Posted Oct 01, 2007 at 10:39AM by Gino D. Listed in: Blu-Ray, News Tags: Frank Simonis
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Blu-ray takes Europe, 4-to-1 - Image 1


Sales figures of Blu-ray movies in Europe have slowly been on a steady rise. Just recently, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced that their disc format's sales has surpassed HD-DVD titles by a 4-to-1 ratio... which means, for every HD-DVD title sold, four other Blu-ray titles are purchased. This announcement also comes with the revelation of stand alone Blu-ray players also catching up to the HD-DVD players in sales.

The current sales figures of Blu-ray movies has now made other independent movie studios to join the Blu-ray bandwagon as well. For example, Germany's Universum Film and UK's EiV have decided to release Blu-ray titles for the coming holidays. Incidentally, even Studio Canal from France, who we previously heard to be supporting the HD-DVD format over Blu-ray, will now also be cashing in for the Blu-ray party this Christmas.

BDA's Frank Simonis proclaims:

According to market analyst, GfK, the gap between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD players is closing despite the earlier introduction of the HD DVD format. This is following the trend in the USA where BD has already overtaken HD DVD despite their US$ 299 price tag. Clearly, consumers are voting with their wallets.




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19 Comments


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   by kaliraver69 - 2007-10-01
 » HD-DVD Pwned

HD-DVD is not even competing anywhere except in the U.S. This to me is no surprise at all since Blu-Ray has much more Consumer Electronics companies making hardware for Blu-Ray. Also the BDA has much more studio support by having 5 out of the 8 major Hollywood studios. It is only a matter of time when those numbers will be here in the US and HD-DVD will be dead.


   Re: Sam 91 424 - 2007-10-01
 » ur gay

wow ur gay who cares about the Bluray and HDDVD

   Re: Stealth! - 2007-10-01
 » @ Sam 91 424

Um anyone with games you piece of trash. Why don't you leave this site. When blu-ray wins you will see more games on the PS3 than 360 due to its advantages over HDDVD.

This is great news for Sony and Blu-ray. I hope we can finally see this in the U.S so we can finish this format war.

   Re: Sam 91 424 - 2007-10-02
 » @ Stealth!

last time I checked this didnt matter about games because the only thing it matters for is the PS3 and not the 360 because the HD DVD player is a dd on so shut the ***** up dumbass

   Re: Sam 91 424 - 2007-10-02
 » @ Stealth!

all you PS3 fanboy are retarded all you can say is that the pS3 will be as good as the 360 someday and it been pretty long and the PS3 is still *****y and if there is no price drop for the PS3 it will die because of halo 3 and PS3 should be alot better than the 360 because the 360 was released like 1 year before the PS3 soo you PS3 fanboys just wait till the day PS3 is better than the the 360

   Re: Surftycoon - 2007-10-02
 » @ Sam 91 424

And all you 360 fanboys are all the same, get over it. And since when is less than a year on the market "pretty long".
Anyway back on topic. I would love to see blu-become the dominant choice for all movie studios so it will start driving the costs down. Not only is blu-ray a better choice for movies, but I think it has a great future in the computer industry as a cheap reliable back-up medium.
   by DVSDevise - 2007-10-01
 » ...

I think the harder part for both formats is going to be getting the public to embrace the formats instead of DVD. Even if Blu-Ray is out actually selling HD-DVD in europe by 4:1 I bet it's only a small number of discs difference. Many even less than 100,000 discs difference. Wouldn't even compare to the growth of cable HD subscriptions and video download services.


   Re: Thinker - 2007-10-01
 » To Devise

I agree, the harder part IS getting the common man (or woman) to view the next-gen format as the main option. However, the first step in that is to win the next-gen format war. Without that, there would be an endless competition until
(1) one format folds
(2) or something entirely different emerges.

That is why one format respectably outselling the other is a good thing (from the consumers' point-of-view), as it serves to move the format war closer to a conclusion. After one format has sufficiently dwindled in acceptance, companies can start in trying to get the ordinary consumer to buy into the next-gen format winner over the current generation format, DVD.
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   by CHUCKINGROCKSATSPACESHIPS - 2007-10-01
 » Thats Good News

It seems that the public is wising up about which is truly better to own and I hope Dreamworks takes note. I personally am boycotting buying any Dreamworks, Paramount, or Viacom made movies if they choose to go the way of HD-DVD. I won't even buy the low quality DVD version. It will hurt though seeing that movies like Transformers will not come on Blu-ray but I still stand by my word until they release them on Blu-ray. Even upscaled DVDs to 1080p still look blurry compared to true 1080p and the sound is still compressed. It is the same as now that a lot of movies that were on DVD a few years ago are making their way to HD-DVD and Blu-ray so why buy it again? Few Blu-ray movies use the full capability of the medium do to the fact it was made with lower quality equipment or there was an attempted happy middle ground that was used to get them successfully on both formats. But the same movies on HD-DVD are already showing to use the full capability of the HD-DVD medium and with no room for growth, why would people want to buy it and be short changed with much more potential in the Blu-ray camp? I just wonder how many more times people have to state the same arguments that I am making here now before we see a winner for us all.


   Re: wilmheath - 2007-10-01
 » source

eh hem .. sources for this please? "But the same movies on HD-DVD are already showing to use the full capability of the HD-DVD medium "

So your saying the 51GB hd-dvd's are already out? Oh wait a sec they sure aren't. I do applaud you for voting with your wallet though but be careful stating things as facts that just your opinions.

   Re: Vietone - 2007-10-01
 » ...

Except theres no guarantee that current generation HD DVD players have the capacity to read triple layer HD DVDs.

If it was possible and cost effective, the 51GB HD DVDs would have already been released.

   Re: atalavera - 2007-10-01
 » Agreed!

Same here!

   Re: CHUCKINGROCKSATSPACESHIPS - 2007-10-01
 » 51 Gigabyte HD-DVDs Don't Make Me Laugh!

It would be more efficient to go with a dual layer Blu-ray than a triple layer HD-DVD. If you want to get technical though, I heard of a 100 gigabyte Blu-ray, but I think that is only experimental at this time. No need for that at the moment.

   Re: wilmheath - 2007-10-02
 » fanboys

I know I will always be outnumbed on this site that is polluted with Sony fanboys but I will continue to post the truth from my point of view. I go with whatever system is best at the current point in time and that is the 360. I had both an xbox and ps2 last time and if the ps3 pulls ahead i'm sure i'll get one also. I just feel like the sony fanboys are fighting for the right to "have the best system" and are missing out on a lot of great gaming that is going on the 360. I'm not really sure how the whole fanboy thing started but it's as if we are all zombie's for these large corporations that don't give a crap about us but only want our money yet we are willing to have heated debates over which system is better. The human race is one silly monster.

   Re: Constantinecy - 2007-10-02
 » wilmheath

By the way you defend the 360 and by the way you talk about sony fanboism you clearly show your 360 fanboism.

If anyone lusts for #the best system# title then the Xbox owners win this hands off due to the 5 year (or more ) playstation 2 domination over the xbox system (not mentioning PSone, there werent any MS systems then).

wilmheath: ''we are all zombie's for these large corporations that don't give a crap about us but only want our money ''

Eeeemm...Yes and NO. Yes because thats every company's goal to make money right?
Why No? If you are talking about Sony (which you are anyone can see that) compared against the all mighty MS then Sony is like a saint or an angel compared to MS(only mentioning console stuff like reliability RRoD anyone?you know the rest...). So that makes you more manipulated than any other PS owner.

Dont get me wrong mate but you cant acuse anybody of being a fanboy without being one yourself! Everybody that wants to call him/herself a true gamer is more or less a fanboy.

   Re: CHUCKINGROCKSATSPACESHIPS - 2007-10-02
 » wilmheath

One thing that I am noticing is that newer Blu-ray releases are coming on BD-50 format showing that the need for more than 25 gigs is there and that doesn't include future movies that may push the envelope with higher bitrates thus using even more disc capacity.

   Re: wilmheath - 2007-10-02
 » re: const

What part of "we" do you not understand?
re: chuck possibly but I don't know enough about the topic. I'm more of a gamer than a movie buff. As long as the good games are coming out on the 360 it will be my console of choice. If I was into rpg's I would probably get a ps3.
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   by Vietone - 2007-10-01
 » ...

Sure the main consumer may not embrace the cost of a next gen format, but they will when it gets cheaper.

At this point, the battle is for the high end market and the market is choosing Blu-ray. This battle is different as the market distributors are choosing the format for the consumer.

Blockbuster for example chose Blu-ray over HD DVD because of the obvious sales advantage Blu-ray has thanks to the PS3.Target is advertising Blu-ray over HD DVD because of the same thing.

This battle is over for HD DVD as there is no where outside the US that they can keep the battle going. All they can do at this point is prolong the battle as much as possible to recoupe as much money as they can. HD DVD doesn't care for the consumer, if they did, they would have accepted that the market is embracing Blu-ray and opted to join with Blu-ray group to get the format out faster and cheaper.

This is compounded even more based on the fact that they are paying Paramount 150 million to support HD DVD for 18 months.

   by Jensy - 2007-10-11
 » uhh

guys? Games don't get released on HD DVD on 360, only DVD. PS3 gets blu ray games. The only reason you can get the HD DVD addon to the 360 is to watch movies........ worth it? (no)



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