Blu-ray Disc Among Top Selling DVDs at Amazon

An anonymous reader writes "In a milestone for the next-gen disc format, the Blu-ray edition of 'Casino Royale' cracked the top ten on Amazon's DVD top sellers list upon its release Tuesday, peaking late in the evening at #8. Of course, the two-disc standard-def DVD still topped the chart at #1, but a strong showing for Blu-ray regardless."

Now we just need...

[eviloverlordx (99809)]

...the ob Sony bashing posts complaining that it's a failure because it didn't beat the DVD release.

Re:Now we just need...

[CastrTroy (595695)]

Not only that, look at the stuff that's in the top 20 [amazon.com]. 2 versions of borat, 3 versions of Casino royale (including the Blu-Ray), Some diet DVD, The James Bond Box Set (I really can't see that selling to many copies at $180), and few other movies that look good, but not extraordinary. What are the actual sales numbers for Casino Royale BluRay, because it doesn't seem like it's beating anything taht I would expect to see selling more.

Re:

[zetsurin (993567)]

There's no Sony bashing at all. FACTS prove that Blu-ray IS a failure. If it wasn't, Blu-ray releases would have outnumbered the DVD releases of the same movie.

You appear to have found yourself lost in a delusional state.

Available commands:

Look, Eat, Hari kiri, Help

In all seriousness are you for real? If so you prove exactly the point of the OP.

Re:Now we just need...

[nuzak (959558)]

FACTS prove that humans are a failure. If they weren't, there would be more humans than insects.

Re:Now we just need...

[OldeTimeGeek (725417)]

That's somewhat akin to saying that CDs were a failure because they didn't sell as well as LPs when just a few people had CD players.

Inaccurate Analogies

[Comboman (895500)]

That's somewhat akin to saying that CDs were a failure because they didn't sell as well as LPs when just a few people had CD players.

Perhaps, but saying Blu-ray is a success because the latest Bond film is in the top 10 at Amazon this week is a bit like saying Betamax was a success because a popular movie that was not available on VHS was a top 10 seller in it's first week of release (at a particular video store). It's a measurement that is so narrow in scope that generalizing a broader trend from it is a

Re:But it is..

[tlhIngan (30335)]

This says nothing about the format and everything about the movie.

woo a popular bond movie making it to the top of the charts on release?! OMG CALL THE PAPERS!!

Quite accurate. I have a blu-ray player (and HD-DVD), and my opinion of blu-ray is that Sony is just pushing releases out without a care on quality - honestly, some blu-ray movies are worse than if the DVD was upconverted (talladega nights anyone? My HD-DVD player did a much better job upconverting the DVD to 1080i than the PS3 did outputting a native 1080p (I have a 1080p TV) - honestly, the blu-ray version looked like someone recorded it to a VCR, then ran some lame upconverter on it, then ran the "blur" filter on it).

The good blu-ray I have is Employee of the Month, which at least looks decent. But I've had sharper images from HD-DVD (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory being particularly sharp). I don't understand it since blu-ray has so much more capacity (50GB vs. 30GB), so HD-DVD should theoretically have worse picture quality, worse extras, worse everything because it's space-constrained.

In the end, I just picked up the cheaper DVD version - there weren't much extras, but I don't have faith in blu-ray transfers (I've got a few blu-rays simply in the search of "high def"). Being two-thirds the price clinched the deal.

(I should note that in Canada, the pricing of the LG "Super Multi Blue" player is more expensive than a PS3 and a regular HD-DVD player (and still pricier if you gave up the HD-DVD standalone player for the Xbox380+HD-DVD drive), yet you get two better players (PS3 can do blu-ray iHD, and a proper HD-DVD player must be able to do iHD) in the bargain. LG's player doesn't do iHD, which is why there's no official HD-DVD *LOGO* on it. Just "HD-DVD" in fancy suggestive type.)

top ten

[j00r0m4nc3r (959816)]

They left out this part:

"Barely beating BARBIE MAGIC OF THE RAINBOW and EASTER BUNNY ADVENTURE.."

Re:top ten

[PFI_Optix (936301)]

I guess then it should be pointed out that you left the part out about the fact that there wasn't a major HD-DVD release in the same time frame.

This format war may well be decided by titles rather than player sales.

I still think HD-DVD has the best chance if they can make the hybrid disks (HD-DVD that will play in DVD players) a big enough deal to get the major publishers to completely switch to them on new releases.

Re:

[toleraen (831634)]

Not trying to sound like a fanyboy, but just pointing this out: You realize that hybrid disks have been developed for Blu Ray as well, right?

Re:

[TheThiefMaster (992038)]

In fact I'm fairly sure there was a story on Slashdot a while back about a hybrid disk with all three formats in one disk.

Re:

[quigonn (80360)]

This format war may well be decided by titles rather than player sales.

Well, since Sony spoke out against publishing porn on Blu-Ray (after HD porn producer Digital Playground had announced to do so), my bet is that Blu-Ray will lose, simply because there won't be any porn. The availability of porn is important. It was a key factor why VHS won the format war against BetaMax, and why DVDs caught on so quickly.

HD-DVD is failing fast

[elrous0 (869638)]

I own an HD-DVD player and am sad to say that Blu-ray is clearly winning this format war right now. HD-DVD has no advertising (Blu-ray runs ads on many HD channels and has kiosks in every Best Buy), little studio support (half-assed HD-DVD support from Warner and Universal, who have released almost no new discs in the last month or two, WILL NOT cut it).

I see ads on TV for the blu-ray format and blu-ray discs every day now (almost at every commercial break when I'm watching HDNET and other HD channels). I have YET to see a single ad for HD-DVD or an HD-DVD release. Not one.

Blu-ray is beginning to make some name recognition headway. No one even knows HD-DVD exists. Blu-ray is getting new releases all the time. HD-DVD new releases have dried up to almost nothing.

-Eric

Cue referral links

[LoverOfJoy (820058)]

Quick, be the first to give a referral link to Casino Royale! We might not be able to find it on Amazon without you!

Probably What Happened

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony Employee "Sir, I did what you said and bought thousands of blue ray discs from amazon"

Sony Exec (in Mr. Burns Voice) "Excellent"

Re:

[kimvette (919543)]

Why not? That's what the music label does.

Oh Great

[Psx29 (538840)]

This is just like when the SNES was ahead of PS3 on amazon right? I really don't think these numbers mean anything

3 Titles in top 100

[MightyYar (622222)]

Well, since there are a total of 3 Blu-Ray titles in the top 100, forgive me for seeing this as a desperate pent-up demand for new titles.

Re:3 Titles in top 100

[ivan256 (17499)]

Really? All three Blu-Ray titles are in the top 100?

Kidding, of course, but the Blu-Ray selection, and the HD-DVD selection too for that matter is pretty terrible right now.

That is indeed a really nice ranking

[aadvancedGIR (959466)]

Considering that, at this moment, the Amazon DVD top 100 is composed of 99 DVD (still including Firefly at #81, BTW) and 1 BR.

Re:

[aadvancedGIR (959466)]

1-Apparently, this movie, being THE release of the week, sells more in its BR version than all the other high def disks combined, at least today.
2-This movie seems to be available only in DVD, BR and UMD, so imagine "300" or another very big hit is released only in DVD and HD-DVD because it comes from an anti-Sony studio (I don't know for "300", and I don't care, it is simply for the example), will we see the same kind of article the other way around in a couple of mounthes?

heh

[smoondog (85133)]

I think a lot of customers are going to be disappointed when their purchase doesn't play in their dvd player.

Parent += 1, .= Insightful

[patio11 (857072)]

My mother things BlueRay is a "new brand of DVD player, right?" I'd hate to be Amazon's customer service department explaining to people that they need to read carefully because the new Bond requires a new gadget to be able to play. Maybe if you beat somebody in a high-stakes poker game you'll be able to afford a BlueRay player... or at least the cable for one, which is a start.

Re:heh

[hansamurai (907719)]

This is an interesting comment as my wife and I subscribe to the Blockbuster delivery service and I've had to take Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs off our queue quite a few times as my wife just adds the first version of the movie she sees. One time, she even had the DVD and Blu-Ray version of the same movie on our queue, but that's another story.

I'm not saying that Amazon shoppers are making obvious buying errors and that the disc has no right being in the top 10, more just pointing out that difference between DVD and the other formats isn't always obvious to non-techies.

Re:heh

[LordNimon (85072)]

You might want to switch to Netflix then, because Netflix won't allow you to add BluRay or HD DVD (not "HD-DVD") discs unless you tell it you have an appropriate player.

PS3

[DogDude (805747)]

I know a lot of people probably don't use their PS2's as DVD players, but some do (I do). I think that once the PS3 starts rolling, Blue Ray will pick up some serious steam.

Re:

[Seumas (6865)]

I doubt it. I bought my PS3 because I wanted a cheap blue-ray device for the time being (my television does 1080p, which a lot of them are starting to support now). I didn't want to drop $1,000 on a high quality blue-ray player yet, until we see how things pan out.

The porn industry has already gone with HD-DVD so I think that clearly tells us where everything else is going. Either that or any decent player will support both and we'll just have two standards that are equally available and distributed.

Re:

[Paradox (13555)]

Yeah, the PS2 wasn't so good. Still, for a lot of people it was a great value to have a DVD player and a game system in one box, if only because it was rare to have many component inputs until the last few years.

But just about every review of the PS3 you can read, including this one, says that the Xbox 360 is the next generation shitty-PS2-esque DVD player. The picture is grainy and ugly. Sony seems to have learned from their mistake on this one, the PS3 is just about the best non-upconverting DVD player I'

whats the numbers

[VEGETA_GT (255721)]

If you can't tell me how many of these actualy sold then I am not interested. Was it 40 DVD's for #1 and 10 for #8 which means very little in the end. Or was it 10,000 for #1 and 8000 for number #8 spot. Knowing a standing in a chart means extreamly little unless you can give me the actual numbers sold.

also would like to point out that Blue Ray DVD's are much harder to find compared to standard DVD's that are even for sale in the local 7-11 including Casino Royale. This point could explain why it was bought more on amazon, as I can get the standard DVD any ware, but the blue ray and HD-DVD for that matter, are harder to find so would increase sales on things like amazon easily.

and yes this has been beaten to death point, but again more people have blue ray for the simple fact that its stock in PS3, not because a lot of people have bought specific players. From the numbers there is more stock HD-DVD players sold over stock Blue-Ray players. I just hope Sony realizes they need to avoid the fate of there Beta and actulay allow others to make Blue-Ray players, then they are in a position to actully win out.

Re:

[tomstdenis (446163)]

Yeah amazon's ranking is fairly useless. As the author of two shitastically non-selling books, I see my ranking jump inbetween 100 and 700k in the span of a day. Usually the result of a SINGLE SALE.

Lies!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Blu-Ray owners are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad. Be assured, HD-DVD is safe, protected.

but Blu-Ray isn't DVD

[58797A7A79 (795378)]

...but.. Blu-Ray isn't DVD. Blu-Ray is Blu-Ray. Just like DVD isn't CD, it's DVD. That's like saying that this USB pen drive is the best CD-ROM format thus far.

Re:

[jfengel (409917)]

But it does show that there is some demand for Blu-Ray discs (or at least, people who think they want one; let's see how many are returned once people realize they can't play them in a standard DVD player).

If it is real, then it shows that format shift from DVD to one or the other format may actually happen. That wasn't a foregone conclusion. Reading previous Slashdot discussions you get the impression that nobody was interested in the new features, especially not at the cost of having to put up with a ne

Casino Royale

[HungWeiLo (250320)]

Let me guess...the Blu-Ray disc is not the one with Woody Allen [imdb.com] in it, right?

BD developers strike again

[heroine (1220)]

The BD developers order a ton of each disk the moment it comes out, for testing. Suspect Casino Royale had a problem with BD-J so they wanted to throw as much manpower at it as possible. There are also a lot of copies of Speed being bought, as you can see. The main thing they're working on is BD+. If you see a BD disk spike on your hot list, it's probably a BD+ being bought up for testing.

Re:Message to HD DVD Camp

[eln (21727)]

Yah, well, my dad can beat up your dad!

Re:

[vertinox (846076)]

Where is your pr0n to save you now?

What? The ones being seeded or the ones in queue to download?

Seriously, I don't think porn is an issue these days because you can just download it for free or very easily for a small fee at certain sites.

People don't want to go into shady stores to buy porn if they don't want to.

However, I personally believe digital downloads will defeat both BluRay and HDDVD if given the chance by a major corporation.

Re:

[poot_rootbeer (188613)]

Those that were too quick to discard blu-ray as the next beta will have a nice ample serve of humble pie waiting for them.

Okay, okay. Blu-Ray isn't the next Beta.

It's the next DVD-Audio, and HD-DVD is the next SACD.

Neither of which has yet managed to convinced the majority of the market to give up the 25-plus-year-old CD format.

Re:

[FishWithAHammer (957772)]

No, that's Electronic Arts.

Re:

[danpsmith (922127)]

Perhaps cracked is more of an operating word than meant- I have to wonder if increased sales are in any way related to the cracking of the format (people not feeling so locked-in- so they can put the dvd on their ipod, etc).

Why the hell would anyone buy a more expensive blu-ray disk and player to put it on their iPod when the cheaper DVD will definitely fill that need more simply?

Re:

[geoffspear (692508)]

What, you don't have one of the new iPods with a High Definition 3 inch screen?

Re:

[flynt (248848)]

And at that price, who can afford more than the occasional purchase?

The same people who can afford a PS3 or other device to play them in, and a TV that can take advantage of it?

Re:Price comparison: $15.99 vs $27.99

[Paradox (13555)]

People who can afford the PS3 and a high-definition television (and maybe a 10x overpriced cord, if they don't wise up).

Seriously, for someone with a large HDTV, Blu-ray turns movis from a grainy experience with mediocre sound and washed out colors into a theater-quality experience. If your TV is larger than 40", 16:9(or 10) aspect, a high-def source is pretty much necessary to lot look blurry and grainy.

I don't own many Blu-ray discs, but I do own a few, and they are awesome to behold.

Re:

[danpsmith (922127)]

I'm from the UK and I was surprised to see that most films seem to be released on DVD in both widescreen and fullscreen versions in the US. This doesn't really happen in the UK. Here almost all the films just come out in widescreen form and if you want to play on a 4:3 TV most DVD players give you the option of playing the DVD either in letter box or plan and scan. Is there a good reason for the difference?

I'm guessing that fullscreen has returned due to popular demand. Most of our DVD players don't ha

Re:

[geoffspear (692508)]

A good reason? No. A really stupid reason? Yes. There are more Americans who bitch about letterboxing not showing the whole movie like Fullscreen versions do, because they have no idea what the hell they're talking about.

Although I have to admit I can't imagine how your DVD player can really do "Pan and Scan" automatically on a widescreen disk. Just chopping off the sides of the image doesn't involve any panning or scanning, and you'd need pretty good AI to know exactly where to pan for the optimal ch

Re:

[ynohoo (234463)]

because in the UK most DVD purchasers are smart enough to know that "Fullscreen" mean the sides of the frame have been hacked off, as opposed to USA morons who complain about about the "missing bits" of the frame in the black bits of the screen when watching in wide-screen.

Which is not to say that the UK has a shortage of morons, as indicated by your comment.

Re:

[badspyro (920162)]

the new james bond film will never be avalable on HD-DVD?
*runs out to get an XBOX360*

Tracked sales comprison

[BrerBear (8338)]

But what you'll see if you've been following the comparison trends at:
http://eproductwars.com/dvd/ [eproductwars.com]
is that Blu-Ray passed HD-DVD early this year, and the sales gap is generally widening. It's not just a fluke of the Casino Royale release.

Couple this with the anemic release schedule for upcoming HD-DVDs compared to Blu-Ray, and it looks like Blu-Ray is on a pretty solid path to trouncing HD-DVD. I say this as the owner of an HD-DVD XBox addon (but not PS3 or any other Blu-Ray).

Re:

[soft_guy (534437)]

No. That's a terrible analogy. Simply being ahead in a format war helps you to get further ahead, since more players on the market encourage production of more media and more media in existance encourages more people to buy players. A footrace has no such positive feedback loop.

You are exactly right. In order for HD-DVD to win, something has to happen to change the dynamic. For example, much cheaper (than Blue Ray) HD-DVD players, or some super-hot movie(s) coming out exclusive for HD-DVD might change things. But if things keep going like they are going, then Blue Ray will win.

No HD-DVD releases almost the whole month

[SuperKendall (25149)]

Cheaper player will not even help if more titles do not arrive. There have been no new HD-DVD releases since around the 27th of last month, and will not be any until around the same time this month!

Forgot super-hot movies, HD-DVD has trouble just getting any movies - and if sales continue to fall for HD-DVD versios of movies few titles will risk a release on HD-DVD which may not sell very well.