Warner's Dan Silverburg credits PS3 users for quarter of a million units sold of 300

[Tekman]

HDTV DisplaySearch: HD DVD, Blu-ray supporters tout features
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 10/10/2007
OCT. 10 | UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.--Supporters of the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc high-definition formats locked horns at the HDTV DisplaySearch conference here Wednesday, but all participants ultimately agreed they were heartened by the fact that consumers are adopting high-def discs, even slowly.

“The chances are pretty slim” that high-def won’t succeed, said Don Eklund, executive VP of advanced technologies for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “There are obstacles in getting consumers to appreciate it, but it’s inevitable it will roll. Satellite and cable do a good job of indoctrinating people to high-def and by extension high-def packaged media.”

Currently, high-def stand-alone players comprise a 5% unit share within the total DVD player market, according to DisplaySearch. Although that is small, that share has significantly improved in recent weeks. Between April 2006 and August 2007, next-gen set-tops totaled just 1.3% of the overall DVD player market.

By year end, there should be about 1 million Blu-ray and HD DVD set-top units sold, the research concern predicts.

On a revenue basis, next-gen players carved out a 27% share of the overall market during the month of August. That marks a rise from next-gen’s 11% share between April 2006 and August 2007.

Software is in a similar boat, selling a relatively small amount within the greater home entertainment landscape, with $150 million in cumulative Blu-ray and HD DVD revenue to date. Unit sales are at 4.5 million at this point.

Research comes from a combination of findings from sister companies DisplaySearch and NPD Group.

“Without a format war, adoption might be higher,” said Ross Young, founder and president of DisplaySearch. “But [high-def] is coming.”

Russ Crupnick, VP and senior industry analyst for NPD, said just 11% of people surveyed by NPD said they planned to purchase a next-gen set-top in the next six months.

Also, PlayStation 3’s dominance within the high-def player field has not yet translated to strong viewing of compatible Blu-ray titles. Less than half of PS3 users are watching Blu-ray films.

Plus, standard-definition upconverting DVD players, still attractively pried below high-def players, are growing faster in overall DVD market share than next-gen players. Upconverting players command 27% of the market on a unit basis, dwarfing high-def’s 5% share.

But Crupnick believes that once people try high-def packaged media playback they will become cheerleaders for the new formats.

“How do we go from confusion to forecasts that say that in a few years half the market will be high-def?” he asked. “It’s the experiences of people with next-gen. About 90% [of those recently polled] said they were extremely satisfied with their next-gen player purchase. You don’t usually see those kinds of numbers.”

High-def hardware owners said that every two of three packaged media purchases were next-gen, according to NPD research.

Despite proof of some progress, studio executives remain concerned over the format war stifling sales. According NPD polling, 54% of people said they didn’t want to go high-def because of the format war.

In the name of eventually ending it, Blu-ray and HD DVD executives tried to convince conference-goers of the superiority of their respective camps.

HD DVD participants were quick to needle the Blu-ray folks over PS3 gamers’ measured use of the system’s Blu-ray player. They also claimed victories in software, as the only Web-enabled titles released to date are on HD DVD. Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Evan Almighty, which was released on Tuesday, is the first home entertainment title to extensively offer e-commerce.

Striking back, Blu-ray supporters insisted that consumers adopt high-def because of great content resolution, not bonus features. Regardless of gamers’ film activities, Blu-ray titles are out-selling HD DVD titles by a two-to-one ratio.

Warner Home Video’s 300 HD DVD title, one of the first releases to offer Web-based interactivity, sold half as many copies as the 300 Blu-ray version, which lacked those advanced features. Also, Warner VP of high-def marketing Dan Silverburg primarily credits PS3 users for what the studio believes is an impressive quarter of a million units sold of 300 on Blu-ray.

“For people who buy HDTVs, the intent is not to interact with it—it’s so they can have high-definition viewing,” said Andy Parsons, senior VP at Pioneer Electronics and chair of the Blu-ray Disc Assn.’s U.S. Promotion Committee. “Interactivity is nice, but it’s not causing people to say I won’t watch the movie [if it’s absent].”

However, HD DVD’s interactivity best mirrors the lifestyle of today’s growing YouTube, MySpace and Facebook fan base, countered Alan Bell, executive VP and chief technology officer at Paramount Pictures.

“Each of the formats creates great picture and sound, but we need something more to sell next-generation,” he said. “For younger folks, their choice of entertainment is to interact with others. Also, [Web interactivity] is an exciting transition between playing DVD and five to 10 years from now when things are digital.”

PS3 is expected to soon offer a firmware upgrade to boost its Blu-ray interactivity functionality, noted Sony’s Eklund.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6488844.html

[MerrickG]

Finally some real news around here!

[frank_t]

nice to read the warner quote.

and even nicer to read the ps3 quote. it's a confirmation of 1.1 coming soon

[Spankey]

However, HD DVD’s interactivity best mirrors the lifestyle of today’s growing YouTube, MySpace and Facebook fan base, countered Alan Bell, executive VP and chief technology officer at Paramount Pictures.

Uhhhhh...I don't go to youtube for great picture quality or production values. I hate unimaginitive corporate spin...

[Neo65]

I don't want to speak ill of Allan Bell, as he has a job to do at Paramount around the next-gen interactivity side of home media.

Unfortunately, his parallel of youtube with interactivity on HDM reflects the exact problem with why someone pushing SA-CD will never be able to understand the mp3 crowd. The reason why myspace/facebook/youtube crowd likes those forums has nothing to do with PQ or AQ, some of the best rated clips in there have the worst PQ.

The reason why interactivity on packaged media has a tough road ahead can be best learnt from the lessons that WebTV and the cableTV taught us. When in comes to interactivity, a remote (or even a keyboard remote with a TV) cannot beat the web browser experience.

That ability for social networking on facebook, the search engine around youtube, those things cannot be replicated around a HDM settop built around any single movie.

Take pdfs, midi, gif, pbm, jpeg, mp2, mp3, mp4, 3gpp, avi, rms formats, these things all have to be replicated on a settop box to be able to browse all these sites, something webTV found to be a daunting task with each software upgrade while the internet grows.

Today, we have downloadable plugins for VRML, video-conferencing, play-shifting, things that would be just about impossible to do on any settop box (except the PS3 and X360).

Are they doomed? Who knows, but unless Bell spends more time thinking things through, he might find that the youtube analogy is just the tip of the iceberg of misunderstanding his market that could sink his grand plans. And I say that respectfully.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by Tekman

HDTV DisplaySearch: HD DVD, Blu-ray supporters tout features
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 10/10/2007
OCT. 10 | UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.--Supporters of the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc high-definition formats locked horns at the HDTV DisplaySearch conference here Wednesday, but all participants ultimately agreed they were heartened by the fact that consumers are adopting high-def discs, even slowly.

“The chances are pretty slim” that high-def won’t succeed, said Don Eklund, executive VP of advanced technologies for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “There are obstacles in getting consumers to appreciate it, but it’s inevitable it will roll. Satellite and cable do a good job of indoctrinating people to high-def and by extension high-def packaged media.”

Currently, high-def stand-alone players comprise a 5% unit share within the total DVD player market, according to DisplaySearch. Although that is small, that share has significantly improved in recent weeks. Between April 2006 and August 2007, next-gen set-tops totaled just 1.3% of the overall DVD player market.

By year end, there should be about 1 million Blu-ray and HD DVD set-top units sold, the research concern predicts.

On a revenue basis, next-gen players carved out a 27% share of the overall market during the month of August. That marks a rise from next-gen’s 11% share between April 2006 and August 2007.

Software is in a similar boat, selling a relatively small amount within the greater home entertainment landscape, with $150 million in cumulative Blu-ray and HD DVD revenue to date. Unit sales are at 4.5 million at this point.

Research comes from a combination of findings from sister companies DisplaySearch and NPD Group.

“Without a format war, adoption might be higher,” said Ross Young, founder and president of DisplaySearch. “But [high-def] is coming.”

Russ Crupnick, VP and senior industry analyst for NPD, said just 11% of people surveyed by NPD said they planned to purchase a next-gen set-top in the next six months.

Also, PlayStation 3’s dominance within the high-def player field has not yet translated to strong viewing of compatible Blu-ray titles. Less than half of PS3 users are watching Blu-ray films.

Plus, standard-definition upconverting DVD players, still attractively pried below high-def players, are growing faster in overall DVD market share than next-gen players. Upconverting players command 27% of the market on a unit basis, dwarfing high-def’s 5% share.

But Crupnick believes that once people try high-def packaged media playback they will become cheerleaders for the new formats.

“How do we go from confusion to forecasts that say that in a few years half the market will be high-def?” he asked. “It’s the experiences of people with next-gen. About 90% [of those recently polled] said they were extremely satisfied with their next-gen player purchase. You don’t usually see those kinds of numbers.”

High-def hardware owners said that every two of three packaged media purchases were next-gen, according to NPD research.

Despite proof of some progress, studio executives remain concerned over the format war stifling sales. According NPD polling, 54% of people said they didn’t want to go high-def because of the format war.

In the name of eventually ending it, Blu-ray and HD DVD executives tried to convince conference-goers of the superiority of their respective camps.

HD DVD participants were quick to needle the Blu-ray folks over PS3 gamers’ measured use of the system’s Blu-ray player. They also claimed victories in software, as the only Web-enabled titles released to date are on HD DVD. Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Evan Almighty, which was released on Tuesday, is the first home entertainment title to extensively offer e-commerce.

Striking back, Blu-ray supporters insisted that consumers adopt high-def because of great content resolution, not bonus features. Regardless of gamers’ film activities, Blu-ray titles are out-selling HD DVD titles by a two-to-one ratio.

Warner Home Video’s 300 HD DVD title, one of the first releases to offer Web-based interactivity, sold half as many copies as the 300 Blu-ray version, which lacked those advanced features. Also, Warner VP of high-def marketing Dan Silverburg primarily credits PS3 users for what the studio believes is an impressive quarter of a million units sold of 300 on Blu-ray.

“For people who buy HDTVs, the intent is not to interact with it—it’s so they can have high-definition viewing,” said Andy Parsons, senior VP at Pioneer Electronics and chair of the Blu-ray Disc Assn.’s U.S. Promotion Committee. “Interactivity is nice, but it’s not causing people to say I won’t watch the movie [if it’s absent].”

However, HD DVD’s interactivity best mirrors the lifestyle of today’s growing YouTube, MySpace and Facebook fan base, countered Alan Bell, executive VP and chief technology officer at Paramount Pictures.

“Each of the formats creates great picture and sound, but we need something more to sell next-generation,” he said. “For younger folks, their choice of entertainment is to interact with others. Also, [Web interactivity] is an exciting transition between playing DVD and five to 10 years from now when things are digital.”

PS3 is expected to soon offer a firmware upgrade to boost its Blu-ray interactivity functionality, noted Sony’s Eklund.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6488844.html

Someone needs to tell the rocket scientists at Paramount it really is all about the films.

[w_tanoto]

you see that, TOSHIBA.

SEE, SEE!!!

[HK-48]

Nice to see Warner impressed with 300. Hopefully all their other titles sell much better on Blu-Ray to, especially Harry Potter.

[martinp1]

this is very true. 300 was the very 1st bd I purchased and watched. 300 coming out on blu-ray also made me purchase my HDTV.

[oldmike]

TOSHIBA is like the kid that covers his ears and says lalalalalala i cant hear you

[Count Zero]

Originally Posted by Rob71

Someone needs to tell the rocket scientists at Paramount it really is all about the films.

Paramounted knows that. Interactivity is the only excuse they have for selling out, which is completely lame. Or peraps the $_$ in his eyes are blinding him from the truth.

[Blu Titan]

Warner is aware how many more movies Blu-ray owners are buying. People dismiss the PS3 only to be hit in the face with the facts. Spiderman 3 is going to be BIG for us.

[aristotles]

Some of these people don't get it. WebTV was a failure because people are not interested in a computer-like interface or interactivity when then are sitting on the couch in front of the boob-tube. The only exception to this would be a game console and game console-like games.

[Joe Cain]

Love the nod to BD-buying PS3 owners---and from Warner, no less! So you're telling me Sony made a machine that can play games AND movies?

I shall repay them by sending them a customer for 2001 and Blade Runner: my next door neighbor bought a 42" plasma a month ago and he's been chomping at the bit for an HDM player ever since. He's a big Trek fan so he's been predisposed in the other direction, but he's pretty much decided on a PS3; he doesn't game at all, but he really likes everything else it can do (suggesting the owners of the Star Trek property should have sided with the superior technology?). I've loaned him the manual and he's going to take my PS3 on a test drive over the weekend.

Also very pleased to read that the PS3 upgrade to version 1.1 is on the way. It's a good day to be Blu.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Neo65

Are they doomed? Who knows, but unless Bell spends more time thinking things through, he might find that the youtube analogy is just the tip of the iceberg of misunderstanding his market that could sink his grand plans. And I say that respectfully.

Interactivity = HD DVD talking point…..hoping to translate into HD DVD selling point to the audience in attendance.

[Maxell]

Finally someone high-up says something about PS3's influence on blu-ray movie sales. But the HDDVD camp always wants to dismiss the PS3 in hardware sales.

[pro-bassoonist]

Dan Silverberg and Ken Graffeo should get together and have some coffee.

An interesting conversation this would be...I think!

Pro-B

[Tekman]

Qute:

"It's a great media-playing device." As such, it's a great consumer proposition - it looks good, movies look great on it, you can play games, and you can listen to your music."

Dan Silverberg
BVHE executive director new business development back in Apr. 25, 2005 talking about the PSP when Buena Vista Home Enetertainment announced support for UMDs.

"When it comes down to an economic purchase, a consumer will buy a game and some movies," said Dan Silverberg, executive director of new business development at Walt Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment. "We'll sell more movies down the line because our titles are $15 to $25, roughly half the price of a game."

Looks like he knows the value of the PS3 today

[lch]

the red camp can dismiss ps3 sales but they should really take out ps3 number from their attach rate. that way, they can try spinning why 47% bd player buy 2x number of movies than 53% hd-dvd player (since "ps3 owner don't watch movie").

[DealsR4theDevil]

I never liked that the PS3 is left out of those statistics. I dont play games at all, in fact I only own one PS3 game, I bought my PS3 because I thought it was the best Blu-ray player under $1,000.