HD DVD player sales top 750,000, Blu-ray claims lead in Europe
HD DVD player sales are nearing the important 1 million milestone thanks to recent price cuts, but Blu-ray is claiming an early victory in Europe.
With current-generation players from Toshiba now under $200, the HD DVD Promotions Group saw a sharp uptake in sales in November and says over 750,000 players are now in the hands of consumers. This number includes both standalone devices and the HD DVD add-on available for Microsoft's Xbox 360.
That figure, while still a fraction of DVD player sales, is an important indicator of momentum for the backers of the high-definition format. The sale of 1 million HD DVD players has long been seen as a tipping point where studios previously only supporting Blu-ray will have no choice but to support HD DVD as well.
One million customers is too much money to turn down, the thinking goes, and a similar milestone -- along with sub-$200 players -- helped propel DVD into the ubiquity it sees today. The HD DVD promotions group is hoping to hit that sales mark before the end of the year by touting low-cost Toshiba players as ideal holiday gifts.
But Sony's Blu-ray isn't going away without a fight, and concurrently announced that it is outselling HD DVD movies 3-to-1 in Europe. According to sales data provided by Media Control Gfk International, Blu-ray accounted for 73 percent of high-definition movie sales while HD DVD only garnered 27 percent.
While the disparity may seem insurmountable for HD DVD, it's worth noting that both high-definition formats have actually yet to find many buyers in Europe, so 46 percent of the market may only amount to less than 500,000 movies. In comparison, 500,000 copies of Transformers sold on DVD within hours of its release.
In total, 1 million Blu-ray movies have been sold across Europe, which is less than a third of those sold in the United States. Still, as of September 30, Home Media Research reported that Blu-ray discs are outselling HD DVD discs in the United States by a near 2-to-1 margin. No sales figures, however, have been released since the recent HD DVD player price drops.
Why are HD DVD players in the lead while Blu-ray is selling more discs? The answer is the PlayStation 3, which includes built-in support for the format. Sony has been unable to bring the cost of standalone players down to a level where many consumers will bite, but it already has a large number of PS3 consoles in living rooms around the world.
Although the attach rate -- the number of movies purchased per player -- for the PS3 is a scant 0.6, there are enough gamers willing to try out Blu-ray movies to keep disc sales above those of HD DVD. The attach rate for HD DVD, meanwhile, is closer to 4, according to the Promotions Group.
With the holiday season upon us, the rhetoric between both sides is only going to heat up. That means more confusion for consumers about which high-definition format they should purchase, and more opportunity for hybrid players -- like those from LG and Samsung -- that support both HD DVD and Blu-ray.
But in the end, what matters most for the consumer is price, which could leave HD DVD standing victorious -- at least in the United States -- by the time the Christmas trees and menorahs come down.