Recent figures from market researcher Nielsen VideoScan are confirming previous reports that Blu-ray is currently beating HD DVD in the high definition war. Sales of Blu-ray movies have accounted for more than 60% of the market since the first week of January. Since the week ended January 7, Blu-ray sales have ranged from a low of 63.3% to a high of 69.6% while the latest figures available show that on the week ending February 18, Blu-ray accounted for 65% of the market and HD DVD was at 35%.
Between the weeks ended November 26 and December 17, 2006; HD DVD sales remained ahead of Blu-ray. But starting on the week ended December 24, Blu-ray pulled ahead with 53.3% of the market, VideoScan said. About two weeks after the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 videogame console, Blu-ray steadily grabbed market share from HD-DVD. Many Hollywood and consumer electronics manufacturers are taking sides in support of either Blu-ray or HD DVD. Warner and Paramount Pictures are the only two major studios that are releasing movies in both formats.
News source: InformationWeek
Between the weeks ended November 26 and December 17, 2006; HD DVD sales remained ahead of Blu-ray. But starting on the week ended December 24, Blu-ray pulled ahead with 53.3% of the market, VideoScan said. About two weeks after the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 videogame console, Blu-ray steadily grabbed market share from HD-DVD. Many Hollywood and consumer electronics manufacturers are taking sides in support of either Blu-ray or HD DVD. Warner and Paramount Pictures are the only two major studios that are releasing movies in both formats.
News source: InformationWeek
Edit: Don't result to childish antics and you won't get childish replies.
Edit. Don't make ignorant replies
Movies that are given away aren't counted as sales. How many times does this have to be repeated?
sony is just greedy thats why i want them to lose... not to mention they looked pretty bad when they installed that software on peoples pc's a while back without telling them before doing it... which was basically a security risk.
http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=38344
Only becuase in long run the $500 PlayStation 3 is much better deal then the $500 Blu-ray and HD DVD Player only and way better deal then Xbox 360 which can hardly play any of the older 1st gen game vs PS3 which can do older 1st gen and 2nd gen games.
Oh and guess what, that's just how the Xbox 360 does it, fancy that.
The winner of this format war will be decided by whoever can make the cheapest player; it's just that simple. And with the PS3 not likely to drop in price soon, it will be tough to say Blu-Ray is a better value when $600 keeps it out of most people's reach.
While I agree with you that the winner will be on who can get the cheapest player into the consumer's home the fact is in the beginning, the PS3 actually was in the running as the cheapest player. However, with the prices of HDTV sets coming down a ton lately with places like Sam's Club and Costco selling them people can get an HDTV for under $1000 and still "splurge" on one of the future format if they want at $600.
Plus, Microsoft is definitely pushing us into that direction with the Xbox 360. So I'm pretty sure movie companies aren't going to pull any stunts. Especially since if they do, people will always pick up the DVD since there isn't much to HD formats when comparing the jump from VHS to DVD.
They've both been cracked, since they both use AACS, even if bluray has one extra layer of protection it doesn't seem to mean anything. Newest version of AnyDVD strips the DRM from HD-DVD and Bluray. Size of the files is a problem, but, h264 is great! I could be wrong, and I haven't tried this myself, but you can compress them and not lose quality with h264 if you do it right. I don't know how much space you'll gain, but I know the files won't be 25GB anymore.
This is why:
1. Blu-Ray is more expensive to produce - this is hardly the advancement.
2. Both formats are able to play 576i,p, 720i,p, 1080i,p video
3. Both formats are able to carry 7.1 audio
4. What else do you need for a movie?
This is why:
1. Blu-Ray is more expensive to produce - this is hardly the advancement.
2. Both formats are able to play 576i,p, 720i,p, 1080i,p video
3. Both formats are able to carry 7.1 audio
4. What else do you need for a movie?
Blu-ray has a lot more storage space. People dismissing this fact haven't got a clue. With HD video, you can't have too much space. You can always easily utilize the available space, be it higher bit rates, more content per disc, or whatever.
(and that's part of Blu-ray's problem, but it doesn't seem to be killing the format)
lol
Good morning to you too.
May the best format win! Personally i'm hoping Blu-ray wins simply because it is the format that offers most storage space and best scratch protection.
I don't want one format for movies and one for data storage. That will only result in more expensive media, and what if i want to burn a HD movie on my computer and play it back on my HD player? I would still need two burners or a combo-burner that could burn both hddvd and blu-ray.
I really want to move to HD movies, but am not willing to gamble 600$ on either format till there is a standard.
What are you talking about? It IS correct and IS right. I realize you absolutely LOVE HD-DVD, but give me a break.
LOL. That gave me a good laugh.
Like was already said, good job Blu-Ray. It only took the successor to the PS2 and giving away free movies to make people actually want to buy them.
Many of you make it sound like Sony was the sole inventor of Blu-Ray when the fact is they partnered with more than 100 other companies to develop the specification for the next generation of video discs (they didn't invent the CD on their own either, people). Yes the technology is currently more expensive than standard DVDs, but what do you really expect? There is going to be a higher price for early adopters - get over it.
If you really don't think that Blu-Ray is better than HD DVD, do some honest comparisons between the formats. Let's remember that we are talking about a content delivery system here, people. How much it can delivery (capacity) and how quickly it can deliver it (bitrate) are pretty serious factors. Capacity? Blu-Ray hands down. Bitrate? No contest. Support from the studios? There is only one major player (to my knowledge) that doesn't already have a release slate of Blu-Ray titles out there, and while we're at it, how about comparing FUTURE releases from Hollywood - again Blu-Ray wins out. Any discussion of studio support should also consider that Disney is Blu-Ray ONLY. You would have to be dilusional to think that this isn't important.
In addition, Blu-Ray natively supports 24p frame rates (the Hollywood standard), while th HD DVD scheme relies on doubling the video standard (from 30 fps to 60), and during playback uses a method periodically repeating frames to 'fill in the blanks', causing more overhead to the system and opportunites for picture degradation. It then scales that information back to create a 24p output. If you want to know what one of the single biggest reasons why the picture from your video camera looks so different from a professionally produced video, it's frame rate (and more importantly how your eye perceives it), so this is a big issue.
If you really feel the need to pick on an enemy here, point your finger at the HD DVD (Toshiba, NEC, Microsoft, Intel) camp. The Blu-Ray format was in development for 5 years with universal support before this group broke off on their own to find a way to create a format that would allow them to control royalty rates, DRM schemes and other issues that cover concerns for their own profitability, but do nothing to address the needs or concerns of the consumer. It would be a crime to see a repeat of the VCR format war of the 70s where the inferior format wins out through sheer marketing.
So let's get this discussion back where it should be - on solid technical ground instead of emotional mud-slinging, shall we?
Unfortunately, the ignorant and the emotional will never learn.
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