Word spread fast on the tubes of the intarweb about Amazon’s HD DVD offers, and those offers were subsequently withdrawn about a day later. Maybe supplies ran out, maybe there was a bug in the system. Who knows. While many people did manage to get in on the fun, a lot more were surprised to find that their saved shopping carts (or otherwise modified shopping carts) no longer featured the amazing deals.
The short-lived promotion on Toshiba HD DVD players helped make the HD-A2 the #1 electronics item on all of Amazon when the sale was pulled. As I write this in the wee hours of the following day, the HD-A2 is now #2 and HDMI cables (probably to go along with the player) are at #3, #8, and #11. The next best-selling DVD player is a similarly priced $230 up-converting OPPO at #67, and a $48 Philips at #70.
The #1 item in video games is the $179 Xbox 360 HD DVD Player add-on, which still has the “Get Eight HD DVD Discs Free” offer on it. Five of those movies are part of the now-familiar Toshiba rebate, 1 is King Kong which comes with every Xbox 360 HD DVD Player, and then Amazon throws in two movies.
Rounding out the good news in the HD DVD bestseller lists is that the HD DVD version of 300 is the best-selling high-definition DVD. In fact, HD DVD disc sales beat Blu-ray 3:2 in the top 100 DVDs list — all fueled by the promotion on discs, no doubt.
It should be pointed out that Amazon had virtually identical promotions for Blu-ray, so it’s not like this was a one-sided sale. Customers had pretty much the same deals on Blu-ray as on HD DVD, and in the end, we see that the demand for HD DVD is not fading at all.
It all goes to show that people love a good sale. If you’ve got very similar items going up against each other, then there’s not much reason to get the one that costs twice as much.
Combined with the impending $199 (or lower) HD DVD player about to appear in stores like WalMart, HD DVD fans should prepare for some good times ahead.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:30 am
yay
August 30th, 2007 at 8:28 am
This is one site that HD sales have been better than blu ray, not overall. Most people know that blu ray has been vastly outselling HD for some time now (since late winter to early spring). http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom082607/index.php
I love it how Paramount in the article above is trying to defend their decision without saying that they received $150 million and coming up with reasons otherwise. I think that with the IFA approaching, blu ray is looking just as good as they ever were, even without the support of Paramount. Samsung, Sony, Daewoo, Philips, Sharp have all announced new players. Loewe has announced a new player 6 cm tall, and there are two new members to the BDA.
I’m sure you’ve heard Pravin that Studio Canal is now supporting blu ray, instead of being hd exclusive. Since Studio Canal owns 20% of Universal, HDs longest exclusive studio, what do you think the impact of them supporting blu ray, especially overseas?
August 30th, 2007 at 8:33 am
Something else for you to read. I also forgot in my previous post that the first BD-Rom drive for PCs has been announced, at $199. If blu ray can successfully drop prices near hd dvd, there’s not a doubt in my mind that with current sales trends, superior specs, and better overall backing, that blu ray dominates sales and Toshiba and the like start producing blu ray players.
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=455
August 30th, 2007 at 9:19 am
People have said that the first player to $199 (or Walmart) wins. Others, who are more computer-savvy, say that the first affordable burner will help establish a format. A $199 drive is good news for Blu-ray on computers, but even better if it’s a burner.
I read someplace that using either format for backups is rapidly becoming a moot point because hard drives today (compared to when these formats were launching) are already getting so big that you’d need numerous discs to perform a full backup. When a common hard drive was only about 160GB, a few discs didn’t sound like a bad idea. But as drive sizes have gone up, we end up needing to look beyond HD DVD and Blu-ray to something that can store around 1TB on a single disc (which will still end up being smaller than the hard drives in use at that time).
Hmm, I wonder if that will be the next high-def DVD war…
About the Studio Canal… GE owns Universal, and GE makes plastics that supply Blu-ray plants. Everybody wants to make money how and where they can. I think Universal operates as its own business entity and that the various owners probably keep their hands-off unless there’s some big reason to interfere.
It’s like seeing a few ants roaming around. Since it’s only a few ants and it doesn’t look like they’re causing a problem, you let them go. But when you see a strong line of them going somewhere, that’s when you are more likely to do something about it. Similarly, high-def discs are a big deal to us, but they’re just a small phenomenon in the overall home entertainment market. Remember, combined the two formats only now started outselling VHS. I’m sure Studio Canal and other interested parties will leave Universal alone unless or until there’s some good reason to speak up.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:11 am
well, i’d find universal moving to blu ray funny since they just set up an HD DVD site of their own where you can find out about their new HD DVD releases, watch previews for their movies, find out about new features for HDi.
for example, they’re adding a new feature to the site called “u-shop” which i don’t know what it does yet.
and they’re adding another new feature so you can share you favorite scens from one of your HD DVDs with a friend with an HD DVD player/.
oh, and Bret, stop trolling.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:38 am
That Universal site looks promising, and makes for a good official source. I wouldn’t be surprised if Paramount also put up a site along those lines. For that matter, I’m surprised that Disney hasn’t put up a dedicated Blu-ray site, considering they aleady have that mall-tour thing happening.
I have to hand it to Bret for keeping things interesting. There are some really bad trolls on the internet, and they’re orders of magnitude more disturbing than Bret.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Seeing as how HD DVD has already announced a player at $199, I still don’t see an end in site for this war. It was announced today at the IFA that with standalone players in Europe, HD DVD and Blu ray are nearly even, with BR having a slight lead. But, throw in gaming consoles, and BR is controlling 94% of the market. Hitatchi is also said to have a MAJOR announcement at the IFA tomorrow, which is also the day set up for HD DVD to make a case. You can check it out here, http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=65741
Trolling? I don’t even know what that is, and I’m a college student. But, seeing as how I’m pretty new to the whole debate between HD and BR, I guess I understand. The whole format war is interesting to me, and since I love my Playstation 3, it’s pretty obvious who I’m going to support.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I actually appreciate your contributions, Bret, because they generate some interesting points. That was an interesting link, but the history of those kinds of presentations at shows like IFA, CEDIA, CES, E3, etc. shows that the “news” is always good and promising.
Not saying that BD has something to be depressed about or that the presentation contain outright lies, but that these kinds of talks are pretty formulaic.
CEDIA comes up very soon and we’ll get to hear about USA numbers, which is more relevant to us.
August 30th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
While USA numbers are more relevant to us, the USA will be just a part of the winning side. Europe and other countries are very important here, because let’s look at the companys…while most are international, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung? All foreign.
I’m interested to hear the USA side of it, however. And I fully understand that at these conferences, each side is trying to present their best front. I’m sure you’ll do a good job of following the IFA for the HD side of it, Pravin, and I look forward to reading what the HD camp has to say.