Here's a head scratcher -- with all the new BD and HD releases, like Bourne, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean... the only title to make it into the Top 20 this afternoon on Amazon.com was Planet Earth (HD-DVD). I know the list changes every few minutes but I found it pretty funny.

I think all the millions of holiday DVD buyers will rule this year regardless of HD or BD. This is the reason you don't see more titles breaking the top 10.

Interesting new study finds people who are planning to buy an HDTV set within the next six months favor HD DVD over Blu-ray nearly 2-1, due to price of the hardware, which is what Toshiba is banking on.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/ind...2&newsid=11716

Press release of the study here:

http://www.tdgresearch.com/TDG_PR_HD...rch_121007.htm

For those interested, here is the CES schedule

Sunday, January 6
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM: LG Electronics
9:00 AM - 9:45 AM: Pioneer Electronics
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM: Toshiba
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM: Panasonic
12:00 PM - 12:45 PM: Sharp Electronics
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM: Philips Consumer Electronics
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM: Samsung Electronics
4:15 PM - 5:15 PM: Sony Electronics
8:30 PM - 10:30 PM: HD DVD Promotion Group

Monday, January 7
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: Hitachi Ltd./Hitachi America
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Blu-ray Press Conference

HD DVD is going Sunday, right in time for Mondays newspaper. Its also 2 hours vs. Blu-rays 1 hour. Someone one Blu-ray.com (yeah, yeah) has confirmed Warner will be present at the HD DVD group presentation, but has yet to announce about Blu-ray.

Should be fun :)

Toshiba needs to do more bundling. They did it a few weeks ago at BB. Free A30 with the purchase of one of their higher end Regza LCDs. They should do this more often.

The WB rumors have been swirling like crazy lately. I hope they step up and make a choice at CES. I prefer them choosing BD since, imo, that would lead to a quicker end to the format war. IF they go with HD DVD only because of Toshiba's hardware sells, then I expect the HD DVD side to do whatever they can to convince Disney to at least consider producing on both. They seem like the next target, assuming WB goes red only.

Whatever side they choose is the side I'm going to focus more on and the one that I think will go on to win the war. It may take alot longer if they are HD DVD only.

I'm not sure how valid Robert George's points are, but I believe he said they would be stating an update on those remaining exclusive titles. Since it's supposed to be bad news for some, I'm guessing if you only have a BD only player, you may need to add a HD DVD player to watch them.

Interesting times.

BD over HD has the software lead - but how would they be doing if there wasn't constantly a B1G1F deal going on? I think there has been at least 1 somewhere going on for almost 3 or 4 months now... That can't be sustainable at a profit.

It also has the power of Sony/Disney/Fox behind it.


Hd-DVD has the universal spec and finished interactivity that WB has already shown to love, coupled with cheap hardware and software production costs.


Both sides have their points, and I'm sure WB has more accurate info than anyone else on this matter right now.

I'll add that if WB does choose HD-DVD, I'd expect Disney to go neutral in 6 months or less.

Hmm, I have yet to see any confirmation of WB's presence at the hd-dvd conference and it also goes against what the Fox VP more or less said that "it would be very clear that there would be one format at CES". All these developments are very interesting regardless.

I'm sure having seven BD manufacturers present, those CE companies are probably going to have some sort of BD presentation in their shows, which leaves nothing but software for the Blu-ray conference. Of course, all guestimation on my part.

Post #35 in this thread:

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=27099

Wow. I just read that thread ^^. Just... Wow.

I'm going to wait for a more credible source. Sorry but I have no idea who that guy is and he doesn't have insider status so I can't just take his word.

Still much of the same: Amazon's Top 50 only has four HD titles: Planet Earth (both formats), the Bourne Trilogy, and the new Die Hard.

Judging by that thread, I seriously hope the average age of Blu-ray forum posters is 15. Otherwise, mankind is doomed.

Alot of the die-hards on other sites constantly brag about the software lead. But with such a small user base, I think the current numbers are pointless. I'm sure Warners, and the other studios, are looking at what potential future software sales they will be seeing once the base grows. Since HDM still only makes up 1-2% of all home video revenue, it only makes sense to see how many new users you can potentially sell to. Once the market matures, then the focus should be on software sales. But until then, the focus should be on hardware. Like WB said, the more razors are sold, the more blades they can sell. Maybe Toshiba has done a good enough job to cause WB to make a decision.

I just can't help but wonder what kind of sales BD would have WITHOUT B1G1F sales. Could they maintain the 2:1 lead? Also, how long will studios/retailers take the loss on discs before getting fed up? Lastly - I've seen lots of people say how B2G1 free deals aren't good... so how will the perception be when studios/retailers try to sell discs at regular "every day" prices?

Lets face it even DVD doesn't sell at everyday prices most of the time. They sell a lot because retailers always put the big titles out as loss leaders every week. That is not much different from the B1G1s BD and HD DVD have had.

As far as Warner this sounds like a lot of the same crap we heard last year. Big CES announcements that turn into nothing.

What I hate hearing is people saying how small the sales numbers are for both formats. What do people expect? How can anyone believe that HD/BD are just going to run right over DVD? The format which basically has overcome all odds in that it's the only one that hasn't had a real competitor. The HD formats have to not only to compete with themselves but with DVD, the juggernaut of home entertainment.

I think the numbers are pretty good for the most part. I don't think catalog will ever be as successful as it is on DVD just because the masses could care less about having Bad Santa or Tremors in HD. Day and date titles will be where the money is spent.

People forget that DVD was not in fact an overnight success. The sales of HD/BD in its first year are actually higher than DVD sales were in its first year, afaik.

You're obviously forgetting the threat that Divx was :rolleyes: :lol:

That's right but for HD/BD to have the numbers that they've had so early on bodes well, how well is another story.

Definitely. But we didn't have two types of DVD formats in the beginning, either. This is hindering a lot of consumer involvement (a good chunk of consumers are just waiting for one format to win), but the last few months of hardware and software sales are bringing HD more into the mainstream, and are also bringing the fence sitters closer to the retail doors.

Things will really pick up in 2008. We have quite a few titles from movie labels which should enable some great B1G1 offers. Amazon and Best Buy were a little lacking but I have confidence we'll see more HD DVD B1G1 offers to jumpstart consumer interest.

Overall, I'd say HD is doing great. Many want an overnight success or replacement but this isn't going to happen. We could be looking at another 5 years before HD penetrates like DVD did.

We kind of did actually and it caused many the fanboy fight on the newsgroups. Divx kept Disney among others from jumping in with DVD right away and many were worried the rental format could hurt the chances of ever owning films from them. I still remember the Divx fans talking about Divx Platinum and how no one with a standard DVD player would ever own their favorite Disney films.

Okay, it isn't the same exact situation but there was some division in the early days of DVD as well that along with cost slowed early adoption.

I don't remember too much about the Divx-DVD "battle", did Divx ever have any supporters? All I remember is going into circuit city looking for a DVD player around '99 and having some scumbag trying to sell me Divx instead. As I recall, the discs weren't in OAR, no special features, no Dolby Digital, and the obvious "rental" period. Am I remembering correctly, why would anyone have ever wanted this?

Yeah, I remember that little hickup or fart of a new format. Never took it seriously, though. :D