Blu-ray Disc: One million served

The Blu-ray vs HD DVD format war reaches another milestone, with sales of Blu-ray Discs reaching more than one million sold since the format launched less than a year ago. According to Home Media Research, Blu-ray locked up 70% of high-definition movies sales in the first quarter of 2007 (832,530 to 359,300), and account for seven of the top ten best-selling high-def movies. Even on those few titles available in both formats, like The Departed, consumers are buying more Blu-ray than HD DVD versions. HD DVD owners and fans can still point to sales of their format of choice reaching number one at Amazon recently -- as well as early release dates like The Matrix and exclusives like Smokin' Aces -- but with Blu-ray-only Disney releasing big titles like Cars and both Pirates movies in the coming months, the Blu-ray Disc Association won't be stopping the press releases anytime soon.

Read - Reuters
Read - Business Wire

[Ted Brown @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:00PM]

Now we wait for the HD-DVD apologists to explain why this is just part of the Sony conspiracy.

[kingofwale @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:03PM]

I remember a Cnet analyst worte an article about how he thinks Blu-Ray will win out by the end of this year (he wrote it in Dec, I believe) and got crucified by it.

I wonder what he will say right now.

And remember, Spiderman 3 Blu-Ray, (owned by Sony) will do great.

[Big @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:47PM]

I'll never understand why anti-SONY haters are so damn blind and stupid.

Playstation 3 (as I predicted ) = MARKET PENETRATION of Blur Ray

Blu Ray's potentialy larger storage capacity = PERCEIVED SUPERIORITY which = MARKET PENETRATION

HDDVD simply costs way too much when you consider that for just $500/$600 you can buy a PS3.

[paloooz @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:04PM]

It would help if there were actually MOVIES on HD-DVD. I used to have an HD-DVD player and got rid of it because all the good movies were on Blu-Ray! I'd go to Best Buy and see all the movies I want in the Blu-Ray section, and all the crappy movies on HD-DVD.

Reminds me of Jurassic Park ... "You did say that there would be DINOSAURS on your DINOSAUR TOUR, right?"

[andrew @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:37PM]

@palooz
Jurrassic park will be on HD DVD....

[Homeboy @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:05PM]

Blu-Ray will win the war, thanks to PS3.

[Taz @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:14PM]

It has nothing to do with PS3 or Xbox BR or HD add-ons, nor is it anything to do with the technical abilities of one platform or another... it's down to price and availability of software - and this is where Sonys extensive catalog of movies is killing HD-DVD.
The titles released for HD-DVD so far have been either pretty pathetic, or stuck on those 'combo' discs at a $10-$15 premium (To this day, I still don't understand the logic behind those things)

[Silverfrog @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:43PM]

I tend to agree with this statement. People who bought the PS3 thus far--those that shelled out the big bucks for the machine--are also just as likely to buy more HD movies than the traditional consumer. Those high-end spenders maybe, just maybe started the snowball rolling down the hill for Blu-Ray. After all, the way it's been playing out, with PS3 having only a few AAA titles out the door, what are PS3 consumers to do while they wait? Buy Blu-ray discs, that's what.

[Djchicken @ Jun 23rd 2007 10:13PM]

I wouldn't have bought either NExt gen DVD player if the PS3 didn't come with it, so now Sony has gotten another Blu-ray customer by using the PS3. Excellent market penetration. If Microsoft wants to compete they need to put an HD player in the elite, make it $500 dollars, suffer some losses, but get people into the HD market without having to make an investment in a $400 box that you might have to trash in two years.

[h0mi @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:14PM]

It has everything to do with the ps3. The ps3 is the only bluray player selling, and it's outsold all other HD media players combined.

[Matt @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:27PM]

Is anyone else way tired of reading about this pissing contest?

[hunglikehorse @ Apr 25th 2007 10:50AM]

Then why reply to it? Sheesh, if you are tired of reading about it go away!

[Matt @ Apr 25th 2007 10:53AM]

Just because I make a comment about competing standards constantly spinning the PR to one-up each other, I'm supposed to go away?
Last I checked, it said "Comments" not "Non-dissenting viewpoints".
Simmer down.

[Andrew Ferguson @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:43PM]

Diggable for the Blu-Ray fans in the house:

http://digg.com/tech_news/Milestone_One_Million_Blu_Ray_Discs_Sold

[godgivemestrength @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:49PM]

i couldn't give a fuck about all this. i have both formats and am very pleased with both, especially the advanced features that HD DVD has and that Blu ray doesn't(yet) another sony product that has been rushed

[Anthony @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:50PM]

whoops, that sounds like i am siding with HD DVD

[Landlocked @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:53PM]

I don't think the PS3 is going to make or break the format. As is frequently
mentioned on message boards, look at MiniDisc, UMD and MemoryStick formats. Big time write-offs for Sony.

I'm a HD-DVD owner and I wish one format would completely win out. What are the chances, though, of the other side refusing to adopt the other's technology and want to try to do a unified format again?

[Silverfrog @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:03PM]

Mini-disc music and UMD movies failed for one reason: Price. That factor will not affect Blu-Ray, since currently $500 is the going rate for both players (stand alone, or PS3). And, the media here is widely supported.

In my opinion, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war may go the way of DVD-R vs. DVD+R. In the end, all players support both disc types, and no one is the wiser.

[Dieselstation @ Jun 29th 2007 10:22PM]

Also UMD/MiniDiscs/etc.. were all proprietary formats without much industry backing. Blu-ray has TONS of other companies on it's board from movie studios to drive makers to players to blank media. etc.

[Mak @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:30PM]

Can someone tell me when he changes the record...

[myscrnnm @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:59PM]

"I don't think the PS3 is going to make or break the format. As is frequently
mentioned on message boards, look at MiniDisc, UMD and MemoryStick formats. Big time write-offs for Sony.

I'm a HD-DVD owner and I wish one format would completely win out. What are the chances, though, of the other side refusing to adopt the other's technology and want to try to do a unified format again?"

So, another player-hater, eh? UMD was never meant to be a popular format. You are comparing it to stuff that is mainstream. When Nintendo used cartridges for the Game Boys and DSs, did anyone bash Nintendo? Why should it be any different for UMD? People only hate UMD because they hate Sony. The UMD was designed for use with portable systems because if it were to be used in mainstream systems, the storage capacity would be far too low.

The same basic idea applies to the Memory Stick format. Given the proprietary nature of Memory Stick, it has fared extremely well. This is due to Sony's excellent execution of integrating the format into a wide range of products (Cyber-Shot digital still cameras, HandyCam camcorders, CLIE PDAs, VAIO computers, the PSP, PlayStation 3, and even some of their televisions. There is unification between all of their consumer devices. And again, people only hate Memory Stick because it was made by Sony. I don't see anyone bashing xD, which is pretty much limited to only Fujifilm and Olympus cameras, and nothing else.

For your sake, I hope that Blu-ray Disc wins out (I am a BD user myself) so that you will become disillusioned.

[REP96st @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:56PM]

go HD DVD

[lojin @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:22PM]

they were the same price, but now walmart will be selling a stand alone HD-DVD player for $299.00

[daschupa @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:03PM]

Exclusive Smokin' Aces? Sony pack your bags.

[Revrant2394 @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:09PM]

Oh Sony, ouch, The Matrix, that'll hurt something awful, won't it?

[E71 @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:10PM]

Finally, can they stop stocking on that inferior HD-DVD crap now, it's taking up too much space on the shelves on which good movies could be stocked.

[Faisal @ Apr 23rd 2007 8:00PM]

LMAO!!! ur right man xD

[jere @ Apr 26th 2007 10:18PM]

Are you kidding? The reason it has outsold them is because it plays games. People aren't gauranteed to have bought it for blu-ray. PS3 isn't the reason blu-ray is winning. It is the studio support.

[Keegs @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:16PM]

Now I been very skeptical but I am going to lean toward blu-ray. Price alone cannot when a format. Once blu-ray is the same price as hd-dvd then what does hd-dvd offer??? There are ridiculous about of exclusives on blu-ray. I am gamer and consider the PS3 a mediocre gaming machine but if and when I get it(when it has more good games)then I will be buying many movies. I don't see how many people can buy it "exclusively" for just games. I don't consider the 360 add on an option considering the "movies."

[Alex @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:16PM]

ok fanboys, I know how hard it is for you to use logic and reason (especially Dave) but howabout you relfect on your past BS:
"PS3 will ensure BluRay will win!!!"

one million PS3s......and now one million bluray movies sold. Wow, you were SO right, look at that overwhelming success!! Frakin douchebags.

[KC @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:21PM]

Once you've shaken your whole house with PCM uncompressed sound (just watched Casino Royale on BD), there's no going back.

[tristanfey @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:24PM]

Actually there is an update to that post. It seems there was a mistranslation and the release mentions both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

[KC @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:23PM]

Once you've shaken your whole house with PCM uncompressed sound (just watched Casino Royale on BD), there's no going back.

[h0mi @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:01PM]

Except that requires people to buy a receiver capable of doing that... you'd be better off waiting for prices to drop & spending the savings on a superior tv or receiver.

[Austin_Yeahbaby @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:52PM]

I bought a Xbox 360 HD DVD when it was released but it was just until the PS3 arrived with Blu Ray.

Sold my HD DVD drive and movies and now building up my blue ray collection.

If you think I'm on my own check out ebay and search for HD DVD Xbox 360, you will find a ton of people moving over.

[Gamble20 @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:02PM]

PS3 helps a whole lot for Blu-Ray (I am not completely bias for PS3), because when people look at the two formats, I think they would rather just buy the console that can do more than just movies (like PS2 for DVD's until DVD stand alones were cheapest).

But most of all HD-DVD has one major studio (universal) that isnt much of a great exclusive at this point (Universal hasnt released a HUGE film/series in a while), while Blu-Ray has Disney, Sony Pictures, Paramount, and Tri-Star. Also MGM (granted 4 of those 5 are owned by Sony). You just can't compete. Losing all Disney movies is hard enough.

[kingofwale @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:11PM]

>I wonder how Downloadable movies compare to the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray War?


DRM is KILLING downloadable movies. and frankly, there's no comparison between 720P downloadable content and 1080P uncompressed sound Blu-ray/HD DVD.

day and night.

I think Microsoft not backing HD-DVD by not having a HD-DVD drive built in its Elite, is probably the final digger.

[had3l @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:06PM]

lol @ DRM killing Downloadable movies, that made me laugh.

[Kev50027 @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:36PM]

Hey, I said it would win over a year ago. How about that..

[RaynorWolfcastle @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:37PM]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this war is just beginning. Claiming that you've won because you've sold 1M discs first or you have sold 100k stand alone players faster is like saying that you've won a marathon because you're ahead after 1 mile.

Things will be really interesting if/when Wal-Mart gets these budget players in.

[KitKat @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:01PM]

Oy, just let it end with something....and soon.

[Spartan_458 @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:08PM]

Blu-ray Disc: One million ripped off.

[SumYungGai @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:20PM]

It's pretty irresponsible to report that "BluRay has sales locked up" when MOST of the units that have been moved from shelf to consumer were the result of the g*d damn FREE BLURAY MOVIE voucher bundled with PS3's..

Therefore the figure is skewed like just about every wishfully-thought BluRay chest-thumping about 'the format war being over' that Sony and friends do on a weekly basis.

The marketing boneheads at Sony know that "perception is reality" and they really actually think that if they keep getting skewed reports and propaganda in the press that the mouth-breathing masses will actually start to think that BluRay is the one to spend their hard-earned bucks on toward overpriced early-adopted hardware.

I'm not a fan of either - both formats suck and are still on the bleeding edge with the various studios each doing their own thing trying to patch the AACS weaknesses in their own proprietary way, plus

Bottom line: perception is NOT reality when it comes to b.s. format-war reports & propaganda, sales of BOTH formats combined are abysmal, and disc players for both formats need to become compelling enough for joe-mouthbreather-just-bought-an-HDTV to forego a simple DVD player in favor of it, i.e. sub $300 or $250 pricing. Only when the players become compelling enough to buy will the 'war' really heat up.

[Radres @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:31PM]

What about the FIVE FREE HD-DVD vouchers that comes with a new HD-DVD player? Know your facts!

[KC @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:47PM]

I don't understand what DRM has to do with this. You buy a BD movie, and you play it on your BD player. Only pirates and cheapskates complain when they can't copy the BD. The irony is that these pirates are happy watching compromised sound and picture quality, just so that they can watch that movie that they purchased on their video ipod, or on their suv/mommy van's dvd player.

Format war or not, the bottom line is that you still need to buy a new player if you want to watch a HD movie. And if you want to really enjoy a HD movie, you will need a HD tv and a good receiver that will decode the uncompressed PCM or TrueHD audio.

In the end, I hope consumers will win. This war will hopefully lead to cheaper, but better players, better TV's and better receivers at a lower price. What we're already seeing is a pretty quick drop in prices in the TVs and players, and hopefully we can get to the $150 price point for the players and $500 for the 42" TVs.

[Giz @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:05PM]

Let's set some things straight here..

#1 The 5 free HD-DVD titles are not counted into any disc count. These are only movies SOLD through retail outlets, not given away.
#2 Sony has lumped the Talladega Nights AND Casino Royale (UK) discs in this equation
#3 The 'cheapest" Blu-Ray player is the 20GB PS3 which is now discontinued.
#4 The cheap HD DVD Player is $400 at any retail store. (making the difference $200)
#5 For a format which has close to 4 Million players sold Blu-Ray just recently outsold HD DVD in the amount of titles. Thats pretty damn sad for a format with 20x the amount of players sold when addinf in all the PS3 systems that Sony claims 80% of owners will buy movies from.

The attach rates for Blu-Ray players is VERY VERY low. Sony claimed 80% of of PS3 owners would buy Blu-Ray movies. If that was true they should be up to about 4 Million sold. Currently its at 10-15% and I fully expect that to drop once some decent games for the PS3 arrive. You have to show off your $600 brick somehow, right?

All the 'talk' at CES from Fox was complete rubbish. They currently have delayed 20+ of there titles with no new date in site. Maybe they heard about the $300 HD DVD player and are choosing to back that as well? Same could go for MGM and even Sony, they continue to delay a good chunk of movies they announced at CES

January - March are SLOW months for movie sales. BDA chose to blow their entire load and release a ton of movies, while HD DVD only had 10-14 releases in this time. Yes, of COURSE sales would be higher for Blu-Ray when they released 70+ titles in a 3 months span, duh.

The Matrix is exclusive to HD DVD for the time being. Why? Sony couldn't get there act together about the promised Blu-Java in time, so Warner said 'Screw it' and released it for HD DVD first. The Matrix was promised LAST YEAR for HD DVD but Warner decided to wait a while for Blu-Ray to catch up....and they never did. Enjoy all your crippled standalone players as who knows if your $1000 Samsung unit or $1,200 LG unit will even be able to take advantage of Blu-Java. Atleast Toshiba was smaert enough to include an Ethernet jack on the back of all there HD DVD Players, something that is mandated. Blu-Ray fans will get to enjoy Blood Diamond a whole month early because Warner didn't want to piss off Blu-Ray fans. Why? Because the HD DVD version will have even MORE exclusive features including taking advantage of that Ethernet port (360 owners rejoice!). In June, Sony should HOPEFULLY be releasing there Second Gen Blu-Ray player for $600. At that time the HD-A2 may still be $400, or even cheaper. This combined with a 2 Million Player order by Wal-Mart and you can kiss Blu-Ray GOODBYE.

Fox, where IS all those promised titles you cheerleaded back at CES? Vaporware? Improving security? Becoming Neutral? Who knows.

[HDMOVIES.mobi @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:09PM]

Now would be a great tme to shamelessy promote my hdmovies.mobi. Please check it out

[Giz @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:33PM]

@trstanfey
"Actually there is an update to that post. It seems there was a mistranslation and the release mentions both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD."

Actully no, it mentions the Blu-Light, which both Blu-Ray and HD DVD use. It is, 100%, HD DVD player.

[kuyote @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:29PM]

"If you think I'm on my own check out ebay and search for HD DVD Xbox 360, you will find a ton of people moving over."

Go into any store and see how many PS3's are on the shelves. This will all be decided by whichever put's out the most porn.

[Brian B. @ Apr 24th 2007 1:44AM]

porn will NOT be a factor in this disc war. Who the hell buys porn now a days when porn can be found on the net practically for free. This isn't the same as the VHS/BETA days for the porn industry.