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 The High Definition DVD Studio Support Petition Campaign |
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From The Frontline: News and Commentary on the "format war" Commentary - The dramatic Failure of the PS3 to reverse the "Format War" Although HD DVD has been outselling Bluray by a wide margin for the entire year so far since the launch of the two formats, some pundits were saying that the launch of the PS3 would reverse this lead. Arguably, the PS3 launch was Sony's LAST CHANCE to prove their strategy as correct. We, and others, feel it has failed miserably to do so. (Update: As at the 14th of April 2007, Bluray movie sales have fallen off dramatically. The expected post Christmas surge of BD movie "curiosity" sales by new PS3 owners tapered off in March and now HD DVD sales are virtually neck and neck again. We have also done an update on the PS3 as well). Some studios will have been quietly preparing their contingency plans in the event that Bluray did not make up the lost ground in the market. We urge these studios to protect their shareholders from Bluray's failure and start adding HD DVD releases to their catalogs. So November saw the launch of the PS3. As one can see by using "The DVD Wars" Amazon sales figures as a yardstick - HD DVD movie sales continue to outpace Bluray by a wide margin. The number of titles from each format in Amazon's Top 10,000 shows the sales difference best. The "latest" excuse we've heard given, is that there are "so many" PS3s on eBay, that no-one really has any machines at home yet. We believe this to be patently FALSE. A quick check online at various sources can barely account for a few 10's of PS3s - certainly not 125,000 to 175,000. Aside from all the issues covered here below, it would appear that the PS3 is not going to have a significant "attach rate" for movies - which ultimately is the only way it can affect the balance between the two HD movie formats. This movie attach rate is probably the most important factor to the Studios. (Update: As at April 14th 2007, as best we can determine, the movie attach rate for the PS3 appears to be less than 0.37 movies per PS3 - very poor.) Due to many production issues, the predictions that there would be 2 million PS3s sold in 2006 have been reduced to a paltry 125,000 to 175,000 reported to have shipped for the launch. Furthermore, there were apparently only 5 video games available specifically for the PS3 at launch, with 8 more in the pipeline. And there were reported problems with the game console, as well as very poor, to middling or just mixed reviews. Those who saw these issues coming are being shown to be correct. Worse yet - there are multiple reports surfacing that a "hack" weakness has been discovered in the PS3 that allows games, and also Bluray movies, to be copied to the harddrive. This may well be of great concern to content providers. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 sales have passed the 6 million unit mark, on their way to a projected 10 million units by the end of 2006. And the Xbox 360 HD DVD player has had very successful sales since its launch in November. Sony has also launched it's standalone Bluray player, to mixed reviews. Indeed, with all the launch delays, increased costs, lack of sales and the apparent difficulty of developing for the platform, more and more Game Developers are moving their development efforts to the Xbox 360 platform instead of the PS3. This includes games that were originally to have been exclusive to the PS3. Even Grand Turismo HD has been cancelled, leaving the PS3 without a GT game until 2008! In fact, the launch of the PS3 has gone so badly that it is said to be the reason that Ken Kutaragi has been removed from his role in the running of the games division. Some analysts have said that Sony will likely not ever develop a PS4, which may further reduce any incentive for software game developers to create new games for the PS3. A decidely poor Games "Attach Rate" may also hurt the PS3's chances further. And industry analysts have renewed their calls that the HD DVD format will be "victorious" over the Bluray format as a result. And some state that the lack of games and the high price are a reason to give the PS3 a "miss" for the time being. UPDATE, April 14th 2007: As an indicator of current sales movement, please review this chart of the Top Ten Titles' sales on Amazon.com for each format.
Related News and Links Nintendojo.com - "Some PS3 resellers
Returning Systems" Other Articles and Online Discussions Home Theater Blog - "HD DVD vs. Bluray: Fact vs. Fiction" One of AVS Forum's biggest Bluray fans, converts to HD DVD... Projector Central - "Bluray: Can it survive?" Home Theater Forum: "Reasonable cost of upgrading to HD DVD absolutely worth it" AVS Forum - "Home Theater Mag gives the Toshiba a 98!" Engadget HD - "Why HD DVD will prevail: My opinion 3 months later" Projector Central - recommendation on the formats Digital Media Thoughts - "At Last: A True Bluray vs. HD DVD Comparison" Playfuls.com - "Playstation 3 - the killer Iceberg. Sony - the Titanic" News Stories in the Press Silicon Valley - "Sony mulls recall of exploding fact sheet" - Sony caught in sales lie Engadget - "Sony claims Xbox 360 requires etc, etc., thus costs $700" International Herald Tribune - "EU's DVD inquiry goes to Hollywood" Reuters - "Sony Hits Stumbling Blocks on Road to recovery" IT Wire - "Universal Studios deals Bluray death-blow" Tom's Hardware - "Will Bluray sink the PS3?" Video Business - "HD DVD owners petition Bluray backers" - :) Ultimate AV - Joe Kane (Digital Video Essentials) talks about Mpeg2 and VC1 BBC - "LOTR Director Jackson signs Xbox deal" Video Interview of Joe Kane on the Battle of the Formats Polls and Surveys 98% of HD owners on AV Forums went with HD DVD 91% of HD DVD player buyers happy with purchase 75% of Bluray Player buyers RETURNED the player! 86% of buyers of First Gen Hi Def players will buy HD DVD 85% Support for Studio petitions - the birth of this petition Drive 69% of respondents feel that HD DVD will "win" format war 92% say HD DVD will dominate Bluray this Christmas 83% say that Toshiba A1/XA1 HD DVD players beats their old player at upscaling . |
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