http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/*pops in an HD-DVD*]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
but hey I guess I'm not a 'real' high def user and hence excluded from this 'Market Share Analysis' because the player is not standalone]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
That said, both sides skew results as much as they legally can. Until some third party -- that's not paid by either side -- shoots some stats, grains of salt will be in short supply.

-Pie]]>Jul 13th 2007 12:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 16th 2007 12:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
Not quite a complete picture.

And talking about the Blu Ray group
"Its discs, which are outselling HD DVD discs, can store more information and special features but the technology is more expensive."

So, the stand alone players are down, but the actual disks are selling better. Doesn't sound like the battle is all over yet.]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
Not quite a complete picture.

And talking about the Blu Ray group
"Its discs, which are outselling HD DVD discs, can store more information and special features but the technology is more expensive."

So, the stand alone players are down, but the actual disks are selling better. Doesn't sound like the battle is all over yet.]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
And yes, Europe is pretty much ahead of us all. That's why they're so sucessful, right?]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 14th 2007 10:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 15th 2007 7:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/We outsell 3::1
We have 74% market share
For every Four Blu-Ray Players, there are 12 more HD-DVD players
sandimashighschoolfootball RULES!
something tells me their repetition is cardstacking just a little bit. As has been mentioned before, the PS3, a non-dedicated BR player, is not equated in.. Touting the same victory in two different ways sounds like they are desparate for attention/success, or are covering up a shortcoming elsewhere (media sales?)]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
Blu-ray: 2665
HD DVD: 7432
Source: http://www.cinemotion.biz/informacion.php?iinfo=148

No, those aren't millions. That's 7,432 HD-DVD standalone players sold for all of Europe. I can't imagine that sales have picked up dramatically since then, so we're talking about a very VERY small number of players here. If you do include the PS3 for the same period, you'll see that the picture is quite different. According to the link below, the PS3 sold 800,000 units by mid-April. That's more than 100 times the number of stand-alone HD-DVD players sold!

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6169204.html

I'd be interested to know what the software (movie) sales look like.]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/HD DVD: 2,600
Blu-ray: 800

Number of high def players (including the PS3 and the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on) sold in France by the end of April:
HD DVD: 10,000
Blu-ray: 108,800]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/]]>Jul 12th 2007 9:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
btw... high-def isn't taking off at all in europe, and I don't think it will for a few years yet, at least until HD is the standard for everything including TV broadcasts.]]>Jul 13th 2007 7:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 15th 2007 8:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
Therefore, the state limits among them are wrong, you can see a map of Europe in the Wikipedia, in the following url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe

Best wishes]]>Jul 13th 2007 6:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/]]>Jul 13th 2007 6:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 13th 2007 1:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
However, just so people are not fooled, HD DVD is dying badly, at least in the UK...

Hmm, I think this photo says a thousand words... Content is king, and retailers have chosen Blu-Ray in Europe.

This one: (HMV, Trocadero, London)

http://img398.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2vv115txu9.jpg

Or this one (HMV, Oxford St, London)

http://img385.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2ivcgttte5.jpg

Or this one (Virgin Records, Picadilly, London)

http://img122.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image037qs3.jpg]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 6:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
I marked an HD-DVD and a Blu-Ray (both Planet Earth) with a sharpie on the plastic, came back 3 weeks later.

The HD-DVD was still there, but the Blu-Ray version wasn't.]]>Jul 12th 2007 7:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 10:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 13th 2007 12:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 13th 2007 3:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
I have a photo on my camera phone, i'll try and upload it later.

Also noticed my local Blockbuster in Greenock only stocks Blu-Ray, no HD DVD in sight.]]>Jul 13th 2007 11:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
It's more likely that 3 HD-DVD players were sold and 1 BR player was sold...]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
HD-DVD: ALL UR BASE R BELONG TO US (as long as the PS3 doesn't count)]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 13th 2007 3:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 7:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
Are we saying the PS3 - a failure in games console terms - is suddenly going to entirely dominate the HD player market to the point that BD will win?

Nobody bought PS3's in europe. Remember the lack of queues in paris, the empty red carpets 2 minutes after midnight? That's what happened. Only a few PS3's have been sold in games console terms.

Until standalone sales pick up, it will stay that way. The PS3, unlike the PS2, is not going to be the driving force behind the adoption of BD. The PS2 had almost saturation - almost every kid I know has one. That is never going to happen with the PS3 simply because of the price.

How many of the people who bought PS3's have an HD TV in europe? Not many - a lot of people buy it for the games console part, and don't use it's HD functions.

How many of those people are going to then play BD on it? Few - people will buy what they know, and buy a format they can play throughout the house/take round to friends houses and know it will play.

The HMV in Edinburgh has a tiny booth dedicated to HD movies. They have about 4 shelves, each with perhaps 5 titles on them. And...There is equal numbers of HDDVD and BD disks. But in the end, they aren't selling. Weekly total sales for some blockbuster movies have been in the double figures for the whole of the UK. People simply aren't buying HD movies in enough volume to be able to draw and statistics or predictions.

The day the first cheap, DVD-player looking HD disk player (and by cheap I mean £100-£150) is available is the day that format wins.

I know for sure that I have a HD TV, but my dad (with the money) is not going to buy an HD disk player. Yes HD looks better, but for the same price as a TV again? People aren't used to paying that much for movie players - DVD and VCR's have never costed as much as a good TV.]]>Jul 12th 2007 7:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
And even if Europeans do not have HDTVs yet, they'll have their PS3 sitting there, and when they finally get their HDTVs, do you think they'll pay more to buy another HD DVD player, or just use their PS3s to play Blu-ray discs?

Cheap players NOW doesn't quite matter because when HDTVs are sill expensive, only people who are rich can get into the HD setup, and these people will not necessarily want a cheap HD DVD player, but a cool player that they can flaunt to their friends. Price will be a big issue when HDTVs take over standard TVs and price conscious people start shopping for a Hi-Def player. But that will be a few more years to come, and by then BD players will be as cheap, if not cheaper than HD players, considering the manufacturing advantage with the shear numbers of PS3 and PC burners built.

So Leoedin, you need to look forward, and not be too myopic. All signs say that BD is going to win.]]>Jul 12th 2007 10:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Ultimately, the PS3 will, eventually, drop to a price that allows it to become more mainstream. Just because it's initially expensive doesn't mean it'll never regain traction.
I would also argue that the PS3 is a massive drive towards the growth of blu-ray. It wasn't long ago that Sony justified the price based on the fact that it had a blu-ray drive inside.
Myself, I believe that Blu-ray will come out on top. Sony has a massive hold over a large portion of the movie industry due to Sony Pictures. Coupled with the continuing price reductions of the PS3 and the introduction of the really big games later this year and next, I'd say we'll blu-ray uptake rise significantly over the next couple of years and put the final nail into HD-DVD's coffin.]]>Jul 15th 2007 1:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 7:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Jul 12th 2007 7:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/If Europe is so ahead of us why didn't they come up with hd-dvd/blu-ray?

GASP!BABY PENGUINS ARE My favorite animal.
Good old PS3. And it costs less that a blu-ray or hd-dvd player ("stand alone")]]>Jul 12th 2007 7:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/Shuji Nakamura built the first blue laser prototype from the gallium nitride crystal developed by Unipress, which is in fact a Warsaw Center for High Pressure Research, part of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Last I checked Polish Academy of Sciences is in Poland (Europe, no it's not the 51st state) and Shuji Nakamura is not American, although admittedly he works at UCSB.

and btw, X-Box has an HD-DVD player as an option, I wonder how many of those circulate in Europe.

Cheers,
Matt]]>Jul 14th 2007 12:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
While, in the meantime, HD-DVD players are in fact cheaper, this will change. People who are buying HD-DVD today are buying equipment which is already outmoded by blu-ray. Think of the long-term, people! Don't settle for a an inferior alternative because it's cheaper. Then again we are living in the wal-mart mentality consumerist era, and this wisdom will largely go unheeded. Microsoft knows this, exploits it, and is therefore evil. ]]>Jul 12th 2007 7:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
The 51GB HD DVD spec has been approved by the DVD Forum so there is no capacity advantage either way (no studio has asked for or needed this much capacity so far however).

I chose HD DVD because I liked the titles they were offering much more. I'd suggest that folks choose a format on that basis.

I seriously doubt that Blu-Ray will overcome the huge hardware price difference for a year at least. The Toshiba HD-A2 player was selling for $199 on both Amazon and Tiger Direct earlier today.
]]>Jul 12th 2007 8:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
neutrality thus established, my opinion has always been that blu-ray will win simply because consumers don't care about slightly differing specs so much as overall "feel," and the name "blu-ray" is simply, flat out more appealing than "H-D-D-V-D." you say, "hey, i just got a new blu-ray player!" and it sounds way less dorky and yet more advanced than saying, "hey, i just got a new HDDVDQXY player!"

just my thought...]]>Jul 12th 2007 8:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
That said, after picking up a PS3 two days ago, though HD DVD has more movies that I'm into, the Xbox is so damn loud that it makes me want to buy Blu-ray discs because I can actually hear the movie on the PS3. Note: I'm referring to the Xbox itself as loud, not the add-on.

Who ever came up with that picture of a jet engine with a 360 logo on it floating around the 'net is a genius.]]>Jul 12th 2007 9:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/european-hd-dvd-lobbyists-claim-74-percent-market-share/
from there, if there's no discernable difference, it comes down to a name, and a string of letters is just not attractive. "aetch-dee-dee-vee-dee" does not roll off the tongue at all, and doesn't connect on an emotional level...it also feels like a tired reiteration of the previous generation (think "enhanced cd"). a name based on a color, especially a (objectively, yes) pleasant one like "blue"....it just feels nicer, in an approachably-technological way.

"see-dee"
"dee-vee-dee"
"blue-ray"
"aetch-dee-dee-vee-dee" = not palatable in everyday consumer-speak word of mouth stuff.]]>Jul 12th 2007 10:00PM