Woochifer
07-02-2007, 04:09 PM
All in all, the numbers in the format war have not changed much over the past couple of months. Blu-ray is still holding roughly 2/3 of the market, while HD-DVD claims about 1/3. So far this year, HD-DVD standalone players have outsold standalone Blu-ray players by about 60% to 40%, but the PS3 despite its woes in the gaming market continues to provide Blu-ray with a larger installed user base.
The studio support has also held steady, and the article linked below has some pretty compelling numbers indicating how the box office numbers break out by studio, whether you're talking about recent movies or "classic" titles, decidedly in favor of Blu-ray. The bottomline is that the total Blu-ray market (both exclusive and neutral studios) account for 89% of the total 2007 box office draw (YTD), while the HD-DVD market accounts for 47% of the 2007 YTD box office. And among the top 100 grossing movies of all-time, the total Blu-ray market potential comes out to 86%, compared to 42% for HD-DVD.
http://blog.pixelperfectproductions.com/?p=54
http://blog.pixelperfectproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/2007-ytd.gif
http://blog.pixelperfectproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/alltime.gif
For months, Bill Hunt at the Digital Bits has been arguing that HD-DVD cannot and will not win the format war if the market trends continue unchecked. More recently, he has posted his reasoning why Blu-ray is the HD format of choice. He wrote it in response to a post on Ain't It Cool News in favor of HD-DVD that he felt contained major errors and logical lapses. Again, I think Hunt lays out a very logical and convincing argument.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/soapbox/soap060107.html
For reference, here's the Ain't It Cool news pro-HD-DVD post (unfortunately, it does not speak well for the HD-DVD camp).
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32838
For better balance, here's a post from DVD Talk that argues why the Blu-ray/HD-DVD format war is not over and that any pronouncements of a Blu-ray victory are "empty posturing." I disagree, but here's their article in favor of both formats.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/hd/index.html
And for another perspective, here's Audioholics' article arguing that both HD formats have already failed. (Of course, he actually wrote a similar article last year BEFORE either format had actually come out, and seems to be trying to justify his original article) Personally, I think some of the author's arguments are nonsensical because they are way premature. And he goes on with the fallacious SACD/DVD-A comparisons (it's a bad comparison simply because the music industry hardly ever did simultaneous releases with their biggest sellers, whereas nearly all of the recent top grossing movies will be getting concurrent releases on Blu-ray and/or HD-DVD). Unlike with high res audio, HD video discs are getting fair chance to succeed in the market. Unlike with SACD and DVD-A, if Blu-ray and HD-DVD fail, it won't be for lack of trying. The article's predictions might eventually come to fruition, but his reasoning as it stands right now leaves a lot to be desired. For anyone interested, here's the link.
http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/10-more-reasons-hd-dvd-failed
The studio support has also held steady, and the article linked below has some pretty compelling numbers indicating how the box office numbers break out by studio, whether you're talking about recent movies or "classic" titles, decidedly in favor of Blu-ray. The bottomline is that the total Blu-ray market (both exclusive and neutral studios) account for 89% of the total 2007 box office draw (YTD), while the HD-DVD market accounts for 47% of the 2007 YTD box office. And among the top 100 grossing movies of all-time, the total Blu-ray market potential comes out to 86%, compared to 42% for HD-DVD.
http://blog.pixelperfectproductions.com/?p=54
http://blog.pixelperfectproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/2007-ytd.gif
http://blog.pixelperfectproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/alltime.gif
For months, Bill Hunt at the Digital Bits has been arguing that HD-DVD cannot and will not win the format war if the market trends continue unchecked. More recently, he has posted his reasoning why Blu-ray is the HD format of choice. He wrote it in response to a post on Ain't It Cool News in favor of HD-DVD that he felt contained major errors and logical lapses. Again, I think Hunt lays out a very logical and convincing argument.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/soapbox/soap060107.html
For reference, here's the Ain't It Cool news pro-HD-DVD post (unfortunately, it does not speak well for the HD-DVD camp).
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32838
For better balance, here's a post from DVD Talk that argues why the Blu-ray/HD-DVD format war is not over and that any pronouncements of a Blu-ray victory are "empty posturing." I disagree, but here's their article in favor of both formats.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/hd/index.html
And for another perspective, here's Audioholics' article arguing that both HD formats have already failed. (Of course, he actually wrote a similar article last year BEFORE either format had actually come out, and seems to be trying to justify his original article) Personally, I think some of the author's arguments are nonsensical because they are way premature. And he goes on with the fallacious SACD/DVD-A comparisons (it's a bad comparison simply because the music industry hardly ever did simultaneous releases with their biggest sellers, whereas nearly all of the recent top grossing movies will be getting concurrent releases on Blu-ray and/or HD-DVD). Unlike with high res audio, HD video discs are getting fair chance to succeed in the market. Unlike with SACD and DVD-A, if Blu-ray and HD-DVD fail, it won't be for lack of trying. The article's predictions might eventually come to fruition, but his reasoning as it stands right now leaves a lot to be desired. For anyone interested, here's the link.
http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/10-more-reasons-hd-dvd-failed