We know that Transformers really gave the HD DVD camp an edge with its record-braking first-week sales. However, we still don’t know exactly how well the format war is going. Sure, you can look at hardware sales, but with the inclusion of a Blu-ray drive in the PS3, those numbers will always be skewed. Thankfully Home Media Research has some solid numbers on actual high-def discs sold.
Transformers was easily one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer. It did incredibly well at the box office, so it’s no surprise that DVD sales have done great as well. What is a bit surprising is that it is now the best-selling HD DVD title to date.
Alright, so not too long ago I reported on a potential new SKU, the Xbox 360 Ultimate which was supposedly going to be the Elite, but with an integrated HD-DVD drive. That, so far hasn’t happened, but this new announcement could give way to just that.
Or, they could just bundle the current separate HD-DVD drive with an Xbox 360 Elite since they probably have a ton of HD-DVD drives just sitting around. Although the drives have been selling like crazy thanks to all the rebates, price cuts, and other deals.
Nothing starts the day off quite like a tasty rumor. Sure, there are plenty of the buzzing around, but I thought you guys would really enjoy this one. Supposedly Walmart will begin carrying a standalone HD DVD player that breaks the sub-$200 price bracket.
If you’re looking at taking the HD DVD side of the format war and happen to already have an Xbox 360, you’re in luck. The promotion that Microsoft has been offering to net you 5 free HD DVDs has been extended. They’ve even added some extra titles for you.
What’s under your TV? I think there’s mainly dust hiding an old DVD player and creaky VCR that I wouldn’t really trust with a tape beneath mine, but if you’ve a spare $2,600 and a holiday to Japan planned then you could do far worse than pick up Panasonic’s new DMR-BW900 Blu-Ray recorder, which not only can squeeze 18 hours of HD content onto a single disc but comes complete with a 1TB hard-drive.
LG introduces the LX97WH, a desktop PC featuring support for both HD formats. The system comes equipped with a combi drive to allow the computer to read both HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc.
But its 20.1-freakin inches! Clearly they are having issues at HP determining what constitutes a laptop and a desktop with an integrated screen.
This Pavilion model is rather reminiscent of Dell’s XPS M2010 that had the same identity crisis. You wouldn’t think there would be much of a market for laptops of this size, but apparently there is because there have been more and more models with these type of dimensions popping up all over the place. I can’t wait till Apple slaps their 30” HD display on a MacBook Pro, lol.
Remember back in June when Warner delayed their Total HD disc format? There’s probably a good chance that you’ve forgotten about it since we haven’t heard much about it since then.
It doesn’t make any sense to me why the world (or in this case the Chinese) would need to create yet another high definition DVD format – dubbed CH-DVD which stands for China High Definition DVD. Luckily CH-DVD isn’t a completely developed from scratch, but instead based on HD DVD technology combined with Chinese intellectual property. For you HD geeks, CH-DVD will use blue-violet lasers rather than the red lasers used in regular DVD.
The Chinese government hopes to cut down the spread of piracy by implementing an “advanced copy protection technology”, which is still unknown if CH-DVD is using a new form of copy protection.
SlashGear Japan
