Retailers not impressed with 2007 HD DVD or Blu-ray numbers

7 January 2008 11:42 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 6 comments

Despite the apparent optimism from studios and the consumer electronics industry, U.S. retailers aren't satisified with the growth of either Blu-ray or HD DVD in 2007. While sales were up from the previous year, title sales accounted for only 3.5% of packaged media sold last year.

According to Todd Zaganiacz, president of the National Entertainment Buying Group, sales still aren't high enough to sell retailers on either format. “I’ve talked to a handful of retailers who still aren’t doing HD. I don’t think anybody will ditch it, but there wasn’t enough of a bump to get anyone off the fence, or devote more space to either format.”

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey indicated that neither format has dominated rentals either. This would seem to validate those who question whether PS3 sales, which have grown at a significantly higher rate than either HD DVD players or non-PS3 Blu-ray players, should be counted in standalone player comparisons.

One thing retailers are convinced of right now is that there's more money to be made in standard definition DVDs. “DVD still gets top billing,” Zaganiacz said. “A lot of the retailers are doing the same as the consumers, and waiting.”

Source: Home Media Magazine
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/12386.cfm

Shocker.

Nothing new here. More reports of retailers & consumers waiting for the end of the format "war." Hopefully Warner Bros. just took us one step closer to that day.

You are using something from Afterdawn.com? I don't give them much credibility in anything, except in teaching people how to pirate discs and such. Might be a step above The National Enquirer, but not by much.

Nothing new here. More reports of retailers & consumers waiting for the end of the format "war." Hopefully Warner Bros. just took us one step closer to that day.
Exactly; with HD-DVD out of the way, Blu-Ray is full-steam ahead.

You are using something from Afterdawn.com? I don't give them much credibility in anything, except in teaching people how to pirate discs and such. Might be a step above The National Enquirer, but not by much.

The source is Home Media Magazine.

Exactly; with HD-DVD out of the way, Blu-Ray is full-steam ahead.

Gee . . . is it June 1st already?:confused:

Exactly; with HD-DVD out of the way, Blu-Ray is full-steam ahead.

Yep, 1 format = zero customer confusion.

Now it's time for BD to step up to the plate and start hammering away @ Toshiba's DVD royalties.

Gee . . . is it June 1st already?:confused:
Might as well be, with the way HD-DVD sales are tanking after WB's announcement.

http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/graphs/salesrank-time-1-1-recent144.jpg

The damage is done and irreversible.

Yep, 1 format = zero customer confusion.

Now it's time for BD to step up to the plate and start hammering away @ Toshiba's DVD royalties.

Good luck with that. DVDs aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Good luck with that. DVDs aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Of course not. But DVD sales are declining and HDM sales are rising, year over year.

Nothing new here. More reports of retailers & consumers waiting for the end of the format "war." Hopefully Warner Bros. just took us one step closer to that day.

No doubt

Of course not. But DVD sales are declining and HDM sales are rising, year over year.

The decline percentage difference utterly smashes the best we have seen from HDM.

Im hopeful that BD takes off because Im done with purchasing (I still rent) S DVDs, but I see BD being something that rivals, but never exceeds DVDs.

Funny Sam's Club is owned by the biggest retailer and they have had a huge increase in Blu-Ray shelf space.

Retailers are also in between a rock and BB/Amazon on pricing. I asked my local Fred Meyer(Krogers) to price match BB because BB was out of stock. Ratatouille MSRP $34.95 Krogers was $29.95 BB sale was $19.95 and the video manager claimed he could not price match because his cost was $24.95.

BB would have sold a lot more Blu_Ray if they had inventory.

Harry Potter was not even out for a month when Amazon had a BOGO at $19.95. I picked up the Blu-Ray HP 1 thru 4 for $39.90, not bricks and motar retailer is offering that good a deal.

Exactly; with HD-DVD out of the way, Blu-Ray is full-steam ahead.

Gotta love the fanboys. :D

You keep forgetting that Blu-ray still has no support from Universal or Paramount, both of which have some pretty heavy hitters left in their pocket to be released on HD-DVD. Try getting some perspective. Blu-ray has 60% of 1% of the market. As much as I love watching HDM releases (XA2 & PS3) these formats are going no where.

Might as well be, with the way HD-DVD sales are tanking after WB's announcement.
The damage is done and irreversible.

I cancelled my pre-order of Twister on HD-DVD and re-ordered it on Blu-Ray on Amazon. Interesting to note that the Blu-Ray release date was 2 days earlier than the HD-DVD release and this was on the day of the annoucement.

I'll snap up HD-DVD's at $5 on clearance.

According to Todd Zaganiacz, president of the National Entertainment Buying Group, sales still aren't high enough to sell retailers on either format. “I’ve talked to a handful of retailers who still aren’t doing HD. I don’t think anybody will ditch it, but there wasn’t enough of a bump to get anyone off the fence, or devote more space to either format.”

Interesting paragraph. Speaks volumes about what the CER's are doing in regards to HDM.

Might as well be, with the way HD-DVD sales are tanking after WB's announcement.

http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/graphs/salesrank-time-1-1-recent144.jpg

The damage is done and irreversible.

You do know Amazon has had a Blu-ray BOGO for a week now with close to a hundred titles...right?

You do know Amazon has had a Blu-ray BOGO for a week now with close to a hundred titles...right?
You do know that the same HD-DVD titles were available before and after the WB announcement, at the same prices, but sales took a nosedive?

Retailers not impressed with 2007 HD DVD or Blu-ray numbers

7 January 2008 11:42 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 6 comments

Despite the apparent optimism from studios and the consumer electronics industry, U.S. retailers aren't satisified with the growth of either Blu-ray or HD DVD in 2007. While sales were up from the previous year, title sales accounted for only 3.5% of packaged media sold last year.

According to Todd Zaganiacz, president of the National Entertainment Buying Group, sales still aren't high enough to sell retailers on either format. “I’ve talked to a handful of retailers who still aren’t doing HD. I don’t think anybody will ditch it, but there wasn’t enough of a bump to get anyone off the fence, or devote more space to either format.”

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey indicated that neither format has dominated rentals either. This would seem to validate those who question whether PS3 sales, which have grown at a significantly higher rate than either HD DVD players or non-PS3 Blu-ray players, should be counted in standalone player comparisons.

One thing retailers are convinced of right now is that there's more money to be made in standard definition DVDs. “DVD still gets top billing,” Zaganiacz said. “A lot of the retailers are doing the same as the consumers, and waiting.”

Source: Home Media Magazine

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/12386.cfm
Over the last quarter of 2007, this is what I have observed.

1. Target has increased their HDM section, favorable toward Blu-ray selections.
2. Wal-mart now carries HDM discs and players.(They did not have these in my 4 local Wal-marts until Q4 of 2007)
3. Best Buy, Circuit City and Frys have dramatically increased their shelf space for HDM discs.
4. Wal-Mart, Frys, Best Buy, Circuit City and Target now carry Day and Date HDM releases.

Even a local retailer named Fred Meyers carries Blu-ray players(BDP-S300 for $299) and HDM discs now.
.

Might as well be, with the way HD-DVD sales are tanking after WB's announcement.

http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/graphs/salesrank-time-1-1-recent144.jpg

The damage is done and irreversible.

Isn't Amazon having a BOGO sale on Blu-ray this week? This that has anything to do with this chart?

btw, I know they are because I just bought 4.

As much as I love watching HDM releases (XA2 & PS3) these formats are going no where.
You're 50% right; one of those formats is going nowhere.

Isn't Amazon having a BOGO sale on Blu-ray this week? This that has anything to do with this chart?

btw, I know they are because I just bought 4.

Best Buy and Circuit City had a B3G2 free on HD DVD's last week on any title.

Gotta love the fanboys. :D
Yeah, especially those who have zero clue about sales & marketing.

The fantasy that a falling DVD purchases mean anything but the same for HD media.............if they aren't buying DVDs then they sure as hell aren't going to buy HD media.

Translation - rentals & VoD will grow while media ownership flags.

Isn't Amazon having a BOGO sale on Blu-ray this week? This that has anything to do with this chart?

btw, I know they are because I just bought 4.
Amazon BOGO has nothing to do with the fact that Blu-Ray sales held their levels but HD-DVD sales dropped like a rock 48 hours after the WB announcement.

Over the last quarter of 2007, this is what I have observed.

1. Target has increased their HDM section, favorable toward Blu-ray selections.
2. Wal-mart now carries HDM discs and players.(They did not have these in my 4 local Wal-marts until Q4 of 2007)
3. Best Buy, Circuit City and Frys have dramatically increased their shelf space for HDM discs.
4. Wal-Mart, Frys, Best Buy, Circuit City and Target now carry Day and Date HDM releases.

Even a local retailer named Fred Meyers carries Blu-ray players(BDP-S300 for $299) and HDM discs now.
.

Retailers make more $ selling HDM than SD. Of course they are going to try to push it. Will the general public (non early adopters) buy it? That is the real question. The answer so far is...no.

Yeah, especially those who have zero clue about sales & marketing.

The fantasy that a falling DVD purchases mean anything but the same for HD media.............if they aren't buying DVDs then they sure as hell aren't going to buy HD media.

Translation - rentals & VoD will grow while media ownership flags.
I'd rather spend $9-13.99 on a Blu-ray disc and buy a $5-9.99 SD DVD.
May be the low sales of SD DVD is because people have bought Blu-ray players and are enjoying the $9-13.99 disc sales. :)

Yeah, especially those who have zero clue about sales & marketing.

The fantasy that a falling DVD purchases mean anything but the same for HD media.............if they aren't buying DVDs then they sure as hell aren't going to buy HD media.

Translation - rentals & VoD will grow while media ownership flags.

Or, rather we are in a slumping economy, so a 4% decline in DVD sales is something studios should be happy with, things could have been a lot worse this past holiday season for them based on our economy.

Gotta love the fanboys. :D

You keep forgetting that Blu-ray still has no support from Universal or Paramount, both of which have some pretty heavy hitters left in their pocket to be released on HD-DVD. Try getting some perspective. Blu-ray has 60% of 1% of the market. As much as I love watching HDM releases (XA2 & PS3) these formats are going no where.

Paramount was really a big help. Not. what did they release for catalog titles for hd dvd. let's see....face off, top gun, and that's about it. they took that $150m and released a couple of catalog titles in 4 months. So its not like they went into that agreement with guns a' blazing.

Gotta love the fanboys. :D

You keep forgetting that Blu-ray still has no support from Universal or Paramount, both of which have some pretty heavy hitters left in their pocket to be released on HD-DVD.

What are they waiting for? If they didn't release when HD DVD had a better chance of surviving, why would they do it now? Paramount and DreamWorks have been pretty quiet since they left BD. They basically got paid to release Transformers and Shrek 3. HD DVD got blind-sided right before CES. There's hardly been any mention of HD DVD. CES pretty much sets the tone for the year for consumers and retailers. Silence in this case is not golden.

Retailers make more $ selling HDM than SD. Of course they are going to try to push it. Will the general public (non early adopters) buy it? That is the real question. The answer so far is...no.
Of course the answer is no, we're still in the early adopter stages.

Why do people on AVS expect Blu-Ray to hit mainstream status in 10 nanoseconds?

Why do people on AVS expect Blu-Ray to hit mainstream status in 10 nanoseconds?

The same reason everyone thinks prices will suddenly skyrocket. ;)

Is that 3.5% number accurate?

If so, that's about 2.5% more than I thought it was.

Of course the answer is no, we're still in the early adopter stages.

Why do people on AVS expect Blu-Ray to hit mainstream status in 10 nanoseconds?

No one expects that, but it could very well be many years if things progress this slowly.. Especially if player prices don't come down. $400 for a Blu player is hardly in mainstream range.

What are they waiting for? If they didn't release when HD DVD had a better chance of surviving, why would they do it now? Paramount and DreamWorks have been pretty quiet since they left BD. They basically got paid to release Transformers and Shrek 3. HD DVD got blind-sided right before CES. There's hardly been any mention of HD DVD. CES pretty much sets the tone for the year for consumers and retailers. Silence in this case is not golden.

It sets the tone for retailers. The verdict is still out on what consumers will actually pay for.

It sets the tone for retailers. The verdict is still out on what consumers will actually pay for.

It sets the tone for consumers indirectly. If retailers don't hear a peep about HD DVD at CES, what are the chances they will buy into it. If HD DVD's retail presence shrinks, so will sales.

thats the whole reason warner ended this silly war. Otherwise everyone would sit out and wait for a winner.

I'll snap up HD-DVD's at $5 on clearance.


Works for me,that way I can enjoy them for years until the next format comes out.

The same reason everyone thinks prices will suddenly skyrocket. ;)
Well the players did jump from $270 to back over $300 over the weekend at amazon :D

Lets not forget the BDA has pretty much said the goal was to ream the consumer as much & for as long as possible.

thats the whole reason warner ended this silly war. Otherwise everyone would sit out and wait for a winner.

OK. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

They're not sitting out. They're buying DVDs.

What a stupid comparison. Of course the market is growing slowly and of course it won't even touch dvd as one year later neither did dvd to vhs. It's a growing market though in the context of people who have hdtvs (with the possible exception of the PS3) and that market is still roughly 35% of the existing tv market. So it's a market in a market not like dvd where you didn't need a special tv to play dvd.

You do know Amazon has had a Blu-ray BOGO for a week now with close to a hundred titles...right?

Ok, that partially explains the BR success, does it explain the HD DVD cliff jump?

From a casual consumer who is just recently venturing into the world of HD, here is my perspective -

It seems that sales for any HD format will continue to be pretty low until the mainstream population actually has HDTVs. Everyone is talking about the format war, as well as the competition between HD optical discs and just plain old DVDs.. and that people won't start adopting the HD discs until the players are cheaper. I completely agree with this.. but at the same time.. I think what first needs to happen is that the general population needs to get HDTVs. A lot of people do have them, but I would assume (as I do not have any data and this is just my personal belief) that the majority of tv-watchers still do not have HDTVs.

With prices on HDTVs getting cheaper by the day, it seems to only be a matter of time that most people do have them. But it takes a while for a whole population to adapt to new technologies, so it seems that these numbers around 3% will continue until mainstream consumers FIRST get the technology (HDTV) that are able to make use of such high-def players (Blu-ray/HD-DVD). And even then, people who finally purchase a HDTV might be hesitant to make another big purchase (Blu-ray/HD-DVD player), especially when the average consumer may be perfectly happen with the HD content they get from their cable/satellite subscriber.

Anyways, I'm no expert, and my view might be completely off base, but I thought it might be helpful to give you all the perspective of a casual consumer (since mostly everyone here seems to know a lot more about this stuff than me, I can assume that I am a better example of the mainstream consumer).

-Kickit

What a stupid comparison. Of course the market is growing slowly and of course it won't even touch dvd as one year later neither did dvd to vhs. It's a growing market though in the context of people who have hdtvs (with the possible exception of the PS3) and that market is still roughly 35% of the existing tv market. So it's a market in a market not like dvd where you didn't need a special tv to play dvd.

Very true, but it still doesn't bode well for HDM. Tough to get people to buy a $300 player for $30 discs let alone invest in a $1500 display first.

I'd rather spend $9-13.99 on a Blu-ray disc and buy a $5-9.99 SD DVD.
May be the low sales of SD DVD is because people have bought Blu-ray players and are enjoying the $9-13.99 disc sales. :)

The beauty of this is now that HD-DVD appears to be in decline and not a threat to BD you will be paying 39.99 for FOX titles again. No reason to BOGO anymore.

The beauty of this is now that HD-DVD appears to be in decline and not a threat to BD you will be paying 39.99 for FOX titles again. No reason to BOGO anymore.

Except you have to persuade the DVD masses to buy into that.

Might as well be, with the way HD-DVD sales are tanking after WB's announcement.

http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/graphs/salesrank-time-1-1-recent144.jpg

The damage is done and irreversible.

there are three things causing the high sales of blu-ray discs and decline in hd dvd purchases at amazon:

1) the sales appear to decline slowly starting thursday night (after about ten days of a buy one get one free hd dvd sale with approximately 40 titles available -- harry potter was available for approximately 3-4 of those day).

2) on sunday morning the sales drop more drastically. the amazon sale is over now -- i believe it was still going sunday morning, but i don't know about sunday afternoon.

3) blu-ray has been having a buy one get one free sale with approximately 80 titles for the past week, and harry potter has been in stock about 90% of the time (it was sold out for a short period of time -- around 12 to 24 hours).

Is that 3.5% number accurate?

If so, that's about 2.5% more than I thought it was.

Me too,

According to

http://www.dvdinformation.com/News/press/CES010807.htm

1.6266 billion units dvd units shipped in 2006 (didn't have 2007)

3.5% of that would be 57 million HDM units shipped. I Don't believe that number.

How come HD-DVD supporters used to post news that only disparaged Blu-Ray before the recent developments and now they post a lot of news simply disparaging HDM in general?

How come HD-DVD supporters used to post news that only disparaged Blu-Ray before the recent developments and now they post a lot of news simply disparaging HDM in general?

I'm not an HD-DVD supporter. I own both, but as blu-ray fanboys gloat in their delusions that the war is over, they need a dose of reality that long term, neither is going to surpass DVD anytime soon, and certainly not before other technologies surpasses them.

I'm not an HD-DVD supporter. I own both, but as blu-ray fanboys gloat in their delusions that the war is over, they need a dose of reality that long term, neither is going to surpass DVD anytime soon, and certainly not before other technologies surpasses them.

Truthfully, you wouldn't happen to prefer HD-DVD just a little bit over Blu-Ray would you?

On top of that, I believe I was talking about people posting this news, while you are just a poster in this thread.

A DVD vs HDM (whichever format it is) war won't really be a war since they are both controlled by the studios. If the studios want to push HDM on consumers they will just make HDM more appealing to buy. The easiest thing will be to give HDM one week of exclusivity on new releases. Those on the fence who are movie buffs would at that point hop on the HDM bus.

How come HD-DVD supporters used to post news that only disparaged Blu-Ray before the recent developments and now they post a lot of news simply disparaging HDM in general?http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2135/2175672541_320057e6e1_m.jpg

Truthfully, you wouldn't happen to prefer HD-DVD just a little bit over Blu-Ray would you?

On top of that, I believe I was talking about people posting this news, while you are just a poster in this thread.

In terms of quality they're about the same, though HD-DVD does have more features right now, Blu-ray should even things up with profile 2.0 so its a wash. In terms of better over all for the consumer, I despise the BDA. Their "profiles" has allowed CEs to maintain high price points for feature sets that should have been there from the start. So, I may not like HD-DVD more, but I certainly like the BDA a lot less.

Were you posting these threads when HD-DVD was still in the game. With two formats how could they be happy. I am sure that is a major reason WB chose a side. One format means mass adoption.

In terms of quality they're about the same, though HD-DVD does have more features right now, Blu-ray should even things up with profile 2.0 so its a wash. In terms of better over all for the consumer, I despise the BDA. Their "profiles" has allowed CEs to maintain high price points for feature sets that should have been there from the start. So, I may not like HD-DVD more, but I certainly like the BDA a lot less.

You like the BDA a lot less compared to what? If you are saying a lot less compared to HD-DVD, by definition that means you like HD-DVD more. In the end, the point I'm trying to make is that simply because you own two competing products, it doesn't mean you are unbiased. I'm frequently biased about one of many competing products I own, for example video game consoles. I still get the most hyped for my PS3 and the most disappointed when things don't go its way, even though I own all the other consoles out on the market.

Ultimately, I was disingenuously asking about why people have gone from posting bad things about Blu-Ray to bad things about HDM. I find it just a little bit amusing that the sentiment here has changed from a negativity towards one HD format to HD period.

This entire forum here on AVS was created just to talk about HD and has tallied hundreds of thousands of posts and millions of views by presumably, the people most passionate about HDM. With one swift move of a studio, some of that exuberance has inexplicably dissipated from some of its members, which is unfortunate.

Well the players did jump from $270 to back over $300 over the weekend at amazon :D

Lets not forget the BDA has pretty much said the goal was to ream the consumer as much & for as long as possible.

It's called the end of the holiday savings season (week after New Years). Everything everywhere goes back up in price.

You like the BDA a lot less compared to what? If you are saying a lot less compared to HD-DVD, by definition that means you like HD-DVD more. In the end, the point I'm trying to make is that simply because you own two competing products, it doesn't mean you are unbiased. I'm frequently biased about one of many competing products I own, for example video game consoles. I still get the most hyped for my PS3 and the most disappointed when things don't go its way, even though I own all the other consoles out on the market.

Ultimately, I was disingenuously asking about why people have gone from posting bad things about Blu-Ray to bad things about HDM. I find it just a little bit amusing that the sentiment here has changed from a negativity towards one HD format to HD period.

This entire forum here on AVS was created just to talk about HD and has tallied hundreds of thousands of posts and millions of views by presumably, the people most passionate about HDM. With one swift move of a studio, some of that exuberance has inexplicably dissipated from some of its members, which is unfortunate.

I hate BD, and I still want it to win now. I think some of us, like myself, are just being realistic. Coming anywhere near DVD is impossible. Im hoping it grows and I think it will, but most people dont care about HDM, are fine with S DVD and don't want to repurchase collections that are large and affordable.

Retailers not impressed with 2007 HD DVD or Blu-ray numbers7 January 2008 11:42 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 6 comments

Despite the apparent optimism from studios and the consumer electronics industry, U.S. retailers aren't satisified with the growth of either Blu-ray or HD DVD in 2007. While sales were up from the previous year, title sales accounted for only 3.5% of packaged media sold last year.

According to Todd Zaganiacz, president of the National Entertainment Buying Group, sales still aren't high enough to sell retailers on either format. “I’ve talked to a handful of retailers who still aren’t doing HD. I don’t think anybody will ditch it, but there wasn’t enough of a bump to get anyone off the fence, or devote more space to either format.”

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey indicated that neither format has dominated rentals either. This would seem to validate those who question whether PS3 sales, which have grown at a significantly higher rate than either HD DVD players or non-PS3 Blu-ray players, should be counted in standalone player comparisons.

One thing retailers are convinced of right now is that there's more money to be made in standard definition DVDs. “DVD still gets top billing,” Zaganiacz said. “A lot of the retailers are doing the same as the consumers, and waiting.”

Source: Home Media Magazine


http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/12386.cfm
HDM increased yes, going from nothing to 3-5% is an increase. But it wasn't the same increase that dvd sales declined by.

DVD sales decline might have more to do with the economy. OR $3 a gallon gas. That is leaving a lot of people hurting and without room in the budget to let little Johnny Jr splurge on the dvds displayed at the value-mart check out.

It may just be the overall home video offerings aren't as tempting as they once were. We get big day and date seller (POTC3, Transformers, DH4, Bourne) on dvd, but something the studio have been finding out since 2002-3 is new movies have shorter and shorter shelf lives, for whatever reasons. Maybe it was re-releasing extended director cuts/ Special Editions 6 months after the initial release burned to many buyers. Who knows. (Disney was very smart to offer a cash rebate for buyers of the original dvd release when they issued the special edition Narnia set.)

Maybe HDM insecurity hurt the DVD market, I doubt it, but it could be true. I think the DVD sales trend has been declining long before HDM showed up. Studios have keep up the volume of sales with the bargain bin specials ($5-10) but eventually the market gets saturated and they reach all of the customers they can reach in that manner.
Catalog releases are not a big sellers and new releases vital shelf life is becoming catalog releases sooner each cycle. IMHO this is what the studios and pundits need to examine more closely.

Over the last quarter of 2007, this is what I have observed.

1. Target has increased their HDM section, favorable toward Blu-ray selections.
2. Wal-mart now carries HDM discs and players.(They did not have these in my 4 local Wal-marts until Q4 of 2007)
3. Best Buy, Circuit City and Frys have dramatically increased their shelf space for HDM discs.
4. Wal-Mart, Frys, Best Buy, Circuit City and Target now carry Day and Date HDM releases.

Even a local retailer named Fred Meyers carries Blu-ray players(BDP-S300 for $299) and HDM discs now.
.

It is actually Fred Meyer (no s, sorry it just bugs me). i haven't seen the BR player advertised at that price (and i like Fred Meyer, though they were better before the Kroger buyout). i thought it was going for $399.99. Though their prices tend to be about $5-10 dollars higher than AMZN. i don't shop B&M so, i couldn't be sure. i think the expanded shelf space is more of an indicator of one or two things
1) The studios are paying for shelf space
2) The mark-up at retail on HDM are huge (way bigger than anything they could get with DVD). i view mark-ups of more than 25% to be excessive (i suspect this is the case, and this is just an example of stores fleecing the buying public).

This thread is just more of the same thats been discussed to death. Everyone here is aware of it...why re-hash it over and over.

Well the numbers are in . . .

2007 DVD - $24 Billion

2007 HDM - $300 million.

That's about 1.5%

I can see why retailers are not impressed.

For comparison's (and honesty's) sake, what was the 1998 VHS and DVD revenue? That's roughly the same timeframe as we're talking about.

No wonder Warner wanted to end this war quick. A stalemate doesnt help anyone.

For comparison's (and honesty's) sake, what was the 1998 VHS and DVD revenue? That's roughly the same timeframe as we're talking about.

DVD was fighting an aged format with many downfalls (lesser in all ways, film deteriorates, rewind) and little competition.

BD had/has to deal with HD DVD, VOD, iTunes movies, kids being more interested in their PC or iPod vs HDM player, not too mention the biggest challenge, DVD and DVD upscalers.

For all its awesome upgrades, HDM (BD) is still a prettier looking and sounding version of DVD with a much higher price tag....

For comparison's (and honesty's) sake, what was the 1998 VHS and DVD revenue? That's roughly the same timeframe as we're talking about.

You may feel that the past is relevant but I can pretty much guarantee you that CER's don't. They care about today and the next quarter. How much money are they making so they can pay the bills and show a profit.

So you have nothing then. Okay.

So you have nothing then. Okay.

See my response. And Im almost positive they did a little worse, but were really close.

So really HDM is making better progress than DVD.

So really HDM is making better progress than DVD.


Not really.

There were about 1.4 million DVD players at the end of 1998.

Ther are 4.5 million HDM players at the end of 2007 - same time frame as far as formats

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/31/business/31dvd.php

Well the numbers are in . . .

2007 DVD - $24 Billion

2007 HDM - $300 million.

That's about 1.5%

I can see why retailers are not impressed.

*sigh* Well, it looks like HDM is not going to achieve "critical mass" anytime soon. I just don't see the ps3 flying off the shelves at Walmart.:rolleyes:
Oh well...at least I can copy my favorite HD movies to my new HD-DVR until the next HD delivery vehicle comes along.

Nothing new here. More reports of retailers & consumers waiting for the end of the format "war." Hopefully Warner Bros. just took us one step closer to that day.


Your conclusion is correct. We have held off buying a new HI Def format until the war ends and there is a CLEAR WINNER. With WB's announcement that reality took a giant leap forward towards Blu Ray taking the honors. We bought an OPPO 891 to tide us over in the mean time.

Having been on the losing end of format wars in the past, I determined to let the studios and manufacturing companies use there own darn money instead of mine for a change to duke it out with and once it was over, only then would I finally bite the bullet. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me TWICE, shame on ME.

I am reading a lot of crying and complaining posts from disgruntled HDDVD owners who are now owners of a dying/soon to be dead format. Many bought in on the Christmas fire sale and are now experiencing "buyers remorse". The reality is in a format war one side ultimately ALWAYS LOSES and those who bought the losing format are stuck with it. Having been in this position before, all I can say is "live and learn", chalk it up to experience and move on. Hopefully, WHEN (not if) the next format war takes place, you will have learned your lesson and determined, like me, to let the studios and manufacturing companies use there own darn money instead of YOURS for a change to duke it out with and once it ends with a clear victor, only then make a decision. That way, you won't get burned.