V-Flyer

Some interesting data and pie charts seem to indicate it is...

July 1st, 2007

Recently, Bill Hunt over at The Digital Bits caught a lot of flack over a piece he wrote on the HD war, and why The Digital Bits was backing Blu-Ray as the “format to beat”.

Bill’s piece was a response to a post from Harry Knowles over at Ain’t It Cool News where Harry talked about picking up a HD DVD player, and why he had chosen that particular format. Bill decided to respond to the piece primarily because Harry’s piece was full of erroneous information (I know, on Ain’t It Cool News? Surely I jest…). Harry’s piece has since been edited somewhat, but is still far from correct. It is full of fear, uncertainty and doubt, and has several facts flat out wrong. Bill’s piece does a more than adequate job of pointing out the flaws in Harry’s arguments, though, so I won’t get into that here.

Full piece can be read here.

I am not so sure.

$792,188,570 was from HD DVD exclusive studios

At nearly 3/4 of a billion dollars in 2006 I would say that the war is hardly over.

Paul

Sony were very clever putting a Blue Ray player in the PS3 meaning people got a Blu Ray whilst keeping their current DVD player. I read toady that in the US anyway they are going to be dropping the price of the PS3 too, which will put even more Blu Ray players into people's home and give the Blu Ray market no doubt even bigger control.

Well I am very sorry, but Mr Hunt is wrong...very very wrong.

How can I make such a strong statement...well it is pretty easy really.

You see the big buyer of blank DVD's in all formats and the biggest seller of DVD's has not made it's pick yet.

Who can this be you ask [?]

Well it is everyones favorite, the porn industry...yep the good old porn industry sold $9 billion worth of DVD's last year..in the US alone, it is that tightly held group of companies that will decide which format will survive and as of yet they haven't.

Originally posted by Scrooge
Well I am very sorry, but Mr Hunt is wrong...very very wrong.

How can I make such a strong statement...well it is pretty easy really.

You see the big buyer of blank DVD's in all formats and the biggest seller of DVD's has not made it's pick yet.

Who can this be you ask [?]

Well it is everyones favorite, the porn industry...yep the good old porn industry sold $9 billion worth of DVD's last year..in the US alone, it is that tightly held group of companies that will decide which format will survive and as of yet they haven't.

I thought they had announced they were going Blu-Ray???

I have not heard anything as of yet, right now it's a chicken and an egg type deal, till there are more players in the homes one type isn't going to win out...which of course is cost driven as the players are still $$$ and for most people the benefit of HD over regular DVD is not that great.

Originally posted by Scrooge
I have not heard anything as of yet, right now it's a chicken and an egg type deal, till there are more players in the homes one type isn't going to win out...which of course is cost driven as the players are still $$$ and for most people the benefit of HD over regular DVD is not that great.

Yes, I am holding off for now. I have a HD video camera but don't want to jump until the war is over. (Assuming that both bring out recorders at sometime!!)

Originally posted by Scrooge
yep the good old porn industry sold $9 billion worth of DVD's last year..in the US alone

With only $7bn having Dave's address on the packing slip [:w]

The other $2B were in downloads to an iPod... [}:)]

Originally posted by preiffer

Originally posted by Scrooge
yep the good old porn industry sold $9 billion worth of DVD's last year..in the US alone

With only $7bn having Dave's address on the packing slip [:w]

Only about $100k last year [:#]..damn companies are getting tight with taking Amex...how am I going to be a points whore if I cant order porn [:(!]

Originally posted by Bazz
The other $2B were in downloads to an iPod... [}:)]

And who's Ipod would that be....let me take you on a journey...now think back to a couple of years ago...a group of friends sitting around a rather large dinner table..an Ipod appears (thank god there were no speakers..one can only handle so much Britney) a discovery was made on this Ipod by the fair maiden Highflyer....now who's Ipod was it [?][:w]

Just when it looked as though Blu-Ray were the clear favourites, two studios have thrown their weight behind HD DVD...

This from the LA Times

2 studios bet HD DVD will be a hit
DreamWorks and Paramount choose the high-definition discs over rival Blu-ray.
By Josh Friedman and Alex Pham Times Staff Writers
August 21, 2007

The format war over next-generation DVDs appeared to have a clear winner, but the picture just got fuzzier.

Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. said Monday that they would offer movies exclusively in the HD DVD format rather than in that of the better-selling Blu-ray -- a surprise move that complicates the technology battle that Blu-ray had been clearly winning.

Full piece can be read here.

I was in HMV yesterday and noticed that there was about three times as many Blu-Ray disks as HD for sale.

hmm strange choice, Blue-Ray's are outselling HD DVD's 2:1 at the moment, so a strange decision. Blue-Ray's on a 1080p TV are out of this world so I'm firmly sticking with them.

Neil