HD DVD Taking the Lead?
Consumer adoption of Samsung player and Sony PS3 not a slam-dunk
By the HDBlu.com Staff – January 9, 2007
There have been some positive signs for HD DVD since the high-definition race started heating up this past holiday season. The Toshiba players are out-performing Blu-ray’s Samsung device in both sales and user reviews. And worse, Sony doesn't seem to be gaining as much traction as expected for Blu-ray by including a Blu-ray player with every PS3.
In fact, a poll of 1,000 visitors to HDBlu.com shows that users expect HD DVD to be the standard high-definition disc format in 5 years, though there is still a great deal of uncertainty.
Dedicated Players
Last September, we showed that early adopters preferred the first generation Toshiba HD DVD players to the first generation Samsung Blu-ray players. The story hasn’t changed in the last few months. Toshiba’s HD-A1 player currently has 4.5 stars based on Amazon user reviews, while the Samsung BD-P1000 has only 2.5 stars. In addition, Toshiba's second generation HD-A2 is starting strong with consistently positive reviews. Partly because of this, HD DVD has the early lead in device and DVD sales. However, the battle between players is still in its infancy, and contenders from the Blu-ray camp like the Panasonic DMP-BD10 are seeing positive feedback as well (other than price, of course).
Game Players
A poll of 200 HDBlu.com visitors showed that users expect game consoles to be the first high-definition device that they purchase, making game consoles a key battle front.
Sony’s strategy to get Blu-ray players into homes through the PS3 has certainly been working. In November, Sony sold 197,000 PS3s according to NPD. Microsoft only sold 42,000 HD DVD player add-ons to the Xbox 360 during the same time period.
However, each of those 42,000 units were presumably purchased by people who wanted the HD DVD playing feature. It’s unclear whether those 197,000 PS3 buyers really want the Blu-ray disc features. For one thing, it adds cost to an already expensive player. According to Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman, "Blu-ray is adding $150 to $200 to the product."
In addition, PS3 users aren’t universally crazy about having the Blu-ray format shoved down their throat. A report by Cymphony, a market influence analytics company which sifts millions of posts from a broad universe of social media sites, reported that HD DVD discussions are much less negative, and post authors often “disparage Sony’s decision to build the Blu-ray player into PS3 and praise Microsoft for offering the HD DVD player as an option to Xbox 360.”
Disc Sales
We think the key metric to watch in the future is disc sales. This will tell us if those 197,000 players that Sony sold are really being used for high-definition theater. Stay tuned to HDBlu.com for the latest info!