James Delahunty
11 Jun 2007 16:36
The HD DVD Promotional Group has taken a leaf out of the Blu-ray Disc Association's (BDA) PR book by claiming it is winning the format war - at least in stand-alone player sales. The group claims that 60% of all all the high definition set top players sold use the HD DVD format. In addition, the group said that its HD DVD players have a four to one movie "attach rate" over the competing formats.
All in all, the HD DVD Promotional Group said that 150,000 dedicated HD DVD players have been bought up by consumers. The HD DVD format has seen strong sales and growth lately due to aggressive promotional efforts including a $100 instant rebate on its entry-level HD-A2 HD DVD player.
"Toshiba's latest promotional efforts are clearly resonating with consumers and showing that price is king when it comes to hardware," said Craig Kornblau, chairman of the North American HD DVD Promotional Group. "Behind the increase in sales for hardware and movies, you're seeing fundamentally lower manufacturing costs and ease of authoring for HD DVD. That's the type of model that can scale."
Of course, if you count the PlayStation 3 (PS3) as a Blu-ray player, there are twenty times more total Blu-ray players on the market. However, the HD DVD group claims that there is a significantly decreased "attach rate" for the PS3 compared to dedicated players, an obvious fact as the PS3 is primarily bought for gaming and just features a Blu-ray drive.
Source:
High-Def Digest