Ben Reid
12 Oct 2006 15:31
The HD DVD Promotional Group believes that despite being at a disadvantage when it comes to content, HD DVD is continuing to gain momentum. The group also gave a stronger insight into future hardware plans.
According to data collected by market research firm Nielsen back in August, HD DVD sold three times as many discs as any other high-definition format, including Sony's Blu-ray. Additionally, the company also found that customers of the format owned on average 8.4 DVDs.
The Universal and Warner-backed format already has a bestseller in its ranks, box office hit "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," which sold through 30% of its inventory in the first week alone.
Other titles soon to be released on the format include Warner's "V for Vendetta," which will be released on October 31, as well as "Superman Returns," "Mission: Impossible 3," "King Kong" and "Nacho Libre."
By the holdiay season, the library of titles available on the format is expected to increase by nearly 200% from 80 to 230.
A welcome boost will also be received from Microsoft, which is preparing to release its $199 HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 in time for Christmas, which will include a remote control and a copy of "King Kong".
Also, Toshiba's soon-to-be-released second-gen HD DVD players, the HD-A2 and HD-XA2, are also a plus for the format. With the XA2 including support for 1920 x 1080p - the highest HD signal currently available, the future looks bright for HD DVD
Universal Studios president Craig Kornblau believes one of the greatest assets HD DVD has is its backwards compatibility. "We're not settling for offering great high definition movies with cutting EDGE interactivity - we also want to deliver value by future-proofing your collections," he said.
Source:
Betanews