Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD: Does anyone care?
Written by Mike Bailey (contact - e-mail) -- September 28th, 2007 | Recommend ThisComing from someone who just spent close to $500 to be an early adopter of the Blu-ray high-definition video disc format, these recent trends at Netflix.com came as something of a disappointment. Not only are very few Netflix shoppers — among the most enthusiastic of home video consumers — interested in Blu-ray, but the competing HD-DVD format is actually the more popular choice among the few Netflix visitors who care. During the period of June through August 2007, Compete observed the following:
- Among the 14 million monthly average visitors to Netflix.com during those three recent months, only 0.3% viewed either of the two competing high-definition genres.
- Those who looked at Blu-ray titles outnumber those looking at HD-DVD by a factor of 1.8 to 1.
- Those who set an HD format as their preferred format selected HD-DVD over Blu-ray by a factor of 2.4 to 1.
- Those who looked at the HD-DVD genre were 4.4 times more likely than Blu-ray browsers to actually set this as their preferred format.
- Over this time period, Blu-ray adoption rates have remained flat while HD-DVD has grown.
In what is increasingly shaping up as another “VHS vs. Beta” all-around confusing situation for the consumer, neither next-generation video format appears to be gaining any real traction whatsoever. And that’s unfortunate because the picture from my new Blu-ray player is stunning. Almost as good as watching the Patriots trounce the Bills last Sunday in glorious, big-screen 1080i HD!
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Get the 
September 28th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
First of all, visitors is probably not the right denominator. They have about 7M subscribers last I checked, seems like that would be a better base to judge the overall percentage. Still, that would only leave 0.6% so your point is still well taken.
Is the HD-DVD preference setting based on the fact that Blu-Ray had an earlier start and subscribers had presumably already set up their settings? HD-DVD hardware is coming down significantly in price. Should be interesting to see what happens during the holiday season.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
“In what is increasingly shaping up as another “VHS vs. Beta” all-around confusing situation for the consumer, neither next-generation video format appears to be gaining any real traction whatsoever.”
Wait a minute - “shaping up as’…?! It’s been a cluster from the word “Go!” Neither I nor any of my geeky friends have bothered to purchase either player, precisely BECAUSE it’s a cluster. And neither format WILL gain any real foothold until one side or the other folds and the market forces adopts the “winner.” With no perceptual difference between the two utterly incompatible formats, why bother? There’s too much money at stake for this pointless wrangling to go. One side or the other will give up after this year’s holiday shopping season. (If I were a betting kind of guy, I’d say “Blue-Ray? Buh-bye!”).
October 1st, 2007 at 11:14 am
How many Blu-Ray equipped tv’s are manufactured and sold? How many Blu-Ray networks can you watch on HD satellite or HD digital cable? How many movies, sports games, or live local news broadcasts are filmed in blu-ray? None.
HD is going to win this format war by word association hands down–whether they intended to or not. We are bombarded with “HD” from so many other angles–not Blu-Ray. People brag about HD…i.e. “let’s watch the game at my house, I have a new 64″ HDTV.”
This Netflix snap shot is microview of this trend.
October 1st, 2007 at 1:52 pm
The industry was created with VCRs, not VCPs. Players always represent a lower value proposition than recorders. Due to the limited quality/capacity of DVDs, HD or Blu-ray, only hard drive DVRs offer a reasonable recording model, though combining it with a DVD burner can make a very attractive device. The ATSC transition and DRM has been holding this back as people have been avoiding buying until environments, markets, and offerings stabilize. Until then, no, no one is interested.
October 1st, 2007 at 1:58 pm
“In what is increasingly shaping up as another “VHS vs. Beta” all-around confusing situation for the consumer, neither next-generation video format appears to be gaining any real traction whatsoever. And that’s unfortunate because the picture from my new Blu-ray player is stunning”
I don’t really see this as being unfortunate at all. If both camps want to restrict the other camps from having access to all films on the next gen format, then I’m happy to see them fail. I’d rather consumers stick with upconverting DVD players and be able to watch every movie out there vs. being forced to over pay for a high def machine that could be a brick in a year. It’s not like it costs Sony anything extra to provide a digital file for HD-DVD and a digital file for Blu-Ray. Why not release movies on both formats and let consumers decide which one is the best? The longer they continue this stupid war, the greater the chance that consumers will figure out that lower resolution VOD is way better then paying for overpriced high def dvds in the first place.
October 4th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
So NetFlix rents, or at least has a preferred selection of, HD-DVD 2-1 over Blu-Ray.
Blu-Ray outsells HD-DVD 2-1.
Whatever. This is a big yawn.
Get the format of the future figured out and let’s get on with it.
October 4th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Not only that, but what needs to also be addressed, which is currently ignored, is although there’s a 2-1 ratio for PREFERENCE SETTINGS, what exactly is the rental rate? Who really cares if the HD preferred setting folks rent 1 movie a month. What if the Blu-Ray renter is hauling in 4 at a time or 3 at a time?
The NetFlix folks have said that it’s been an even split. Perhaps they are more focused on the actual rental numbers than page views and/or preference settings.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Watching a movie in high definition is an awesome experience (for both the eyes -and- the ears).
This being said, watching the same movie in “regular definition” isn’t bad either so until the prices for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD come down significantly, there’s little to no reason to switch for HD, in my humble opinion.
October 10th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Does anyone know this ratio for Blockbuster Total Access members? I remember some BD users defecting from Netflix to get the free in-store Blu-ray rentals.
October 11th, 2007 at 1:25 am
This “conclusion” is really grasping at straws. We don’t know how accurate or comprehensive the methodology is. If the data is in fact credible, perhaps more HD DVD people are using Netflix because they can’t get the discs at Blockbuster (which greatly favors Blu-ray)?
Bottom line, trying to use this “data” to proclaim HD DVD momentum or victory is completely nonsensical.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:23 am
More succes will have the cheapest, not everyone have the possibility to spend thousands of dollars for a player.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
After recently purchasing a Vizio 42″ HDTV with 720p, watching the high def broadcast made my 480i DVD player look pretty flat. i then used the component hookups and went up to 480p, a noticeable improvement, but not even close to the OTA, over the air, broadcasts that i get with the digital tuner and an outside antenna. A high definition DVD player is needed for the HDTV to work at it’s potential. Although i am not sure which format is better, the HD DVD format seems, at this time, to be better than this generation’s Blu Ray DVD palyers.
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
The observation is that Blu Ray has been consistent over that time span while HD DVD rentals have increased. If Blockbuster were skewing the Netflix results then you would expect to see that Blu Ray rentals were dropping while HD DVD were increasing.
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Jason said, “How many Blu-Ray equipped tv’s are manufactured and sold? How many Blu-Ray networks can you watch on HD satellite or HD digital cable? How many movies, sports games, or live local news broadcasts are filmed in blu-ray? None.”
You Sir, have no idea of what you’re talking about. You don’t even know that BLu-Ray is a DVD format, not a broadcast format. Doofus.
December 31st, 2007 at 9:23 am
GT said, “Jason said, “How many Blu-Ray equipped tv’s are manufactured and sold? How many Blu-Ray networks can you watch on HD satellite or HD digital cable? How many movies, sports games, or live local news broadcasts are filmed in blu-ray? None.”
You Sir, have no idea of what you’re talking about. You don’t even know that BLu-Ray is a DVD format, not a broadcast format. Doofus. ”
Your right that Blu-Ray is only a DVD format however, HD is both a brodcast and DVD format. HD is a household term at this point due to its broadcast format. So when an average consumer is faced with a choice of DVD formats…they will most likely choose HD since it is something they have heard for some time now. Its just a marketing advantage that HD has over Blu-Ray. It has nothing to do with which format is better. Its just consumer nature to purchase something that sounds like its been around longer…the HD DVD format is riding on the coat-tails of the HD broadcast.
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I saw a display at Circuit City this weekend of a Blue Ray dvd player with a Plasma HDTV.
It was the clearest, most crisp picture I’ve ever seen in my life. Im actually getting a Playstation 3 which is the most cost effective next gen DVD player I can afford.
Plus there is a promo going around where you can get 5 free Blue Ray DVD’s with a purchase before January 16th.
http://www.bluraysavings.com/ is the website
January 21st, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I eat peices of shit like you for breakfast.
January 27th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Perhaps the idea that Netflix Shoppers are among the most enthusiastic of home video consumers has no bearing on their ability to discern quality and/or “stickability.” That is, maybe they’re just a bunch of lemmings who would rather see the latest movie and seem hip at the office as opposed to waiting to find out which format the studios will decide said lemmings will have to watch next.
As a general rule, whichever direction “edgy” bandwagoners choose, choose the other.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Assman
January 21st, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I eat peices of shit like you for breakfast.
You eat shit for breakfast?
May 11th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
with so many deals recently, it seems like sony is more interested in downloads than bluray. the format will be shortlived
http://www.1080pbluray.com/