81:19 Nielsen/VideoScan Weekly Sales Numbers

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by Blubaru

Europe and Japan may and probably will not have an effect on who will win in North America. We have seen this with Laserdisc, MiniDisc and VCDs.

Japan may have the consumer electronic industry but we have Hollywood. Hollywood doesn’t seem to care what’s going on in the rest of the world. What good will all of those Blue-ray players do if Hollywood has gone HD-DVD only?

Not saying that it will happen but right now the biggest/most important part of the world that counts is North America. If we don't win here it simply won’t matter. People put way to much emphasis on Europe and Asia.

I disagree.

Right now neither format can afford to put all it's eggs into one basket. Least of all Toshiba.

Toshiba is throwing everything they can to the North American market and it's not making that much of a difference, the PS3 effect is easily able to counter any short term advantage that 90k firesold A2's can offer, it's just a matter of getting more SA players out there at a cheaper price.

Toshiba is trying to give away the baby with the bathwater in NA and the rest of the world just slides closer and closer to being Blu-Ray exclusive, and the baby with the bathwater trick doesn't seem to be working.

Logan

[WickyWoo]

It costs a lot less money to win in the US than it does the rest of the world, because it's so much more concentrated, and winning the US is equal to the rest of the world

[Bullseye]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

That is accurate. Euro numbers are very strong for Blu. GfK will be putting out numbers soon for Europe, they should be in the region of 7-1 in favour for Blu.

Japan is even more of a joke. In all regions other than the USA, HD DVD is basically dead. The war is all but over and should any studios change their stance in favour of Blu, HD DVD won't even stand a chance in the land of the free.

So why don't the studios see the bigger picture and dump HD-DVD. They are not making any friends outside of the US.

[JAGUAR1977]

Well over here in the UK the Blu-ray marketing wave is starting to hit, every hour I see at least one Blu-ray/DVD ad, currently POTC3 and a few other movies, there's also a new PS3 (I think) ad with a wierd gameshow type host talking about Blu-ray disc, I only heard it in the background.

So far I've seen ONE HD-DVD Star Trek ad from Amazon, in which they very quickly mention HD-DVD, but the graphic only says DVD.

So why don't the studios see the bigger picture and dump HD-DVD. They are not making any friends outside of the US.

Right now sales are low, but it's starting to kick up a gear, it's very similar to the way DVD was introduced, one day it clicked, even your parents were talking about DVD, months earlier they wouldn't have had a clue what it was!

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

It costs a lot less money to win in the US than it does the rest of the world, because it's so much more concentrated, and winning the US is equal to the rest of the world

It may cost less money, but the European and Japanese markets are far larger when combined than the NA market.

Winning in the US isn't going to win you the world, plus, what HD-DVD is doing now isn't going to win them the world and it {likely} won't even win them the NA market.

Logan

[jayd]

Originally Posted by JAGUAR1977

Well over here in the UK the Blu-ray marketing wave is starting to hit, every hour I see at least one Blu-ray/DVD ad, currently POTC3 and a few other movies, there's also a new PS3 (I think) ad with a wierd gameshow type host talking about Blu-ray disc, I only heard it in the background.

So far I've seen ONE HD-DVD Star Trek ad from Amazon, in which they very quickly mention HD-DVD, but the graphic only says DVD.



Right now sales are low, but it's starting to kick up a gear, it's very similar to the way DVD was introduced, one day it clicked, even your parents were talking about DVD, months earlier they wouldn't have had a clue what it was!

I agree here, I have seen Blu-ray commercial's in the UK, but nothing HD-DVD, not even the Star Trek one. Blu-ray is the dominant format here in the UK, HDM may not be selling by the bucket loads be it Blu or HD-DVD, but Blu-Ray is the biggest seller.

[jdc115]

Originally Posted by aristotles

Guys, if the content providers decide to pick blu-ray based on their world-wide sales figures none on that will matter.

The choice will be made for North America and historical data is irrelevant given the recent fall in the US dollar.

The US might have the content but studios care about sales overall. China is an emerging market which could easily end the format war globally if they went with blu-ray.

Cheap players without content is a dead end.

I don't think the local China market will consume a lot of HD media for a while, the disks are just too expensive when people are use to buying boot DVDs and VCDs. VCD's still sell well in Singapore and Malaysia as the disks are probably 50% cheaper then DVDs.

Plus, Asian content is quite a big percentage of the market here. Many of my coworkers spend more of their time watching Korean drama and hardly ever watch Hollywood movies. And most of this is all on VCDs.

[jayd]

Originally Posted by ani4ani

On price, equal demand for, but for RPE, or availability, then imo no, the demand for BD would be lower, so I suggest that more HD DVD is imported than BD, generally.


All HD DVD is region-free so all can be imported, whereas only 65% of BD is region-free, i.e. unless you have Region A BD player forget all Fox [so they won't be imported] and a lot of Disney, e.g. the Rat.

There is simply less HD DVD available on the shelves to buy in the UK.

I agree alot more BD available in the UK on shelves, than HD-DVD but I gotta say, I know quite a few people who import BD's as they have either a Japanese, US or HK PS3, like me. Alot more titles available in the US, that's why I usually import most of mine, especially with the BOGOF's on Amazon. Also Blu and HD are quite expensive still here in the UK, even on sites such as Play.com and Amazon.co.uk.

[docjan_uk]

Having said that, I just got an email this morning for the buy two get one free offer in the UK amazon site.

Got myself Black Hawk Down which I've been wanting to get for some time now along with The pursuit of Happiness and Stranger than fiction for £31.94.
Not too shabby.

[jayd]

Originally Posted by docjan_uk

Having said that, I just got an email this morning for the buy two get one free offer in the UK amazon site.

Got myself Black Hawk Down which I've been wanting to get for some time now along with The pursuit of Happiness and Stranger than fiction for £31.94.
Not too shabby.

At last a sale for the UK, will take a look, cheers for the Heads up.

[yakman]

What is the HDTV penetration rate in the US v other parts of the world? You have to have an HDTV first for HDMs.

[Phane]

US HDTV Penetration

About 32% of US households have HDTV's as of July, estimated 36% by years end. However, only 13.7% estimated to be "HD Capable", meaning they actually use these TV's for HD programming.

Apparently a lot of people in the US hook up their HDTV's to their same old cable box via coax and assume they are getting HD. A lot of others only buy them to watch their SD-DVD's in widescreen.

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Originally Posted by Blubaru

Europe and Japan may and probably will not have an effect on who will win in North America. We have seen this with Laserdisc, MiniDisc and VCDs.

Japan may have the consumer electronic industry but we have Hollywood. Hollywood doesn’t seem to care what’s going on in the rest of the world. What good will all of those Blue-ray players do if Hollywood has gone HD-DVD only?

Not saying that it will happen but right now the biggest/most important part of the world that counts is North America. If we don't win here it simply won’t matter. People put way to much emphasis on Europe and Asia.

NA may be the most important but saying that Europe and Asia don't matter is way off. If BD is winning in NA then Asia & Europe just make the case that much stronger.

[Anthony P]

Europe and Japan may and probably will not have an effect on who will win in North America. We have seen this with Laserdisc, MiniDisc and VCDs.

not at all.
1) None of those were never winning anywhere.
2) none of those were even on the RADAR here

The thing is it is becoming harder and harder for a studio not to support BD in the ROW. And it really makes no sense that they will support BD in the ROW and be HD DVD exclusive in NA. So once all studios are BD only or bi, it will make it even harder to continue selling HD DVD players. What kind of sales pitch can the guy make at a third rate store (because let’s face it, a retailer with integrity or brains won’t sell a format close to extinction) “ you can buy this 100$ HD DVD player and get a few movies on HD DVD or that 300$ BD player and get all of them”

Even if we assume Toshiba is willing to pay big bucks (much bigger then what they already paid) for exclusivity in NA, it then becomes easy for anyone to live BD only by importing from abroad a BD that is HD DVD only in NA they have all the titles.

[phloyd]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

That's a difference in the outside interface. The base technologies (display, battery, media, camera, bluetooth, keypad, software, ...) are all the same.

With HD DVD a company would be dealing with drives, a great deal of software, and maybe decoder chips that they don't use elsewhere. That's an entire amount of engineering that can't borrow a great deal from the Blu-ray engineering being done for the rest of the world.

The fact that LG and Samsung can make a dual player, same drive, indicates that HD DVD is not that different from BD. What aspect to you consider to be 'so different'?

The essential chips inside can be the same chips, not just similar chips.

Plus the discs can be pressed on a slightly modified DVD line

And BTW the development of a phone based on CDMA vs GSM for example is a very different experience. It is not like BD / HD DVD where you just need to call KJack and get hooked up regardless of which side you choose...

[blu2]

Originally Posted by phloyd

The fact that LG and Samsung can make a dual player, same drive, indicates that HD DVD is not that different from BD. What aspect to you consider to be 'so different'?

The essential chips inside can be the same chips, not just similar chips.
..

e.g. http://www.freshnews.com/news/orange....html?Broadcom

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Phane

US HDTV Penetration

About 32% of US households have HDTV's as of July, estimated 36% by years end. However, only 13.7% estimated to be "HD Capable", meaning they actually use these TV's for HD programming.

Apparently a lot of people in the US hook up their HDTV's to their same old cable box via coax and assume they are getting HD. A lot of others only buy them to watch their SD-DVD's in widescreen.

this weekend black friday in my area wasn't as big a deal as it usually is...

except the majority of the purchases I saw were for big screen HDTV's...

I think we are quickly going to see that 32% number rise to 50% within the next year...

once you surpass 50%, it's gravy after that...

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by phloyd

The fact that LG and Samsung can make a dual player, same drive, indicates that HD DVD is not that different from BD. What aspect to you consider to be 'so different'?

It actually proves no such thing.

All it really proves is that the discs are the same size. Everything else can be duplicated in modern micro chips, with a selector to decide which to use.

This:

display, battery, media, camera, bluetooth, keypad, software, ...

is entirely different from the fact that they can share the same physical space.

I'm not sure how different they really are...I'm sure none of us do, it's all patented or copyrighted. heh

*EDIT* As a tangible example, take the old Laserdisc/DVD combo players. LD and DVD are very different, yet the logic you use claims that they MUST be similar, afterall they had combo players, and the disc was centered on the same spot in the player.

[MotionBlurr]

Originally Posted by The Don

this weekend black friday in my area wasn't as big a deal as it usually is...

except the majority of the purchases I saw were for big screen HDTV's...

I think we are quickly going to see that 32% number rise to 50% within the next year...

once you surpass 50%, it's gravy after that...

Its great a lot of people are buying HDTVs but how many actually have an HD source. I know people who just put on their brand new HDTV and watch a stretched picture thinking they are watching HD programming.

[Rup_Muk]

Ok... now.... returning this thread back to anticipated Nielsen numbers...

I guess the 66:34 call is solid?

Any indication on YTD and SI?

Rup.