We say the subject line with all due respect and with this in mind: the numbers for either format aren't exactly mammoth. So, we got this e-mail that gives us a briefing of recent Blu-ray and HD DVD activity. We'll give you the basic results with oddly specific numbers. You can check out the full report for other bits of data and quotes we're leaving out for no particular reason.- The first quarter had 70% of consumers buying Blu-ray format discs. The other 30% was, obviously, HD DVD.
- Consumers choose Blu-ray between the two. Using "The Departed" as a test (it was released on both formats on the same day... Feb. 13) until the end of March yielded these results: 53,640 copies were sold on Blu-ray and 31,590 were sold on HD DVD. So... it sold more, but yawn! What low numbers for either format. It's going to be a while before these HD things take off.
- 8 of the top 10 bestselling films in the past quarter were on the Blu-ray discs... well, bestselling in the next-gen format category. We're sure 10 of the 10 were on DVD.
- How about total sales numbers from Jan. 1 - March 31? Here: about 1.2 million discs were sold. The number of those given to Blu-ray total around 832,530. The rest were HD DVD (359,300).
Our only issue with this war of movies or whatever is that, while the gap between the two is widening in favor of Blu-ray, neither are penetrating very greatly. Despite that, Blu-ray is winning and will probably continue to do so and that will be great. Maybe we'll get a Blu-ray copy of Children of Men after all.
