I didn't look in time to see plazman's response and now it has been deleted and changed to:

MOD NOTE

post deleted.

Plazman please clear out messages i am trying to send you one.
Last edited by kevinca1 : Today at 04:49 PM.

over here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&#post11286183

Did anybody catch what he said?

--Darin

[shug7272]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

I'm desperate to find out what the replies are like... could you post some here when they pop-up? And why the secrecy regarding the specific forum? Or was that sarcasm that implied it was AVS?

Yes it was AVS and plaz tried to come back with a small song and dance about NPD data and PS3's, not sure what. I replied to it by quoting my post and then his with a reply of "I listed all these facts and that is all you can say? HD DVD is in trouble." Something along those lines. His post was deleted VERY fast and my response was left for sometime and then finally removed as well. I didnt know if I could say the forum, didnt want to break a rule. It is AVS, Blu Ray Software, then the Sales sticky. Thats where I posted it.

[shug7272]

Originally Posted by darinp2

It was actually that the 2nd phase rollout to 1450 stores would be Blu-ray only. The first 250 still have both.
Given how well new releases tend to do, I think their best chances are probably the week that Knocked Up comes out (September 25th) and the week that The Bourne Ultimatum comes out (I'm guessing December 11th or 18th).

--Darin

Thank you, I updated my post and credited you.

Oops, shit, didnt mean to double post.

[insom187]

The only thing is that the '300' sales are misleading in that the numbers indicate the same split in bluray and HDdvd owners in general. Other than that (which is still good news) its all looking sunny to me.

[shug7272]

Originally Posted by insom187

The only thing is that the '300' sales are misleading in that the numbers indicate the same split in bluray and HDdvd owners in general. Other than that (which is still good news) its all looking sunny to me.

How can actual sales numbers be misleading? Seems to me all the studios and retailers will care about is what will sell the most.

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Originally Posted by darinp2

It was actually that the 2nd phase rollout to 1450 stores would be Blu-ray only. The first 250 still have both.
Given how well new releases tend to do, I think their best chances are probably the week that Knocked Up comes out (September 25th) and the week that The Bourne Ultimatum comes out (I'm guessing December 11th or 18th).

--Darin

"Bourne Ultimatum" will get totally washed out in the X-Mas madness. There will be so many releases around that time anyway and people will be buying catalog titles as gifts too. So many buyers for Christmas will overwhelm 1 HD-DVD new release.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by darinp2

Given how well new releases tend to do, I think their best chances are probably the week that Knocked Up comes out (September 25th) and the week that The Bourne Ultimatum comes out (I'm guessing December 11th or 18th).

For Sept. 25 Knocked Up (a talking head comedy) has to punch through:

Black Book Sony Pictures
Gods and Generals Warner Bros.
Gothika Warner Bros.
The Jack Ryan Collection Paramount Pictures
Memoirs of a Geisha Sony Pictures
Next Paramount Pictures
Tekkonkinkreet Sony Pictures
Underworld: Extended Cut Sony Pictures
The Wild Bunch Warner Bros.
Wyatt Earp Warner Bros.

We'll have to see if the BDA studios put up anything against Bourne (besides Lost). I think there is still a lot to be announced for the end of year.

Heroes has only Blades of Glory to beat. But, 300 might still dominate. We'll have to see. 300 is still way ahead of Heroes on Amazon.
Gary