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Netflix says demand for HD discs is evenly split

Netflix, the US' largest online DVD rental service has said that its demand for HD discs, HD DVD and Blu-ray, are just about equal but also reiterated what most knowledgeable consumers know already, that the sales and rentals were tiny as compared to standard definition DVDs.

CEO Reed Hastings said that the company was still seeing low demand for HD discs but that demand was equal for both rivals.



"We carry all the Blu-ray titles and we carry all the HD DVD, so we're agnostic. And we think the solution in that market is to have the studios publish on both," said Hastings. "(Customer demand) is pretty evenly split between them (but it's) tiny, like a percent or something."

That statement is in contrast to disc sales, where Blu-ray holds a 60/40 sales margin. It should be interesting to see if those numbers change as Blu-ray standalone players increase in sales.

Source:
Netflix

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Aug 2007 8:49

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• 8 comments

• webe123

  "but also reiterated what most knowledgeable consumers know already, that the sales were tiny as compared to standard definition DVDs."
  
  
  Well....that should shut up all the fanboys of both formats!

  28.8.2007 08:51 #1

• reloadSE

  Quote:"but also reiterated what most knowledgeable consumers know already, that the sales were tiny as compared to standard definition DVDs."
  
  
  Well....that should shut up all the fanboys of both formats! I agree with you LOL

  28.8.2007 11:54 #2

• Pop_Smith

  Wow, if sales/rentals of HD DVD and Blu-Ray (combined I am guessing) is less then 1% of the total then that shows how small of a hold either one has on the real market.

  28.8.2007 12:31 #3

• Unfocused

  Bah! I'm tired of all this. This week HD is the winner, next week it is Blu Ray. All these media outlets jump all over the fact that one format has sold ONE more copy than the other so that means that such and such format is the winner.

  28.8.2007 15:38 #4

• bobiroc

  Until players that play both formats come down in price I do not think you will see HD-DVDs or Blu-Ray selling well. Right now only the people with money can afford to drop $700+ on a movie player and anyone that picks a player that plays only one format is an idiot in my book. The reason I say that is because unless things change you will see some studios that are HD-DVD exclusive and others that are Blu-Ray exclusive. Not to mention the fact that in order to get the benefit of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray you kind of need a TV that can do 1080p and there are still many people using standard televisions that only do 480 let alone anything higher. There are a whole bunch of people out there complaining that TV Stations want to do away to with broadcasting two signals (on SD and one HD) and go strictly HD and make people get a down converter box of some kind if they do not have a HD Capable TV. So until HD technology becomes affordable and accepted by the masses there is no reason to keep dwelling on this format war.

  28.8.2007 15:58 #5

• hughjars

  It's HD DVD that will be making the transition to high def DVD smooth and easy.
  
  Right now Amazon USA are selling the Toshiba HD A2 for $220 with 3 movie, the XBox 360 HD DVD add-on is $179 with 9 movies.
  
  We have just seen the Venturer HD DVD player unveiled, the word is that it'll be selling in stores for $149.
  
  These are prices Blu-ray can't hope to match.
  
  With HD DVD you'll be buying a good quality upscaling DVD player just like you do now but it'll also happen to be a very capable high def disc player.

  29.8.2007 10:22 #6

• DjDanio

  ^^^ that deal is insane

  30.8.2007 10:46 #7

• borhan9

  Nothing too surprising.

  2.9.2007 14:15 #8