HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray Pricing

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.bestbuy.ca/marketing/300preorder/EN/default.asp?langid=EN&CMP=ILC-BBY_hmpage_slide3' target='_blank'>http://www.bestbuy.ca/marketing/300preorder/EN/default.asp?langid=EN&CMP=ILC-BBY_hmpage_slide3</a><br /><br /></div>The release on DVD of the blockbuster hit movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=300">300</a> today in North American markets had something that caught my attention. I received an email from Best Buy announcing the release of the movie in DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray. Up until now I haven't seen many high-profile movies that have had simultaneous releases on both formats, so it's been hard to compare prices. This screen shot says it all:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/jd-300-movie-price-HD.jpg" /><br /><br />In my experience browsing through Blu-Ray titles, they've always struck me as being more expensive than HD-DVD discs, usually coming in around the $35 to $40 CAD mark. So imagine my surprise to see 300 being sold in Blu-Ray format for $29.99 and the HD-DVD version being $5 more expensive. Shopper psychology matters, so this is a point for Blu-Ray when Joe Consumer is looking at buying a next-gen DVD player.<br /><br />Wouldn't you know it, when I went to actually purchase the HD-DVD version online, it was selling for $32.99, a bit closer to the Blu-Ray price. I also picked up a copy of the <a href="http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFSM2135802&logon=&langid=EN">special edition with the Spartan helmet</a>. Yes, I really enjoyed this movie! I'm going to compare the standard DVD, up-sampled to 1080i by my DVD player, with the HD-DVD version played on my Xbox 360. Should be interesting!

[onlydarksets]

Do you get full 1080p over component using the Xbox360 HD-DVD drive? Or do you have the new Xbox with HDMI? They just dropped the price point on the HD-DVD drives, so I'm considering picking one up, but I don't want to be obsoleted by a crippled component connection.

[Felix Torres]

Do you get full 1080p over component using the Xbox360 HD-DVD drive? Or do you have the new Xbox with HDMI? They just dropped the price point on the HD-DVD drives, so I'm considering picking one up, but I don't want to be obsoleted by a crippled component connection.

If your display supports 1080p over component, HD-DVD off 360 will deliver it. Bigger question is the ever-present issue of overscan on component and HDMI. That's why VGA is so popular on 360.

[RichL]

That's a coincidence - today I was browsing through a HMV in England and noticed the price difference between HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Blu-ray releases started at £18 and went up to £27. HD-DVD releases started at £20 and went up to an eye-watering £30 ($60 USD, thankfully including tax). What's more, most of the Blu-ray releases were £18 whilst the majority of the HD-DVD were around £22.

I had always assumed that Blu-ray discs were more expensive. I guess maybe Blu-ray is the way forward for me after all.

[Jeff_R]

I really think the swing is starting to happen. Blu-ray is out-selling HD 3 to 1, the Weinsteins are apparently moving to format neutrality, Target and other stores are either eliminating or de-emphasizing HD-DVD in favour of Blu-ray and, possibly most telling of all, the first HD-format Spielberg movie is coming out in Blu-ray only (Close Encounters) with additional exclusive content you can't get on standard DVD. The only potentially bigger move would be Lucas, and even then it's arguable which is more significant.

Put that together with the forthcoming Blu-ray Pixar short film collection and, even if I hadn't made the jump yet, I would be now!

And I'm really glad they're releasing the Blade Runner 5-disc uber-geek briefcase edition in Blu-ray as well as HD and DVD versions. Otherwise, I'd have to do what I did today, which was the same thing Jason did: Buy Blu-ray and SD versions of 300 so I could get the Spartan helmet and art cards. :D

[Macguy59]

Hmmmm who was it predicting HD-DVD the winner? :lol: Of course the battle is not over yet but this round goes to Blu-ray

[Jason Dunn]

Do you get full 1080p over component using the Xbox360 HD-DVD drive?

My TV is 1080i, but since it de-interlaces the image what I'm seeing is 1080p. I think. And yes, this is over component. Looks very, very good to me.

[Jason Dunn]

Hmmmm who was it predicting HD-DVD the winner? :lol: Of course the battle is not over yet but this round goes to Blu-ray

The longer this "war" goes on, the more I'm convinced both formats will be the "losers". DVDs played on a decent DVD player look so good that the promise of "it looks even better!" just doesn't hold water. HD-DVD and Blu-ray are both going to be only slightly more popular than DVD Audio discs were/are. There just isn't the 10x improvement - if one format eventually does win out over another, it will be due to slow but sure obsolescence of regular DVDs, which will take decades.

[Jeremy Charette]

Something no one has mentioned yet: The $34.99 "HD DVD" version comes with BOTH the HD DVD and DVD discs of the movie. The Blu-Ray box only has a high-def disc in it.

Not that you probably "need" both HD DVD and DVD discs, but if I was buying it on DVD I'd get the HD DVD "set" just to future proof my purchase.

As for HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray: historically HD DVD has been cheaper, both in player price and media price. I don't see that trend ending anytime soon, despite this one example. And as we've beaten to death on these forums, there are three things that will win the high-def disc "battle" (they're both going to lose the war):

Price,
Price,
and
Price.

[Jeremy Charette]

And on the point of Sony winning the hearts of consumers with a $5 price gap: you can rent "300" in high definition the Xbox 360. Can't do that on a PS3 can you?

I'll make a prediction (hell, make it a friendly bet):

More copies of 300 will be sold on Xbox Live Video Marketplace than both HD disc formats combined.

[Jeff_R]

Well, my personal beating to death rule hasn't been price; it's been content. The cheapest players and discs in the world won't sell if people don't want the content, or can get the same content plus more for similar prices elsewhere.

As far as what's in the package, the HD-DVD camp need to do a better job of advertising benefits, then, since I'm a pretty knowledgeable shopper and I didn't know they had both versions in the package. :D I wouldn' have bought it, but if the benefit was out there to entice people to pick up the package, I would have known about it. I think most shoppers go to their format and ignore the others. I can't see the average shopper buying HD-DVD if they don't own a player. Few people will spend $35 instead of $25 to get an HD format that they might not use.

The HD disc format battle seems to be all but over; more and more studios, stores and filmmakers moving to Blu-ray, market share steadily increasing... It won't be over for sure until likely after Christmas, barring some major development, but every indicator is quite clear. It is really lousy that it had to happen in the first place, since either way, some users end up suffering. As far as downloadable content versus discs, only time will tell about that battle.

[Macguy59]

And on the point of Sony winning the hearts of consumers with a $5 price gap: you can rent "300" in high definition the Xbox 360. Can't do that on a PS3 can you?

I'll make a prediction (hell, make it a friendly bet):

More copies of 300 will be sold on Xbox Live Video Marketplace than both HD disc formats combined.

Not sure what your point is. This thread isn't about XBox versus PS3. I can rent the "300" in Blu-ray from Blockbuster.

[jeffd]

jeremy, a dvd disc dosn't ost $5 to press. IMO everything about this war is now going to be down to price. Each format is using avc, each does the same resolutions and quality, and there should be no reason they don't both have the same bonus content on the disc (unless a movie had some sort of mega ton of behind the scenes footage that someone decides to dump on the blue ray "because they can"). So now its down to movie price and player prices.

I never looked at hd movie prices, I am kind of shocked they are double that of the dvd releases. Its bad enough were paying a ton of money for the player. Oh well... I don't have a player yet, I am still getting my HD fix from downloading h264 rips. ;)

[Gator5000e]

As was pointed out earlier, the HD DVD version is a Combo disc, which is always $5 or so more expensive than the non-combo version. This has been a big thorn for us HD DVD owners. I hate combo discs for this reason. If they were to charge regular HD DVD price for the combo that would be fine by me. They really need to remove all the regular DVDs so that people had to buy the HD DVD version to get the SD version that would be cool (never happen, at least not yet).

Also, you can find these discs much cheaper on line. Best Buy is awful. I got my copy of 300 directly from Warner Home Video for $23. I ordered 2 other HD DVDs and shipping was $7. I received the disc on Monday morning.

Finally, I don't know if the HD DVD is more expensive because of theis factor, but the HD DVD has the PIP (HDi) feature, which I understand is not yet ready in the BD arena. On 300, you can run a rectangular PIP during the movie which shows how they filmed the entire movie against the blue screen and how they staged each scene. It also features commentary from the director. So, like I said, not sure if the addition of this feature and the web enabled features caused it to be priced higher than the BD version.

[mordin]

I really think the swing is starting to happen. Blu-ray is out-selling HD 3 to 1,
:D

In the sales of players? Don't forget that the Blu-ray numbers include every PS3 sold, most of those where bought by gamers not to watch movies. If you compare DVDs to players, Blu-ray is selling around 1 movie for every player sold. While HD-DVD is selling around 3 movies for every player sold.

[Macguy59]

I really think the swing is starting to happen. Blu-ray is out-selling HD 3 to 1,
:D

In the sales of players? Don't forget that the Blu-ray numbers include every PS3 sold, most of those where bought by gamers not to watch movies. If you compare DVDs to players, Blu-ray is selling around 1 movie for every player sold. While HD-DVD is selling around 3 movies for every player sold.

Are you saying the HD-DVD numbers don't include the xBox HD-DVD drives sold?

[pradike]

Something no one has mentioned yet: The $34.99 "HD DVD" version comes with BOTH the HD DVD and DVD discs of the movie. The Blu-Ray box only has a high-def disc in it.

Not that you probably "need" both HD DVD and DVD discs, but if I was buying it on DVD I'd get the HD DVD "set" just to future proof my purchase.

As for HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray: historically HD DVD has been cheaper, both in player price and media price. I don't see that trend ending anytime soon, despite this one example. And as we've beaten to death on these forums, there are three things that will win the high-def disc "battle" (they're both going to lose the war):

Price,
Price,
and
Price.
YES - this is a key point here. For this particular HD DVD, it is a COMBO disk, meaning you get BOTH HD DVD and the Standard Definition DVD on the flip side. That is why its $5.00 higher. Most of the time, the HD DVD's are NOT combo's and the price is generally $5.00 lower than Blu Ray. In addition, the HD DVD's tend to have better audio on them (such as Dolby Plus) with lossless codecs, while Blu Ray rarely has the better audio.

One last point - total to date HD DVD disk sales and Blu Ray disk sales are virtually even at just over a million of each format...only certain titles of one or another outsell the other formats, so the whole sales figure numbers are bogus coming from Sony.

This is why HD DVD is better and will win the war!

[mordin]

Are you saying the HD-DVD numbers don't include the xBox HD-DVD drives sold?

No, but someone buying an Xbox HD-DVD 'IS' buying it to watch movies.

[Jeff_R]

I really think the swing is starting to happen. Blu-ray is out-selling HD 3 to 1,
:D

In the sales of players? Don't forget that the Blu-ray numbers include every PS3 sold, most of those where bought by gamers not to watch movies. If you compare DVDs to players, Blu-ray is selling around 1 movie for every player sold. While HD-DVD is selling around 3 movies for every player sold.

No, that's movies. I ignore the player stats; what counts is movie units sold, because that is what the industry will key off of. Also, the movies per player is a very misleading statistic. I can sell 20 players and 2000 movies in one format, and 500,000 players and 2,000,000 movies in the other, and the ratios are 100:1 versus 4:1, even though the latter is the obvious winner. That's why movie units sold is what matters. Obviously, in this case, if HD-DVD is selling 3 movies per unit and Blu-ray is selling 1 movie per unit, yet Blu-ray is selling anywhere from 2:1 to 3:1 more movies, that tells me Blu-ray must be selling anywhere from 6x to 9x more players. With the PS3 factored in, that seems reasonable.

Since inception numbers are actually 60/40 favouring Blu-ray, despite the large headstart HD-DVD had. YTD is 67/33, and the most recent week's data is 74/26. As I say, I'm just sorry that the war started in the first place, since someone was bound to get an orphaned format.

[Jeff_R]

By the way, there was some odd editing when people quoted me, resulting in "Blu-ray is out-selling HD 3 to 1, :D" showing up, when the smiley was actually at the end of the post, about paying extra to get the "300" Spartan helmet and art cards. Didn't want anyone thinking I was cackling about the selling ratio.