Lately there seems to be an assumption on many peoples' part that any comment that isn't critical of Blu-ray is a mindless fanboy comment, while many critical comments, no matter how baseless, are praised for their insight.

When the apparent popular definition of critical thinking no longer matches my own, it makes me curious. Hence, my rhetorical question.

I'm not bitter, but when a big steaming pile of bullshit is dumped in front of me, I'm not going to pretend that it smells nice.

These sales percentages and ratios that don't make any logical or consistent sense are pure bullshit. And here you are, telling me to savor the splendid aroma.

I agree. I think some people really seem to be stretching stuff on either side.

Going back and checking against total estimaged BD revenue (about $10 million in the week ending June 1), at an average price of about $25-$30, total units must be in the 330K - 400K range.

Estimates like that have such gigantic margins of error that they must be considered relatively worthless. Consider the initial estimate that the Rambo DVD sold 2 million copies, versus the revised estimate of a hair under 800 thousand. That's an enormous disparity -- a margin of error so great as to render any possible analysis of this data to be not only worthless, but actually harmful.

People rightly bitched when Paramount inflated week one numbers for Transformers HD DVD. It's pretty clear that the same level of distortion has occurred for sales of Rambo on BD. Some members have no idea why a company might want to make itself seem like it's doing better than it is, so one must ask himself: why do these wildly exaggerated press releases come out?

Lionsgate has not released BD sales figures for Rambo, inflated or not. Only DVD figures. I thought that was clear.

Taken in context, one of the 5 dumbest posts I have ever read on this forum.

Focusing only on the Blu-ray sales figures ... how can anyone (who's not acting like a fanboy) be NOT critical over the blu-ray sales figures? As you can see from some of the posts in the last page and this page, you can't even guesstimate how many discs they sold. The margin of error is greater than the amount itself.

It was quite clear, but that doesn't change the accuracy of my post at all. Based on LG's grossly distorted numbers, any attempt at ascertaining actual BD numbers is grievously flawed. LG distorts its numbers, period.

My point was a larger one. Clearly, LG is trying to make itself look good with that Rambo press release. The numbers, when given a modicum of thought, are obviously false. Ergo, LG's press release numbers, and perhaps press release numbers at large, should not be trusted (at least if we've learned our collective lesson).

Going forward, would you not agree that press release numbers should be treated more skeptically than they have been in the past?

Honestly though, can they be that far off? I don't think 2m is stretching it when many other titles constantly hit in the millions on any given week. Plus Rambo is a big enough title to sell that many units.

If you had said something intelligent, I might have engaged in a discussion or debate with you. But, since the best you could do is resort to puerile insults, all I can say is, buh-bye. Say what you will -- I will no longer see it.

so now you're saying that all figures, dvd or bd, are wrong and shouldn't be trusted? companies who supply dvd sales figures are lying and therefore we can't trust their estimates? i'm not sure why the new figure of 800,000 is seen as accurate, and lionsgate's as the inaccurate one. it could be that neither is correct, or that they both are. some estimates are only for a slice of the market for which they hold figures. i'm not sure if that is the case in this instance, but it may be.

do we have sales figures for dvd releases, or are percentages standard practice within the industry. before assigning imagined motives to an act it might be wise to assess it's uniqueness.

But another, non-press release source has Rambo pushing a touch under 800,000 units. Even if we split the difference, LG fudged its numbers by such incredible margins that any attempt at calculations from their numbers is just pissing in the wind.

Think before you type. If Rambo sold 2 million copies, it would skew BD numbers into the stratosphere. It's pretty clear that every single BD on the chart didn't just jump through the roof this week out of nowhere, considering overall BD revenue was down 10% from the previous week. Again, simple common sense. The only possible answer is that LG dramatically overstated its Rambo DVD sales numbers.

Given that you have no way of knowing which number is correct, whether both are incorrect, or whether both are correct but only represent undisclosed slices of the market that you are not privy to and never will be, all all of these numbers are therefore unreliable and useless for the purposes they're being used.

How can you continue to argue otherwise? It boggles the mind that you would even try.

Semi-Pro on BD sold better then Blood and Cloverfield. WTF

That's not what he said at all. He said

If there's two obviously different numbers then one would obviously have to start taking them skeptically and need to use whatever other info is out there to try and figure out what a more accurate number would be.

Are you honestly surprised by this, considering the buying demographic for the format?

Would that be the same buying demographic that made 3:10 To Yuma and No Country For Old Men two of the best selling Blu-Ray's this year so far?

The PS3 thing is so tired at this point.

TWBB and Cloverfield have already been released on DVD. Semi-Pro wasn't. Target also had a decent price on Semi-Pro release week.

Actually yes.

Comedies (eg Wild Hogs, Knocked Up, Superbad) usually don't do that well on HDM. SFX movies with mass destruction (eg Transformers) are more successful.

So a giant monster beheading the Statue of Liberty and getting carpet-bombed by the military should have attracted the buying demographic much more than Will Ferrell.

I think your last sentence is the key one. It's the fact both Paramount titles came out on DVD, thus hurting Blu-ray sales. Same thing happened with previously delayed titles like Shooter or Blood Diamond.

you seem to be unaware of the assumptions on which you're basing your reasoning. the bd numbers would only have jumped if the last week's set of figures was correct. you seem to have decided to believe these because they are relatively low, while having a hard time believing these newer figures because they are high. this seems more like an idealogically position on your part.

you seem to be attempting to shift the debate. though it is true that all these figures for dvd, bd, vacuum cleaners, etc, are inherantly flawed since we don't know the methodology behind their accumulation.

the real area of interest is not how many copies of a specific title are shifted in any given week, but how the bd market compares with itself month by month and year by year. at the same time it is interesting to watch the relationship between the dvd and bd market share to monitor how they change (or otherwise).

It would be the demographic that only buys Blu-rays if they're released day-and-date with the DVD edition. I'm talking about impulse-buyers, who need to run out and buy a movie the day it's first available. If the Blu-ray is released after a DVD edition, even by a few weeks, those consumers will have already bought the DVD and feel no need to purchase a second copy of the movie they already own.