Blu-ray is winning the DVD format war, says Sony

February 6th, 2007, 19:13 Posted By: wraggster

Sony has declared that Blu-ray is already winning the next-gen DVD format war, with discs outselling HD-DVD by a ratio of more than two to one.

The company is quoting a report by consumer research firm Nielsen VideoScan which states that Blu-ray is winning in the cumulative sales stakes. During the first week of January, 47.14 HD-DVD movie discs were sold in the US for every 100 Blu-ray films shifted.

During the second week that ratio increased even further, with 38.36 HD-DVD titles sold per 100 Blu-ray discs.

Sony has also announced the results of an online survey in which 100,000 PlayStation 3 owners took part. In total, 90 per cent said they had watched a Blu-ray film on their console, and 80 per cent said they planned to buy more movies in the future. In addition, per cent said they intended to rent Blu-ray films.

Many games industry analysts have predicted that the battle between Blu-ray and the Toshiba-backed HD-DVD format will be key to determining who wins the battle of the next-gen consoles.

Last year, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter observed that Sony would have an "insurmountable advantage" over Microsoft if movie studios adopt Blu-ray as the standard.

Microsoft released a HD-DVD player for Xbox 360 in the US last November. According to NPD data around 42,000 units were purchased during its first month on sale, rising to 50,000 in December.

via gibiz

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