Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: Nielson VideoScan Comparison for Week Ending 7/29/07

 

Every week Home Media Magazine reports the latest Nielson VideoScan numbers for the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD battle.  They include three figures: Weekly, Year-to-date, and Since Inception.  Weekly numbers examine discs sold at retail over the course of just the current week, the YTD numbers look at sales from the first week ending in 2007 to the present, and the since inception numbers show the relative performance of Blu-ray and HD DVD discs since the formats' respective births.

Nielson VideoScan Data for Week Ending 7/29/07

Source: Nielson VideoScan via http://www.homemediamagazine.com/

Weekly sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 66% to 34%, 100:51.5, or 1.94:1

YTD sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 67% to 33%, 100:49.3, or 2.03:1

Since Inception sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 60% to 40%, 100:66.7, or 1.5:1

In a week with no big Blu-ray releases and a total of 12 new HD DVD titles in stores, Blu-ray still manages to outsell its rival about 2:1.  If HD DVD had a chance at taking back the pie charts, this week was it.  And yet they weren't even able to get more than half of the Blu-ray sales on the weekly chart.

 

Nielson VideoScan Top 10 for Week Ending 7/29/07

Source: Nielson VideoScan via http://www.homemediamagazine.com/

Although HD DVD took the top spot with the just-released "Bourne Identity," Blu-ray still retained 8 of the Top 10 spots -- mainly on the strength of existing titles such as "Planet Earth," "Casino Royale," and both "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

The real fun will come next week when the initial numbers for "300" come out.  The HD DVD version has been praised by many for its exclusive interactive features, however reports are coming from everywhere that it is the Blu-ray release that is sold out at stores across the country.  Online mega e-tailer Amazon.com has sold out of the Blu-ray version multiple times this week, only to get "restocked" with only a few hundred copied, making one wonder if Warner is attempting to prop up the HD DVD sales for next week by limiting availability of the Blu-ray version.

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News: Grand Theft Auto IV Delayed

 

After constantly denying rumors of a delay in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV game for PS3 and XBox 360, Take Two today did an about face and officially confirmed that the game will not be released until Fiscal Year 2008.  The new release timeframe is Q2 2008, which means February - April 2008 according to their fiscal calendar.

Take Two's announcement attempted to deflect criticism of the delay by promising a better game in the end:

"Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two, stated, "With Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar is setting a new standard for next generation video games. Certain elements of development proved to be more time-intensive than expected, especially given the commitment for a simultaneous release on two very different platforms. We all recognize that perfecting the game is vital and I can assure everyone it will be worth the wait. We owe it to the game's millions of fans, to our dedicated development team, and to our shareholders to make sure that Grand Theft Auto IV is a groundbreaking gaming experience that takes maximum advantage of next generation technology."

Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games, added, "The new consoles are allowing us to create the Grand Theft Auto game we always dreamed about. Every aspect of the game and its design has been completely transformed. The game is huge and is pushing the hardware platforms to their absolute limits. The top engineers from Sony and Microsoft are working closely with the team in Edinburgh right now, helping us to fully leverage the power of both platforms. As always, our goal is to surpass even the wildest expectations of the game's fans, and to create the ultimate high definition video game experience.""

Whether the delay will actually lead to a better game remains to be seen, but it's definitely sad news for fans of the series, who were eagerly awaiting the October release of the game.  On the upside, Take Two did announce that LA Noire (another upcoming Rockstar title) would be a PS3 exclusive.

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Politics: Can 1 Lawyer in California Choose the Next President?

 

In what may be called either the last recourse of a desperate party, or the greatest political plan of all time (depending on your political affiliation), a Republican attorney in California is trying to get "The Presidential Election Reform Act" added as a ballot initiative early next year.  The initiative, which would be voted on statewide on one of two primary ballot voting days next spring, would change the way California allocates their electoral votes, and would almost certainly guarantee Republican victories in future Presidential elections. 

The initiative would change the allocation of California's electoral college votes from a "winner take all system," to a system that awards an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district's voting, and two "bonus" votes to the overall state winner.  This system is used in only two other states: Maine and Nebraska.  To give you an idea of what this would mean, out of California's 55 electoral votes that all went to John Kerry in 2004, 22 of those votes would have gone to George Bush under the new system.  That would have been despite the fact that John Kerry won the state by double-digit margins.

Although this new approach does have some benefits over the winner-take-all system, implementing it in a hugely democratic state while not doing so in Republican-leaning states, makes it next-to-impossible for a democrat to win the presidency, even if the difference in the national popular vote favored the democrat by 5 or more percentile.  Obviously such rigging of an election in nothing new to the Republican party, but an attempt to do so so flagrantly is a bit surprising.  Was it not enough to have the Supreme Court instill the George Bush in office, despite his getting less votes nation-wide and votes in Florida going uncounted?  Was it not enough to turn away minority voters from the polls illegally, or to attempt to convince minorities that the election was on another day, in 2004?  Is 2008 going to be the year when the Republicans achieve their true goal: not just gerry-rigged congressional districts that should have kept them in power in Congress, but a gerry-rigged electoral college map that makes it possible for a Republican candidate with far fewer votes to beat a Democrat candidate with far more?  Is this really how the founding fathers envisioned our government?  Hopefully, voters in California won't fall for it.

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Microsoft Releases Performance, Compatibility, and Reliability Packs for Windows Vista

 

Two major updates for Windows Vista, that are due to be included in the next round of monthly updates have "leaked" to the web early.  Although the updates are fairly small in size, they include many important updates that effect the functioning of the Windows Vista operating system.  Below are just a few of the bigger fixes and improvements implemented by the two patches:

938979 Vista Performance and Reliability Pack

• Improves performance resuming to desktop (or login) from hibernate and from certain screensavers
• Improves performance when moving large files and directories, and improves performance in calculating time remaining
• Fixes problems with accessing webpages with advanced security
• Fixes certain data/memory corruption problems
• Allows shared printers to be installed when UAC is turned off

938194 Vista Compatibility and Reliability Pack

• Improved graphics:
  • Better reliability and compatibility with new advanced graphics cards and graphic card drivers
  • Better reliability when using notebook with external display
  • Improved game graphics on games with "high intensity graphics"
  • Improved quality Blu-ray and HD DVD playback on large monitors
• Improved reliability of Internet Explorer, networking scenarios, Windows Calendar, when entering or resuming from sleep, and on systems upgraded from XP
• Improved compatibility with printer drivers

Having installed both updates, I have to say the difference is noticeable.  The biggest problem I have had with Vista is in trying to copy large files/directories between machines on a network.  The updates definitely correct that problem, and supposedly a number of others as well.  If you want to grab the updates early also, use the links below.

Link to 32-bit (x86) Vista Updates

Link to 64-bit (x64) Vista Updates -- NOTE: On Vista-64, installing these updates will remove all previous methods that existed for bypassing the driver signing requirements.  The only method that still works is to use F8 at EVERY boot.

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New Rockstar Franchise to Be PS3 Exclusive!

 

SCEA yesterday dealt a shocking blow to competing systems with an announcement that a new gaming franchise coming from Rockstar Games would be exclusive to the PS3 system.  After screwing the pooch on getting GTA IV as a timed exclusive, this is great news indeed.

According to Sony's statement, Rockstar has been wanting to do a game that can only be done on the PS3, harness the power of the cell processor and the storage capacity of Blu-ray optical disc.

Coming on the heels of the E3 announcements regarding timed exclusivity for Unreal Tournament 3 and Haze (among others), Sony has definitely started making the right moves in reinvigorating the third-party development community.  Let's hope the trend continues.  There's some great things coming!

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Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: Nielson VideoScan Comparison for Week Ending 7/22/07

 

Every week Home Media Magazine reports the latest Nielson VideoScan numbers for the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD battle.  They include three figures: Weekly, Year-to-date, and Since Inception.  Weekly numbers examine discs sold at retail over the course of just the current week, the YTD numbers look at sales from the first week ending in 2007 to the present, and the since inception numbers show the relative performance of Blu-ray and HD DVD discs since the formats' respective births.

Nielson VideoScan Data for Week Ending 7/22/07

Source: Nielson VideoScan via http://www.homemediamagazine.com/

Weekly sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 74% to 26%, 100:35.1, or 2.85:1

YTD sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 67% to 33%, 100:49.3, or 2.03:1

Since Inception sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 60% to 40%, 100:66.7, or 1.5:1

Wow!  Just shy of a 3:1 lead for the week for Blu-ray.  With numbers like this, it's really no surprise that Blockbuster and BJ's Wholesale are going to carry Blu-ray only in their stores, and why Target will be carrying only Blu-ray players this fall.  Given the slate of awesome titles due out this fall and winter, it seems that ratios of 3:1 or higher will likely become the norm.

Nielson VideoScan Top 10 for Week Ending 7/22/07

Source: Nielson VideoScan via http://www.homemediamagazine.com/

Another great week, with 9 of the Top 10 high definition titles being Blu-ray discs!  Once Fox reenters the market, we could be looking at all 10 titles being Blu-ray discs on a regular basis.  The only real question left is when can officially declare HD DVD dead?

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News: FOX IS BACK! (and other Blu-ray news of the day)

 

A lot happened today in the world of Blu-ray, so I figured it would be easier to combine everything into one post.

First, Target announced that they would be exclusively carrying Blu-ray players this fall, stocking the Sony BDP-S300 in its stores beginning this October.  They will not be selling a HD DVD player.  This is the first high-def optical disc player to be sold at Target stores.  Target said they will continue to carry HD DVD discs, however, they will be enhancing their Blu-ray selection with endcaps featuring hit titles from Sony and Disney/Buena Vista.

In other player news, Samsung officially priced and dated their fall Blu-ray Disc player line-up.  The already announced BD-P1400 will be available in September for $549, and the upscale BD-P2400 will be available in October for a reported $649. A Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player, the BD-UP5000, is expected before Christmas for an astounding $1,049.

On the movie side, FOX IS BACK!  Okay, it's just a single title for now, but supposedly many more are to be announced soon.  Jeepers Creepers 2 (from MGM) will be released by Fox on September 11.

And, finally, Warner Brothers officially announced 5 Stanley Kubrick titles for release on October 23.  The titles announced are:

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• A Clockwork Orange
• Eyes Wide Shut
• Full Metal Jacket
• The Shining

All the Kubrick films are listed as "special editions," and will feature Dolby TrueHD sound and be on BD-50 discs.  As Full Metal Jacket had previously been released, hopefully this means a remastered version will be made available.

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News: Denon Announces 2 Profile 1.1 Blu-ray Players for This Fall

 

Denon today announced 2 new Blu-ray Disc players to be released this fall.  Both the DVD-3800BDCI and the DVD-2500BTCI models are compliant with the upcoming profile 1.1 spec and HDMI 1.3 bitstream output.  That means both players are compatible with the more advanced BD-J features, such as HD PIP content, that will be available on upcoming discs, as well as bitstream output of all the advanced audio codecs.  Both players also feature SD card slots for upgrades and specific title features that may be downloaded from the internet.

The Denon DVD-3800BDCI model is expected to be available for $1999, and features the new 10-bit Silicon Optix Realta chipset for unparalleled video processing.  In addition the player can internally decode Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD audio formats and output via either HDMI or 7.1 channel analog outputs.

The Denon DVD-2500BTCI is a Blu-ray Disc transport player that features the same 10-bit Silicon Optix Realta chipset for video processing, but is designed to output audio signals in bitstream format to HDMI 1.3 compatible receivers that can decode the high-resolution audio formats internally.

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News: NPD Group Releases June, 2007 U.S. Console Sales Numbers

 

NPD just released their console sales numbers for the U.S., for June, 2007.  The next-gen console sales for the month were:

XBox 360: 198,400

PS3: 98,500

Wii: 381,000

The Wii continues to trample over everything in its path throughout the month of June.  For those who pay attention, it appears as though the numbers are up overall this month.  NPD uses a 4-5-4 accounting system, which means that the "months" aren't months in a classical sense.  Each month is based on a 4 or 5 week period that only remotely relates to actual months.  June happens to be a five week month, so the numbers are naturally higher.

The PS3 maintained its rather lackluster trend of the last couple of months, however this is data from right before the long-rumored price drop went into effect.  Next month could be very telling, as PS3 sales are reportedly up 135% or so since the price cut.  Systems are also sold out many places, so hopefully once availability evens out, the numbers will be even better.  As an aside, PS2 and PSP sales were very strong for the month, selling over 270,000 and 290,000 units respectively.

As you can see from the chart above, the PS3 is currently running about 25% below the trend line of the XBox 360 in the U.S. (Microsoft's home territory), so the price cut on these shores definitely was needed at this time.  Given that the sales were pretty much even until rumors of the price cut started, hopefully many people were just taking a wait-and-see approach and holding off their purchase until the price cut went into effect.

Obviously, the XBox 360 has been out considerably longer than the other consoles, so in the interests of fairness, here is a chart that shows the total sales of the consoles over their lifetimes.

Obviously, in terms of total consoles sold in the U.S., Microsoft still has a fairly significant lead over both other systems, although the Wii is catching up very rapidly.  Given the recent PS3 price cut and news of XBox 360 reliability problems, the next couple of months will be interesting to watch to see what the end effect will be on console sales.

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Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: Nielson VideoScan Comparison for Week Ending 7/15/07

 

Every week Home Media Magazine reports the latest Nielson VideoScan numbers for the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD battle.  They include three figures: Weekly, Year-to-date, and Since Inception.  Weekly numbers examine discs sold at retail over the course of just the current week, the YTD numbers look at sales from the first week ending in 2007 to the present, and the since inception numbers show the relative performance of Blu-ray and HD DVD discs since the formats' respective births.

Nielson VideoScan Data for Week Ending 7/15/07

Source: Nielson VideoScan via http://www.homemediamagazine.com/

Weekly sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 61% to 39%, 100:63.9, or 1.56:1

YTD sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 67% to 33%, 100:49.3, or 2.03:1

Since Inception sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 60% to 40%, 100:66.7, or 1.5:1.

 

Nielson VideoScan Data for Week Ending 7/8/07

Source: Nielson VideoScan via http://www.homemediamagazine.com/

Weekly sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 66% to 34%, 100:51.5, or 1.94:1

YTD sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 67% to 33%, 100:49.3, or 2.03:1

Since Inception sales: Blu-ray leads HD DVD 59% to 41%, 100:69.5, or 1.43:1

As you can see Blu-ray continues to beat HD DVD in sales.  Although the sales numbers for the week ending 7/15 don't look as strong as other recent weeks, Blu-ray still sold 56% more discs than HD DVD, despite not having any new Blu-ray titles released.  HD DVD, meanwhile, had 4 titles (all from Universal) released on 7/10.  The data from 7/8 more closely matches the norm for 2007, with Blu-ray outselling HD DVD roughly 2:1.

 

Nielson VideoScan Top 10 for Week Ending 7/8/07

Source: Nielson VideoScan via http://www.homemediamagazine.com/

Unfortunately, no chart was put up for the week of 7/15, but for 7/8, of the top 10 titles, the Top 8 selling titles were ALL Blu-ray titles.  Only titles 9 and 10 were HD DVD discs.  It's worth noting that this chart is from the time before the recent PS3 price cut, that looks to be rapidly expanding the Blu-ray installed base.  It will be interesting to watch the next few weeks to see if all the newly sold PS3 systems are being used for Blu-ray movie playback,

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