81:19 Nielsen/VideoScan Weekly Sales Numbers

[badboi]

Originally Posted by Blubaru

I doubt Warner is going to go Blu exclusive at ces if this crap keeps up any longer.

They HD-DVD camp would only need to hold another 4 or 5 firesales to essentially catch up or even surpass the Blu side in movie sales(Here in the US). It’s something that I could see Toshiba doing.

More power to them if they have the stomach to do what needs to be done to win this war. I would rather see a winning HD-DVD side than two useless niche movie formats.

Blu has always had the momentum but I just don’t think the BDA has it in them anymore.

I say more talk like that and we're all going to take turns smackin' you in the gob with an Australian mullet.

I don't see why people are upset with the numbers. They aren't bad at all, considering the time of the year. Wait a bit and see how the rest of this month and next month go. I bet you'll see reduced prices on players, the PS3 40gb is selling really well here, more BOGO and other sales on discs, and most importantly, we have the better format and better releases. Those cheap bastards who bought into HD at $98 or so won't be the ones who will buy more discs after the newness wears off and they see that there's not much difference on their $398 Ilo or Durabrand HDTVs. And I'm sure the Blu group have more good things in store. You think they are just going to let Toshiba and M$ft run away with it?

[JAGUAR1977]

Originally Posted by Blubaru

I doubt Warner is going to go Blu exclusive at ces if this crap keeps up any longer.

They HD-DVD camp would only need to hold another 4 or 5 firesales to essentially catch up or even surpass the Blu side in movie sales(Here in the US). It’s something that I could see Toshiba doing.

More power to them if they have the stomach to do what needs to be done to win this war. I would rather see a winning HD-DVD side than two useless niche movie formats.

Blu has always had the momentum but I just don’t think the BDA has it in them anymore.

Nothing personal, but it's this kind of negativity that pisses me off greatly in this format war, and more than anything makes me wish I never bought into either format, I've more important things to worry (lol) about.

Just how likely is it the HD-DVD camp will have '4 or 5 firesales', and over what time period?

Don't you think by the time they're onto their 3rd or 4th 'firesale', let's say six months down the line, Blu-ray hardware will be sub $200 anyhow?

Again, not aimed at you personally, but it seems some people purpously hype up sales, in order to knock the format when they don't match their lofty expectations.

I also have a feeling some on here visit other forums, and are battered into submission by a bunch of misguided HD-DVD fanboys who don't know their arse from their elbow, nevermind being experts in HD media!

It's time to realise this is only about movies and get a little perspective.

[Ilka]

Originally Posted by bilbravo

Folks on engadethd.com are proclaiming HD-DVD victory because they only lost by 65:35, compared to last weeks 71:29.

...

It's engadget - expect next-to-nil in the way of journalism, or fan-boi reality.

[MotionBlurr]

Please keep in mind, Toshiba had to sacrifice a lot to keep the numbers the way they are for one week. They cannot keep doing this week after week. Eventually, they will run out of money.

[GreenMotion]

I too wished the numbers would have been higher for Blu, but I guess we can't really complain. Once again we won a week. Yah!

In regards to the Toshiba firesale, this is my observation. I have a pretty decent circle of friends, aquintences and co-workers and quite a few people out of that crowd have spronge for the $98 A2 player.

But, the truth of the matter is, that in my case, these few people are all cheap skates. They want to keep up with technology, but don't want to spend any money it. They justify this by making up all kind of jibberish such as

- "Ooh, I don't need a PCM/HDMI capable receiver because the difference in quality is negligable"

- "Dolby Digital is as good as PCM because your ears can't distinguish anyway".

- "I don't need a 1080p player because the naked eye cannot see the difference between 1080i and 1080p".

- "The PS3 sucks and is failing because there are hardly any games for them".

They do have some good arguments so now and then, but they continuously spin information in whatever way they feel necesarry to justify their decisions to themselves.

Such was the case with this firesale as well. The only thing going thru their heads was getting HD-DVD for $98 bucks with two bundled movies and 5 mail-in rebate movies. Even at that price, they were contemplating whether to get it or not, thinking prices would probably go down even more during black friday.

Anyway, some did pull the trigger and have that "Wow, look at me, I am part of the elite HD group" attitude now. But here is the kicker, they are moaning and complaining left and right now about having to shell out $25 bucks for a HD-DVD movie, which they don't think is worth it for either format. As I said .. cheap skates!

These particular folks will as such not be buying any movies. They liked the 7 freebies, but prefer to "rent". Of course, they even know how to spin this fact around like "Why would you want to own a movie; once I have seen it once, I don't want to see it again". Yet, the whole reason for getting that stupid A2 is to get those 7 free movies!".

I could be really wrong on this; but I think this applies to a huge portion of the people that bought the A2s. So yeah, this firesale did cause a dent in the BD numbers, but I think those are only temporary. After next week, when these folks start "renting" their movies, we should see an increase in the BD sales.

[J6P]

Originally Posted by Ilka

It's engadget - expect next-to-nil in the way of journalism, or fan-boi reality.

So true. Engadget is virulently anti-Sony, and anti-Blu by association. If the PS3 cost a nickel and shot gold bars out the back they'd still find some reason to get their panties in a bunch. I can't look at that site anymore.

I'm just fine with this week's numbers. Q4 is going to be a cakewalk.

[Ultraviolet]

The Rat will have very strong residual sales, Christmas will break any HDDVD resurgence.

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by JAGUAR1977

Nothing personal, but it's this kind of negativity that pisses me off greatly in this format war, and more than anything makes me wish I never bought into either format, I've more important things to worry (lol) about.

Just how likely is it the HD-DVD camp will have '4 or 5 firesales', and over what time period?

Don't you think by the time they're onto their 3rd or 4th 'firesale', let's say six months down the line, Blu-ray hardware will be sub $200 anyhow?

Again, not aimed at you personally, but it seems some people purpously hype up sales, in order to knock the format when they don't match their lofty expectations.

I also have a feeling some on here visit other forums, and are battered into submission by a bunch of misguided HD-DVD fanboys who don't know their arse from their elbow, nevermind being experts in HD media!

It's time to realise this is only about movies and get a little perspective.

And, it's not like this was their first fire sale either. What is this their third or fourth? you would think by now that it would have made a difference, but it hasn't. Every time they have a sale the HD DVD fanboys think that they are going to take the lead and then... nothing different, business as usual. Just because this weeks sales were lower than what everyone expected, doesn't mean we are starting to lose. Ratatouille just didn't sell as well as everyone thought it was going to.

One thing that by now I have learned to ignore is some of the stuff on Amazon. Just because Planet Earth HD DVD seems to be constantly outselling the BD doesn't mean it is. The BD continues to outsell it. 300 has outsold the HD DVD version every week and has not lost its ratio. Spider-Man 3 looked like it wasn't selling too well on Amazon and Ratatouille looked like it was going to sell more. It didn't and by all accounts, Spider-Man 3 outsold Transformers the first week. Every time there is a less than stellar week the same people seem to get all anxious that the end is near. Why do people act that way when HD DVD loses every week and the HD DVD fanboys still think they are doing great?

[badboi]

And if you really feel depressed and feel like giving up the fight, just go over to "the other site" and take a look at all the threads complaining about problems with Toshiba players.

[unreal1080p]

Originally Posted by Blubaru

Blu has always had the momentum but I just don’t think the BDA has it in them anymore.

Do you forget the all important 2nd XMAS PS3 season that's upon us?
There is NOTHING Toshiba can do to counter the massive sales the PS3 will have between now and January. They are out of A2's and I don't think they are going to slash the price of the A3 any further this year (199$) besides for the 5 hour 169$ Black Friday sales.

Another thing that works to the Blu advantage is that a lot of people between now and the Super Bowl are going to take the HDTV plunge. Many of these folks allready have a PS3. Once they buy the HDTV = presto --> new BD movie customers. Not only is the PS3 going to sell crazy numbers in the next 3 months, but there's large quantities allready sitting there in people's homes that are about to turn Blu. Toshiba has no weapon against this, they never had a chance.

The ratios might fluctuate a little but overall, in the next 6 months, Blu-Ray will maintain or increase it's 2:1 software sales lead ... despite Para***** & Bribeworks and despite 99$ HD-DUD players.

Remember, THIS is what HD DVD is good for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvE_d...eature=related

[JAGUAR1977]

Originally Posted by bilbravo
Folks on engadethd.com are proclaiming HD-DVD victory because they only lost by 65:35, compared to last weeks 71:29.

There comes a point when responding to such idiocy justifies their ignorance, leave them be, there's no hope for 'em.

[Spankey]

I really think this format war at the moment rests on boys with toys...

Face it. Most of us are guys and we buy guys movies. If the PS3 has a large player base, the movies that are going to sell are movies like Transformers, 300 and Spider-Man...

Lucky for us, we have ton of those movies coming out!

Die Hard
Independence Day
The Potter Films

New releases from New Line which will get to us first. 65-35 is a good number. It is the norm and hasn't really changed in a year.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by bilbravo

Folks on engadethd.com are proclaiming HD-DVD victory because they only lost by 65:35, compared to last weeks 71:29.

I mean, how can they proclaim a victory when the year-to-date number actually increased in BD's favor?

Wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo

[SingingTheBlues]

I don't get it. I thought Rat was doing a lot better than this?


Source: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ques...1807/index.php

[The Guardian]

I'm disappointed it's not higher, but 65:35 is still virtually 2:1. Despite the bucketloads of money Toshiba is bleeding.

It's obvious HD DVD is hanging tough... but all it will really take IMHO is a single major push to knock them down. Such a push could take many forms, a firesale of 1.0 BD players, a studio shift, etc...

I like the major push by Disney lately (just saw my first BD-only disney ad tonight)... they are the brand name that will bring the families. The BOGOs are nice too, but in the long run more effective might be a general $10 price cut on all their catalogue titles...

[Rup_Muk]

Originally Posted by Iron Man

Like this ?

Yup. Just like that. Thanks, Iron Man!

[SingingTheBlues]

Source: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ques...1807/index.php

[PrinceLH]

Maybe this result will wake the BDA up and make them realize that they need to bring down standalone prices. It's great having BOGO pricing, but once you get most of the titles, you run out of titles that you want to buy. FOX needs to step up and release some titles at a cheaper price.

[SingingTheBlues]

I just don't see them cutting prices much below the PS3. Sony just won't have that. It would kill PS3 sales, which aren't where they would like to see them anyway.

I still think a rebate situation is the way to boost standalone sales without dropping the actual price, and becoming locked-in on a pricepoint like HD-DUD has.

[edgebsl]

Its not what I predicted ,but its still damn good.

Remember there were 90,000 a2s just unloaded...and were still pretty much 2:1.

I'm predicting Shrek might make a decent showing next week. Bourne will do better but not as good as TF. The rest of the weeks will belong to Blu with 2:1 ish ratio...give or take a little.