Blu-ray Shows Strong Momentum Against HD DVD

New data suggests that Sony's Blu-ray is beginning to pick up steam in the marketplace, most recently accounting for three out of every four high-definition discs sold in March.

Blu-ray's dramatic turnaround happened in short order; as recently as the holiday season it lagged far behind the Toshiba and Microsoft backed HD DVD. However, the format began making a move in the beginning of the year and sales have continued to accelerate since.

In fact, the disparity has become so wide that in overall sales from Jan. 1 to March 31, total sales of Blu-ray discs were 832,530, compared with only 359,300 for HD DVD. In total sales, it is much closers with about 1.2 million Blu-ray discs sold to 937,500 HD DVD discs.

Details of the study were revealed in Home Media Magazine.

Consumers also are opting for the Blu-ray versions of titles released in both formats. Warner's The Departed was released on February 13. As of March 31, sales of Blu-ray copies totaled 53,460, while only 31,590 HD DVD discs were sold in the same period.

Sony Pictures said it was satisfied with the numbers, and said they expect them to increase even further as Blu-ray builds more momentum.

"It's exactly what we've said all along would happen - the strong support for Blu-ray among movie studio and equipment manufacturers means that consumers have more choices when it comes to players and titles. And they're choosing Blu-ray by an ever-increasing margin," Blu-ray Disc Association chair Andy Parsons said.

Part of HD DVD's problem could not only be the limited number amount of hardware options available despite the lower cost, but also weak movie releases from studios supporting the format, analysts say.

HD DVD had not commented on the findings as of press time.