Since the launch of movie titles on Blu-ray, sales have been reported to be encouraging with 15% to 20% of Sony Pictures' initial Blu-ray shipments already sold. Five of the Blu-ray titles sold around 15,000 copies each. The online retailer DVDEmpire.com was rather surprised to see how quickly their Blu-ray titles Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day have sold out due to the sheer number of pre-orders and sales from the Blu-ray launch.
On the other hand, hardware sales of the Samsung Blu-ray player are still fairly sluggish, which basically means that the vast majority of consumers who are purchasing Blu-ray titles do not already have a Blu-ray disc player. It seems like these consumers are either preparing for the launch of the PS3 in November as a budget Blu-ray disc player or for other players to come out later on. Even the retailers seem rather surprised with how quickly the Blu-ray titles are selling compard with the sporadic sales of the Samsung player. So far, Best Buy in Los Angeles is the first to sell out its Blu-ray player stock.
Unfortunately, with Samsung's player given some bad reviews about its "muddy picture" and poor DVD upscaling, it seems like this has affected their sales, especially with some stores reporting much faster HD DVD player sales. For example, Value Electronics who specialises in HDTV sets has so far reported to have sold only two of their twelve Blu-ray players in-stock, but are overwhelmed with HD DVD player sales with 3,000 orders since the HD DVD launch and only 700 players shipped due to short supplies.
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Hardware sales reports, meanwhile, were more mixed. Ben Feingold, worldwide president of SPHE, was cautiously optimistic about the studio's Blu-ray launch, which included XXX, House of Flying Daggers, Underworld: Evolution, 50 First Dates and Hitch. The studio shipped around 15,000 units of each title. Feingold said the studio is 'reformatting" its Blu-ray slate now that Sony Electronics has delayed the release of its Blu-ray player until October. Going forward, the studio plans to release its movies on Blu-ray day and date with the DVD release, which Feingold said should drive sales. The full source article can be read here. |
Hopefully when consumers are buying a HD DVD or Blu-ray disc that they realise these will not play in a DVD player. Chances are that some consumers will just read the movie title, buy the disc and not realise until they pop the disc in that what they bought ain't a DVD! :p
Going by the number of sales of the average Blu-ray title, it looks like they will easily take the lead, especially once more titles become available. However, if one looks at the sales of players alone, HD DVD seems to be way head here despite offering a sluggish huge player.
Source: Video Business Online
LOL! I just checked bestbuy.ca and they have all this rubbish in stock. HD-DVD titles are more numerous and cheaper in avarage. "lol" is related to the massive confusion, as they list both formats as regular DVDs in the "details". So technically, you can go buy them, play and then return, as it wouldnt play on your granny's Magnasonic. Best buy indeed.
P.S. I suppose ppl really buy hd-dvd titles hoping for better pic since they got widescreen tvs "ready" LOL sarcastically...
Oh yes. You see, sometimes we forget that not every people is a geek in this things and that makes a whole lot a difference. And why is that? because average Joe, had listen about HD movies but they're not sufficiently informed about what they have to buy: tv sets, players etc They (avg. Joe) think they just can buy the movie, pop into dvd player and that's it. I'm telling this because a friend of mine works in a major retailer and that's what's happeningChances are that some consumers will just read the movie title, buy the disc and not realise until they pop the disc in that what they bought ain't a DVD!
Because they are set on a different display and somewhat more expensive. Level the prices and mix them up - and you'll get same, if not better sales. 
Cheers.
Not true! You would be surprised how the average Joe blow has that stuff, none of my friends are computer geeks and some of them have that stuff, i have even had to train them how to use there computers. I have a friend who is a complete moron when it comes to computers and he does this stuff, people want to protect there investments and they need to beable to back up there content with out paying extra, most f them are on fixed incomes and can barely afford DVDs. so they need the protection. those $15,000 units sold were most likely the rich in the first place, cause the average joe does not buy stuff when it first hits they wait. Most of my friends waited till DVD players hit $30 to buy one. I waited till $150. Only the rich buy at $500-$1000.
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