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madskillz on 08 December 2007
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misterd said:
BR is already dominating, with sales at 2:1 or 3:1. The problem is HDDVD is too stubborn to die, and are trying to pay off studios to keep the format alive a litle longer (I believe the Paramount exclusivity contract expires after 2008).

As is, the PS3 is losing a good chunk of change for Sony, and I doubt that they had planned on having 2 price cuts within the span of 6 months. I think they are doing all that they can do at this point. I would not expect another price drop until this spring at the earliest.

The irony is that the BR is part of what makes the PS3 so expensive, and thus shares a good deal of blame for that systems' low sales, but at the same time the PS3 sales are great next to stand alone HD players, so the PS3 is the thing that gave the 360 the edge. I can only wonder what would have happened had the 360 launched with built in HD, or Sony had launched without it.


Actually, the PS3 is the only thing keeping BR ahead. In a standalone fight, HD DVD is whipping the devil out of BR. However, the PS3 sales are counted as BR sales, and with a lackluster gaming lineup, gamers have no real choice but to buy BR movies while they wait for more good games. Ironically, another report, though older, said that 79 percent of HD movie/hardware sales were video-game related.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070115-8625.html

Toshiba states they are, not Sony, leading in standalone HD players sold:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Hardware/Toshiba/CEDIA/Toshiba_Refutes_Sonys_Claims_of_Blu-ray_Stand-Alone_Player_Dominance/943

And those NPD numbers put HD DVD players at 55 percent, with standalone BR players at 42 percent. Those numbers don't include the 360 HD DVD add-on, nor the PS3.

This format war is far from over. Until Sony and the BR camp can counter Black Friday $99 HD DVD players that also include free HD DVD movies, it will be a long, drawn-out war. I could see if there was a clear-cut advantage to owning a BR player, except the better movie lineup, but everything else is exactly the same - with HD DVD players, with Internet access, have many, many more Web-based features and my personal favorite, region-free movie playback.