After hearing claims by the HD DVD Promotion Group that HD DVD's attach rate in movies were significantly higher than Blu-ray's, Blu-ray Disc Association chairman Frank Simonis reacts, saying that it was a "gross manipulation of numbers," and that it was far from the truth. Read more about it in the full article!

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.

Much had been said about the ongoing format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray. For one thing, it has caught the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the crossfire. Depending on what format you prefer though, all of this is going to be over soon, according Blu-ray Disc Association Chairman Frank Simonis.

"Due to the fact that we have some hard competition which sometimes makes strange moves, it's very unpredictable," said Simonis. "But I think in the next 18 months it will be very exciting to see what's going on"

Simonis, who is also Philips' Senior Director for Communications, further mentioned that consumers will be deciding soon because of all the new products coming into the market. Apart from the format war, there will also a battle between different brands for both the Blu-ray and HD DVD that will further cost "price erosion".

Definitely a good observation from Simonis part but in the end, he couldn't help but somewhat sell his company's preferred one. He commented:

We don't like to oversell ourselves, but we right now see that there is a major transition taking place from publishers who said they would initially go only for HD DVD and now make the move across the Blu-ray. [This is] based on the sales numbers of software happening in the Far East, US and also now in Europe.