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HD DVD gets a big boost from sales
Author: Phil CogarPublished: 8th November 2007
Those who have wished this format war to end may be stuck waiting a little bit longer.
Toshiba’s second-generation HD-DVD player, the HD-A2, has a list price of $299. However, it generally sells for $199 and two of the largest consumer electronics retailers, Best Buy and Wal-Mart, have gone even further to boost player sales; they’ve knocked the price down to $99.
Now, I find $99 to be quite reasonable for any media player with a good feature list and forward compatibility. Apparently the general public of the US agrees with me, because this weekend alone an estimated 90,000 players were sold. Compare that to the total sales of Sony’s best selling Blu-Ray set-top player, the BDP-S300s, at 100,000.
This large boost in sales has brought Toshiba’s HD-DVD market share up at least 35%. Despite this, and due largely in part to PlayStation 3 hardware sales, Blu-Ray is still winning the format war right now. HD-DVD isn’t exactly off the map though, and with Best Buy knocking $100 off the HD-A3, Toshiba’s third-generation player, more retailers are sure to get involved in the price war; especially with Black Friday coming up.
If you look back to classic format wars, such as Betamax versus VHS, huge strides are made simply by hardware prices – and subsequently hardware sales. Blu-Ray has a clear lead due to its integration with the PlayStation 3. However, as the console war marches forward, a clear winner will begin to emerge. This winner could easily help control HD-DVD/Blu-Ray market share just as the PlayStation 3 has boosted Blu-Ray sales as of now.
One thing is for certain though; DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD aren’t going anywhere soon. There is still enough demand for each of the formats even as older TVs are getting replaced with high-definition TVs that benefit from high-def formats and in-home movie theaters are becoming more and more common. Only time will show the true success of one format – or the combined success of both.
Still undecided or will this holiday season be decision time for you? Leave your thoughts over in the forum.
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Comments (36)
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in the pc market BR is an better format strate away you got 25gb/50gb disks over 15/30gb HD-DVD disks (and most users are only going to buy Single layer disks as dual layer ones most likey to much)
PS3 for Xmas (or next time i pay my self) be able to fit most of my tv stuff onto one single BR disk or when i work out how to Send it to the PS3 hard disk
We're talking about the benefits of BluRay vs HD DVD for movies here, and there are no real benefits for one medium over another. Triple layer HD DVDs have been demonstrated with no modification needed for existing players. BluRay is a proprietary standard; HD DVD is the only format approved by the DVD Forum. HD DVD is also a finalised standard - BluRay has just updated its standard, which renders all current BluRay players useless.
I could go on and on - personally, I don't think there will be a winner in the format war. CE companies will just produce hybrid players capable of playing either format (since they do, at least, share some common features unlike VHS & Beta).
allso i still do not see any HD-dvd burners for sale yet
PC market most likey be an HD-dvd reader combo Blu-ray burner later on
dono why DVD Forum approved means any thing as i have never been there before, (now i have) looks like an USA web site to me, does not look likey thay even support DVD+ from the box at the top right, even thought both offer No bernerfits
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thats the idea Unlike DVD+ and DVD- Both formats was the sime size, but HD-dvd and BR Are not even close (15/30 25/50) do not quote tripple layer disks as most users are not even going to buy them, even to the point most users are not even going to buy dual layer disks
if i wanted to put all my stuff onto an Single HD-dvd disk i proberly will have to use more then 1 HD-dvd disk to do it (i worked the numbers out and i would need more disks allso adding to cost)
i be getting an BR burner after new year when thay get to about £100 as they sell for £300 at this time and the readers sell at £120, just an little to high at this time
You would be an idiot to buy a standalone Blu-Ray player.. the only one which will get proper support and might be set for all future Blu-Ray spec changes is the PS3. So all it is, is a game console movie format.. a game console which is lagging behind and has no games till the spring.
As if that wasn't enough reason NOT to go with Blu-Ray.. it also has region encoding and BD+ closes the possibility of managed copy that the AACS encryption allows.
HD DVD doesn't have region coding, it's players are cheap and it has some good movies.
The argument of Blu-Ray having bigger discs so it's better for PCs doesn't really hold water either. Are you really going to be spending £20 to time for 50GB discs (when they come out and have dropped in price a bit... 25GB SL discs are currently about £15) so that you can backup a terabyte hard drive.
Why bother. Just get a 100GB 2.5inch USB drive.
BluRay is not a better format, it's merely a bigger format. The readers and the disks are likely to be more expensive due to licensing. I agree, I can see BluRay taking a bigger share of the PC market because in that situation, size matters most.
However, this article is not about a PC, it's about a movie playing device. A device which is much cheaper than BluRay will be, and which has plenty of storage space for a 1080p movie. In the home theater market, the lower size of HD-DVD is not an issue, so the lower cost and greater compatibility of HD-DVD is significant.
The DVD forum is the official body that oversees the DVD format; it is composed of about 200 member organisations, including Sony, Philips & Time Warner. They control everything to do with the DVD format (including the writeable DVD formats) and are the trademark holders for the DVD logo. It's not a forum like bit-tech.
HD DVD is a finalised standard; BluRay is a proprietary format invented (primarily) by Sony. If you buy a HD DVD player, it will work with new disks in 10 years. If you've already bought a BluRay player, it won't work with the disks you buy next year.
As I've said before, both formats have their benefits and downsides. As an AV professional, I'd like to see HD DVD win, but I don't think it will. As I said above, I think we'll end up with hybrid player capable of playing both formats, in which case the "format war" just fizzles out and the only winner is the consumer. Which format you buy will depend on which format the movie companies support, not which player you have.
Now, leexgx, if you have a response that:
(a) you've used a spellchecker on; and
(b) actually pertains to HD disc formats with relation to movie players
then please feel free to respond. I'd be interested to see if you have anything pertinent to add to the discussion.
And I could say the same for BD and its stupid region coding.
and we have a weiner!!!! :p
That said, i'd be surprised if either HD formats became popular any time soon, as the difference between DVD and HD-DVD/BR being non-existent on older TV's, and not nearly as big a difference on hi-def TVs as VHS -> DVD was on standard-def TVs
why are u attacking his spelling/grammar, pretty weak imo.
For now my money stays in my pocket (though the cheaper player and region-free elements push me towards HD-DVD).
Personally, I think each format has its strengths and weaknesses. I don't own an HDTV, nor do I have a method to get HD content to the TV if I did own one. So I'm content to watch DVDs until the format war dies out, or an altogether new format emerges.
-monkey
I like the fact of BR having a massive storage media, yet despise that they are changing the versions. DVD didnt do this (was there even a competitor to DVD at the time?). HD DVD seems, clumsy to me. Yet it isnt.
Anyway... I dont have a HDTV yet.... so, I dont really care atm.
What HD-DVD should do is offer to replace your existing DVD collection to HD-DVD for a small one time fee (based on quanity of movies) And simply replace everyones DVD's. I would sure fire do it! (and ensure complete and utter destruction of blu ray)
:D
2.5 generation? wait a second, you wouldnt be counting console generations according to PLAYSTATION generations right? You are hereby fired from the club, hand in your (videogame) nerd card at the door.
id say Wii would be 4.5th gen, and some people who were actually alive in the atari era would call it 6.5th gen, provided we subscribe to the whole wii being half a gen behind theory
the extra 10gb to me is worth it, DVD+r and DVD-r was the same size disks so did not matter what the customers got, with BR and HD-dvd there size is not the same 15gb/30gb, 25gb/50gb, but most are likely to only be useing single layer disks any way
may take 4+ years before it really takes off any ways or longer maybe due to paramounts Stupid move to support HD-DVD only for 18 months ? i think, thay should of kept it in both formats but i guess HD-DVD would of died allot sooner if paramount was not payed off to do so to support one format only there loss in $$ any way as thay could of Sold 300,000 more copy's of transformers {assuming an 2:1 ratio to hd-DVD}, once BR burners become cheaper any company that do HD-DVD only will not be an problem any more as i just be able to convert HD-DVD to easily fit onto an BR disk
as DVD taken what 5-6 years to take off (1995 taken to 2001/3 before it was slandered in PCs software and DVD rentals) got some time before one becomes the slandered or we have an combo HD-DVD/Blu-ray - Blu-ray burner (if thay do it)
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why i have not bothered to put stuff onto disks yet is that i do not want to have 5 dvds around when one single disk can have the same content on it, HD-dvd cant do that i have to use 2 disks or get an dual layer disk that probably costs allot
Worst theory ever created, oh I'm only x.5th generation because I'm not as strong as my dad.
Using these formats as backups is a moot point, the size doesn't matter because using a BD or HD DVD to backup your data is not cost effective at all. Yeah it sounds nice, a 25Gb disk, but firstly, that would take ages to write, secondly, they'll be very expensive. If you wanted to write it to disks you could probably get double the amount of space from DVD-Rs. Yeah DVDs were very expensive back in the day too, but BD is a proprietary format, this means Sony wants to get as much money as they can claw out of every sale, this means it's going to stay pretty expensive.
BD will never die though, because Sony owns it and several large studios, so stuff like James Bond will only ever be released on BD, and Sony will never admit defeat and pull the plug on it, just like it's not with UMD.
Yes BD is winning at the moment, but what hasn't been said much is the sales of both formats have dwindled to half what it was before, and DVD is still outselling it by about a million times. It's not really looking good for either format as people just aren't really interested in buying it and only the enthusiasts care really.
As others have said, if you're going to back something up, it's more cost effective to buy a cheap external USB hard drive, that is only one disk and it can hold a lot more than a BD can.
I don't think you understand business either, paramount don't really care, they'll be getting millions of sales through DVD, and also, Sony owns some very large studios. Putting your film onto a BD is basically putting money in the pockets of your competitors. They don't like doing that, that is why many studios pulled out of UMD.
But you're making the mistake of confusing disks on the computer with disks in the home theater. On the computer, bluray has a size advantage. But this article isn't about computers, it's about home theaters. In the home theater environment, HD-DVD disks are big enough for a full 1080p movie and special features - so the additional size of bluray isn't a factor. And because of licensing, a dual-layer bluray disk (which is what will be used for movies) will cost more than a dual-layer HD-DVD (which is what will be used for movies), so HD-DVD actually has an advantage.
Maybe you're getting slightly confused based on the fact that for the last few years, we've been using the same storage format for movies and computers. Let's step back a generation to clear things up. It's like everyone else in this forum is saying "VHS tapes are the best choice for watching movies, because even though the quality is higher, laserdisk is too big and expensive," and you're saying "No, CDs are better because I can use them in my computer!"
Stop defending bluray in the home theater by talking about your computer. They are totally different situations. However, if you have a compelling argument in favor of bluray that doesn't involve your computer, we'd all be interested to hear it.
Apart from James Bond I don't think there really is one : /
On topic - I tend to agree that hybrid players will probably win out in the end, however I think if I had to go out and buy a player right now, today, it would be a HD-DVD player. It's just cheaper and I'm no 'video-quality-buff'. [shrugs]
Anyways, Blu-Ray isn't going anywhere anytime soon (PS3 games will have to continue support it), so Sony has more to lose imo on that side of it, so I see there being a desperate battle of survival on (Sony's) Blu-Ray's part if price begins to put HD-DVD ahead and that is only going to be good for us the consumers.
Either way, that's my opinion on it (not that there's much to take from it) and the only negative things I see coming/could come from this "war" are:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/09/19/usb_3_to_arrive_at_superspeed_in_2008/1
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2184768,00.asp
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2184849,00.asp