Available movies for studios: HD-BR

[mtrycrafts]

An interesting thread outlining how many movies are in studios' catalogs and formats they would be printed in.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=982323

with some studios doing both formats, HD may be far from being dead?

 

[j_garcia]

Hardware sales should be an indicator as well, and according to sales figures, since Warner's shift, 93% of hardware sales have been Blu. Doesn't matter if they have 75% of the titles if they don't get them out there or if people don't want to watch any of them.

 

[allargon]

Check those figures again. NPD themselves says it was due to bundling.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/warnerswitch012308.htm

Warner Not Linked to Blu-ray Sales Gain?
Blu-ray dominates high-def market share in week after the studio endorsement.
By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (January 23, 2008) -- Blu-ray players captured a 90 percent market share in the week after Warner Bros. announced it was endorsing the high-def disc format in its battle against HD DVD.

However, NPD Group, the research firm that provided those numbers, tells TWICE Magazine that the Warner endorsement may not be responsible for the Blu-ray sales boost.

In the week prior to the studio switch, Blu-ray and HD DVD players sold roughly the same number of high-def disc players. (Warner announced on January 4 that it would stop releasing films in both formats and would support Blu-ray exclusively starting this May.)

But NPD's Stephen Baker said the Blu-ray sales gain could be due to special promotions offered during the week by retailers.


“We’ve been doing weekly data for a long time, and we often times will see big shifts in sales for one week that doesn’t necessarily determine a trend,” Baker told the magazine. "There were some promotions in the marketplace during that week with Sharp and Sony bundling Blu-ray players with televisions — it seems to me unlikely that consumers would have made that kind of a choice that quickly based on new reports of Warner Bros. shifting from Blu-ray and HD DVD to Blu-ray exclusively.”

Blu-ray's dominance in player sales for the week ending January 12 is unprecedented in the high-def disc category since the two formats launched in the spring of 2006.

NPD said Blu-ray players captured 90 percent of unit and dollar sales for the week, compared to seven percent unit and four percent dollar share for HD DVD, according to TWICE. (The other three percent of unit sales were for dual-format players.)

According to NPD Group, 21,770 Blu-ray players were sold during the week ending January 12, compared to just 1,758 HD DVD players. (Sales of Play Station 3 consoles, which have Blu-ray players inside, were not included in the study.)

Warner's Blu-ray nod gave the format a 5-2 'major studio' advantage over HD DVD.

In the week prior to the Warner announcement, Blu-ray sold 15,257 units compared to 14,558 for HD DVD.

Toshiba, the leading HD DVD backer, last week announced that it was dramatically dropping prices on HD DVD players, with some now under $200. The next week of data should indicate whether Toshiba's decision will slow Blu-ray's new sales dominance.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

The only real way to judge the quality of a given formats movie archive are sales results. It doesn't really matter how many titles they have at their disposal if nobody wants to buy them.

 

[elsrik]

I'd agree that the only way to gauge a format's quantity is by sales. The masses typically don't flock after quality, only either the root of a sales pitch or the best reviewed product.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I would say that very few people are interested in replacing their DVD collection with HD movies. Unlike VHS, these players are backwards compatible with DVD, so the really big interest is going to come with new releases - not catalogs.

In which case, BD owns about 80% of the market after the WB switch around June.

Universal & Paramount both have some very significant films, but they also have to look at bottom lines and what their exclusivity may be costing them in the long run. Since I refuse to buy DVD or HD DVD, that means that they are losing sales from me, at the very least. But, with most news channels of reputation stepping up to call Blu-ray the winner, it will drive far more consumers out to buy players who may have otherwise been fence sitters.

Likewise, it will ensure that those who may have been thinking red, are now going to, at the very least, hop back up on the fence and not buy at all.

No, there is no question that HD DVD exactly where it was 18 months ago at format release: Down to many CE companies, and down to many studios. WHICH RESULTS IN: Far more consumer confidence and brand recognition by average consumers, and far more shelf space on retail floors.

The general consumer who walks in off the street will buy Blu-ray because his favorite company supports it. Whether it be Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Sharp, Philips, Denon, Marantz, or Samsung. They all have players out (or coming) and the option is Toshiba or Onkyo. Neither of which are really considered 'mainstream' manufacturers. Store sales personel may be able to corroborate this statement with what they have seen in store.

The INFORMED consumer will do a bit of research and then look at what they want from the releases already out, and those coming up. About thirty minutes of research will show phenomenal pricing on HD DVD, but only a select number of titles which will be coming available on the format, and strong suspicion that by years end, BD will have 100% studio support.

CE & studio support. It's what matters most, and it always has been.