Home Media Magazine - November 18-24, 2007 - (Page 10) HIGH-DEF www.homemediamagazine.com Report: Consumers Looking for Cheap, Quality HDTVs By Chris Tribbey RESEARCH While consumers will be keeping a close eye on the price of LCD TVs this holiday season, the companies that make the TVs are watching even more closely, according to a report released by research firm iSuppli. Price and picture quality are the top two factors for consumers when it comes to buying an LCD TV, the BRIEFS I SONY CEO SAYS FORMAT WAR MEANINGLESS Howard Stringer, CEO of Blu-ray supporter Sony Corp., said the format is in a “stalemate” with HD DVD. Speaking last week in New York, the CEO said Bluray was trying to win the format war on its merits. He said that changed when Toshiba released sub-$200 HD DVD players and Paramount took sides. “It’s a difficult fight,” said Stringer, as reported by The Associated Press. He said the fight had become more of a prestige battle. – Erik Gruenwedel report says, followed by brand and technology. “This phenomenon is already evident in the surging market shares of low-cost LCD TV brands,” said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst of TV systems for iSuppli. “It’s also evident in the fact that television brands are emphasizing efficiency and cost cutting and are making increasing use of Original Design Manufactur- ing (ODM) services.” The use of ODM — third-party contract manufacturers — has allowed companies to avoid setting up production facilities of their own, lowering the price for consumers, and the threshold for entry into the market, iSuppli said. “The rise of Vizio in the North American market serves as a good example of the new emphasis on price in the LCD TV business,” the report read. Vizio has risen from a relative unknown company last year to the top in terms of LCD TV units sold, the report said. iSuppli will hold a Flat Information Displays conference to present more research on the TV industry in Las Vegas Dec. 4-5. Visit www.isuppli.com/fid2007 for more information. I AMAZON OFFERS FREE BD Amazon.com is touting a buy-one-getone-free offer for Blu-ray Discs. Customers can choose from nearly 100 Blu-ray titles after buying any Blu-ray Disc. Amazon has not said when the limited-time promotion will end. – Chris Tribbey Sony Aims for 11M PS3s COMPANY PLANS 1080P HD SATELLITE DELIVERY Sold by March 2008 By Chris Tribbey By Chris Tribbey s of the Nov. 17 one-year anniversary of the PlayStation 3’s U.S. release, 2 million consoles are in U.S. households, according to Sony Computer Entertainment America. That’s out of 5.6 million consoles sold worldwide, the company said. Out of the 28 million games bought worldwide, 7 million games are in U.S. households. Sony has set a goal of 11 million worldwide PS3s sold by March 2008. “The price cut, combined with A more and better exclusives coming now and into 2008, will have a real impact on the PS3’s performance,” said Billy Pidgeon, program manager for consumer markets for gaming, IDC. “People who were considering buying the PS3 were put off by the lack of a strong and deep library, but now the games are starting to look better, too.” According to Sony, more than 160 new games will be released this fiscal year, including 19 exclusive first- and third-party titles. V irginia-based XstreamHD debuted as a new company and promised to unveil a new form of high-def technology for the household. XstreamHD will use satellites to deliver 1080p video and 7.1 lossless audio to homes, the company said. “As the HD revolution continues, transport networks are the limiting factor. Their inability to deliver full HD robs consumers of the ideal home theater experience,” said XstreamHD founder and president George Gonzalez. “XstreamHD’s proprietary technology powers a network, independent of existing infrastructure, which streams full HD video and lossless audio to the home more efficiently than any other network.” Using a small satellite antenna, households will be able to receive HD content on multiple receivers in the home, delivered by Xstream’s media server. The company will exhibit its product during CES Jan. 7-10, 2008. I SONY BOWS FIRST PIP FILM Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Jan. 1 release of Resident Evil: Extinction on Blu-ray Disc will be the first high-def disc with a picture-in-picture viewing option. Consumers will need a secondgen Blu-ray player to use the feature. – Thomas K. Arnold I GIRLS GONE HIGH-DEF Girls Gone Wild: Sexiest Moments Ever 2 will street on both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD Dec. 11 at $24.95. Shot in highdefinition, the shows are broadcast in HD by InDemand Networks. – Chris Tribbey TOP 10 HIGH-DEF SELLERS H IG H -D EF SELLER S Week ended November 11, 2007 FORMAT LABEL INDEX TOP 10 HIGH-DEF SELLERS HI GH- DE F S E L L E RS Aggregate by Title Week ended November 11, 2007 FORMAT LABEL INDEX TITLE TITLE Bad Santa H I G H -D E F CO M I NG U P STREETING Bad Santa Blu-ray Disney Street Date: 11/20 Die Hard Blu-ray Fox Street Date: 11/20 Hairspray Blu-ray New Line Street Date: 11/20 Star Trek: Season 1 HD DVD Paramount Street Date: 11/20 Santa Clause 3 Blu-ray Disney Street Date: 11/20 Tremors HD DVD Universal Street Date: 11/20 PREBOOKING Rush Hour 3 Blu-ray New Line Pre: 11/20, Street: 12/26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ratatouille Blu-ray Spider-Man 3 Blu-ray Cars Blu-ray Transformers HD DVD I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry HD DVD Spider-Man: The High Definition Trilogy Blu-ray Pixar Short Films Collection Vol. 1 Blu-ray Knocked Up HD DVD 300 Blu-ray Meet the Robinsons Blu-ray Disney 100.00 Sony Pictures 34.98 Disney 30.95 Para./DreamWorks 26.04 Universal 19.52 Sony Pictures 15.38 Disney 11.56 Universal 8.53 Warner 7.70 Disney 7.60 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ratatouille Spider-Man 3 Cars Transformers I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry Spider-Man: The High Definition Trilogy Pixar Short Films Collection Vol. 1 300 Planet Earth: The Complete Series Blood Diamond Blu-ray Disney 100.00 Blu-ray Sony Pictures 34.98 Blu-ray Disney 30.95 HD DVD Para./DreamWorks 26.04 HD DVD/DVD Universal 19.52 Blu-ray Sony Pictures 15.38 Blu-ray Disney 11.56 BD; HD DVD/DVD Warner 11.32 BD HD DVD BBC Video 9.17 BD; HD DVD Warner 8.96 Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data TOP 5 HIGH-DEF BLU-R AY D ISC Week ended November 11, 2007 LABEL INDEX TOP 5 HIGH-DEF HD DVD Week ended November 11, 2007 LABEL INDEX TITLE TITLE 1 2 3 4 5 Ratatouille Spider-Man 3 Cars Spider-Man: The High Definition Trilogy Pixar Short Films Collection Vol. 1 Disney Sony Pictures Disney Sony Pictures Disney 100.00 34.98 30.95 15.38 11.56 1 2 3 4 5 Transformers I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry Knocked Up Evan Almighty Planet Earth: The Complete Series Para./DreamWorks 100.00 Universal 74.98 Universal 32.78 Universal 21.51 BBC Video 18.22 Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data 10 Home Media Magazine November 18–24, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.isuppli.com/fid2007 http://Amazon.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.