1.5 year since its "death" HD-DVD is still beating BluRay in USA

[DereX888]

While it isn’t surprising that most people aren’t planning an upgrade to Blu-ray this year, the fact that HD DVD players are in more homes than Blu-ray players is a bit shocking.
According to NYT and other sources, as of June 2009 (1.5 year since its "death") HD-DVD is still beating BluRay in USA:
11% own a HD DVD player (only 3% owns XBOX360 with HD-DVD drive)
7% own a Blu-ray player (but 9% own a S*ny PS3)

I don't have subscription to NYT and I couldn't get into their article
but HERE is the PDF with data found on someone's blog

[jagabo]

A lot of respondents probably indicated they have an HD-DVD player because they thought their standard DVD player was the same thing. Ie, they don't know the difference.

[Marvingj]

It’s simple! There are still lots of HD DVD movies out there that sell very cheaply. If you can get a hold of a cheap HD DVD player and have access to cheap movies, why not.

[yoda313]

7% own a Blu-ray player (but 9% own a S*ny PS3)

So is that 16% total or 9% total including ps3 owners?

I'm happy with my ps3 as a bluray player. I actually use it for dvds, avchds, and bluray more than gaming. Though I finally more than doubled my bluray collection now that I bought the 6 pack Star Trek bluray set. Nice print for the older movies. Star Trek 2 looks damn near perfect. The others look great too.

I now own 10 bluray movies:

Xmen 3
Final Fantasy Spirts Within
Stargate (Kurt Russell version)
Stargate Continuum
Star Trek 1-6 (bluray pack)

[lordsmurf]

A lot of respondents probably indicated they have an HD-DVD player because they thought their standard DVD player was the same thing. Ie, they don't know the difference.

I'd have to go with this, not knowing more on the actual study.

[DereX888]

7% own a Blu-ray player (but 9% own a S*ny PS3)

So is that 16% total or 9% total including ps3 owners?

I posted as it was reported on few blogs I read (just google it up, there are plenty of them with this info).

Yes, I am curious too.
I would understand it as 16% total (7% standalone BR players, 9% PS3 owners) but then 16% of the market seems a bit high to me. Every 6th household in USA to have a BR player? No way, not yet.
I'm not a fan of BR at all, but this whole thing sounds fishy to me.
After 1.5 year I'd think by now BR ought to be way ahead of HD-DVD in any criteria (standalones and other devices).

As I said, I don't and I won't have ever subscription to piece of shit like NYT, so I can't get to the source (that's why I didn't comment on it myself without reading full source material). I waited for almost 2 days with this, but since no one else posted it, I did.
I was hoping someone from our forum is a subscriber and could repost the whole thing, or at least the most interesting parts.

A lot of respondents probably indicated they have an HD-DVD player because they thought their standard DVD player was the same thing. Ie, they don't know the difference.

Always a possibility, but don't you think that at least 3/4 of the people have a DVD player? (personally I think it *must* be more than 75%)
If even a small percentage of them did such mistake, the numbers for HD-DVD should and would go over the roof.

[DarrellS]

but then 16% of the market seems a bit high to me

I agree. I don't know anyone personally that owns a Blu-ray anything and a few of them get paid very well but can't see throwing their money away on the technology. Maybe when they start producing Blu-ray for the masses instead of 7% of the market then their sales will increase.

[jagabo]

A lot of respondents probably indicated they have an HD-DVD player because they thought their standard DVD player was the same thing. Ie, they don't know the difference.

Always a possibility, but don't you think that at least 3/4 of the people have a DVD player? (personally I think it *must* be more than 75%)
If even a small percentage of them did such mistake, the numbers for HD-DVD should and would go over the roof.

The table that was linked to in the OP's post shows that 83 percent of the people questioned have a DVD player. If 1 in 10 of them thought their DVD player was an HD-DVD player that would have boosted the HD-DVD owners by 8.3 percent. That doesn't sound too unlikely to me given how many people with HDTVs watch standard definition cable and think they're watching high def.

[yoda313]

For me its not the hardware costs its the movie costs. Since I was buying a ps3 the other year any way I got the bluray bundled with it. Not to mention I already had a bluray rom player in the pc.

25.00 to 30.00 for a bluray movie is too much to replace all my dvds. I am only doing it piecemeal. Mostly I'm just trying to buy new movies on bluray that I don't have on dvd. Though the extra 10.00 a title is still a bit high. That's why I bought Indy 4 and Dark Knight on dvd instead of Bluray.

I love the quality of Bluray but I'm just not ready to buy everything on bluray yet.

[DereX888]

I checked the PDF file again.
It states at the bottom of Table 1:
Multiple responses allowed
Certainly some of the 9% who owns PS3 is also part of the 7% of the standaolne players. IMHO it is misleading.

A lot of respondents probably indicated they have an HD-DVD player because they thought their standard DVD player was the same thing. Ie, they don't know the difference.

Always a possibility, but don't you think that at least 3/4 of the people have a DVD player? (personally I think it *must* be more than 75%)
If even a small percentage of them did such mistake, the numbers for HD-DVD should and would go over the roof.

The table that was linked to in the OP's post shows that 83 percent of the people questioned have a DVD player. If 1 in 10 of them thought their DVD player was an HD-DVD player that would have boosted the HD-DVD owners by 8.3 percent. That doesn't sound too unlikely to me given how many people with HDTVs watch standard definition cable and think they're watching high def.

As I said - it is possible, there are many idiots out there
BUT
It would mean that the number for DVD players would be lower by the 10% of those who made mistake and selected HD-DVD players. So, only 73% for DVD players? That for sure is too low, no matter what.
AND
Have you looked at Table 3?
“How many DVD titles of the following formats have you personally bought in the past 6 months?”
More HD-DVD titles were bought in past 6 months than BR titles.
Even idiot wouldn't buy HD-DVD disc for standard DVD player.

[jagabo]

Have you looked at Table 3?
“How many DVD titles of the following formats have you personally bought in the past 6 months?”
More HD-DVD titles was bought in past 6 months than BR titles. Even idiot wouldn't buy HD-DVD disc for standard DVD player.

The people who don't know the difference between DVD and HD-DVD would answer that they're buying HD-DVD titles when they are buying DVD titles.

What I'd like to know is who paid for the study. Pollsters always come up with the answers the client wants.

[DereX888]

Have you looked at Table 3?
“How many DVD titles of the following formats have you personally bought in the past 6 months?”
More HD-DVD titles was bought in past 6 months than BR titles. Even idiot wouldn't buy HD-DVD disc for standard DVD player.

The people who don't know the difference between DVD and HD-DVD would answer that they're buying HD-DVD titles when they are buying DVD titles.

Come on jagabo. After they bought 1 wrong one, even worst idiot wouldn't made same mistake again.
Anyways, even assuming it as true, and the idiot rate at 10% as in previous post, that would have to jack up HD-DVD sales and lower down standard DVDs numbers by as much.
Nah. That is too far fetched, and the discs sales figures look about right. Few months ago HD-DVD discs were selling same as BRs, though HD-DVD format was already dead as doorknob, remember? (we had discussion about it on this forum)

What I'd like to know is who paid for the study. Pollsters always come up with the answers the client wants.

Yup.
(that said, I'm sure it wasn't Toshiba since HD-DVD is dead for 1.5 year )

[jagabo]

Come on jagabo. After they bought 1 wrong one, even worst idiot wouldn't made same mistake again.

They're not buying HD-DVDs. They don't know what HD-DVD is. They think it's the same thing as DVD. So when when they say they're buying HD-DVDs what they are really buying is DVDs.

Anyways, even assuming it as true, and the idiot rate at 10% as in previous post, that would have to jack up HD-DVD sales and lower down standard DVDs numbers by as much.
Nah. That is too far fetched, and the discs sales figures look about right.

I just tossed 10 percent out there as a number. Maybe it's only 7 percent, or 5 percent, or 2 percent. The point is, whatever percentage it is it would boost the HD-DVD count.

I agree with you that a large number of real HD-DVDs are being sold because places like Fry's nearly give them away. So, even if accurate, HD-DVD movie sales mean nothing.

[DarrellS]

Thousands of people bought HD-DVD players right before they stopped selling then cause' they could get them for just about nothing. I'm sure if Toshiba was still selling them, people would still be buying them although their choice of movies would be slim since Sony paid off all the studios that they didn't own already. Those people are surely still buying HD-DVDs now. I can't see them throwing their HD-DVD players away while they still work and they can still get discs. From what I understood, Toshiba was winning the HD war until Sony paid off the studios.

If I could get an HD-DVD burner/player and discs for a third of the price of Blu-ray, I'd do it.

[DereX888]

[
I just tossed 10 percent out there as a number. Maybe it's only 7 percent, or 5 percent, or 2 percent. The point is, whatever percentage it is it would boost the HD-DVD count.

Every poll has some error margin.
It goes both ways though: the 9% of PS3 owners info would suggest that they are BR users, which as we all know is very unlikely, most of PS3 owners bought console for games, not for BR playback capability.
(yes I know few of our regulars here bought them for exact opposite, but the "normal" people don't use their kids' toy for a player in their living room or tv room)
I agree with you that there must have been some error margin in this poll, since I don't doubt that there could have been few tech-idiots who could mistaken DVD with HD-DVD, but same goes for the "other camp" too: some idiots could have mistakenly mark both BR standalone player and PS3 while they only have just a PS3, inflating this way number of BR players in the poll (remember: multiple answers were allowed).
Unless you're trying to tell me that BR/PS3 users are "smarter" than HD-DVD users, and this could have not happened?

DarrellS mentioned earlier he don't know anybody who own BR-anything.
Come to think of that I must admit that, among all of my friends and family, either 2 or 3 only have BR players as of now. Sure they have many more PS3s, actually everyone I can think of who has kids age ~10+ in the family have PS3 or two, but I also know that none of these consoles was purchased for, nor is being used as, BR player.

[greymalkin]

a guy I know tried to sell me the planet earth series on HD DVD cause he bought it thinking it would work on his DVD player .

[lordsmurf]

I still want to know what "mastered in HD quality" means on those DVDs I've seen in stores lately. WTF?

[RLT69]

Oh for the love of mike....

From the freakin' article:

2,401 people were surveyed between April 13 and April 21st, 2009.

11% owned HD DVD players.

7% owned Blu-ray players.

47% own an HDTV.


Ooooo a whopping 4% difference. Big freakin' deal! Much ado about nothing.

What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. The take away message is HD content is being adopted slowly. Period. Nothing more nothing less. Which isn't surprising given a down economy!

Nothing to see, move along

[KBeee]

I still want to know what "mastered in HD quality" means on those DVDs I've seen in stores lately. WTF?

Maybe it means they didn't make the DVD less than optimum quality to highlight how much better the BD release of the movie is, as (allegedly) Sony did with Casino Royale

[jagabo]

I still want to know what "mastered in HD quality" means on those DVDs

It means marketing was involved in the package design.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I have both players and I have to admit that I watch my HD-DVD's more than Blu-ray, mainly because of the long waits to rent a Blu-ray.
I own about 50 HD-DVD titles and four Blu-ray, most of the HD-DVD's I bought for <$10USD. The 16%(total Blu-ray) figure sounds about right considering the PS3 is popular.

[DereX888]

47% own an HDTV.

The take away message is HD content is being adopted slowly. Period. Nothing more nothing less. Which isn't surprising given a down economy!

I thought 47% using HDTV is too high, even 30% would seem high IMHO.
Maybe it is "idiot factor" again? (SD LCD screens mistaken for HD TV)

I still want to know what "mastered in HD quality" means on those DVDs

It means marketing was involved in the package design.

Of course. Smurf is just being sarcastic

Oh for the love of mike....

From the freakin' article:

2,401 people were surveyed between April 13 and April 21st, 2009.

11% owned HD DVD players.

7% owned Blu-ray players.

47% own an HDTV.


Ooooo a whopping 4% difference. Big freakin' deal! Much ado about nothing.

What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. The take away message is HD content is being adopted slowly. Period. Nothing more nothing less. Which isn't surprising given a down economy!

Nothing to see, move along

No, it actually looks like this IMHO:
8%-9% own BR players (I added 1-2% because I assume some of the 9% of the PS3 owners bought them as players)
14% owns HD-DVD players (I added the 3% of the XBOX360 owners who bought extra HD-DVd player for their console, because obviously they bought them for the HD-DVD player capability)

THAT is surprising and that's why I think it is strange (after such long HD-DVD death)

[hardy]

I like the prices on the HD-DVD's. Until Bluray comes down in prices I will continue to buy HD-DVD.

[DereX888]

I like the prices on the HD-DVD's. Until Bluray comes down in prices I will continue to buy HD-DVD.

Well, you'll run out of titles to buy pretty soon.

[zoobie]

The industry keeps the price high for as long as practical.

I think you'll see Blu-ray players spike this Christmas when mfg's reduce the price to a mere $99 and consumers learn their existing DVD's will play in it.

JMO

[MOVIEGEEK]

The industry keeps the price high for as long as practical.

I think you'll see Blu-ray players spike this Christmas when mfg's reduce the price to a mere $99 and consumers learn their existing DVD's will play in it.

JMO

That's what they said last year but player sales were lukewarm, some BD titles such as The Dark Knight and Ironman sold well though.
As the poll states consumers are spending their money on HDTV's and other electronics.

[hardy]

As I was browsing Wal-Mart, their BluRay prices are actually lower than BestBuy prices. I found some nice movies under $8.

[zoobie]

The industry keeps the price high for as long as practical.

I think you'll see Blu-ray players spike this Christmas when mfg's reduce the price to a mere $99 and consumers learn their existing DVD's will play in it.

JMO

That's what they said last year but player sales were lukewarm, some BD titles such as The Dark Knight and Ironman sold well though.
As the poll states consumers are spending their money on HDTV's and other electronics.

Well, I think the player price was $199 last Christmas wasn't it? If we're to believe the poll, they're buying HDTV's first and now will want to buy a Blu-ray player to match (makes sense to me).

I'm just speculating but have a nasty track record of being pretty accurate...

[adam]

Its a poll of 2,400 people conducted online in a week's time. I don't doubt the results it just seems pretty meaningless. Such a short survey time of such a ridiculously small focus group. Its a little academic survey, I don't see how these results can fairly be applied to the entire country.

That Harris Poll company has all sorts of similar polls available on their site. After reading a few I find many of them to appear less than consistent with national trends. For instance look at the one on the most popular tv shows of all time. CSI, Mash, and then House ?

I'm pretty sure the Nielsen ratings show otherwise... for what that is worth.

These surveys are online only and my hunch is that the majority of the people who took it are fairly young. While these are probably the most technologically inclined people who would be interested in something like HD-DVD or Blu-ray, they probably aren't the people with the most disposable income so they might not be the best people judge market trends on.

[bmwracer]

Seeing that Blu-Ray players haven't dropped in price and the HD-DVD fire sale that went on after Blu-Ray was declared the winner, it's not that shocking, really.

And in those 1-1/2 years, HD-DVD owners haven't seen any new HD-DVD releases, either, so it's nothing they can really cheer about...