In a press release sent out early this morning to coincide with today's Digital Life Expo in New York, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group issued the latest salvo in the high-def format wars: sales data.
Citing VideoScan, the press release says HD DVD movies outsold "all other high-definition formats" by a factor of nearly three in the month of August. Whether the HD DVD group is simply choosing to not mention Blu-ray by name, or whether other lesser known high-def formats (ie WMVHD and D-Theater) are included in that number is unclear, and could account for the disparity between earlier projections based on Amazon sales data that have given HD DVD an even larger lead over Blu-ray specifically. (thanks to efralope for the clarification!)
The HD DVD group also cites ACNielsen as reporting that the average HD DVD owner has purchased 8.4 HD DVD movies to date, which they annualize to equal 28 HD DVD purchases in the first year (the average lifetime attach rate for a standard DVD player is ~15 DVDs). The press release does not mention attach rates for Blu-ray players, and industry observers note that while these numbers may be large now, they're likely to drop precipitously as more consumers buy into either format -- especially via game consoles like the soon-to-be-released Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation3.
The release goes on to report strong sales for Universal's 'Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,' calling it "of the fastest selling HD DVD movies" yet, with 30% of inventory being sold in the first day of availability.
da gibts Blue Ray/hd-dvd player die weit aus weniger kosten als ne Konsole... der Konsolen bonus ist wirklich nur die ersten zwei jahre interessant.
*nur ein Scherz*