Blu-Ray wins on Black Friday week.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

Early reports that are coming in that last week BD won again. 61:39 and that was against Bourne and Potter on both formats. the details of that rumor have the BD Harry Potter selling 1.2:1 against the HD DVD version.

Well a VIP at Warners today told me that Potter actually sold better on HD DVD. Their numbers include Wal-Mart and are different than the Videoscan numbers (but generally within about 5%).

So officially last week:

HD DVD won in software and hardware as far as Warners is concerned.

Meanwhile LOTR is getting prepped finally for HD DVD (nothing on BD is currently planned).

LOTR is going to be one of the big announcements at CES.

I've been told they aren't going exclusive to BD. I don't know if that means they are picking red or staying neutral.

Disney is in a decision phase for going neutral in 1Q 2008. If they go "purple," you can see the end of exclusivitiy for FOX, MGM, and Lions Gate in 2008 as likely.

[PRO-630HD]

[QUOTE=Lotus;7725]Well a VIP at Warners today told me that Potter actually sold better on HD DVD. Their numbers include Wal-Mart and are different than the Videoscan numbers (but generally within about 5%).

The Amazon #'s all week have more or less shown the same with Harry Potter and Blade Runner selling better on hddvd and all catalog titles selling better with the exception of a few titles like 2001. This has gone back and forth a hair but hddvd had been in the lead for most of it.

[DaViD Boulet]

That's funny. A VIP from Warner told me that Harry Potter sold better on BD...

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

That's funny. A VIP from Warner told me that Harry Potter sold better on BD...

LOL!!

What I find interesting is the 61%-39% overall win for BD on a week that had HD-DVD releasing a big blockbuster, didn't Lotus predict an over all win for HD-DVD because of Bourne?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

That's funny. A VIP from Warner told me that Harry Potter sold better on BD...

Yes except you're lying and I'm not.

The numbers Nielsen reported again confirm the numbers I was hearing before. Just as I reported TL discs were accepted first and just as I reported that Warners was for sale before the press.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

LOL!!

What I find interesting is the 61%-39% overall win for BD on a week that had HD-DVD releasing a big blockbuster, didn't Lotus predict an over all win for HD-DVD because of Bourne?

The real numbers appear to be around 58% to 42%. I predicted that Bourne would muddy the normal numbers because it was a big hit.

It's not a big secret that BD had much better Holiday releases than HD DVD. Whenever a big release comes out it screws with the natural order in the numbers. Bourne counteracted the BD releases.

Warners has made their decision so it doesn't appear to matter anymore. You BD guys did a poor job of buying Warners titles. That or your lead really is 20% at best according to Videoscan. Warners has different and more accurate numbers (they get Wal-Mart and internet site numbers).

Then you got Blade Runner losing dramatically on BD because of replication issues and the title not getting enough numbers out to counteract HD DVD sales.

BD just didn't do a good job to convince Warners that BD is healthier. You outnumber HD DVD by 4 to 1, yet you can't do better than 20% according to videoscan? That is the number Disney is looking at. They're seriously considering go neutral in 1Q 2008. Do you think 20% is enough to keep them BD exclusive?

or is Disney going to look at that 20% and then look at the hardware numbers that HD DVD is pulling in. HD DVD is pulling away for the first time in hardware. Software sales are 20% better for BD at best and losing on certain titles (Planet Earth) (in the exclusive camp which is all that matters to Warner or those considering neutrality).

Going neutral is looking better and better for everyone. If Disney makes that move then it will signal the upcoming doom of the war. Unilateral releases on both formats clears a path for consumers to make a decision between the two without worrying about their favorite titles never being released on their chosen format.