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HD DVD hardware sales growth ahead of Blu-ray in North America.

Quote:

With Blu-ray total player sales ahead of HD DVD, the HD DVD camp is eagerly looking for any data they can get to bolster their second place position. Well, as followers of Mark Twain well know, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics" and the HD DVD Promotional Group has found that even though their total sales lag behind those of Blu-ray, their rate of growth is in the lead.

"The numbers are clear — HD DVD is steadily gaining momentum and market share," said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group.

It looks like Blu-ray growth during Q1 of 2007 increased by 27% while HD DVD sales growth led at 37%. This advantage was attributed to the lower price of HD DVD players, with prices starting at $299. Even though this is a good sign for the HD DVD advocates, it still remains to be seen if they will catch up to Sony and Blu-ray. Currently, estimates put Blu-ray players at 1.5 million with HD DVD players at 300,000. Of course, if you take out the PS3 Blu-ray players and the Xbox 360 HD DVD units, the numbers are much closer with Blu-ray at about 105,000 and HD DVD at 150,000. While it is clear that the vast majority of PS3 boxes are never used for any type of DVD viewing, their numbers are hard to ignore.

A number of companies are making the move towards dual players; the smart money is waiting for these units before they make any significant purchase.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/HD-DVD-...-America_.html

Re: HD DVD hardware sales growth ahead of Blu-ray in North America.

Interesting numbers, but it is really hard to say on the hardware side who is doing better. Some PS3s are being bought mainly for bluray use, but I'm sure there are plenty who are just buying it for games and not actually buying the movies for it.

I'd say the actual titles still paint a better picture because in a few months when the big titles come out for the PS3, there will be an increase in sales for the system, but it doesn't necessarly mean that people will or won't be buying movies to play in it.

Re: HD DVD hardware sales growth ahead of Blu-ray in North America.

Well, I bought a PS3 for Blu-Ray AND gaming...Here is how my logic went...

Buy a PS3 with Blu-Ray, and I have a next gen gaming machine.

If Blu-Ray wins, sweet...I can use it till BR players drop in price to the point where I will buy a set top box (likely the sub $300 range)...

If HD-DVD wins, Sweet, I can already pick up an HD-DVD set top box in the sub 300 range (or will be able to shortly)..Then I still have Blu-Ray (just in case they get a "BR Only" title that I might want...And I have (IMO) a great gaming machine...

I honestly don't care who wins, I just want 1080p standard and a good selection of movies...