Oops, Sony shows sales numbers of HD-DVD and Blu-ray, and they are declining

Try that people actually are on vacation. There is only me buying BD's as i don't have any vacation. EVER.

Reminds me of DVD-A and SACD...

I dont think DVD-A / SACD comparison is good. They didnt do well because the didnt offer the average user any advantage over a normal CD. Also wide adoption of players was not done very quickly. BD/HD DVD offer a big advantage to the average user and ultimately price will win out.

Don't forget that average person doesn't CARE about high def.

Could this just be caused by the many bundled blu-ray titles sold with new PS3's? I can't make out the dates in the bottom of the graph so I don't know if it fits the timeline of the PS3 release??

I think the average consumer will care about high def, that day just hasn't arrived yet. That day will come shortly after the government mandated switch to HD happens. As far as the sales go, it's not terribly surprising. There haven't been that many MAJOR releases on HD. The few that have come out (like 300 for example) tend to break all the records for high def discs. Then sales decline until the next big release. There's very little else out there to buy. I'm constantly looking for more High Def flicks to pick up, but there's simply not enough content out there... especially to justify the price point. And the price point is in my opinion the biggest reason the consumers aren't buying up high def like DVD. $30 for most releases is just too much to ask. Once new releases regularly hit below a $20 price point we'll see sales stay at a stable rate. Let's all be honest with ourselves. As high def content becomes more and more prevalent there's simply no chance that DVD as we know it will stick around. People will inevitably make the switch. It's only a matter or time... and price.

I for one will never take on either format as long as it's DRM'd the way it is.

I can only speak for myself, but I'm not going anywhere near high def DVDs until there's a clear-cut 'winner' between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. I've read comparisons to the DVD+R and DVD-R format 'war' with the solution being a dual format drive, but that's not going to work for me, as I believe that one of the HD formats will die like Beta. I own over 300 DVD movies and boxed sets and am still adding to my library. I also have a widescreen HD television set and love watching HD programming - I would be an instant convert to buying HD discs if it weren't for the competing formats.

Who wants to spend $500+ on a player that may be obsolete? Until one format wins, I'll continue to buy non-HD DVDs. I bet a lot of people are waiting for this reason too.

Unlike when DVD debuted, Blue Ray and HDDVD require a larger investment. in order to obtain any benefit from either you need a Hi Def TV. which is a plunge many have not yet taken so why should they bother with either format? and as already noted why would they want to pay 30.00 for a hi def movie when they can pay 14.99 for the same movie on regular DVD?
This message was edited at: 07-09-2007 20:24

What is the big advantage over regular DVD? I've read that unless you have a huge TV, you won't see much difference. Anyway, I'm certainly not going to replace my current DVDs with next-gen discs.

Um, there is no government mandated switch to HD. It is a goverment switch to DIGITAL TV with no more analog broadcasts allowed. There is a big difference. It does not mean they have to broadcast in HD 720 / 1080. And we will still get crappy upconverted SD content on the HD channels too. I wish the mandate banned upconverting to HD and required HD content to be remastered in HD from source content and not upconverted. I know, that's harsh.

What's REALLY wrong is all these companies trying to sell the same content over & over again to the cunsumers... they want to to buy the VHS & the DVD and now BluRay & HDDVD on 1 film.... That's how greedy they are. Just when you finally adapt to the DVDs and pay for your film library "all over again" to do so. They're trying to tell you that DVD is "no good" and you should buy this other new thing they put out that's going to cost you twice as much. Give Me A Break..... They are simply treating consumers as Total Retarts or something. Remember when they tried to push CD sales vs the tape... all record company claimed that the CD prices will "drop" once it gets popular and they can mass produce it..... Of course..... CD prices never dropped..... not until the arrival of CD burners.... when they're "forced to" do so.... Further more... with each so-called "upgrade" to the latest technology.... consumers are RESTRICTED EVEN MORE on what they can do with the content they've already paid for. Instead of improving their existing equipments, they want to to spend even more money for their "new technology". Personally, I'm glad to see that people are starting to see through the scheme these companies trying to play on us and not falling for it..... At some point.... the consumers will have to stand together against the big companies who continuously try to run our lives and empty our wallets ..... And I think NOW is the time....... :X

For right now up converter DVD players and/or FFDshow on computers is more than good enough. Why spend more when there is very little noticeable diff? Why pay more when companies like SONY are cutting their own throats by making ALL their HDTV's come with kick ass BUILT IN up converting? :X
This message was edited at: 08-09-2007 02:39

HighDef does look crisp with the right equipment. But is it a must ? No. DVDs will be around for quite a while yet. Only the beta testers and idiots with more money than sense will continue to buy HD DVD /Blu-ray titles.

Good post here. I agree with most of you. The only thing taking of is HDTV and tuning into HDTV-transmissions. By using a HDTV decoder. Watching sports, movies and other stuff. Reason for this is that HDTV is a investment, but the HDTV decoders are not to expencive. Plus once you have that you will continue to get the HDTV programing regardless of typ, movie, tv-series etc. Over in europe HDTV hasn't taken off to well, still verry slow but on the increas. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players are to expencive, not enough content out there plus expencive too. The big drawback is the format-wars. Most still remember the problem with DVD and do not want to make the same misstake again. DVD had a better future when it came, it was simply a digital way to stor things instead of using VHS. And that made the content much better quality, even though it was the same as VHS. Everyone allready had a TV, just a simple upgrade and that was it. If sony where smart, they would have supported HD-DVD and make that into the next-gen format. And keep developing Blu-Ray to be a natural evolution from HD-DVD. Maby beeing able to stor 100-200gb per side and disc. Now, all we have is a format war and that is not good for anyone.

Like I said before; where's the price war for the actual players? The key to winning the battle is which ever one comes down in price the most and the quickest. When DVD’s came out they offered more than just higher quality. They meant never again rewinding anything, jumping to the next seen instead of manually fast forwarding, and digital video that could be backed up by a computer. Things people actually wanted. HD-DVD and Blue Ray really only offer High Def. That’s great, except I have horrific vision. I couldn’t care less about High Def. So what they need to realize is that when it comes to price they are actually competing with the DVD players, not each other. So which ever one gets closer to the price of DVD or perhaps even equal to it, well there’s your winner.
This message was edited at: 09-09-2007 08:29

We have a slight basis in history to compare HD video to. When CD's replaced vinyl/tapes, it was a big step. CD's were a bonified hit and revolutionary step in recording audio. SACD/DVD-Audio was a minor increase (sorry audiophiles, it was) and never took off commercially. There are many people out there who think that DVD *is* high-definition, or at least 'good enough.' There is very little reason for them to upgrade against such an entrenched standard such as DVD. I think the BD/HD fight will have the same fate as SACD/DVD-A if the manufacturers don't pull their heads out of their arse. Consumers don't want this. . Now, that being said, I will admit that BD/HD *does* have a better chance to survive than SACD/DVD-A, only because there is more marketing behind it all. Also, you have manufacturers phasing out standard-def TV's and the government phasing out analog OTA. There is certainly more push - but none of this *requires* a high-def DVD player. -Robert

What is the REAL benefit from DVD to HD Optical? Nothing. The average user cares not for the fancy menus, nor probbaly wants to hook up yet another device to the internet add that MOST users do NOT have HD TV sets. It's like the HD Audio. The quality is better but not better enough to warrant such expensive upgrades. I still prefer DVD and will continue to buy/rent for some time. HD will not do to DVD what DVD did to the VHS.

All valid comments, but what about the fact that to get the benefit from HD you need to not only replace your DVD player, but also for most us our TVs. So straight away to get true HD throughout you're going to be into maybe £2-3000? Let's face it most of us do have better things to spend £2-3000 on. I've sure in time these figures will become much lower, but until the electronics mob get discounting their products out, HD take up will remain limited.