[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Joe six pack = The average person.

I seriously doubt 1080p is catered to them no.

If J6P wants a $400 stand alone HD-DVD player over a $400 PS3 so be it.

In other news Smartphones are also doomed for not getting J6P.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

I seriously doubt 1080p is catered to them no.

If J6P wants a $400 stand alone HD-DVD player over a $400 PS3 so be it.

In other news Smartphones are also doomed for not getting J6P.

Where be this $400 PS3?

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

I seriously doubt 1080p is catered to them no.

If J6P wants a $400 stand alone HD-DVD player over a $400 PS3 so be it.

In other news Smartphones are also doomed for not getting J6P.

Non-gamer J6P wants none of the above, which was my point.

The reason why DVD is so successful is because J6P wants it and buys it.

[Eug]

Hmmm... Blu-ray needs to get their interactivity up to snuff soon. This is just lame:

I was disappointed with how PIP commentaries were handled on the two recent Lionsgate releases, Descent and Crank. It seems that two separate versions of the movie were encoded on to the disc, the version without commentary and one with PIP commentary. However, when you select the version with commentary, the menu is disabled and there is no easy way to switch to the version without commentary. You need to stop the disc or fast forward to the end then turn the commentary version off, then chapter skip to where you were on the movie. Then to switch to PIP commentary, you need to repeat the entire sequence.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Eug 

The reason why DVD is so successful is because J6P wants it and buys it.

But it took something like 10 years before it exceeded VHS.

In 5 years both formats will be super cheap or moved on to the next best thing (which I see happening sooner rather than later).

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

But it took something like 10 years before it exceeded VHS.

In 5 years both formats will be super cheap or moved on to the next best thing (which I see happening sooner rather than later).

I don't expect to see a new video format introduced in 5 years that will hit the mainstream in any meaningful way.

In other words, I think if HD DVD and Blu-ray fail to capture a significant market, then we'll be stuck with DVD until past 2011.

Remember, DVD was the fastest adopted consumer electronics item of all time, and only in 2006 did DVD surpass VHS, almost 30 years after the introduction of VHS.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by Eug 

I don't expect to see a new video format introduced in 5 years that will hit the mainstream in any meaningful way.

In other words, I think if HD DVD and Blu-ray fail to capture a significant market, then we'll be stuck with DVD until past 2011.

Remember, DVD was the fastest adopted consumer electronics item of all time, and only in 2006 did DVD surpass VHS, almost 30 years after the introduction of VHS.

I expect movies delivered over IP will hit the mainstream before HD-DVD and BluRay do. All it would take is a device like the tv that connects to the iTMS directly (or similar services - I suspect subscription services will be VERY popular with movies). Small computers like that can be manufactured for way less than current BluRay/HD-DVD players.

[exca1ibur]

I highly doubt we will see a downloadable 1080p movies anytime soon from anyone.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by exca1ibur 

I highly doubt we will see a downloadable 1080p movies anytime soon from anyone.

But I think we will see them within 5 years.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

But I think we will see them within 5 years.

I'm not sure about 1080p, but I think 720p would be a huge step. I think MS already offers them in their XBox Live Marketplace.

[Eug]

I don't think 1080p downloads will be mainstream in 5 years. 720p yes, but 1080p no.

Mind you I don't want 1080p downloads anyway. Video on demand has been with us for just about forever now, and people still love their DVDs.

[mdc]

I think the problem right now with the MS Xbox Live solution for HD movies is that it's slow. I've tried twice to download a HD movie from them. The first time was when the service just came up and it never finished, the second time was Superman Returns and it took 3.5 days to download.

The problem I found is that you have 14 days to start the video and then 24 hours to watch it once you've started it.
The 14 day countdown starts when you start the download. When Superman Returns finally downloaded I had 10.5 days to start it. The countdown should start when the download percentage reaches 100.

I don't want to plan to watch a movie on Sunday night, so I'll start downloading it today. For the 480 points (around $5) it cost to download it, I'd rather drive to BlockBuster and rent it, or (what I did) drive to Best Buy and buy it.

[Dark Helmet]

DVDEmpire compares Blu-ray, HD DVD sales - 1/17/2007 - Video Business Online

"For the week including Tuesday, Jan. 16, DVDEmpire.com noted that 57.7% of its high-def sales were BD and 42.3% were HD DVD. But for 2006, HD DVD led at 59.16% to BD at 40.84%."

So it isn't just amazon reporting the sudden jump in blu-ray sales.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Some scary news for HD-DVD:
Universal: No new HD DVD titles for 2007 announced - Engadget HD

Some good news for Blu-ray:
Blu-ray discs to add a little something extra - PS3 Fanboy

If a blueray disk also came with a smaller version of the movie to put on my PSP I would die.

Universal to release 100 HD DVD titles in 2007, No Blu-ray

Some of the releases:

Day-and-date:
Children of Men
The Good Shepard
Smokin' Aces

Catalog:
Scarface (1983)
The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Bruce Almighty
The Bourne Identity
Meet the Fockers
American Pie
Inside Man
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
The Big Lebowski
Liar, Liar
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
Brazil
Erin Brockovich
Shaun of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Slap Shot
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

TV:
Battlestar Galactica: The Complete First Season

(Titles I will/may get are in bold.)

[exca1ibur]

"With more than two million HD DVD players expected in the market in North America by the end of 2007, Universal Studios Home Entertainment is committed to expanding its portfolio of compelling HD DVD content and further igniting consumer demand," said Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

Isn't that a small number for a year?

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by exca1ibur 

Isn't that a small number for a year?

Ridiculously low. They better pray the PS3 bombs and people don't like Fox, Pixar and Disney movies.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by exca1ibur 

Isn't that a small number for a year?

Not really. As expected, the attachment rate for discs sold is much lower with the PS3 than it is with standalones.

If the PS3 sells huge numbers, Blu-ray will have an advantage in the format war, but if PS3 sales go as "well" as most are expecting (tepid numbers), there will continue to be a stalemate.

Contrary to what the Sony people have said for the past three years would happen, Blu-ray and HD DVD disc sales are still in the same ballpark, despite the fact that there are many more PS3s out there than HD DVD players.

IOW, IMHO if Sony sells > 12 million PS3s by Xmas 2007, they will probably have a real advantage. If they sell < 6 million PS3s (which is too low a number IMO) by Xmas 2007, they will be at a disadvantage. Otherwise, there will be a stalemate, and that's what I'm predicting.

[exca1ibur]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Not really. As expected, the attachment rate for discs sold is much lower with the PS3 than it is with standalones.

If the PS3 sells huge numbers, Blu-ray will have an advantage in the format war, but if PS3 sales go as "well" as most are expecting (tepid numbers), there will continue to be a stalemate.

Contrary to what the Sony people have said for the past three years would happen, Blu-ray and HD DVD disc sales are still in the same ballpark, despite the fact that there are many more PS3s out there than HD DVD players.

IOW, IMHO if Sony sells > 12 million PS3s by Xmas 2007, they will probably have a real advantage. If they sell < 6 million PS3s (which is too low a number IMO) by Xmas 2007, they will be at a disadvantage. Otherwise, there will be a stalemate, and that's what I'm predicting.

I dont see a stalemate if everyone hits the number predicted though. Sony is targeting 6 million by Spring. No idea about the other stand alone Blu ray players. Add in that... thats a BIG difference.

The PS3 still has a launch coming up in Europe and Australia, they are at a stalemate now and its not even a global system yet. The Blu Ray players are droppping 'finally'. I've seen stand alone players for about $4-500 now, so if all numbers hit, the install base wont be at a stalemate by the end of the year. Its possible but doesn't look like it, if those HD-DVD numbers are what they are predicting. Compared to what the Blu ray plan is looking like that just looks small to me. As with anything in the technology area though... time will tell.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Not really. As expected, the attachment rate for discs sold is much lower with the PS3 than it is with standalones.

OK hardware sales aside here are two things that you have to remember.

Disney/Pixar is the ONLY studio people walk in and ask for by NAME. Considering some of the best DVD sellers have been Pixar movies and re-mastered Disney flicks that alone is a huge problem.

Also Disney owns Pirates of the Caribbean. Yes the same movie that made millions in the theatres breaking records, 3 sequels and also make some DVD sales records.

Well ignore Fox for now.

Also I think some people here are underestimating how many people will use the PS3 as their only DVD/Blu-ray player. I mean think about how many people are willing to pay $600 for a system to hook up to their HDTV and NOT want to watch a blu-ray movie.

In the PS2 days the DVD player was ok or poor depending on how picky you were. I would never have used it to play a movie. On top of that the PS3 is actually the best and fastest player on the market and even beats HDDVD players with features, oh and it is the cheapest also. Now that I got my PS3 remote it isn't the least bit scary for non-gamers to use it as a DVD/BR player. Not that non-gamers will in masses but even small numbers make a difference as Xbox has sold almost 100,000 player add ons which helped the HD-DVD sales total.

Like I have said many times the main reason I wanted the PS3 was for the movies. Even if I am not the norm polls have shown 80% of PS3 owners plan to get Blu-ray movies and use the PS3 as their main DVD and BR player. It is silly to think after forking over $600 and an HDTV that they would not get at least 1 BR movie.

So lets cut that down to a very reasonable 1 in 3 PS3 owners will use it as a BR player. If sony ships 6mil PS3's this year that alone puts it at 2 mill BR users. This is also not taking into account all the computers and stand alone players that will ship. By the end of the year BR in Mac's will be affordable as it is only $700 for a BR burner/player today. Lets say that accounts for only 500,000 more BR players on top of the PS3. That makes it 2.5 million BR players over the 2 million HD-DVD devices toshiba expects to ship this year.

If you also go look at all the BR titles from december onwards many of them are 50 gig disks and get top marks for video quality. There haven't been any more disasters like 5th element and even if the studio uses MPG2 reviewers say since they put it on a 50 gig disk the picture is astounding and can go against MPEG4.

The hybrid LG player plays both disks but it cripples HD-DVD's fancier features so if given the choice people will learn BR is the better choice if they have the option.

Now I could easily see the PS3 not selling so well but if they hit 6 million PS3's by year end HD-DVD is going to have a bad 2008 which might end what happens in 2009 with this war.

[Eug]

DH,

I fully realize that studio support is very important. Disney is a very important studio, as are the others. That's why I don't like this war. I didn't think a stalemate is necessarily a good thing. However, that's exactly what I think is going to happen, until AT LEAST the end of 2008.

The easiest way out of this war is a clear winner quickly, and I highly doubt that's going to happen. The other way out is a hybrid players. That has already happened, but at a high price and borked functionality. However, I suspect LG 2.0 will be cheaper, with full bi-format capabilities. Unfortunately, it still won't be "cheap" by the end of 2007, and maybe not until the end of 2008 or later.

There is also the Warner TotalHD thing, but I don't see this as an enduring solution.

Basically what many argue is why they WANT one side or another to win quickly, but the bottom line is that so far all signs point to a continued war for quite some time, hence my prediction of a stalemate.

Originally Posted by exca1ibur 

I dont see a stalemate if everyone hits the number predicted though. Sony is targeting 6 million by Spring. No idea about the other stand alone Blu ray players. Add in that... thats a BIG difference.

The PS3 still has a launch coming up in Europe and Australia, they are at a stalemate now and its not even a global system yet. The Blu Ray players are droppping 'finally'. I've seen stand alone players for about $4-500 now, so if all numbers hit, the install base wont be at a stalemate by the end of the year. Its possible but doesn't look like it, if those HD-DVD numbers are what they are predicting. Compared to what the Blu ray plan is looking like that just looks small to me. As with anything in the technology area though... time will tell.

HD DVD players are already $399 for standalones (street price), for new (not refurb or older) players.

$299 is an achievable target in 2007.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Eug 

However, that's exactly what I think is going to happen, until AT LEAST the end of 2008.

Isn't that what I said also in the last post? I said 2007 might be a bad year for HD-DVD with PS3 with at least a 25% lead in hardware and title sales NOT 50/50 as that is what a stalemate means no?

In 2008 HD-DVD will try to turn it around with cheap players, more titles and perhaps 51 gig disks. If that doesn't work though by the time the 2008 Xmas sales are in they may decide what do to in the start of 2009.

[Dark Helmet]

90% of universal's titles this year will be on combo disks. That means if you want it or not you will have to pay more for it.

Universal Plans 100 New HD DVD Titles in 2007, Still Says No to Blu-ray | High-Def Digest

[cSurfr]

I'm honestly not sure what to think. I have the 360 HD DVD addon, and I'm quite happy with it.

However, I'm really at a loss with the studios that refuse to put their releases on both formats. I mean, sure, sony isn't going to do it, but one of these formats is going to go away. Imagine having to spend the money to re-release all of your titles on the opposite format, when you could have just authored and shipped them both at the same time, and allow the consumer to choose which they would like.

It's not the big name studios that are going to lose this war, it's the consumers.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by cSurfr 

It's not the big name studios that are going to lose this war, it's the consumers.

Exactly. Consumers are already starting to get fed up with this, and that's bad news for both sides.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Exactly. Consumers are already starting to get fed up with this, and that's bad news for both sides.

Most video stores also don't want to start renting titles until a winner is decided.

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Most video stores also don't want to start renting titles until a winner is decided.

The whole thing is absurd. Nobody really wants to jump in until it's clear which will be around as if it's out of their hands. The people that buy it ARE the ones that will decide which one is around in the future but we see ourselves as the vicitms of this battle rather than the 'deciders'. We should stop blaming the companys for giving us two equally good choices and just choose one. And once we do are we still going to have to decide if we want 'Widescreen' or 'Fullscreen' or did they finally make that impossible choice for us? And how about, "Debit or Credit"? "Paper or Plastic"?

[Eug]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

The whole thing is absurd. Nobody really wants to jump in until it's clear which will be around as if it's out of their hands. The people that buy it ARE the ones that will decide which one is around in the future but we see ourselves as the vicitms of this battle rather than the 'deciders'. We should stop blaming the companys for giving us two equally good choices and just choose one. And once we do are we still going to have to decide if we want 'Widescreen' or 'Fullscreen' or did they finally make that impossible choice for us? And how about, "Debit or Credit"? "Paper or Plastic"?

Blu-ray and HD are encoded as letterboxed widescreen video (if necessary).

eg. If a movie is 2:35:1, the movie is encoded as 16:9, with black bars at the top and bottom already built-in.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

The whole thing is absurd. Nobody really wants to jump in until it's clear which will be around as if it's out of their hands. The people that buy it ARE the ones that will decide which one is around in the future but we see ourselves as the vicitms of this battle rather than the 'deciders'. We should stop blaming the companys for giving us two equally good choices and just choose one. And once we do are we still going to have to decide if we want 'Widescreen' or 'Fullscreen' or did they finally make that impossible choice for us? And how about, "Debit or Credit"? "Paper or Plastic"?

The "deciders" have a 50/50 shot of becoming the victims. THAT is out of their hands.

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by jokell82 

The "deciders" have a 50/50 shot of becoming the victims. THAT is out of their hands.

If it's out of the deciders' hands and out of the player-makers' hands and out of the studios' hands then who will determine the "winner". Some random hiccup or brilliant move in the marketing of one or the other? Pure chance? God? And what if there is no winner? What if 10 years from now the sales of both are still roughly equal. Then will most people give up and buy two players and mix their blue and red boxes together, or continue clinging to their old DVDs out of fear of jumping the wrong way.

[Eug]

Hybrid players

[Eug]

In the meantime, until hybrid players are out, the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player is US$379 (including 3 free HD DVDs).

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Eug 

In the meantime, until hybrid players are out, the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player is US$379 (including 3 free HD DVDs).

Just FYI that one only does 1080i if future proof is important to you.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Just FYI that one only does 1080i if future proof is important to you.

Yeah, the A20 coming out this spring is 1080p60 and 1080p24. However, if your 1080p has a proper de-interlacer, the video should be exactly the same from both a 1080p and a 1080i player. Why? Cuz HD DVD material is 1080p24, and all of the information in all the frames are output via a 1080i player. There is no information lost whatsoever with a 1080i connection.

OTOH, some 1080p TVs don't de-interlace properly. If you're getting an expensive 1080p TV, then it might make sense to check to see if it has a proper de-interlacer.

Also, many 1080p TVs don't even accept 1080p24. The ideal 1080p LCD TV to purchase for example is one that has a 120 Hz refresh. At 120 Hz, it can handle any source and display it as an integer multiple of the native. In other words:

24 Hz x 5 = 120 Hz
30 Hz x 4 = 120 Hz

Bottom line: If your TV handles the data properly, then 1080i vs 1080p output won't matter, because the resulting image is identical. However, if your TV doesn't behave properly, a 1080p source may be better than a 1080i one.

[Adam Betts]

Wow impressive deal especially since this is a high quality player. I would have bought this had I not already bought XBOX360 HD DVD addon.

[Brien]

That's an insanely good price!

[Eug]

According Videoscan, Blu-ray has had an excellent 2 weeks:



However, it seems that HD DVD total sales are still above Blu-ray.

OTOH, DVD Empire says that their sales is 56% Blu-ray and 44% HD DVD for January.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Ridiculously low. They better pray the PS3 bombs and people don't like Fox, Pixar and Disney movies.

For a brand new format, that's actually pretty good. Look at early DVD release numbers, they weren't exactly on par with VHS releases.

[mitchell_pgh]

wow... that $379 price even has me (a pro-Blue-ray person) salivating.

[Uriel]

I'm not surprised with Blu-Ray doing well the last few weeks. HD-DVD releases are pretty low right now. Hopefully we'll see some releases fairly soon on the HD-DVD side.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh 

wow... that $379 price even has me (a pro-Blue-ray person) salivating.

I asked one dealer about the price, and he said his wholesale cost is about $380, so he's selling it for $430, but with 2 free HD DVDs (in addition to the 3 free ones you get from Toshiba, for a total of 5 discs) and free shipping.

Looking around, the prices for $379 don't include shipping, but do include the 3 free discs from Toshiba. You can get it elsewhere for $399 shipped though (with the 3 free discs).

Originally Posted by Uriel 

I'm not surprised with Blu-Ray doing well the last few weeks. HD-DVD releases are pretty low right now. Hopefully we'll see some releases fairly soon on the HD-DVD side.

Yeah, the Blu-ray spike makes perfect sense, considering this is the post PS3-introduction and post Xmas period. Now the question is whether or not Blu-ray sales growth can be sustained. I suspect that sales will be sustained, and sales growth will continue, but sales growth won't be as high as it was in January compared to December.

As for HD DVD, it seems that Universal isn't putting out as many titles as quickly as many want it to (even though they've promised 100 for 2007), and Warner is holding back some HD DVD releases until interactive support on Blu-ray is more mature. (Early Warner titles are missing extra features on Blu-ray, because of the lack of proper support for interactivity. Warner has stated now that they will release HD DVD titles at the same time as Blu-ray titles, instead of releasing the HD DVD titles earlier like they did last year.)

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Yeah, the Blu-ray spike makes perfect sense, considering this is the post PS3-introduction and post Xmas period. Now the question is whether or not Blu-ray sales growth can be sustained. I suspect that sales will be sustained, and sales growth will continue, but sales growth won't be as high as it was in January compared to December.

I agree there is a surge for BR now as it is pretty well known some of the early releases were sub-par and only one BR player on the market that was $1200 and kinda crappy. Everyone was waiting for the PS3 and more PS3 users seem interested than I would have thought. PS3 sales could drop sharply though after the launch hype and Xmas though so it might level things out a bit more.

Since Dec BR really got its ass in gear. Many disks are 50 Gig duals. The extra's are picking up but most importantly pretty much 100% of BR reviews give top marks to the video/audio quality even though many still use MPEG2 which is a real surprise.

When BR first shipped Sony said MPEG2 is still a very good codec and older does not mean worse. At first we agreed with them that on paper it seems true. The bad thing was some of the early releases in MPEG2 had poor image quality next to HDDVD's VC1. Naturally everyone scoffed at BR and MPEG2 saying HDDVD and VC1 will rule all because it clearly looks better.

Now the same reviewers that said that are eating their words as the BR disks from Nov and after that still use MPEG2 are as good as the VC1's as the bitrate has been upped sometimes on 50gig disks. Many disks are also MPEG4 or VC1.

"More interestingly, VideoScan's numbers indicate that during the seven days between Jan 7 and Jan 14, Blu-ray managed to close the gap of total discs sold since inception with HD DVD by over seven percentage points, suggesting that if the current trend continues, the two formats could be at disc sales parity within weeks."

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/news...s_Numbers_/456

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker 

... Everyone was waiting for the PS3 and more PS3 users seem interested than I would have thought....

Explain again why you wouldn't think that people that spent $600 for a PS2 with a free BluRay player wouldn't be interested in buying a movie or two to play in it? I mean I'm not too into movies but I buy one every month or so. Who wouldn't? Is there a whole culture of gamers out there that have no interest in movies whatsoever or something? You're weird.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

Explain again why you wouldn't think that people that spent $600 for a PS2 with a free BluRay player wouldn't be interested in buying a movie or two to play in it? I mean I'm not too into movies but I buy one every month or so. Who wouldn't? Is there a whole culture of gamers out there that have no interest in movies whatsoever or something? You're weird.

Because the PS2 was a **** DVD player and nobody would use it on a good TV.

I was hoping the PS3 was a good Blu-ray player and I was right as it is the best on the market right now.

People here also argued that customers wouldn't buy a PS2 BECAUSE it had a DVD player. PS3 should only be for gamers etc. I argued against them on that one but now it looks like I was right with the way things are going for the PS3 and BR sales.

[icruise]

He meant PS3.

[Eug]

Of course people would use the PS3 as a Blu-ray player. However, it's also pretty clear that less use the PS3 as a player than people who buy a standalone. Otherwise, the format war would already be dead.

[Eug]

Vivid says:

Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of Vivid Entertainment, said it wasn't easy finding a replicating partner, but Vivid did.

There are eight companies worldwide able to replicate Blu-ray Discs, said Hirsch. Two of those companies are controlled by Sony, which won't allow them to handle pornography. Five other companies have contracts to replicate discs for the Walt Disney, which stipulate that they cannot handle adult films if they want to work with Disney.

That leaves one possible replicator for the adult industry

Blu-ray is extremely expensive to work with," said Hirsch. Authoring in Blu-ray Disc is about four times more expensive than HD DVD, he said, while replicating is three times as expensive.

Blu-ray definitely isn't very friendly to the small studios, for cost reasons, and ironically it's decidedly hostile to small studios with any interest in "blue" content.

---

P.S. Here are the current sales rankings of hi-def players at Circuit City.



As you can see, the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player holds the #1 spot. However, that's not surprising, given its comparatively low price. The surprising part is that the $1200 LG pseudo-hybrid player is outselling all BD-only players. I knew people would buy this player, but I didn't think it would necessarily be the #1 BD standalone, given its high price. I guess many people consider $1000 for a Sony BD-only player too expensive (compared to a $1200 hybrid), and people are avoiding the 20% cheaper Samsung because of its bad reputation.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Of course people would use the PS3 as a Blu-ray player. However, it's also pretty clear that less use the PS3 as a player than people who buy a standalone. Otherwise, the format war would already be dead.

Well 2 months ago you seemed convinced very few PS3 owners would buy BR disks for the PS3.

I don't understand what you mean by less use the PS3 as a player over stand alone. Didn't PS3's outsell any BR stand alone player by millions? Surely it isn't the stand alone player owners buying all those BR disks.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker 

Well 2 months ago you seemed convinced very few PS3 owners would buy BR disks for the PS3.

Incorrect. Other people said that. I said that it was obvious that PS3 owners WOULD buy BR discs. Hell, even I was considering the PS3 because it plays BR discs. I guess you forgot about that.

However, what I did say is that PS3 owners on average would probably buy less discs than owners of standalones (or the HD DVD add-on drive for the 360), since the PS3 is primarily a gaming machine for many people. In contrast, the standalones and the HD DVD 360 add-on are purchased with the sole purpose of watching movies.

I don't understand what you mean by less use the PS3 as a player over stand alone. Didn't PS3's outsell any BR stand alone player by millions? Surely it isn't the stand alone player owners buying all those BR disks.

I'm not sure what you're talking about.

Basically what I said is that it would take a lot more PS3 sales than standalone sales to get a certain number of discs sold. That seems to be the case.

ie. The the PS3 needs millions of unit sales in order to have a meaningful impact for Blu-ray. Luckily for Blu-ray, it does have millions sold. Unfortunately, it's 2+ million (shipped) now in February, not the 4+ million Sony was originally promising for the end of December 2006.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Eug 

According Videoscan, Blu-ray has had an excellent 2 weeks:



However, it seems that HD DVD total sales are still above Blu-ray.

OTOH, DVD Empire says that their sales is 56% Blu-ray and 44% HD DVD for January.

Argggghh at Videoscan.

It turns out those numbers didn't include HD DVD/DVD combo discs, so they're underestimating HD DVD sales.

In the meantime, here are the DVD Empire numbers for both 2006 and 2007:

[icruise]

Debbie Does Dallas again looks like it will be the first porn title on Blu-ray.