Not much time now for HD-DVD to turn it around.

Here

Maybe if the ratio figures provided by Nielson are the sole criteria some studios are concerned with
That said it's hard to argue against the numbers even with a restricted sample you would assume few if any retailers were heavily on the HD DVD side to make an impact.
If the numbers swing Warner (the big company with a question mark against it for the last few months) to BD exclusive then I can't see where HD DVD can go but even now the HD DVD format is selling so unless they are compensated in some way why would Warner end support for the format?


Still good to see the BOGOF BD had that week paid off big time and look another BOGOF for FOX titles this week (well 2 day offer) over at Amazon, great for the consumer and even better for the marketing people who without doubt are winning the "hearts and minds" war and it's the big bold headlines which alas are the key to that and 3 to 1 is pretty impressive.

I almost wish I had a Region A Blu-ray player, I'd snap up 12 of those FOX titles for the price of 6, bargain

I almost wish I'd bought a region A player, rather than region B, otherwise I'd be sampling that deal too! It's a pity they've not released the unrated version of Die Hard 4.0.

At least Warner's titles continue to be region free on Blu Ray.

I've been considering an XBox with the HD-DVD drive, largely due to the HD-DVD exclusive release of Battlestar Galactica. However, I've been put off by a bad review on High Def Digest, here. It's a shame, but they appear to have dropped the ball on PQ with that one.

Yes Warner has made so many good choices, so far




I own BSG

While I knew from the HD/SD broadcasts and DVD releases that BSG was never going to be a reference release I am very surprised the mini-series in particular looked as poor as it did. The series proper is much better but still suffers from artificial grain/noise in the same manner as Spielberg's War of the Worlds.
Absolutely nothing good to say about the packaging.


On the upside the Blade Runner 5 disc release is stunning in every way, same for Blu-ray I assume since they use the same master.

Curse those damn Pirates!

Just means I might have to get a dual player sooner than expected.

Saw the Bladerunner : Final Cut at my local cinema. Sounds fantastic! No more out of sync dialogue. The Spinners engines shifting from rear speakers to front were very impressive.

All the little mistakes have been corrected, and as you would expect, the print is flawless.

Can't wait to get my briefcase.

I went for the £19.99 5 disc HD DVD release, the Final Cut is a modern masterpiece in both pure content and how restoration/tinkering should be done, it looks gorgeous but still haven't had time to watch any of the other 4 disks yet

I'm looking forward to seeing all the outtake scenes that have been edited together with the alternate narration.

I've seen a really fuzzy version of the scene where Deckard interviews Holden in hospital after being shot by Leon. It's an interesting, but frantically paced scene that would have been totally at odds with the rest of the film.

This Christmas, the HD-DVD camp have done everything they can to get people buying their discs. And the US price of players demonstrates that. But if the end result is 3:1 in Blu-Ray's favour, I think the writing will be on the wall.
It's going to be an interesting couple of months coming up in the HD world...

I think this is the only week left that hd dvd has a chance of winning a week, so here is hoping. The real impact of the cheap hd dvd players will probably not be known until the first couple of months of the year as some of the players sold will be for xmas pressies.

I predict 60:40 for the reds this week

The grain is intentional for BSG, but I would've expected it to be reproduced correctly on any disk based HD release.

I've heard good reports on the Blade Runner release, still hoping Santa's got it in his sleigh for me!

It's gorgeous, show The Final Cut to anyone on even a half decent HD display and that'll sell either format.

I think the timescales are shorter than that. Two or three weeks into the new year, the figures will be in for software and hardware sales. The studio suits will then have all the information they need to decide what to do about format support. Will HD-DVD disc sales have improved? Will HD-DVD hardware sales be enough to show disc sales have a chance of overtaking Blu Ray in the next few months? Those are two of the questions the studios will be asking, and have the answers for, before the end of January.

Your prediction for this week looks a tad optimistic to me! The special offers and BOGOFs on both sides cancel each other out.

Early reports are that the blu's won again, 61:39, where it was a record sales week for hdm. I think that is 52 weeks on the trot for blu ray. I thought that the first hd dvd bogof would have had a bigger impact than that.

Jan 2008 CES show will be interesting to see if warner will pick a side.

CES is too early for anything.

I expect any change to occur in April/May. But I guess anything can happen.

Given that it starts on January 7th, the CES is probably too early for any announcements.

We may not hear any official announcements till later in the year, but I think the suits will make their decisions as soon as the numbers are in.

*If* they decide HD-DVD isn't going to make them enough money, once that tipping point is reached, support for HD-DVD could collapse very quickly and we really could be in a firesale situation.

I bet the guy that decided on the name Blu Ray got a big bonus.

I doubt it! There are probably still lots of confused people out there who assume Blu Ray isn't backwards compatible with regular DVD and CD. Of course, it is, just like HD-DVD, but the name doesn't suggest it, unlike HD-DVD.

Yes but Blu Ray sounds so much cooler, probably why it's leading the race.

I think the PS3's increase in sales has helped Blu-Ray. The more the PS3 sells the likelihood that blu-ray will triumph increases.

2 master strokes from Sony:

1) Buying major studios before "hostilities" commenced to ensure content exclusivity.

2) Putting a Blu Ray drive in the PS3. Seemed like a risky tactic, but it looks now to have paid off.

Of course, they nearly blew it with launching late and with an incomplete spec, but it looks good for Blu Ray now.

Here is the latest figures, quite interesting,

01. The Bourne Ultimatum red
02. The Simpsons
03. Pirates 3 - AWE
04. Harry Potter
05. Harry Potter red
06. Planet Earth red
07. Spiderman 3
08. Transformers red
09. 300
10. Planet Earth
11. Blade Runner red
12. Blade Runner
13. Ratatouille
14. Shrek the Third red
15. Die Hard 4
16. Superbad
17. Oceans 13
18. The Departed
19. The Silver Surfer
20. Casino Royale

61 : 39 to blu

Nice to see that bourne is still top for the 2nd week. Interesting that both blade runner and planet earth sold better on hd dvd while potter sold better on blu ray. Could this show the demographic for both formats.

The "Bourne" movies are class. Edge of seat stuff. If you're right about the Blu demographic, then I don't fit the profile! I bought Planet Earth on Blu Ray! I like "Potter" too. Each movie has got better than the one before, but I haven't bought any of them on any format. I'm waiting for the inevitable box set when all 7 books have been adapted.

I think the 2nd and 3rd "Pirates" movies were poor, though I liked the first. I was tempted by "300". I like the Shrek movies. Too bad they're HD-DVD exclusives. I hope they release the unrated version of Die Hard 4 at some point. The original is one of my favourite movies.

I thought the Bourne movies were awful, I had read the Ludlum novels many moons ago (as a young man so maybe that affected my judgement) and enjoyed them but was really disappointed by the movies.

Reading the novels always tends to limit the enjoyment of the movie adaptations

I rate the Bourne trilogy up there with the best of the spy sagas and action movies (don't even think most of the Bonds in the last 20 years even come close).

I bought Goblet of Fire, the only movie I've considered watching again out of the first five