Blu-ray outselling HD DVD 2 to 1 this year

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 16th 2007 at 11:30AM }

According to Home Media Research, Blu-ray outsold HD DVD 2-to-1 in the US during the first half of '07. If you want the big numbers, it's 1.6 million Blu-ray units compared to 795,000 HD DVD units. If those numbers are too big, just take a look at the recent release of 300, which sold 190,000 units on Blu-ray and 97,000 on HD DVD.

Perhaps these two formats can seek peaceful coexistence, but as things stand right now, Blockbuster has gone Blu-ray and so have some retailers. We really don't care who wins the movie format war, but we'd prefer people spending their money on a couple extra games instead of possibly throwing their money away on a console attachment for a ~~dying~~ not-selling-as-well format.

[Via GameDaily]

Tags: bluray, hddvd, ps3, xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

gr @ Aug 16th 2007 11:34AM

haha now to wait for the hd dvd camp to chime in.

Jerk Face @ Aug 16th 2007 11:38AM

OMG BLU RAYS ARE TOTALLY THE WORST KIND OF RAYS HD DVD IS THE MOST AWESOME KIND OF DVD EVER GUYS IM TOTALLY SERIOUS LOL HD DVD DOESN'T EVEN NEED TO SELL AS MANY AS BLU RAY BECAUSE THEY ARE SO AWESOME AND THEY WANT TO STAY HIGH CLASSED AND 1337 JUST THE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE IT LOL

Patrick @ Aug 16th 2007 11:39AM

id like to see hddvd in seeing as how it is better for consumers (ala ethernet required, pricing, etc) but i dont really care to the point of fanboyism. but this is exactly why i didnt plunk down for either, buy one next holiday, 2008, when a clear winner is determined and titles come down in price with a big catalog

T3H WICKERMAN @ Aug 16th 2007 11:40AM

Idiot you know hd is far superior !!! ur just a fanboy wait til microsoft puts out the beta player for the 360! playstation will get pwnd! Beta MaXX FTW!!! ;)

kinshadow @ Aug 16th 2007 11:54AM

@T3H WICKERMAN Beta Max is a Sony format.

Mystic @ Aug 16th 2007 12:21PM

STFU fanboy. BTW, how did you like the BlueScreen PIP? Oh wait, BR didn't have that!

T3H WICKERMAN @ Aug 16th 2007 12:34PM

OMGZ UMDz AND THE BETA MAXX TEH BEST!

morganfell @ Aug 16th 2007 12:34PM

Just for you Mystic:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Disney/Pixar/Exclusive_HD_Content/High-Def_Disc_Marketing/Disney_Previews_Cars_Blu-ray_Interactive_Features/856

steve @ Aug 16th 2007 12:56PM

I honestly don't care. I got a HD-DVD player for free with my plasma. I've bought a few movies for it, which I enjoy. If hd-dvd goes out of style, I'll be able to buy a bunch of HD-DVD's at bargin prices. Sounds good to me. Then I'll actually buy a blu-ray player, or a PS3 if it comes out with some good games. Either way, I've got a free DVD player out of the deal.

DarthDavid @ Aug 16th 2007 11:35AM

Blu-ray all the way! Still early but Blu-ray seems to be in lead, this holiday season we will see a winner.

Anonim @ Aug 16th 2007 11:51AM

"We really don't care who wins the movie format war, but we'd prefer people spending their money on a couple extra games instead of possibly throwing their money away on a console attachment for a dying not-selling-as-well format."

Dear Joystiq.
PS3 is "a dying not-selling-as-well" console.

Do you prefer people to spend their money on Wii and X360?

craig @ Aug 16th 2007 11:37AM

Does anyone else hate how many "anti-theft stickers" are placed on retail disks these days? I got Reservoir Dogs on Blu Ray and by the time I got all of the stickers off, my case was nearly destroyed.

Vidikron @ Aug 16th 2007 11:44AM

Yes, I despise that. Is it really necessary to put a sticker on every side of the case?

tcc3 @ Aug 16th 2007 1:42PM

I have said many times I would gladly pay an extra $5 to not have to remove all the security stickers

This goes for games too.

Brymo @ Aug 16th 2007 11:39AM

Take into account how many PS3's are being sold.

If people have a PS3 they will buy BR, pretty obvious.

Patrick @ Aug 16th 2007 11:42AM

ummm no? if they by a dedicated player, then yeah it is obvious they will buy one, but like that recent survey showed, many a gamer dont know about the bluray drive in ps3

DSR7997 @ Aug 16th 2007 11:56AM

I agree and if were not for Blu-Ray I would hardly even turn on my PS3

Ska Oreo @ Aug 16th 2007 11:59AM

yeah that's basically it. Ps3 is helping blu-ray, but blu-ray isn't helping the ps3 at all.

Sircolby45 @ Aug 16th 2007 12:12PM

Attach rates say different.

joeyg @ Aug 16th 2007 11:39AM

I'd prefer that people didn't buy movies at all...actors are overpaid, and movies are overpriced.

I can't wait for there to be a digital format..that's when we get stuff for free :)

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 16th 2007 12:35PM

pirate

Konny @ Aug 16th 2007 11:39AM

O man, if MS had put an HD-DVD drive in the 360, BD would have been still born... the lack of integration, even, with the new iterations tells you how much faith they have in HD-DVD.

Ska Oreo @ Aug 16th 2007 1:17PM

yeah but then I'd have to pay $600 for a 360. That would be lame.

E.J. @ Aug 16th 2007 3:50PM

If that were the case, I'm sure the 360 would have had multiple price cuts by now considering the price of HD-DVD players nowadays.

I hate pointing this out, but there's nothing to buy for PS3 right now besides movies for its Blu-Ray player. People are buying BRD movies for their PS3s because there are few (good) games for it at the moment. Us PS3 owners have to use our $600 investment for something!

mr nimblewick @ Aug 16th 2007 11:39AM

Does that include PS3 sales?

Crono @ Aug 16th 2007 12:01PM

Thats what I was wondering. If it does, then Blu-Ray is actually in much worse shape than it appears, as the people who are buying stand-alone players prefer HD-DVD.

This format war is far from over.

Microdot @ Aug 16th 2007 1:22PM

include ps3 sales for what??? he is talking about MOVIE SALES.... not players.

catch up with the rest of the class already.

mr nimblewick @ Aug 16th 2007 2:14PM

Oh lookit dat!

I'm so used to them talking about hardware I didn't realize they meant actual movies.

"According to Home Media Research, Blu-ray outsold HD DVD 2-to-1 in the US during the first half of '07. If you want the big numbers, it's 1.6 million Blu-ray units compared to 795,000 HD DVD units."

That beginning doesn't really specify either.

Mr Slavio @ Aug 16th 2007 11:40AM

Here we go again...

baby sea tuna @ Aug 16th 2007 11:40AM

Eh, I'm happy with my HD-DVD and if the format does end up getting canned, I'll still be able to get a bunch of good looking movies on the cheap.

Either way, I don't understand why people on here take this format war so damn personally. I mean, unless you're a stockholder or something...

Ali @ Aug 16th 2007 11:41AM

Who buys all these Blu-rays, I've got a PS3 but I hell as like pay an extra 10 euros for a Blu-ray disk that is almost the same as a DVD. If the price was the same i'd consider it.

Don't get me wrong its a great format gives developers and movie producers space, but still there way to expensive.

OuroborosATX @ Aug 16th 2007 12:09PM

Okay, this scares me:
"almost the same as a DVD".

Have you seen any HD content? I'm not even talking about HD-DVD versus Blu-ray because they both look gorgeous, but really HD is totally gorgeous. Even when its "only 720p" The color depth, the clarity of picture are so far and above SD.

I can't buy the Heroes DVD because the show was so amazing on TV in HD, and I can't bear to look at it in SD. I could buy the HD-DVD but I can't bring myself to put money into the format because I don't know if its going to last... But I'm still really tempted to get the 360 add-on just for that set.

Crono @ Aug 16th 2007 3:21PM

Why does that scare you? Someone unaware of the inhereint superiority of HD over SD should not elicit a fear response from anyone.

Mister Kay @ Sep 8th 2007 1:07AM

@OuroborosATX

I pretty much did just that... I also picked up about 10 other movies in the process... I'm addicted to HD DVD now... I don't even want to watch the SD versions of things anymore. I watched 7 hours straight of Heroes the other day before I realized how much time had passed. Most of my all-time favourites are on HD DVD anyway, Being John Malkovich ftw!

I'm eagerly awaiting Season 1 of Battlestar now. Why must December be so far away?

Farseer @ Aug 16th 2007 11:41AM

I'm just hoping to see a victor soon. I kick myself in the ass constantly for being an early adapter, so I refuse to buy a single "next gen" disc until I know which one will be fading away.

Also, I don't have a monitor that pushes 1080p anyway - the closest I can get is 720p, but it rests on 1080i for the most part (and we all know that if it's not progressive scan, then it is not "true HD")
:)

Captain Jody Anthony XVIII @ Aug 16th 2007 11:41AM

i support blu-ray because it has a cooler name than hd-dvd

Patrick @ Aug 16th 2007 11:45AM

umm how bout NOT!!!!!! geez, anyone would tell you hddvd has the better name!!!!. god, you fail at opinions.... rofl

Captain Jody Anthony XVIII @ Aug 16th 2007 11:47AM

well i heard that hd-dvds are programmed to stop working after a year forcing you to buy another copy purple monkey dishwasher

Sircolby45 @ Aug 16th 2007 12:15PM

Captain it sounds like you have ran into a FUD campaign. Spreading FUD = Spreading Fear Uncertainty Doubt

In other words what you "heard" is a bunch of BS.

Captain Jody Anthony XVIII @ Aug 16th 2007 12:23PM

sircolby
joke - 'johk'
verb
something that is amusing or ridiculous, esp. because of being ludicrously inadequate or a sham; a thing, situation, or person laughed at rather than taken seriously; farce:

The Dave @ Aug 16th 2007 11:42AM

HD disc sales are accounting for over 2% of movie sales now, and recently outstripped VHS sales.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but it means that the HD formats are now second only to DVD. I don't think we'll see a clear winner until a single format accounts for 15% more than the other format (BD getting 30% of disc sales to HD DVDs 15% or vice versa) I guess it's pretty doubtful they'll reach that amount by the holiday season, but we should get a pretty good idea of which one to invest in.

EngadgetHD ftw

Grog @ Aug 16th 2007 11:42AM

Sorry, Sony, but this is bad news still. Why? Well, despite selling considerably better than HD DVD players, Blu-Ray still isn't selling well. This 1.6 figure is, I'm assuming, from January 2007 through June 2007. In that period of time, according to VG Charts, Sony managed to sell ~700k-800k PS3s. That means that in 6 months they were only able to move 800k-900k standalone units.

All of this means that most people, like me, still don't want to buy an expensive HD player to replace their DVD players. And if HD disc formats don't catch on soon, it'll only be a few years before digital copies become the prevalent form a la iTunes...

Evan @ Aug 16th 2007 3:22PM

Why is Grog's comment getting negative hearts? It's absolutely true!

300 sold under 300,000 HD disks. Major standard-definition DVD releases sell 3 to 5 *MILLION* in the first week! Think about that - one popular movie can sell as many DVDs in one week as all Blu-Ray and HD DVD disks combined have sold in a year (3.7 million)!

felixlighter @ Aug 16th 2007 11:46AM

The writing is definitely on the wall for HD-DVD but BluRay has a much bigger obstacle. A single movie on DVD can sell more copies than the entire BluRay library did this year 20 times over.

It will be a long time until BluRay becomes the default media for movies.

Liqwid @ Aug 16th 2007 11:46AM

Does this have anything to do with games?

Ska Oreo @ Aug 16th 2007 1:24PM

no. The format wars will not decide who wins the console wars. Since HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players are getting inexpensive by the minute, there is really no point in buying any console to play movies.

Jake @ Aug 16th 2007 11:47AM

Until the day that one format gets every single HD movie I will not buy a player. The PS3 I guess is an exception because it plays games and you're only being taxed a couple hundred dollars for bluray, which helps games a bit too.

But this format war is just holding HD back, with digital distribution, dual format players, and affordable HD-DVD players and computer drives on the horizon looking to confuse this thing even more. It is good that one format is "winning", but it isn't good that it is really not selling much itself.