Source: TVWeek.com (http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=691)

Owners of Toshiba HD DVD players staged a group buy of popular home video titles this week in an effort to show support for the format.

A group of AVS Forum members banded together to purchase a large number of HD DVD titles from Amazon.com on April 15-the one-year anniversary of the release of the first Toshiba HD DVD player.

The group claims to have purchased nearly 1,000 HD DVD titles from Amazon.com and, temporarily at least, catapulted HD DVD sales past the rival Sony Blu-ray format. At least one title, the BBC version of "Planet Earth," went into the Amazon.com Top 5, a first for any high-def title.

AVS continues to get recognized as having a big impact on purchase decisions of Home Theater related products.

A great symbolic gesture, but if it was high enough, it might have skewed the previous weeks and following weeks' sales numbers.

CR got as high as #005, not #006. But it was an intra-day high post street date.

CR didn't hit 5

Hi Michael,

I saw in your signature that someone lost a bet and would be smashing their PS3 on youtube. How can I find that video?

Thanks

Hi Michael,

I saw in your signature that someone lost a bet and would be smashing their PS3 on youtube. How can I find that video?

Thanks

come on people. leave him be. we are happy with PE hits # 4. A PS3 is not cheap you know !! :p

These support your format for the sake of supporting your format buys are retarded.

Well they can take screenshots of the "war" and show it to the grandchildren some day. :p

What do the other stores' numbers look like? Logic says there would be a drop in sales at every store besides Amazon. I am not too sure that is intelligent.

Sales are sales. Still got the credit for catapulting a HD-DVD title into #5 for the first time ever. I don't think the young PS3 gamers care enough about their format to even round up such a group buy.


I also bought KK at Circuit City that day, beside the PE and Scanner Darkly I bought at Amazon.

Weren't these just pre-orders that can be easily canceled?

Take off the tinfoil hat

Weren't these just pre-orders that can be easily canceled?
The BD or HD sales?

Take off the tinfoil hat


They weren't pre-orders or they can't easily be canceled?

I suggest waiting until the official numbers come out before dancing in the streets.


Respectfully,
J

Don't get me wrong - it is nice to see AVS having some effect, but the U.S. population is now over 300 million. If 1000 orders can propel HD DVD into the lead (even if it's just on Amazon) , even for a day or two it gives us some perspective as to just how small these formats really are.

Cheers,

Grant

Why is veryone saying HD-DVD took the sales lead? HD-DVD did not. HD-DVD momentarily took a rank lead at Amazon.com.


We'll see who won in sales when Nielsen comes out. ;)


A direct quote from the OP's article that is very telling:

“The rising tide of Blu-ray sales has caused Toshiba owners to worry that their recently purchased players may become obsolete.”

I've also noticed that the April 15th celebration is starting to get some recognition from sites such as PC World. This particular article from gizmodo.com (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/format-war-soliders-syncd-hd+dvd-purchase-by-fanboys-spike-amazon-rank-blu+rayers-set-to-retaliate-253131.php) especially caught my attention: :D

... And as you can see, HD-DVD's sales rank broke out of its second tier title sales rank on Amazon, if only for a day.

Funny enough, on the other side of the fence, on AVSforum's Blu-ray Fanboys, as well as those on PS3 forums are planning a retaliatory synchronized buy soon.

One thing's for sure in the format war. HD-DVD's fanboys are far more original and spirited.

They weren't pre-orders or they can't easily be canceled?

I suggest waiting until the official numbers come out before dancing in the streets.


Respectfully,
J

Take your own pill of advice and refrain from the snide comments and let the numbers speak for themselves.

I think is bad publicity for HD-DVD; it tells the movie studios that any sales increase is not indicative of general popularity or sustainability, just a bunch of fanboys.

By the way, calling a fanboy "spirited" is not a compliment, its just means you are more of an extreme fanboy.

lol, I think Sony and PS3 is synonymous with the name "Fan boy"

Don't worry. No body will take anything away from you and your precious :)

Jeebus people, drop the partisan BS already in every single thread in the HDTV Software forums.

Just sit back and enjoy the fact that a collective group of people here on AVSForum got some attention from various people outside these walls. That's why Rich posted this, not to say "Nee nee nee, HD DVD is the best, it's uber alles and Blu-ray sucks!" If the same happened or happens in the future with Blu-ray, then fantastic, it brings more people's attention to the HD scene and maybe even to these forums. Right now, we HD consumers are the tiny minority, we need to have a "the more the merrier" attitude, regardless of the format. The more attention either format gets, the better it is for all us HD lovers. You'd be surprised how many people have never heard of or don't have a clue what HD DVD or Blu-ray are.

I think is bad publicity for HD-DVD; it tells the movie studios that any sales increase is not indicative of general popularity or sustainability, just a bunch of fanboys.

By the way, calling a fanboy "spirited" is not a compliment, its just means you are more of an extreme fanboy.
:p :p :p

Yup, I'm sure a free, unexpected, positive PR event for HD DVD staged by it's actual users couldn't be worse for the format. :rolleyes:

Got Envy?

Well, only 4 more days till the Videoscan numbers come out.

It looks pretty even for the week on Amazon. It'll be pretty interesting to see how the various numbers companies jibe.

http://www.CampaignHD.com/images/070421_Top10_45.png

Well, only 4 more days till the Videoscan numbers come out.

It looks pretty even for the week on Amazon. It'll be pretty interesting to see how the various numbers companies jibe.

http://www.CampaignHD.com/images/070421_Top10_45.png


Hm. Blu-ray trended right back past HD DVD again. I guess saving up all your movies to buy for one week from several can give a brief hiccup above Blu-ray afterall...

Then again, if so many people wait weeks to buy all their movies at once and they have only a brief and somewhat small (by comparison) jump over the competition, I think Bennie in The Mummy said it best.

"Lord Imhotep thanks you for your sacrifice of your eyes and tongue, but MORE is required!"

looks like HD DVD is settling into a higher sales plateau.

Hm. Blu-ray trended right back past HD DVD again. I guess saving up all your movies to buy for one week from several can give a brief hiccup above Blu-ray afterall...

Then again, if so many people wait weeks to buy all their movies at once and they have only a brief and somewhat small (by comparison) jump over the competition, I think Bennie in The Mummy said it best.

"Lord Imhotep thanks you for your sacrifice of your eyes and tongue, but MORE is required!"

[HD DVD partisan mode] Just keep in mind that if you want to see Bennie say that in full 1080P you’re going to need an HD DVD Player to do so. [/HD DVD partisan mode]

All kidding aside I think it’s great that the HD DVD group buy has been recognized beyond these forums. I just wish some of the reporting was a little more honest. I’ve seen many reports regarding the GB, but I’ve not seen one that lists the facts as they are. It is always inferred that the GB was organized just to piss off Blu-ray fans or because people were worried about HD DVD going extinct.

The GB was organized primarily to celebrate the one year anniversary of HD DVD and not because people were worried that their new Toshiba HD DVD players were going the way of the dinosaur. Perhaps some were worried about HD DVD sales of late and I know more than a few were happy that the GB generated some gnashing of teeth with the Blu-ray crowd. But those are all ancillary items and the GB date was set to commemorate HD DVDs birthday. If the entire idea was to piss off BD supporters there was no need to wait for April 15th. It also would’ve been smart to target a specific title, but no such directive was made. It simply came down to, “support your format and celebrate one years of HDM by purchasing a new film.”

I was happy when CR shipped 100,000 copies on BD and I’m happy that this GB garnered some attention. Both situations brought High Definition Media into the spotlight and I think that’s a good thing. It’s unfortunate that so many on these boards can’t be happy with a victory for HDM unless it is their chosen HDM that benefits. Sad, immature and detrimental to the HDM cause.

OK, I have a question. Since the HD-DVD version of Planet Earth has pretty much stayed in the top 10 since the group buy, doesn't it seem like the group buy really didn't have a huge impact on Amazon sales even for that title? Would it be more accurate to say the group buy moved it up a few notches over what it would have been otherwise rather than to say we propelled it into the top 5? Isn't that a bit of an overstatement?

Edit: I just checked and now the HD-DVD version is at #5 at Amazon and BD is at #9.