DVD Josh

Consoles make up bulk of high-def movie player sales

Posted Jun 26th 2007 1:29PM by Kyle Orland
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business
There are more game systems that can play high-definition movies than standalone players that can do the same, according to sales numbers culled from recent media reports.

In the HD DVD realm, a Microsoft representative told CNet UK that the company had sold 155,000 units of the Xbox 360's HD DVD player in the States, making it the best-selling add-on in the system's short history. Compare that to the 100,000 standalone players that the HD DVD Promotional Group said had sold through April and you can see that it's primarily gamers driving adoption of the format.

The results are similar in the Blu-Ray realm, where the million-plus PS3s sold in North America dwarfs the "less than 100,000" standalone players sold according to a Business Week article. It's unclear exactly how many PS3 owners are actually using their systems to play the high-def movie format, but strong Blu-ray disc sales would seem to indicate that at least some of them are taking advantage of the feature.

What's more, the sales of high-def discs seem to finally be making a dent in the traditional DVD market. Sales of standard-definition DVDs were down eight percent in the first quarter of this year and analysts predict they'll begin to level off as more high-def game systems are sold.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/26/co...-player-sales/

darkside

I still have a major concern with consoles leading the push, but sales are sales I guess.

Qui Gon Jim

Personally, I don't think that leveling DVD sales have anything to do with either HD DVD or BD. Sales have been leveling for a long time. The barrel is scraped nearly clean. I used to upgrade with every double dip that came along. Often there were big advances in audio or video. Now, it has to be something extra special to make me upgrade.

The catalogs are mostly sold for DVD. That is why sales are dipping.

Mr. Cinema

The article says 100,000 standalones through April. I'm curious to see how much of an impact that $100 instant rebate made when those numbers come in.

FantasticVSDoom

And its more of a cost issue as they are the cheapest route at this point... As stand alone players get less expensive, I think we will see a change.

Th0r S1mpson

...but only if you are already a gamer.

I'm guessing that's a relatively small percentage of the people they would like to tap. While gamers might be more likely to adopt HD formats, I don't think a huge percentage of people that would want to adopt are gamers. For instance, all the 40+ crowd that is finally getting into HDTV as the prices have come down. They probably want to play HD movies on their sets and not get a gaming system. First you have to get them to understand what the heck these HD players are (complicated by two formats) and then you have to get the price down.

I know more people in this category than gamers, personally.

clckworang

That's one thing that frustrates me about trying to really figure out how many players are out there, the fact that a PS3 is already a BD player. So, it's easy to say there are a million BD players out there, but impossible to say how many are being used as such.

It's nice to be able to look and see a real number for the Xbox's HD-DVD add-on. I feel like you can trust that number a bit more.

All that being said, you're right, FantasticVSDoom. If I were to buy a BD player right now, today, I would buy a PS3. With the price of standalone BD players, the value just isn't there, at least for someone like me who doesn't have a lot of money. At least with a PS3 you also have a working game console as well.

bunkaroo

Question for you (or anyone)- do you want a PS3 for gaming? Since you don't have one now, I'll assume you're not dying to play games with it.

If that's the case, I don't see a difference in spending $600 on a PS3 vs. $500 the BDP-S300. Sure the PS3 has more capabilities, but if you don't use the gaming portion that often, how much added value is really there?

Just curious - not trying to single you out personally.

Th0r S1mpson

I would personally by a PS3 as well if I wanted Blu Ray. If I have to spend $500 on a player, I might as well spend another $100 and have a great gaming system, and then I would use it. While I'm not willing to spend $600 on the gaming system, I'm willing to spend $100 more on one if already getting into Blu Ray. Having said that, obviously the price point is too high for my level of interest on either Blu Ray or the PS3. In other words, I would own a games-only non-blue-ray PS3 if it was $100.

That's why Blu Ray or HD-DVD is the perfect solution for existing gamers who have forked out the dough for a current gamign system. It's the rest of the people on the planet that the formats need to get ahold of.

DVD Josh

The reason to get a PS3 above all else is not necessarily the gaming abilities. It's thus far been the best supported player through FW upgrades and will continue to be so. It's recently been giving media streaming abilities and I'm sure other new features are on the way. It's got an upgradeable HD as well. No player now or likely ever will support these features.

clckworang

I'm not necessarily dying to get a PS3. I already have a Wii and a 360, which I bought the add-on for. I probably would be tempted to buy it if it weren't so damn expensive. But I can't justify paying $500 for a standalone player right now.

Since I do at least some gaming, I think there's some added value there. Enough to justify the high pricetag, especially in light of the fact that I own 2 other consoles? I doubt it. But I wouldn't consider going BD until the standalone players -- or the PS3 -- are about half the price they are now.

bunkaroo

IMO the BDP-S1 hasn't been any less supported. I've gotten at least 4 firmware updates for it in the past 6 months. The thing is built like a tank and has been a solid performer. Sony is standing behind this unit at the present time. Sure that may change in the future. I can't speak to how Panasonic, Samsung and the others are doing with their FW support.

Granted, it has less non-BD capabilities than the PS3, but again, if you don't want/need streaming, gaming, etc., there's no added value there.

Mr. Cinema

The PS3 is also the fastest BD player in terms of loading discs. It loads the Pirates BDs faster than any other unit. Some take over a minute to load the disc. If you're looking for "future proof", then the PS3 is the best choice.

Supermallet

As others have said, the PS3 is the current best choice for BD for several reasons. Another not mentioned is that the Cell Processor is actually far more powerful than it's been given credit for, which means things like onboard DTS-HD MA decoding and advanced BD-J/BD-Live capabilities are far more possible on a PS3 than any current BD hardware.