Blu-ray Disc Association declares victory over HD DVD

The Blu-ray Disc Association has wasted no time, issuing a statement that it is victorious as the premiere high definition format of choice. With 25 different companies having released Blu-ray related products, over 170 movie and music titles announced so far and of course, more than one million PlayStation 3s shipped to the U.S. Andy Parsons, chair of the U.S. Promotions committee is comfortable citing Blu-ray's industry support as a reason customers have voted with their wallets and will continue to do so. In 2007 the BDA looks forward to second generation PC and and standalone Blu-ray drives, like the BD-P1200, the Sony Vaio XL3 and a strong lineup of movie releases as why its market share will continue to increase this year, all but eliminating any competition by 2010. Check out our live coverage of the BDA press conference going on right now for more propaganda/truth (depending on your viewpoint).

[Joshua @ Jan 8th 2007 7:09PM]

I can see the Sony arrogance bleeding through the BDA, too.

I'm really getting tired of that company.

[Will @ Jan 8th 2007 7:14PM]

Yes, Sony is very arrogant, but there's a catch...
... this time it's true.


Let's be serious here. Blu-Ray has owned the market, and HD DVD stands no chance. The only thing HD DVD had going for it was the drive that was released for the 360, and we haven't heard of that since it was released. Well, I take that back, we heard about it once when we compared its size to the Wii.

[Nathan Borror @ Jan 8th 2007 7:11PM]

Funny thing is, Blu-ray will be obsolete by 2010. Downloadable content will rein #1.

[Ignatius @ Jan 8th 2007 7:13PM]

This is just another measuring contest for length.

You know what I'm talking about.

[es @ Jan 8th 2007 7:13PM]

okkkaaayyyyy.... and i have balls the size of my forehead, jokes on you i do have balls the size of my forehead

[cobnat @ Jan 8th 2007 7:14PM]

woo hoo! poor microsoft and toshiba, yay sony, apple, sharp, dell, panasonic, mitsubishi, pioneer, phillips, samsung, disney and more....

[HEADsoldier07 @ Jan 8th 2007 7:14PM]

and who cares that theyve "declared" their arrogant little victory....we'll know the real winner in a couple years, maybe sooner.

[Ransom @ Jan 8th 2007 7:15PM]

i declare victory over blu-ray because i am just so incredibly awesome.

[gamRfanatic32 @ Jan 8th 2007 7:19PM]

and WHO cares about your arrogant little "declared victory".....we'll find out in a few years, maybe sooner.

[greg @ Jan 8th 2007 7:22PM]

how can sony declare victory over HD DVD when HD DVD has been selling more??

[gamRfanatic32 @ Jan 8th 2007 7:23PM]

who cares about your little arrogant "declared" victory....we'll find out who the real winner is soon enough.....

[Joshua @ Jan 8th 2007 7:26PM]

@gamRfanatic32, or not, since nobody really wants to buy any HD players and discs at these prices, especially if they already own the movies. I really don't think any of the HD disc formats will start to come into its own until, at least, 2009.

[gamRfanatic32 @ Jan 8th 2007 7:30PM]

I didn't mean really soon, I just meant that the bda shouldn't just "declare a victory" like that, they should wait until the other company backs out....right?

[Adam @ Jan 8th 2007 7:30PM]

I don't think they are allowed to declare victory until they at least sell as many stand-alone units and as much software as HD DVD. Sure it's "fore casted" that they will but let's see what happens. Nobody thought HD DVD would be where it is now either. PS3's don't count because there is no way to tell how many are buying it for Blu-ray playback but I would wager that the number is very low, around the percentage of people who bought the HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360. I'd say that 2 or 3% would be generous.

There may never be a winner in this war, especially with all these dual player and dual disc announcements.

[bboy @ Jan 8th 2007 7:32PM]

It's not about how much your sell.
It's about how much you ship.
right sony?

[disciple83 @ Jan 8th 2007 7:33PM]

Guy blew his load early if you ask me. So what 1 million PS3's were sold, how many of those pieces of shit wound up back at the store? Dunno about you, but I can upscale my standard movies and have it look flippin' sweet on my 1080i 52" projection TV. Not to mention the fact that I am rockin' out with my Wii out in wide screen while Sony sits in Best Buy on a pallet as people pass it by like it is a box of dead puppies.

[DJ @ Jan 8th 2007 7:33PM]

OK, thanks I'm glad its all over, I can go back to sleep now...Zzzzzzzzz

[djware @ Jan 8th 2007 7:35PM]

WOW, I am so glad its all over...I can finally get some sleep..Zzzzzzzzz

[Someone @ Jan 8th 2007 7:36PM]

I wonder how long it will take for the BDA to declare victory over regular DVDs?

[DJ @ Jan 8th 2007 7:38PM]

Yeah! I am so glad this format war is all over...going back to sleep now. Zzzzzzzzzzz

[DJ @ Jan 8th 2007 7:40PM]

I apologize for the spam, I think my Blu-Ray disc locked up

[applesucksLeo @ Jan 8th 2007 7:42PM]

And in related news...Sony declares that the earth is flat !

[Someone @ Jan 8th 2007 7:44PM]

tomorrow's article headline:

"BDA declares victory over internet movie downloads; next on their victory declarations...Terrorism"

[ra d o hax @ Jan 8th 2007 7:44PM]

Reminds me very much of the Iraqi press conference where the press minister was claiming that the US was not in Iraq and had no chance of inflicting damage on Iraq... he had to talk loud because of the bombs exploding outside the building.

[d. zeinstein @ Jan 8th 2007 7:58PM]

In other news, George Bush has declared that major combat operations have ended... mission accomplished!

[Goebbels @ Jan 8th 2007 8:00PM]

Blu-ray Disc Association declares victory over HD DVD!!

Yeah so......so did the germans at Stalingrad!

What a load of propaganda.

I should know.

Joseph G.

[Ireney Berezniak @ Jan 8th 2007 8:03PM]

That's quite the statement to make. Personally, I don't know anyone with a Blu-ray player or a PS3 for that matter, while I know a number of folks, myself included, that own HD DVD players, or Xbox/HD DVD combos. I know for a fact that www.canflix.com, a Canadian DVD rental company, rents many more HD-DVDs that it does Blu-ray titles. Every indication seems to point to the fact that HD-DVD is king, while Blu-ray whimpers.

[glocks out @ Jan 8th 2007 8:15PM]

I love how the author of this particular blog takes one statement out of context and everyone jumps on this without looking at the facts. From the press conference: Blu-ray has 96% of the HD player market in Japan. "In terms of Japan the game is already over there."

Nowhere else in the linked article does Andy Parsons, or anyone else on the BDA panel, declare victory anywhere except in Japan, where they have 96% of the market. That's a victory if I ever saw one.

The thing that's hurting the BDA the most is the fact that Sony is the forerunner. Everyone hates Sony (more than Microsoft it would seem) so they hate (apparently) Disney, Lionsgate, Apple, Dell, Philips, Panasonic, Pioneer, et al. Apparently the format with the largest market support of any format at launch is reduced to Sony alone.

I think either format's victory would be great because HD movies are amazing, but if this war keeps going for long we won't have a winner at all. I just think it's ridiculous that all these HD DVD fanboys are so sure of themselves that they discount 90% of Hollywood. With the power behind BDA, it's foolish to take them lightly.

[Richard Lawler @ Jan 8th 2007 8:19PM]

You may want to re read the first sentence of the linked article.

"The Blu-ray Disc Association today declared its victory as the premiere high definition DVD format of choice."

thank you.

[Ireney Berezniak @ Jan 8th 2007 9:40PM]

Not sure if you have actually read the whole BDA coverage post or only the first few paragraphs, but BDA declares itself a winner -- and not Japan only -- through out the whole conference, you need only read between the lines. Event to the question "when will the format war end?" BDA responds "[...] It is a matter of time before the fact that BDA is the winner is evident to everyone." No Phd is needed to deduct from this sentence that BDA considers themselves to be a victor already.

[AndyG @ Jan 8th 2007 8:21PM]

In fact HD-DVD has already won. All that the general public wants is a cheap HD-DVD player. Not a $1,000 Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray is a losing cause for Sony (like so many of their other ventures from Beta, Mini-Disk, UMD, MemoryStick etc.) For example, I've been buying top of the line Sony Vaio desktops for years but I specifically don't want one with Blu-Ray so when I upgrade in a couple of months it won't be another Sony.

[Cody @ Jan 8th 2007 8:47PM]

I declare myself victorious over Blu-ray and HD-DVD!

Good job Will there with your great facts there to show how Blu-ray has "owned the market"... fanboys.

[Joshua @ Jan 8th 2007 8:59PM]

@gamRfanatic32, I knew you meant that, but I was just saying what I thought would happen realistically.

@Goebbels, I'm so glad I didn't look at your name before reading your comment. I literally LOL'd after I read your post and saw your name.

Anyway, 96% of the market in Japan is interesting; how many total players have been sold there? How many of those players are PS3s?

[Toki @ Jan 8th 2007 9:12PM]

i don't quite understand why so many CE companies are beyond Blu-Ray given that Sony's PS3 will effectively undercut their market since PS3's price cuts will probably on pace with Blu-Ray player price cuts. Shouldn't these guys support HD-DVD instead? I don't quite get it.

[GenNove @ Jan 8th 2007 9:16PM]

While BLU-Ray have the capacity and the technology to appear greater then hd-dvd
The name alone (HD-DVD) overtakes blu-ray we all know the end user
is used to dvd so HD-DVD is only the logical name for simpletons to match.

I have both blu and hd-dvd and man. HD-DVD blows away blu-ray in quality.

[Wellinformed @ Jan 8th 2007 9:16PM]

"In fact HD-DVD has already won. All that the general public wants is a cheap HD-DVD player. Not a $1,000 Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray is a losing cause for Sony (like so many of their other ventures from Beta, Mini-Disk, UMD, MemoryStick etc.)"

There is a Blu-ray player for $500 (PS3), a standalone for $570 (Samsung BDP1000-Amazon), and a player for $600 (PS3 60GB). These are all 1080p player (I have the 60GB PS3 for movies). The PS3 update in March should include 1080p/24 playback and a very solid upscaling among a lot of other things.

The Xbox 360 is not an accurate upscaler according to ISF techs.

Sony formats that almost everyone has (successful formats for the slow): CDs, miniDV, DV, Hi8, and part credit for DVDs. The CD is one of the most used formats on the planet, but yet all of Sony's formats failed? Idiots!

You guys will probably think HD DVD still has a chance even after they are being pulled from the shelves. Stay in your pretend world.

The number 1 and 2 titles being sold in Hi-Def are Blu-ray titles. Blu-ray disc sales have jump 700% since the release of the PS3! Yet, HD DVD fans still say no one is using the PS3 as a Blu-ray player! "Welcome to the real world." When your eyes start to hurt, the Blu-ray supporters will say: "It's because you never used them before. Be patient. The answers are coming."

[Ryan @ Jan 9th 2007 1:11AM]

CD is a Philips Electronics inovation. Sony tried for years to squash DV in lue of its Digital8 format. Are you sure you know what Sony has really made that has been a success? All I can think of is DAT as it is very common in the music recording industries and Beta (not to be confused with BetaMAX), which was used for years as the prefered media of broadcast journalists; then again, that hardly counts as Consumer Electronics.

[Hak Foo @ Jan 8th 2007 9:23PM]

I had no favorite between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, but I did want a PS3. So I get my PS3 and have since bough 7 Blu-Ray movies and counting. I will buy HD-DVD discs if I get the 360 add on for my Birthday in March, but by then I expect I will have 15 Blu-Ray movies. And yes that PS3 is basically a stand alone Blu-Ray player for me because I'm only interested in Resistance and have touched it in weeks. Once Motorstorm comes out it will be dual purpose again.

Had the 360 launched with an internal HD-DVD drive I'm sure I would have a significant number of HD-DVD's in my collection. I sincerely believe that Blu-Ray is at a major advantage having every system being a Blu-Ray player.

Oh yeah, I bought all my movies at places other than Amazon, so I'm not sure how much you can rely on their sales figures.

[Keyth Halloween @ Jan 8th 2007 10:04PM]

Winner? Not from where I'm standing. As I'm about to watch a Netflix rental on my 360 HD-DVD player, and I do not own a PS3 (and refuse to) or a Blu-Ray player, I'd say HD-DVD is the winner in my home.

If they can count every PS3 as a "potential movie player" purchase, then they can count every 360 as the same.

Incidentally, the HD-DVD add-on is worth the money. When you consider it's only $200 and comes with a $30 movie and a $30 remote control, it's a frickin' bargain if you already have a 360.

[allcity @ Jan 8th 2007 10:08PM]

I think the statement is as premature as a 9 year old hammer handing himself. The statement is mere hype in hopes that people will see it and pass word of mouth that Blu-ray has one and hopefully encourage the unwise to buy blu-ray. Saying that blu-ray has the market in Japan is like saying that Toyota has the market in Japan. All Sony has is the Studios behind them. And yet, It appears that some of those studios are releasing HD-DVD titles as well.

Here are so quotes:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/HD_DVD_Studio_Support

"As a result, even though we feel that HD DVD is providing a better product and user experience, the Bluray format is being "artificially protected" in spite of it's poor performance."

"It is said that Disney and Lions Gate are now wavering in their support for Bluray, having been let down badly by the launch of the format and the terrible word of mouth - not to mention the poor sales."

http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback158.html

"Sony was supposed to originally ship 2M PS3s into the market during the 4th quarter and actual numbers (given they had under 200K at launch) may be closer to 400K. And with a recall possible there is a chance they might not even make that. Add to this that the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive is for movies only, so each one counts for movie viewing while PS3s may not be used to watch movies and you have a situation where the active movie player advantage by year-end should be between 4x and 6x better for HD DVD over Blu-Ray."

"Finally, HP who had been a big Blu-Ray supporter and dominates the Media Center PC market, introduced a $100 HD DVD upgrade for their PCs"

And my personal favorite:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/11/16/ps3-doesnt-do-1080i/

"On many older CRT HDTVs that only support 1080i input and not 720p, instead of scaling to the appropriate HD resolution, the PS3 goes back down to the positively Wii-like EDTV standard of 480p."

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/15/720p-ps3-games-downscale-on-older-hd-sets/

"If you have a 1080i-capable television (that would be many older HD sets), you may be dismayed to learn that 720p PS3 titles will not upscale to fit the resolution. Instead, 720p titles will always be downsized to 480i or 480p. IGN confirmed this after testing four games -- Resistance: Fall of Man, NHL 2K7, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, and Need for Speed Carbon -- on a 1080i set that did not support 720p; all scaled down to 480p"

What a fu*king joke SONY!
Wak Up and smell the Coffee!

[Thierry @ Jan 8th 2007 10:32PM]

Sony's and the BDA's arrogance will end up flying in their face eventually. The one who laughs last is the one who laughs the most...

If you ask me, CES has been very positive for HD-DVD so far, with new hardware announced and the retailers' blessing for universal players. It's not going anywhere but up...

[John Burton @ Jan 8th 2007 10:40PM]

There was a slight moment I thought about buying a Blu-Ray player. Yea, spend the 800-900 dollars for one, to have both (I have the HD-DVD for the 360). But after reading this, there is no way, in hell I would buy one of these. As long as the HD-DVD player is an option, I will not buy a blu-ray product. I will stand in my local Best Buy/Circuit City/Tweeter and trash them. A friend of my will help as his copy of "The Decent" doesn't play in his $1000 Blu-ray player. Sony... what are you thinking?
BOYCOTT!!!! BOYCOTT!!!! Buy nothing from the companies supporting "Blew-ray".
I say, let's see RED!!!!!!

Whew, now I feel better
John B.

[Ryan @ Jan 9th 2007 1:22AM]

Oh, does that mean we can buy things from Circuit City again, or are we still boycotting them for their promotion of Divx?
If you ask me, this whole BDA mess sounds a lot like the Circuit City/Good Guys mantra that Divx is a much better system because you could buy a Divx player and be able to watch Divx or DVDs on it... Now it's BlueRay (a.k.a. Divx) or Games (a.k.a. DVDs).

[Kevin Riddell @ Jan 8th 2007 10:41PM]

I own both of these formats and I cringed the first time I watched a blu ray disk! The quality was is and will be abysmal in comparison to the superior picture and sound of HD-DVD. All I can hope is this article has missed the mark and Sony has jumped the gun again...

[Jon @ Jan 8th 2007 10:44PM]

They can say what they want...but HD-DVD movie sales are far outpacing Blu-Ray thus far. I personally own a 360 HD-DVD add on and rent HD-DVD movies from Netflix like crazy. Even if HD-DVD fails...I am content to stick with downloadable HD offerings on Xbox Live.

Blu-Ray will never have a place in my home.

[Wellinformed @ Jan 8th 2007 10:45PM]

"Sony was supposed to originally ship 2M PS3s into the market during the 4th quarter and actual numbers (given they had under 200K at launch) may be closer to 400K. And with a recall possible there is a chance they might not even make that."

Sony shipped and sold over 1.4 million PS3s worldwide (www.vgcharts.org).

175,000 HD DVD device versus over 1 million Blu-ray capable devices in North America. I guess the math is not working for you. It has already started to reflect in the HD movie sales.

"If you have a 1080i-capable television (that would be many older HD sets), you may be dismayed to learn that 720p PS3 titles will not upscale to fit the resolution. Instead, 720p titles will always be downsized to 480i or 480p."

That use to be a problem. Stop living in the past. The glory days of HD DVD has past (from Apr. to Nov.).

The Xbox 360s can only be counted for HD DVD if you purchase an add-on drive (for the other post made earlier).

"Finally, HP who had been a big Blu-Ray supporter and dominates the Media Center PC market, introduced a $100 HD DVD upgrade for their PCs"

I guess it's great to have a drive that can't burn a HD DVD disc (ROFLMAO)! The actual drive cost is around $450+ (and it doesn't burn HD DVDs). The Blu-ray PC drive is about $1 more expensive than building a HD DVD laptop (and the Blu-ray drives actually burn Blu-ray discs).

"As a result, even though we feel that HD DVD is providing a better product and user experience, the Bluray format is being "artificially protected" in spite of it's poor performance"

The overall picture and sound quality of Blu-ray has past HD DVD. You are still living in the past! This is 2007, not June 2006! Blu-ray is absolutely killing HD DVD in the audio department.

"All Sony has is the Studios behind them. And yet, It appears that some of those studios are releasing HD-DVD titles as well."

Not Sony...the BDA (it consists of 170 companies). The BDA also has CE companies behind them. You need both to be the winner of a format war and Blu-ray has both. Actually, the two studios that are releasing on both formats were originally for HD DVD. Warner Bros was forced to support Blu-ray by Turner Network (which owns them and New Line Cinema). That is one of the reasons why the Blu-ray versions of the Warner Bros. titles have not had the same audio tracks available. That will no longer be the case going forward.

Speaking of going forward, you might want to that as well and get out of the past.

[glocks out @ Jan 8th 2007 11:22PM]

Lawler, you're retarded. You didn't quote Sony or the BDA, and neither did the quoted article. The BDA (and the members) have not equivocally declared they had won. They have said they will win, but they have not "declared themselves the winner." You are quoting another writer and passing it off as from the BDA. That's not only misleading, it's terribly journalism and even plagiarism.

There are so many HD DVD fanboys on here it's sickening. HD DVD has done an incredible job promoting their format last year, but the war is far from over. With 8 of 9 movie studios supporting their format (and the MPAA breathing down the neck of the HD DVD steering committee), as well as all the hardware support BD has, this is more than a David vs Goliath scenario, it's like A.C. Slater vs Mike Tyson.

I'd be very surprised if HD DVD could hold off for more than two years. If that format does win, it will be a win by the people, and a testimony to the power of the people. Unfortunately, these companies don't care about people and DVD will probably win this one just like CD won the last one (SACD/DVD-A).

And before you all pull out the betamax/minidisc canards, you should consider what role Sony had in the CompactDisc.

[Richard Lawler @ Jan 8th 2007 11:24PM]

The BDA wrote that "article". It's a press release they issued today. I quoted the BDA directly. You should take alook at our live coverage, they've talked quite a bit about how they have won.

Thank you.

[Mark @ Jan 8th 2007 11:39PM]

Sony owns, Blu-Ray will won (I wouldn't declare it won YET, but judging by how things are going, it looks like HD-DVD will cease to exist sometime this year or next), and all you anti-Sony people will be crying like the crybabies that you are.

Now, I'm going to go back to my superior Blu-Ray player while you guys can continue flaming each other.

Disclaimer: I live in Japan, where HD-DVD nearly doesn't exist. It is a dead format already

[Jamie @ Jan 8th 2007 11:39PM]

From all the post I have read so far I gotta admit the blu-ray camp has facts in its favor while hddvd supporters lean heavily on the "I hate Sony" line. Sorry, in a mature world that line is not good enough. Besides, Sony is only part of a consortium of companies (including our darling Apple) that are supporting blu-ray. Conclusion, count me in. Sorry, I have no blind loyalty to anyone. Life is too short to be missing out on good toys "just because..."