HD DVD 'still very much in the game'

Posted on 27 Apr 2007 at 09:58

HD DVD's backers have denied claims by supporters of the rival Blu-ray format that they are winning the battle between the two high-definition disc formats.

Blu-ray this week trumpeted figures from Home Media that gave it 70 per cent of the market for the first quarter of the year; the HD DVD Group countered that there is little to choose between the sales figures for both formats.

Citing the latest figures from research firm Nielsen and from point-of-sales data compiled by Universal, Warner and Toshiba it said that 998,059 HD DVD discs had been sold to date, just 2,000 fewer than the one million Blu-ray claimed.

'Yes, these are still small numbers compared to DVD sales, but point being - HD DVD is still very much in the game,' the HD DVD Group said in an email.

It added that with more HD DVD titles becoming available and with hardware prices falling 'we're seeing more equal week-to-week movie sales ratios between the formats'.

It also said that sale of HD DVD consumer electronics hardware, not including the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive, continues to outsell dedicated Blu-ray hardware, excluding PlayStation 3. Buyers of dedicated hardware, it argues, are much more likely to subsequently buy discs than people who have a drive as an extension to a games console.

'Why are we just focusing on dedicated players? So we can compare stats on similar hardware with similar attach rates,' the statement says. 'That's a key driver of software sales and shows that price is clearly a factor for consumers in deciding to buy dedicated high definition hardware.'

Author: Simon Aughton

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