Blu-Ray wins on Black Friday week.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Lotus

I'm going by the numbers that Warners is talking about which are their official numbers. When it comes to Warner titles for the month the BD lead is like 1.1 to 1.

Also I have the ability to remove titles from the equation and get official numbers. So I can remove the big new releases and see how the catalogs are doing.

This week is not going to be 3-1 because of the near 200k Bourne movie sold.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. I will not include Bourne in my stats because its a unique title. Just like I dont include Car's, The Robinsons, Worlds End ect. What I will look at is the sucess of HP and see how they turn out head to head. Warner holds the real key to this war and I believe that's how they will make their decision (or lack thereof).

[DaViD Boulet]

I meant it if you BD people want to win go buy Harry Potter today. Plus Warners says that the majority of their titles are also sold at Wal-Mart where HD DVD apparently does better.

Now, not saying that HP is selling nicely on HD DVD, *but* I wonder how many of those Harry Potter HD DVDs will get returned after Christmas when families discover they won't play in their DVD player.

Just walking the aisles at Target and Best-Buy, the conversations taking place around HD DVD and BD shelf-areas are pretty entertaining. While most consumers assume that the Blu-ray Discs won't play in their player because... they don't say "DVD" on them... I continually hear people talk about how they need to get the "HD DVD" because they just got an HDTV and their old DVDs "won't work right on the new TV" or some other nonesense. These folks clearly don't have playback hardware of either HD format... but they often grab those red-labeled discs without reading the fine print and head off to the register.

Just curious... when these sales are counted, do "returns" ever get tracked?

[PRO-630HD]

You know as well as I do that if the item is opened a return is not possible!! Give people a little credit here. They are not stupid enough to buy the hddvd boxset for their dvd player. All the boxsets clearly state dvd, hddvd and bluray. The argument could run the same for bluray. Shill Hunt made the same crap argument to no avail. The kicker is with hddvd combos they do play in your dvd player. As well every hddvd I have purchased at BB, CC, etc. The person at the register asks do you own a hddvd player? Smart move admittedly and I am sure they do the same with bluray.

The other problem we have is most salesman know nothing about these products. Most of these people would not know what BD spec 1.1 was to save their lives. I talked to a salesman about a bluray player as I will not buy one till this is implmented and he thought I was referring to the HDMI port. I have talked to salesman at BB that said hddvd players were only capable of 720p. They were quickly corrected. Nobody that sells these actually has a player at home and all they see is the display in the store.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Now, not saying that HP is selling nicely on HD DVD, *but* I wonder how many of those Harry Potter HD DVDs will get returned after Christmas when families discover they won't play in their DVD player.

Just walking the aisles at Target and Best-Buy, the conversations taking place around HD DVD and BD shelf-areas are pretty entertaining. While most consumers assume that the Blu-ray Discs won't play in their player because... they don't say "DVD" on them... I continually hear people talk about how they need to get the "HD DVD" because they just got an HDTV and their old DVDs "won't work right on the new TV" or some other nonesense. These folks clearly don't have playback hardware of either HD format... but they often grab those red-labeled discs without reading the fine print and head off to the register.

Just curious... when these sales are counted, do "returns" ever get tracked?

So is the new arguement from you blue guys that sales are doing well for the Warners titles because people think they're buying a DVD?

This DVD is to go with the new HD DVD player they got as a 2nd player for the bedroom right?

Most stores I know of are required to have their cashiers to question the customer on if they know it won't work in a DVD player.

I think the biggest news to me anyway is that the Samsung unit for $300 soldout at Best Buys everywhere. While they raised the price on the A3 to $249 (but still sell them).

The problem for the BDA is that there were only around 35,000 Samsung players to begin with....

[DaViD Boulet]

You know as well as I do that if the item is opened a return is not possible!! Give people a little credit here. They are not stupid enough to buy the hddvd boxset for their dvd player. All the boxsets clearly state dvd, hddvd and bluray. The argument could run the same for bluray.

It's a valid point to consider.

And after years of yearing how "the Name 'HD DVD' better connects with customers than the unfamiliar 'blu-ray Disc'" let's not suddenly pretend that DVD consumers, who see the "DVD" name on the HD DVD box... who just bought an HDTV... might be a little confused and no, the name "Blu-ray Disc" does not produce the same level of confusion about compatibility with DVD players... that's the flip side of the coin of picking a new and unfamiliar name. Anyone who thinks this is a farce just needs to spend 10 minutes in any aisle at any local B&M like Target, Best-Buy, or Walmart and listen to a few conversations and ask a few questions. The same story has played out in every store I've visitied in the last several months (I actually avoid B&M stores because it gets so frustrating with the lack of knowledgable sales staff to help).

Most stores I know of are required to have their cashiers to question the customer on if they know it won't work in a DVD player.

In all the Blu-ray Disc purchases I've made at my Target, Best-Buy, Circuit City, and Costco over the past year, I've NEVER once had a single sales-person or check-out cashier stop me to double-check if I understood that my disc wouldn't play on a DVD player. Anyone who thinks that the part-time teen employees manning the check-out lanes at Walmart have been trained to interrogate HD DVD/BD customers as he/she scans their items is grossly misinformed.

I'm not suggesting that Blu-ray picked a better name... actually I like the name "HD DVD" more on its own merit. But it is certainly confusing especially for consumers who aren't even aware of HD DVD/BD media and just think it's a DVD for their new HDTV... which of course is correct... only with the caveat of needing a new player.

Even more curious is that if you go to Amazon.com and look up the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD version of the Harry Potter Box set, you'll see the warning: "IMPORTANT NOTICE: This disc is a high-definition disc and is compatible only with Blu-ray players. It will not play on a standard DVD player. Click here to see our selection of Blu-ray players." with the blu-ray version, but *NOT* with the HD DVD version! It's not hard to imagine that shoppers who don't even know about the BD/HD DVD format war... or HD media at all for that matter... could easily order the HD DVD by mistake thinking that it's a "DVD" since it has it in big bold letters right on the top of the package.

Not sure why Amazon puts a warning of incompatibility with DVD drives on the Blu-ray set but not on the listing of the HD DVD, but I'm sure it's not helping consumers who aren't familiar with the new high-def format landscape.

I think the biggest news to me anyway is that the Samsung unit for $300 soldout at Best Buys everywhere. While they raised the price on the A3 to $249 (but still sell them).

The problem for the BDA is that there were only around 35,000 Samsung players to begin with....

Agreed. Sony just dropped the price of one of their new units as well. Given how well the Toshiba players have been selling at these lower price-points, I'll be interested to see if stand-alone BD hardware sales pick up now that the BD camp has taken the same approach to cutting hardware costs.

[PRO-630HD]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

It's a valid point to consider.

And after years of yearing how "the Name 'HD DVD' better connects with customers than the unfamiliar 'blu-ray Disc'" let's not suddenly pretend that DVD consumers, who see the "DVD" name on the HD DVD box... who just bought an HDTV... might be a little confused and no, the name "Blu-ray Disc" does not produce the same level of confusion about compatibility with DVD players... that's the flip side of the coin of picking a new and unfamiliar name. Anyone who thinks this is a farce just needs to spend 10 minutes in any aisle at any local B&M like Target, Best-Buy, or Walmart and listen to a few conversations and ask a few questions. The same story has played out in every store I've visitied in the last several months (I actually avoid B&M stores because it gets so frustrating with the lack of knowledgable sales staff to help)

All I can say is you live in a different world than the rest of us!!! I wonder if you are seeing people buy hddvd combos which will play in every dvd player. You do realize all Warner and Universal new releases are combos that have a dvd side!!! So there is no confusion about it!! Also if you haven't noticed the cases are considerably smaller and are packaged in red or blue cases to differentiate them from dvd's. Much like dvd audio cases were different than cd cases. Initially Universal dvd's were in cd cases and Universal stopped this due to the fact it was confusing to consumers.

Sorry I don't any more people buying hddvd's for thier dvd player than I do people buying dvd-r's for thier cdr labtop. Give people a little credit and don't treat them like total idiots. They have been choosing between formats successfully for years. No, I don't think people have trouble picking up a minidv tape when they own a minidv camcorder. I don't think they are picking up vhs-c tapes for their minidv camcorder. I don't think people 20 years ago were buying cassette tapes for their cd player any more than they were buying laserdiscs for their record player!!! People aren't as stupid as you make them out to be. There are just people that make stupid and baseless assumptions!!