Consumers Drive Record Sales of HD DVD Players to Capture 60% of HD Set-Top Market

HD DVD Achieves Highest Attach Rate of Any Next-Gen Format.

Three weeks into its aggressive spring retail and marketing campaigns, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group today announced HD DVD is significantly ahead in the dedicated consumer electronics player market with 60% of all high definition set-top players sold. At the same time, high definition movie sales for HD DVD reached an all time high for the month of May, exceeding 75,000 movies the last week of May alone.

Consumers have purchased 150,000 dedicated HD DVD consumer electronics players which are holding a 4 to 1 movie attach rate over competing formats. The Toshiba HD-A2 model has also reached the top-seller mark among all DVD players on Amazon.com, and is officially the best-selling next-gen DVD player model to date.

[Torch]

Note source: HD-DVD Promotional Group.

(Notice that the word "Blu-Ray" isn't even mentioned?)

[Bill Gates]

Yes, indeed my friend. You too think outside of the box. HD-DVD at the moment is gasping for breath. Panic is beginning to set in.

[Keyser]

Exactly Torch because that means 40% of the stand alone players are bluray which is remarkable considering hddvd's head start. It sounds nice but its marketing statistics.

There lies, there's dam lies, and then there's statistics.

[Diselage]

At first i was inclined to believe this was just an fake report or something but hey they don't say their ahead in disc sales just hardware so they might be. Not sure if they count the PS3 as a player or not because if they don't that would be a mistake.

[SaturnTo]

They are refering to Stand alone players only, and the PS3 is not a stand alone player. PS3 is why blu-ray is ahead in disk sales.

[SuperSaiyan4]

Its 100% certainty

[scarlett_rg]

Be sure to buy lots of stock then...

[VaeVictus]

We can't forget to mention that Best Buy and Circuit City give away 5 HD DVD titles with the purchase of an HD DVD player. Do they count this?

[omansteveo]

Dude don't, we've already heard that argument it goes both ways

[redmamoth]

..doesn't count as a set top player... I think it will be a while (if ever) that one format wins.. Totally agree with Torch though, definate promotional blurb, and I strongly suspect the 5 giveaway titles are included, they have to be accounted for somehow..

[Odion]

I think this just proves that neither is going to win and in the end both are going to decided to just made a Blue-ray/Hd-DvD player combo and be done with it. LOL which will be funny cause then it won't work in a PS3.

P.S. that last statement was flamebait just have a chuckle and move on

[SquallSK]

Bet they didn't count PS3s in ..

[FFVIIFan]

Every week there's a change in who is "winning". I think the only numbers we can trust though is NPD ones though, or an independant group with no preference. Not that the numbers HD-DVD group are saying is wrong, but its groups like this and the Blu-Ray group that twist numbers for their stance. Example, I remember a local politican running for something or other and he was talking about wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle. Where I live you don't have to, but some people want it changed. The guy was against it. I think the stat he used was "40% of fatal crashes the rider is wearing a helmet", trying to make it seem like helmets don't do much. The thing was he was only citing fatal crashes. You have two types of crashes really. There is one where the rider gets hurled from the seat and lands like a rock into something. For that, pretty much nothing will save you. But ones where the rider loses control and skids on the ground, that's were a helmet can stop the skin from literally being scrapped off your head. Instead of using a stat that would make his position weak, like percentage of surivers of crashes who wear helmets vs. those who don't, he used a stat that implied helmets were usless. Both stats are correct, but they just imply different things. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray groups do the same thing, so take their stats with a grain of salt.

[solidt12]

They didn't include the most advanced hi def player, The PS3

[Odion]

Wall of Text just critted me for 10 000 Paragraphs my boy please!

[ben hates you]

hasn't the sales been like dead, for now

[Marty8370]

3.5 million PS3's sold say that Blu-ray has a bigger percenage of the Hi Def market. Blu-ray has more Hollywood movie studio support. Blu-ray is winning hands down.

[Monchichi025]

Once the price drops a bit more.

[omansteveo]

I'm going to say it again stop with these articles....they prove nothin each side just picks their most attractive stat and spin it like crazy so it make people think they are doin awesome. Leave these arguments where they belong and thats in AVS forums.com.

[nobizlikesnowbiz]

Yea this article is biased. No mention of BR. But I wouldn't count HD DVD out yet like some of you Sony fanatics are doing. HD DVD could still come back, and I personally hope it will.

[Ggame]

They should count the PS3 for HD Format War. If not, it doesn't mean HD-DVD will win.

[Kratosnake]

What is this piece of garbage promotional "news" item? blu-ray is clearly dominating the HD market. I just feel sorry for those who believe otherwise.

[BIadestarX]

I still think Blu-Ray may eventually win the format war... due to the support of the movie industry... ofcourse it also depends if those movies studios not supporting HD DVD change their minds.

One thing I do find interesting and wrong... is how Sony fanboys mark this article as a lie... since it's obvious that the only thing they are willing to accept as true is when blu-ray is the one selling.

So, basically sony fanboys are saying, "At the same time, high definition movie sales for HD DVD reached an all time high for the month of May, exceeding 75,000 movies the last week of May alone." was just made up... but when Sony anounces their numbers... it's considered writen on stones.

.... ask yourselves... would you ever accept any news that does not make Sony's product sound as they are making a killing as true?
Heck, I am sure you probably think that the NPD numbers for PS3 sales for the month of May were also a lie.

[Kratosnake]

actually, its not that this article is a lie in anyway, it's just competely bizzare how there is no mention of blu-ray what so ever. The numbers might be right, but what is concidered a significant milestone in HDDVD promotional group's standards is not necesserily on par with the sucess of blu-ray.

Needless to say, niether format is taking off as fast as either groups might have hoped, but that's what happens when you launch a mega-successfull format like DVD that provides quality image and convenience for the consumer.

[kewlkat007]

HD-DVD with Super sales, might be Wal-Mart. The first player that reaches $200, I expect Wal-Wart to jump on it, since they price aggressively. For now all these "article" will go back and fourth with PR material. BD has more supporters, and a little more titles. All things that could change if HD-DVD was to start selling much better. The formats are not far from each other Technologically.

If anything "PRICE" might become a major player.

Right now, because of the support and the PS3, we can clearly say HD-DVD is way behind, just from that aspect. Since HD-DVD sell more Stand-alone units, what will happen when the PS3 is no longer the cheapest Player?

If consumers are spending $400-$300 with incentives to buy HD-DVD stand alones--what happens if them prices fall to $200? Of course we know PS3 will never be at that price.(anytime soon) BD players will always be more expensive because of the Manufacturing cost/bus mastering systems.

I think Prices will fall soon..leading to the Holiday season. By early next year the picture might be a little more clear, where this war is headed, or it might be a done deal.

[Testo]

It's the way its worded.

Any general reader would believe this without question, even though the PS3 is not included since its not a "standard DVD player"

It's just blowing smoke in the face of uneducated readers.

[BIadestarX]

Did they include the Xbox 360 addon, the HD DVD drives for computers and laptops? Or they only included standalone HD DVD drives?
Though the PS3 has an HD drive and can play movies... the problem is that people owning a PS3 do not translate to people that will buy blu-ray movies or even use it to watch movies. and Everyone that purchase an HD DVD drive will use it to watch movies.. since that the only thing they can do with it. I think the is the main reason why game attach rate on the 360 is highter than the PS3... and why hd dvd movie attach rate is highter than blu-ray...
I think Sony succeded in mixing up the format war and the game console... and now it's dificult to target which audience is buying what and for what reason...
Some people will buy the PS3 to watch movies...
Others will buy it to play games...
and some may use both.
but base on the attach rate... it seem... as the groups are all mixed up.
Sony wanted to say... "we have xxxx number of blu-ray players which are also game consoles" This in term shield companies from knowing.. % of people that are more willing to buy their movie... or games.

[Thugbot187]

Bladestar is totally right, mixing the gaming and movie console together makes it very hard from anyone to get any legitimate data. One thing we do know for a fact is that not everyone that purchased a PS3 will buy BLU-RAY movies. Now distinguishing the percentage of which will buy and which won’t buy is almost impossible to do. Sony knows this and has used it as part of there strategy to sale BLU-RAY.

On the same note if you looked at standalone players HD-DVD has the lead. So sorting this out is going to be really difficult to do. Adding more confusion to the mix Toshiba has realized Sony’s strategy and they are now going to flood the market with laptops. There’s no doubt that this will totally give them the lead in overall players available on the market to HD-DVD, unless BLU-RAY standalone players sales start picking up, or the PS3 can out paste Toshiba laptop sales.

[Kratosnake]

I would have to disagree. Gamers who are willing to spend 600 dollars and then 60 dollars per game thereafter, are well aware of new technology and are not going to ignore the fact that they are now the owners of a next-gen, High-def player.

It's not so much about mixing the gaming and the movie realms, it's more aiming at a certain age that will make the difference. PS3 owners are helping push the blu-ray technology more than anything else right now, if you want prove, just see the jump that happened to blu-ray sales right after ps3 came out.

[Thugbot187]

Indeed gamers most gamers are aware of new technology available and yes PS3 users are pushing BLU-RAY. However movies aren’t going to meet every gamer’s agenda and you have several categories of PS3 owners to consider.

Categories to consider:
There are many gamers too occupied with playing games, to do anything else other than play games (I’m surprised they find time to eat or have girlfriends).

Then you also have to take account for the gamers who mod system to get pirated games, one would stupid not to think those gamers aren’t the same people who pirate DVD’s and are cool with the low quality and will pirate BLU-RAY when that becomes easier (these people don’t add any value because they won’t have an attach rate.)

You also have several gamers who still are using standard DEF TV who it doesn’t benefit to buy BLU-RAY movies because they can’t see the quality anyway.

You then have the earlier adopters who bought movies to test it out but overall really don’t care to buy movies.

So with this being said you can’t count all PS3 users as people who use the player to play movies. Sony knows it can’t use these numbers long term because movie companies will want to see that movies and standalone players are selling. In the short term they can use these numbers to rally support because it shows there is potential with the players already being on the market but that’s about it.

As for this sparking a new age, I would have to say NO WAY! Sony got the idea of putting BLU-RAY into the PS3 to push a format from when they put DVD in the PS2.

[Arutha]

That $199 price point for an HD-A2 and 5 free movies sure doesn't hurt either. Now if New Line Cinema would just put out the LOTR on any format I would be happy!

This article really is no different then when the BDA has their little announcements saying the War is over etc... Either way I'm sure we will be seeing headlines like this for months to come.

[IRISHCALIBER]

How else are they to justify an early adoption in a buffoons Gaming Console, I mean movie console or I mean gaming Console or "UMM" I'm confused which is it?

Hey I owned a PS2, then realized I was heading in the wrong direction, obviously gaming was out like bell bottom pants, and the only thing to do was buy a PS3 Blu-ray Movie Player. Now I am the happiest ex-gamer ever!
I own a cheap Blu-ray player and have a huge collection of Blu-ray movies Talledaga Nights(by the way the highest attached rated Blu-ray to date 350,000 or so)and The Departed. I will keep buying them at this incredible Rate as it has replaced my need to game.
Thank you Sony, I never thought I could get away from the addictive nature of gaming. Your anti-game system the PS3 has really worked for me where others systems just keep me playing.
I rarely even remember I have one anymore, now if only we could find a way to destroy the gaming nature of the XBOX 360, then we will all be saved!
Thanks again, Sony how could I ever repay you?

P.S.- Why don't you just give me my $600. back and we'll call it even. lol

[Thugbot187]

It’s funny that people are complaining that the PS3 weren’t included in the figures. When Toshiba floods the market with HD-DVD players in laptops I’m sure those same people will be the same ones arguing that it’s unfair to count the Toshiba laptops as players.

All in all you can only take these articles with a grain of salt; you can change the reports to capture certain data to make anything look good.

[kewlkat007]

HP is offering the HD-DVD drives also.

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/ne...

"We're encouraged that the Blu-ray Disc Association is adopting Mandatory Managed Copy. Because HP wants to deliver the most user-friendly and cost-effective solution to our customers, we have decided to support both formats,"

I'am looking to purchase an HP laptop,(DV6500 series, with the new Santa Rosa chip) I was considering the HD-DVD drive, then again I probably won't. Maybe later on down the line when this war is more clear.

Don't forget Sony will also launch their laptops with their supported format BD drives, I seen this nice Sony at Best buy but Sony's sh!t is mad Expensive, that's probably why I don't own many Sony products. I don't like (Paying for a NAME)

I'm telling you PRICE MATTERS.

[tudors]

Why do I find myself arguing over Blue Ray or HDDVD; I bought my console for games; having a Blue Ray or HDDVD in my console does not determine which console I buy games do; the players are future standard and will come down in price anyway; then I can go back to using my console for games and my player for films.

[Kratosnake]

sorry, my response was meant for another person

[tk]

So they don't count the PS3. So tell me - who will buy a stand alone Blu-Ray player when they have a PS3? I mean - here is your shiny new HD set, with a PS3 connected - and you go - oh. maybe I should go and buy a stand alone Blu-Ray player to play Blu-Ray movies. Kind of stupid is it not?

And taken into account that PS3 sells a lot more than HD-DVD players, it is amazing that 40% of stand alone players are Blu-Ray. I mean - who would buy a stand alone Blu-Ray player when you can get a PS3 - for less.

PR BS - this is all it is.

[Kratosnake]

to answer your question: people who aren't gamers will buy a stand-alone blu-ray player. which is basically the majority of people.

I know it makes sense that the ps3 is a cheap, great player that ALSO plays games, but to the consumer who is not into video games, it all looks a little to.. how do you say... "immature".

Alas, the majority of the consumers are simply unaware.

[IRISHCALIBER]

..would be the people that would pass on the PS3 as a stand alone player. For ONE why would you buy Blu-ray in the first place, SECONDLY if your not a gamer why would you buy an expensive game machine to play HD movies when HD-DVD players are less expensive, and THIRDLY who but kids and teens ever solely watched DVD's on their game systems, any moron knows that the more movies you play in the drive cuts the life of said drive down to HALF.
I have several stand alone Players because they bear more features and are dedicated to playing movies. Are you suggesting the PS3 is dedicated to playing movies? Well I'll have to agree with you, because I believe that the PS3 was nothing more than a late attempt to push the BLU-Ray format into the homes of all those that purchased PS2's.

Sony(or it's just their Japanese way) never second guessed why people bought the PS2, they just assume it's brand loyalty after the PSX, they have made similar mistakes through out history, the Japanese that is(Honor runs a fine line with arrogance it seems).

I never understood why XBOX Gamers wanted the movie only inclusion of HD-DVD in the XBOX 360 rather than having a stand alone attachment with a dedicated drive solely for their movie enjoyment. That made the most sense, Sony knew that Blu-ray would have died before it had a chance if they tried something similar with an attachment.

As far as the Movie support goes, just wait a little bit as Sony heavily pioneered their support based on projected PS3 sales and obviously that has backfired mostly due to consumers lack of interest in Blu-ray!

It was expected that for a few months to year after the initial sales of the PS3 died down(fanboys purchasing via loyalty as Kutaragi had stated " we will sell 500,000 systems with no games" and he sure did, sell them with out games that is, and a few hundred thousand less) and the gamers got tired of only watching movies, than HD-DVD would shine in the starlite once again!

Well in my living room HD-DVD never stopped shining but you get my drift!

[SF49er408]

movies on dvd like cars sold like 4 million in the first few days. we cant declare a winner yet. hd and blue ray sell hundred thousand lmao. the wiiner will be the cheaper player. hd dvd is not goin n e where soon. a reg. consumer will buy the affordable player when the name has dvd in it. when these players r given away then a winner will be decided. blue ray are sellingh for so much money. hd-dvd will be cheaper and rednecks and other stupid people will understands its dvd in hd. blue ray sounds like a flop and a fish. plus in four years u think people wont have a digital player like apple tv or something. cd's will be gone soon n e ways.

[Close_Second]

...First off, sick off all the Sony fanboys defending Blu-Ray because they were not given an option as to whether they wanted it or not in their PS3. Just because the PS3 has Blu-Ray included does not mean its going to win - for goodness sake, HD sales of any format still don't even compare with DVD sales.

Anyway, consumers have equated to nothing more than being the whores of manufacturers. The consumer should never have been used to determine which format should win as for all those which buy the losing format will have thrown their money away. If this war (we really have to stop using the term "war" as it belittles its actual meaning) continues too much longer then I'm afraid we will be left with two formats. If that is the case then I won't be buying either as there is no way that I'm going to buy two formats to get the movies I want. That to me is as bad as having to buy two set top boxes to watch the different TV channels I want.

Finally, if the market ends up being a 60/40 split in favor of either format, do you really think studios will remain exclusive? Hell, that means potentially significant drops in their revenues. That will also probably mean that none of the big titles (e.g. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones) will ever get released in HD.

The winning format will be the one that appeals to the mass market first in terms of a dedicated player. The PS3 is years away from being that because of its price point. Whats needed is for either format to release a sub $200 (USD) player. Once a format begins to gain some serious traction thats when you'll also start to hear studios umm and arrh about staying exclusive.

[codeazrael]

Digital Distribution will undo Blu-Ray and HD-DVD and this is how.......
Microsoft is indeed smarter than the other person. Whether that "person" is Sony, Toshiba, W. Bush...wait, anybody's smarter than him.........anyways I like the comment about Microsoft using this format for nothing more than a long delay to put in place the foundation for true digital distribution. Now while some people would argue they would rather have a hard copy rather than a movie saved at one location (I know I used to argue that) the cold reality is that this generation really doesnt matter as far as these big corporations are concerned. We are living in a time where a very high tech future is being put into place, so we may not even see the iconic innovations being worked on. Infrastructures are being put into place to make digital distribution the forever standard meaning that we or actually our children and grandchildren arent going to have to worry about format wars because there are going to be mega websites that save every movie, game, or whatever you buy, and there arent going to be boxes on top of tvs to download these movies though, your television will have wifi built into it, so wherever you go, if you bought a movie, you will be able to instantly retrieve it from this mega website, let's just use blockbuster.com or something. And you won't be able to just go to all of your friends house and just give each of them your copy of Spiderman 6 or whatever though. If you let a friend "borrow" the digital download, just like a disc, that location will be the only one that can view that content until you try to retrieve it elsewhere when at that time, if your friend is still watching spiderman6 and you decide to go somewhere else and try to watch it, your friend will be pissed because as you access that same content somewhere else, his download will expire. As internet speeds will undoubtedly only get extremely faster, downloading entire movies and games will take only a couple of seconds, and even cellphones will be able to download the same content. These "format wars" are going to be looked back on as something totally irrelevant. bluray's not important, hd dvd's not important........hell, you are really not important right now. I know all of this because I am from the future. SPOCK OUT!

[Arutha]

LOL.. games or movies will only take a couple of seconds to download? Yes that is the future, but not anytime soon. Most HD movies are anywhere from 25-50 gigs in size. HD DVD has the smallest at 15 gigs and I don't think there are that many movies that fall into that size, most of them are on a 30Gig package.

About the time Digital Distribution gets going will be about the time we colonize mars. About the only way DD will work is if gets some major studio support, and I somehow think Sony will not be taking part of that.

[Primetimebt]

Have you guys check the software sales of both formats lately? Blu Ray has had 70% of software sales to HD DVD 30%. So to the person who said once movies studio start to seethe sales of the PS3 they will make the switch better do some better research. Now to not count the PS3 is crazy because if person has a HDTV and a PS3 I can almost bet they will try out the blu ray feature, and make the switch from DVD to Blu Ray. Seriously there is no place in the world HD DVD is winning, just weeks ago Europe reported blu ray took the lead. HD DVD is dead!

[Thugbot187]

The race is much closer than you think.
http://gear.ign.com/article...

[power of Green]

Some say Blu-ray will still win due to Studio support; remember the studio's will support what ever format they can make the most money off of. PS3 has let the studio's down as they were told PS3 would crush all competition.

PS3 can not pull Blu-rays weight even if it was selling good and every PS3 owner were buying movies, I doubt Movie watchers have a smaller consumer base then all consoles put together. Never mind the supposed 100 million PS2's sold that was greatly helped be rebuys of different makes of PS2's and defective units.

You would have had to been a fool! to think Blu-ray would just sweep HD-DVD with its brand/name reconition to say the least.

[power of Green]

You wish it to be so but a PS3 driven spike in the US and Europe will not change the outcome. Beta Max/Blu-ray.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

I don't mind tech news but this is freaking ridiculas, every other freaking day it's Blu-Ray is winning or HD DVD is winning. Whats realy f**ked up is none of them is showing any true signs if winning sh!t. Face it guys no one wants to spend extra money (Blu-Ray and HD DVD cost more than DVD disc) to watch a movie they already own on DVD. (DVD OWNERS)<--- thats who you need to convence to buy these not hardcore tech geeks and it is realy showing that the DVD consumer just isn't ready or realy giving to much of a flying f**k what next gen DVD is. You guys are supporting an ultamate losing media format with a 5 year life span all so Toshiba and Sony can suck this dying format dry like vampires. I wonder if any of you supporters out there know that when one of these wins were f**ked, because we will (ALL) have to pay their set high price for the media. So congrats assholes we now have another 10 years of freaking disc that designed to scratch so we can buy more (ever wonder why they have scratch resisdent lenses on your glasses but not your "expensive games or DVDs"?) I hope all your "next gen drives melt your disc in there freaking trays.

[codeazrael]

You can download a full hd movie on xbox live in not alot of time now and the movies are only a few gigs, so stop smokin that sh*t!