HD Format War Limps On: HD DVD Up in Europe

[coolmilo]

Hot news in the Battle of Who Could Care Less: HD DVD is back on top in Europe! Yes, while Sony valiantly tried to convince people that their Blu-ray format was totally kicking HD DVD's ass with it's hundreds upon hundreds of sales and figures inflated by discs given away with PS3s, it looks like HD DVD isn't going down without a fight.

What's amazing about this "war" is how few HD discs of either format are selling. It's tough to say one is winning over the other when they're both losing so, so badly. Hell, as of March 18, the cumulative number of Blu-ray titles sold was 844,000 units versus HD DVD at 708,600. Seriously, those are the numbers.

Imagine if they had put their differences behind them before coming to market with near-identical competing formats. All the movie studios would be making bank as people upgraded their DVDs to the new format and consumer electronics companies would all be selling their various models of the new player. But instead here we are, sitting in the middle of an idiotic PR war as a bunch of companies try to convince us that the biggest blunder in recent home theater history is actually working out well for anyone, companies or consumers included. Phooey to you, greedy companies! Phooey indeed.

From Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-ente...ope-252977.php

This really drives home the point about having two formats. If the war is not over soon then we will all lose. How long will companies keep pouring in $$$ when the return is so small. Both hi def camps need to remember, the real competition is DVD. SACD and DVD-A know this lesson all to well.

[Shin-Ra]

Dumbest two articles ever.

Firstly they're basing this on Amazon.com stats, not a collection of Euro Amazon site stats. Secondly Amazon doesn't give total disks sold for any region, it's not fully representative by any means. Thirdly there are no money off vouchers packed in with the Euro PS3 and the Casino Royale posted to the first 500,000 PSN sign-up'ees wouldn't show up on any sales data (which isn't shared anyway). Lastly they have rather selective memory when it comes to these pack-in vouchers, Toshiba are doing it the most with HD-DVD, no?

Cripples indeed.

[stevei]

Yes, to put it into context, I read that x-men 3 on dvd has sold something like 2.6 million copies, i.e. more than every single blu-ray and hd-dvd disc ever sold of all titles added together.

[Nismobeach]

Gizmodo.com = Microsoft shills.

[Blu_Ray_UK2007]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

Dumbest two articles ever.

Firstly they're basing this on Amazon.com stats, not a collection of Euro Amazon site stats. Secondly Amazon doesn't give total disks sold for any region, it's not fully representative by any means. Thirdly there are no money off vouchers packed in with the Euro PS3 and the Casino Royale posted to the first 500,000 PSN sign-up'ees wouldn't show up on any sales data (which isn't shared anyway). Lastly they have rather selective memory when it comes to these pack-in vouchers, Toshiba are doing it the most with HD-DVD, no?

Cripples indeed.

You took the words right out of my mouth!