Home Media Magazine - December 2-8, 2007 - (Page 16)
HIGH-DEF www.homemediamagazine.com Format Sales Bravado in Overdrive as Year-End Nears By Erik Gruenwedel ith Christmas less than a month away, perception would appear to be reality when it comes to sales of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc players and movies. The same day the HD DVD Promotional Group reported that U.S. sales of HD DVD players exceeded 750,000 units, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) said movie disc sales in Europe had topped 1 million units, representing about 73% of all HD movies sold. The BDA, citing third-party data, said the software tally would top 21 million units when factoring in video games due to the Sony PlayStation 3 game console, which includes a Blu-ray drive. The two formats remain engaged in a bitter tug-of-war for market dominance regarding the future of packaged media in a high-definition age — seen by many studios as a surrogate to dormant DVD sales. “Sales of PlayStation 3 for Sony are disappointing but still counted in the millions rather than hundreds of thousands of homes for HD DVD,” said analyst Tom Adams of Adams Media Research. “If BRIEFS I SAMSUNG INVESTS IN NEW LCD PRODUCTION LINE South Korea’s Samsung will invest roughly $2.2 billion in a new LCD production line, in anticipation of higher demand for the flat-panel TVs in the coming years. According to a statement from the company, the new line will produce panels 50 inches and larger, have a monthly output of 60,000 units and will start rolling off LCD TV panels by the third quarter of 2008. – Chris Tribbey W [PS3 households] were buying lots of movies, the Blu-ray ratio would be stratospheric versus HD DVD.” Adams said sales of standalone Blu-ray players in the United States should top 370,000 households by the end of the year and 50,000 households in Western Europe, which includes the United King- dom, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Spain, France and Germany. By comparison, Adams, citing Wal-Mart’s recent $99 HD DVD player sale as a catalyst, projected 580,000 U.S. homes with HD DVD players by the end of the year and 150,000 households in Western Europe. Sony PlayStation 3 Third Format Hits USA By Chris Tribbey ritain’s New Medium Enterprises Inc. is bringing its lowerpriced high-definition alternative to Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD to the United States. Previously only a strong presence in New Zealand, Iceland and parts of Central Europe, HD Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD) players will be available for sale on the Web site of U.S. electronics retailer PC Rush. The retailer also will distribute the players to retail shops through its associate company, Distenex. “We are very excited about stock- HD DVD Players Hit 750,000 By Chris Tribbey hanks to Black Friday, more than 750,000 HD DVD players are in U.S. households, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group announced Nov. 27. The group cites retailer reports for the data, which includes Xbox 360 HD DVD player add-ons. “HD DVD continues to gain momentum and market share with consumers,” said Ken Graffeo, EVP of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group. “With more than four weeks left for holiday shopping, HD DVD is turning out to be the perfect consumer electronics gift.” B NME Versatile Multilayer Disc player ing this unique product, one which we feel can make high definition accessible to a whole new segment of the home entertainment market,” said Fred Bokhoor, CEO of PC Rush. The retailer will begin selling the players in December and has ordered 10,000 units of the players. HD VMD is created using a red-laser technology, the same as standard DVD. It provides 1080p resolution, up to 40 Mbps bit rate playback and DVD upscaling; it also supports all DVD region codes. HD VMD has no major studio backing. “PCRush.com will make strong Internet sales here in the USA for HD VMD products thanks to its high e-commerce site and its dedicated sales force,” NME head of U.S. operations Alexandros Potter said. “In addition, distribution of our products to brick-and-mortar outlets will be carried out.” T TOP 10 HIGH-DEF SELLERS H IG H -D EF SELLER S Week ended November 25, 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 25, 2007 FORMAT LABEL INDEX TITLE TITLE Arctic Tale H I G H -D E F TH I S WE E K STREETING Arctic Tale HD DVD Paramount Street Date: 12/4 Cast Away Blu-ray Fox Street Date: 12/4 Mr. & Mrs. Smith Blu-ray Fox Street Date: 12/4 Pirates … At World’s End Blu-ray Disney Street Date: 12/4 Queen: Rock … BD & HD DVD Eagle Vision Street Date: 12/4 Superbad Blu-ray Sony Pictures Street Date: 12/4 20 Million Miles … Blu-ray Sony Pictures Street Date: 12/4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Live Free or Die Hard Open Season Spider-Man 3 Ratatouille Shrek the Third Transformers Hairspray Ocean’s Thirteen The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause 300 Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray HD DVD HD DVD Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Fox 100.00 Sony Pictures 49.75 Sony Pictures 36.67 Disney 29.66 Para./DreamWorks 25.01 Para./DreamWorks 22.87 New Line 17.72 Warner 16.73 Disney 15.53 Warner 15.09 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Live Free or Die Hard Open Season Spider-Man 3 Ratatouille Ocean’s Thirteen Shrek the Third Planet Earth: The Complete Series Transformers 300 Hairspray Blu-ray Fox 100.00 Blu-ray Sony Pictures 49.75 Blu-ray Sony Pictures 36.67 Blu-ray Disney 29.66 BD; HD DVD/DVD Warner 26.81 HD DVD Para./DreamWorks 25.01 BD; HD DVD BBC Video 24.14 HD DVD Para./DreamWorks 22.87 BD; HD DVD/DVD Warner 21.53 Blu-ray New Line 17.72 Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data TOP 5 HIGH-DEF BLU-R AY D ISC Week ended November 25, 2007 LABEL INDEX TOP 5 HIGH-DEF HD DVD Week ended November 25, 2007 LABEL INDEX TITLE TITLE 1 2 3 4 5 Live Free or Die Hard Open Season Spider-Man 3 Ratatouille Hairspray Fox Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Disney New Line 100.00 49.75 36.67 29.66 17.72 1 2 3 4 5 Shrek the Third Transformers Planet Earth: The Complete Series Ocean’s Thirteen Star Trek: The Original Series — Season One Para./DreamWorks 100.00 Para./DreamWorks 91.44 BBC Video 54.86 Warner 40.30 Paramount 27.53 Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data 16 Home Media Magazine December 2–8, 2007
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