Erroneous HD DVD Report Gets Tongues Wagging 52
An anonymous reader writes "HD DVD fans learned a valuable lesson in 'don't believe everything you read' this week, after the trade publication Home Media Magazine reported that the HD DVD camp planned to release more than 20x the number of releases planned on Blu-ray through the end of 2007. The suggestion was so preposterous that even the official HD DVD Promotions Group (which has the most to gain from the spread of such misinformation) has requested a correction. 'Contacted for comment, the HD DVD Promotional Group told us that the Home Media Magazine report was incorrect. The group says it "conservatively" projects a worldwide total of 600 HD DVD releases for the entirety of 2007, and that the error in the report appeared to stem from a slide in an HD DVD powerpoint presentation that listed the cumulative number of titles by month for 2006. The Home Media Magazine report also quoted a Blu-ray spokesperson as saying that Blu-ray-affiliated studios will release a total of 43 titles in 2007. This number also appears to be incorrect, given that 160 titles have already been announced through September in the U.S. alone.'"
PS3 owners (Score:2, Informative)
Actually this has happened before (Score:3, Informative)
It is a good, yet costly way to gain dominance.
Re:PS3 owners (Score:1, Informative)
The 1.80 update only took about 3-4 minutes to download/install for me in the US. It was one of the fastest I've seen.
Tell me, can you play NTSC DVDs on the PS3 down-under? The US machines won't touch PAL discs, even if they're region free
Refutations (Score:3, Informative)
Say only 10% of PS3 owners use the system to play Blu-Ray discs - that's still more than the total number of HD-DVD players, by a wide margin! And the PS3 alone continues to outsell the whole group of HD-DVD players (yes, even with lower sales) meaning that lead is only increasing.
Now what happens when a really popular title actually clicks with the public? Sales that swamp any HD-DVD releases, because there are simply so many more PS3's around than HD-DVD players. Yes PS3 owners are probably a much more casual buying group but with millions more, that simply does not matter when you have millions more people buying.
Whether they'll buy enough Blu-Ray titles in the future to match HD DVD is yet to be seen.
We have been seeing it all year, with continued Blu-Ray sales of three to one over HD-DVD! How can you wave those numbers away arbitrarily when the release schedule, and player sales figures, make it obvious that ratio will only increase? What happens if as rumored Star Wars comes out later this year on Blu-Ray, and more Pixar movies as well? But even without those with a fleet of movies like Pirates and Spiderman on Blu-Ray going against the best exclusive Blu-Ray has to offer (the Bourne Identity) it's pretty clear a sales advantage will continue.
Sony bundle the PS3 with Blu-Ray movies and put this in their sale figures. Again, notice the buyers didn't have much choice. They just got it with their PS3.
The trend in such a case may have nothing to do with current sales figures.
The free movie was only with the first 500k PS3's sold. That helped spike earlier in the year but does not explain the whole year, or even anything past January. How much of the HD-DVD sales figures are the FIVE FREE movies they give away with every Toshiba HD-DVD player? Seems like your argument is easily turned on its head.
How many studios (except Sony Pictures I presume) are only behind Blu-Ray?
The other major ones are Disney (perhaps you've heard of Pixar or Pirates) and Fox (perhaps you've heard of Star wars?). Also MGM and Lionsgate...
How many more do you need? Look at what the sole remaining HD-DVD exclusive studio (Universal) can provide in movies vs the five above. That there is a war at all is simply an illusion pulled over your eyes by the many people here on Slashdot who want to see Sony fail. I don't own a Blu-Ray player. I don't own a PS3. It means nothing to me if one format succeeeds over the other - yet the winner here is obvious just from studio support alone, even inn goring technical advantages Blu-Ray has (not that pure technical advantages have ever won a format war before anyway).
Anecdotal evidence alert. Also they just saw the match is kinda even so far, so it's normal they want to sell Blu-Ray players.
How is this anecdotal [blu-ray.com]? How does it mean nothing when slowly HD-DVD backers peel away to support Blu-Ray - as it continues to enjoy a three to one or larger sales margin? With those numbers and that studio support eventually the reasons to keep building HD-DVD players will wane.
But they won't stop selling HD-DVD players either.
In order to stop, wouldn't they have to start? I'm not sure we've even seen HD-DVD players from Funai yet (I can't find any at Amazon under the brand names I know use them). They were in the HD-DVD consortium but that does not mean they were making players.