US HD DVD player sales pass 750,000
Demand accelerating
Three-quarters of a million Americans now own a dedicated HD DVD player or Xbox 360 add-on drive, the HD DVD Promotional Group said today.
To date, 750,000 HD DVD devices have been sold in North America, the organisation said, citing "retailer reports and other point of sale data". It pointed to busy post-Thanksgiving purchasing as one of the reasons for the growth in sales of HD DVD kit. Many of the big retail chains have been hugely discounting Toshiba players.
And growth there has been. Seven months ago, in April, the HD DVD Promotional Group announced that hardware sales had passed the 100,000 mark - a year after the first players went on sale. By June, the total had risen to just 150,000. So, two months to increase 50 per cent, then five months to increase by 400 per cent. Pretty good going.
The fly in the ointment is the sheer lead Blu-ray has by dint of the PlayStation 3, though it's fair to point out that those 750,000 devices have been bought by movie buffs whereas the several million PS3s that have been bought in the US have largely been acquired by gamers.
Lower prices at last seem to be building the momentum the format has hoped for, and it'll be interesting to see how much further it can go during the remainder of the Christmas sales period.
COMMENTS
@Scott Mckenzie
Scott Mckenzie,
Do you have a credible source, besides Toshiba, that have verified that the new 51 GB HD-DVD disk actually does work in already existing HD-DVD player, without physical alteration of the player, besides a firmware update?
And likewise, have you got a credible source for your claim that Blu-ray disks, that use Profile 2.0 features, will not work at all in Profile 1.0 or Profile 1.1 players, and not just not display, as an example, the PiP track?
Unless you got a credible source for a claim, then stop spreading information that you purport as to be the truth.
Some time ago, I read an interesting article about prices regarding replication on both formats. It might be of interest, although it has to be said that it was written back in February - http://wesleytech.com/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-replication-costs-analyzed-again/113/
Since that post was from February, I checked and found that ProActionMedia lists on their website how much it costs to replicate in either format,
HD-DVD: http://www.proactionmedia.com/hd_dvd_replication.htm
Blu-ray: http://www.proactionmedia.com/blu-ray_replication.htm
Although ProActionMedia is only able to procure single-layer Blu-ray disks, they practically cost the same as producing a size wise comparable HD-DVD disk.
The cost of producing a batch of a specified size is, according to ProActionMedia, as follows:
5.000 disks
Blu-ray 25 GB - $1.99
HD-DVD 30 GB - $1.99
10.000 disks
Blu-ray 25 GB - $1.79
HD-DVD 30 GB - $1.85
25.000 disks
Blu-ray 25 GB - $1.59
HD-DVD 30 GB - $1.69
100.000 disks
Blu-ray 25 GB - $1.49
HD-DVD 30 GB - $1.55
Of course, those prices are only from ProActionMedia, but finding a direct quotation, without having to contact the company, is not easy, so therefore I have only included ProActionMedia. I only bring this in, because I often hear that Blu-ray (the physical part of it) is much more expensive than HD-DVD. At least at ProActionMedia, getting a size wise comparable disk produced in either format is about the same, price wise. Now, ProActionMedia does not produce 50 GB disks, but the post from Wesleytech.com claims that it is approximately 12% more expensive to produce a double layer Blu-ray disk. Both formats will very likely have become cheaper to produce since Febuary, and since double layer Blu-ray disks have become much more used since then, it it likely that the price difference between a single and a double layer disk is reduced.
Why choose? Get both!
I don't understand this.
In my opinion, with the price of HD/Blu-Ray readers for PC's at an all-time low, why not get both, plug them into your media system and its a win win situation!?
Yeh ok, so your now going to say not everyone has a pc? I'm betting as early adopters, we all have and that a good majority of those will be plugged into our LCD/plasma's.
Another point of view
I think people who bought PS3 roughly fall in few categories
1) Hard core gamers who value visual effects more than the price.
2) Hard core gamers who will own any game console
3) Gamers who can't get hold of Wii for coming Xmas
However, I certainly don't see non gamers or less serious gamers will buy a PS3 for the sake of blue-ray.
Personally, I think Sony placed a gamble when they released PS3 and they got it wrong and unfortunately, this one has a big price to pay.
1) Most of the gamers will buy PS3 because it is a successor of PS2 even though price mark is higher.
2) Based on 1), If we (Sony) bundle PS3 with Blue-ray, PS3 owners will be converted too.
Secondly, worst thing that happened to PS3, it is the introduction of the revolutionary Wii. It is cheaper and much more fun to play. The worst of the worst new is Wii outsold PS3 everywhere which casts a general perception to consumers (even the ones don't own a Wii).
1) You can have so much more fun with price of Wii. This de-values PS3 as a mark up price PS3 console even though it actually worths of what it got.
2) Parents are more encouraged to buy Wii than PS3 because they envisage family fun with their kids than imagining their kids locked in their rooms playing FPS games.
3) It has been outsold everywhere, it must be worth it.
4) People want to show off they got a Wii because it is hard to get.
If the above perceptions are in general consumers' mind, then it is pretty lethal to Sony. Remember the famous quote: "Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd".
There have been more negative feedbacks on PS3 than Wii. The only major disappointing news on Wii is the constant lack of supply which again turns to positive branding to Nintendo. Remember, Nintendo is ultra smart playing the supplier game - see the book "Co-opetition".
One of the side effect of negative feedbacks on PS3 is that consumers may have unconsciously cast negative perception on Blue-ray. Even though PS3 is nothing to do with Blue-ray technology because Sony forces PS3 with BD. Some consumers may surprisingly just systematically link PS3 = Blue ray. The crucial question is that how many of these thinkers in the market during the HD vs BD war.
1) Perception is reality
2) Selective perception (see Edward de Bono)
These consumers may not necessary have logical thoughts and 'We', the consumers, always think our decision is right. Not many companies can climb to the prestigious wall, like Apple, who can mentor consumers mind wanted to be the 'Apple crowd'.
Again another illogical assumption on why consumers may choose HD than BD, wherever you buy a LCD television, you always see the 'HD-Ready' logo but you don't see the 'Blue-Ray Ready'. If you always see 'HD' occurs a lot more time in your surroundings like adverts, magazine, etc, you start to favour HD.
I admit a lot of these analysis are 'jump to the conclusion' but it happens everyday and a lot.
As in personal choice, I bought a HD-DVD player recently mainly because of price and I know that one day I may get a PS3 if the price becomes reasonable in my view. By then, I'll have the best of both and I don't really need to give a monkey who wins.
Don't worry, Scott
superdynamite still thinks there is a resolution difference between 1080i and 1080p for film-based footage. I kind of tuned out after that.
Sony old style
I think whatever the outcome is Blue-Ray will still be major stream in Japan, not sure about worldwide.
Time will tell whether this has the fate as their Mini-Disc and UMD technologies.
