BluRay continues to dominate on Amazon.com

[dolphinius_rex]

I just checked out www.eproductwars.com, and I was a bit surprised by how much BluRay was outperforming HDDVD. In the past, the salesrank of the top 10 products had been usually 2-3 times better then HDDVD's (I.E. 250 vs 500-750). Today the sales ranks sat at 143.2 vs 736.6, a little better then 5:1 in favour of BluRay. Keep in mind however that this doesn't neccessarily mean BluRay began outselling HDDVD by 5:1 on Amazon.com, but it would be fair to say that sales are deffinately improving.

Anyways, I took some pics of what I saw here:
http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/

With the launch of the PS3 in Europe coming up in a few weeks, I have to wonder what motivation is left in the HDDVD format.

[Wesociety]

Today the sales ranks sat at 143.2 vs 736.6, a little better then 5:1 in favour of BluRay.

Thanks for capturing and posting the graphs here.

Yeah, Blu-ray movies are definitely selling better than HD DVD via Amazon now. Interesting stats, but I wonder if the trend will hold? 3 months from now HD DVD could be back on top! (but only if the HD DVD camp releases some good titles and starts aggressively advertising / marketing again)

With the launch of the PS3 in Europe coming up in a few weeks, I have to wonder what motivation is left in the HDDVD format.

I wouldn't speak so fast on that one! Let's see how the Europeans react to the PS3 launch.

[dolphinius_rex]

With Casino Royale about to be released, and every major blockbuster hit of 2006 coming from a BluRay exclusive or BluRay neutral studio, most of which planning to be released this year, it is *HIGHLY* unlikely HDDVD can recover. The only thing that can give HDDVD a chance of dragging the format war into a draw is if Toshiba manages to get those cheap Chinese HDDVD players out on the market in some kind of volume... but every month they fail to even give a release date, they lose more and more chance of salvaging their dying format.

As for the PS3 in Europe, we'll know soon enough But I'll happily go on the record as saying that by the end of April, Europe will be in a similar state as the USA in regard to BluRay vs. HDDVD sales (selling somewhere between 2-3:1 or more).

[dolphinius_rex]

Looks like the increased sales is probably due to a big sale (50% off) at Amazon on 47 select BluRay titles:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?r ... 1&plpage=1

brb, have to go order some movies!

[MadBurner]

Dolph -

Which Blu-Ray product are you using?

Later,
MB

[dolphinius_rex]

Dolph -

Which Blu-Ray product are you using?

Later,
MB

Sadly, I don't even have a player yet... but my plan is to buy a PS3 around June or so. I just need to pay off a bit more of my HDTV first

[MadBurner]

Sadly, I don't even have a player yet... but my plan is to buy a PS3 around June or so. I just need to pay off a bit more of my HDTV first

I'm in the same boat as well

MB

[Wesociety]

I guess I am too, but not on the scale of Dolph.

I have one Blu-ray Disc movie (Aeon Flux) that was given to me as a present from a friend. He thought I would already have a player, and I admit it was a pretty good guess on his part, but I just haven't scooped up any blue laser players yet.

[Grain]

Was in my local Costco on the weekend and they had a pallet of PS3's instore. First time I've actually seen a shop with inventory. Bluray is my personal preference as IMO it's greater capacity will make it more future proof. My dilema is that my favorite movies are only out on HD-DVD, Terry Gilliams flicks ie 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas etc. Hopefully they'll get a BluRay release eventually.

[Wesociety]

My dilema is that my favorite movies are only out on HD-DVD, Terry Gilliams flicks ie 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas etc. Hopefully they'll get a BluRay release eventually.

I don't know what Studio is releasing/distributing those movies, but if any of them are Universal, you might not ever see them on Blu-ray.

On the other hand, with AnyDVD HD now having HD DVD and Blu-ray back up capabilities (and other utilities), I wonder if we'll start to see some exclusive movies being ripped/converted/ported over to the competing format in the near future...

If that's the case, you might be able to buy your films on HD DVD, rip em on an HD DVD drive and then convert/burn them to Blu-ray! I think the capability will be there soon...

[dolphinius_rex]

I wonder if existing BluRay players and HDDVD players will be able to playback recorded BD-R and HDDVD-R media though? (respectively of course). Early DVD players had problems with recorded media in the beginning, and FORGET DVD±RDL media on first gen DVD players

[Wesociety]

I wonder if existing BluRay players and HDDVD players will be able to playback recorded BD-R and HDDVD-R media though? (respectively of course). Early DVD players had problems with recorded media in the beginning, and FORGET DVD±RDL media on first gen DVD players

The PS3 has been able to handle BD-R discs burned using files that were ripped with BackupBluray. I've read numerous reports online about the success.

I think I read that the Samsung player had some trouble though, possibly because the backup discs were recorded using the Blu-ray home authoring file structure...

[MadBurner]

One of the main reasons (along with price) that I haven't purchased any Blu-ray products is the fact that I purchased an Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive last year. The HD DVDs look amazing but DVDs look horrible on the device. The problem I'm having is that a lot of my favorite movies are only available on Blu-ray!

For now, I'm going to wait for Panasonic's 2nd gen Blu-ray player (DMP-BD10A) due out in April...

MB

[Wesociety]

One of the main reasons (along with price) that I haven't purchased any Blu-ray products is the fact that I purchased an Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive last year. The HD DVDs look amazing but DVDs look horrible on the device.

Ahhh that sucks, I guess the Xbox HD DVD drive doesn't have any DVD upconvert capabilities then. You do have the option to play the DVD's in the Xbox system drive itself though, and from what I've seen and read, it produces a decent picture.

For now, I'm going to wait for Panasonic's 2nd gen Blu-ray player (DMP-BD10A) due out in April...

You should also keep an eye out for that lower priced Sony Blu-ray standalone slated to be released later this year, and of course, monitor the price drops of the PS3. I guess it all depends on how long you are willing to wait before buying a Blu-ray player...

[Justin42]

Actually, according to this, the 360's DVD playback sucks and isn't too much hotter than your average bargain basement DVD unit..
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1 ... 531,00.asp

[Wesociety]

Yeah, I heard about that extremetech article. But still, the included drive in the Xbox is a decent DVD player.

I don't think that the DVD playback on the included Xbox 360 DVD drive is normally described as "horrible", but I have heard the DVD playback on the HD DVD add-on described as "horrible" or bad from numerous people.

Basically, DVD playback picture quality on the included Xbox 360 DVD drive > HD DVD add-on DVD playback picture quality.

[Grain]

I don't know what Studio is releasing/distributing those movies, but if any of them are Universal, you might not ever see them on Blu-ray.

They are Universal unfortunately.

[dolphinius_rex]

I don't know what Studio is releasing/distributing those movies, but if any of them are Universal, you might not ever see them on Blu-ray.

They are Universal unfortunately.

By 2008 we may see a change to Universal's distribution habits. CES in January is the most likely time for such an announcement. I wouldn't be surprised if it happend either, but only if the holiday season is particularily in favour of Blu-Ray.

[Wesociety]

I'm hoping to make it to CES 2008.
Maybe I'll have a chance to ask Universal directly.

[Grain]

It would be nice if the whole HD media war would be over by Jan 08 and you wouldn't have to grill Universal, but I'm not placing any bets just yet.

On another note, have seen the LG BluRay writer on sale for $500C, same price I paid for my first bufferless HP CD writer , but I'm not going to be buying until the blank media becomes more attractive, ie not $20 a pop, which is what I said about DVD's when they were that much .

[Wesociety]

I doubt that either one of the formats will die off by Jan 2008. More likely, we'll see coexistence of both HD DVD and Blu-ray for awhile...

I agree that BD-R and BD-RE media is still too cost prohibitive. The majority of consumers (including myself) aren't going to rush out and buy any type of blank media at $20 PER DISC, especially with burn failure likely to occur on one or more of your attempts...

[dolphinius_rex]

People still pay $20 a disc for BD-R media? I wouldn't pay more then $15-$16 CAD, or $12-$13 USD personally. BD-RE media is a little more expensive, $2-$3 or so.

[Grain]

The majority of consumers (including myself) aren't going to rush out and buy any type of blank media at $20 PER DISC, especially with burn failure likely to occur on one or more of your attempts...

I still grit my teeth over a failed or poor DVD DL burn, a failed $20 burn would be likely result in a smashed keyboard , and yet another expense.

@ Dolph, glad to see that you can find $15 media already. Cheapest I've found (located in Canada) is $20, most places are $22-23 .

[Wesociety]

I still grit my teeth over a failed or poor DVD DL burn, a failed $20 burn would be likely result in a smashed keyboard , and yet another expense.

Leave the poor keyboard alone! lol. I hear what you're sayin though. I'm also very saddened and frustrated when a DVD DL burn fails or has problems.

@ Dolph, glad to see that you can find $15 media already. Cheapest I've found (located in Canada) is $20, most places are $22-23 .

I took a look at BD-R and HD DVD-R online pricing in the US on February 21st.
http://wesleytech.com/bd-r-vs-hd-dvd-r- ... costs/150/

At the time, Supermediastore listed the following prices:
Verbatim 1x HD DVD-R (15GB) $14.99
Verbatim 2x BD-R (25GB) $16.99
Verbatim 2x BD-RE (25GB) $19.99

[dolphinius_rex]

Cheapest I've seen for BD-R and BD-RE was at CompUSA I think, $9.99 for Sony BD-R and $12.49 USD for Sony BD-RE.

Personally, I could get $12.15 CAD and $16.95 CAD for BD-R and BD-RE if I was trying.