Sorry, but all the figures I've seen show that you are incorrect; HD DVD has more than 300 released titles and counting since September, and that's without counting the many HD DVD releases from Europe and Japan of both American and foreign-language films (which will play in any HD DVD player, hence the advantage of not having region coding, which has always been anti-consumer despite your apologetics) or 'adult' titles (hey, just mentioning it, as it's the chosen format for many XXX producers), while Blu has not, to my knowledge, even cracked the 300-release barrier. If you know differently, show me the figures.
The desireablity of one title over another is, of course, purely a matter of taste; for me, Paramount, Universal, and Warner's have far more titles I enjoy than does, e.g., Sony Pictures.
I went to 6, count 'em 6, movie rental places in my neighborhood, and not one of them had a copy [of Hot Fuzz - a great flick, BTW], or even one on order.
It's unfortunate that you couldn't find "Hot Fuzz" in your neighborhood. It's in rental stores in my neighborhood, including Blockbuster, which is supposedly Blu-Ray exclusive (and the exec who made that deal was canned, shortly after Paramount went HD DVD exclusive). But few rental stores carry anywhere near the entire inventory of HD media, whether it's HD DVD or Blu-Ray, which is contributing nicely to the Netflix bottom line.
I don't think the format war will last for years, though; Fox and Disney have 'stuck' with Sony because of promises about advanced content that Sony just hasn't kept - thus explaining the dearth of titles from those two studios, and the continual cancellations of announced titles (Fox has released virtually nothing in the last year; almost every title they announced was later cancelled). I believe there's a rational limit on the studios' patience with Sony's broken promises, and that limit is fast approaching.
Blu Ray outsells Sony by 2 to 1 right up to the release of Transformers 2 weeks ago.. Seems that Sony is winning, handily.
I did quite a bit of homework on it.. I went the Blu Ray route, but I have to admit, both formats are awesome.
both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray upconvert old DVDs and make them look stunning.. (in answer to someones question) they do a far better job of the up-converting, as I also have a Samsung that I bought for just that purpose. I have since moved it to the bedroom.
The current count is 351 Blu-Ray, 327 HD-DVD. However, this includes 30 or so Paramount releases that are no longer made, which might make HD-DVD the winner if you offer currently manufactured titles. Neither format wins in a runaway; at best its a wash.
HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on October 23rd, 2007
If you're big into foreign films, I can see why you hate region encoding, however most of us don't care, and it will not affect market share.
It's unfortunate that you couldn't find "Hot Fuzz" in your neighborhood. It's in rental stores in my neighborhood,
Maybe that's the way they do things in New York, but we're just out of the stone age down here in the sticks. I'm lucky enough to be able to spell my name. Your testimony aside, HD-DVD is AWOL in all of the rental chains in my area.
Regardless of your dislike for Sony, Blu-Ray as a format has potential even outside the movie market. Its a low cost storage alternative, and Blu-Ray burners are becoming more available in desktops and laptops. Outside of playing studio releases, HD-DVD currently has little use. Blu-Ray is better positioned to be the heir to CDs and DVDs.
For some reason Blu-Ray has a virtual ban on its use for XXX films. Advantage HD-DVD.
Fox has been releasing quite a few titles lately. As have Disney. In fact they’re releasing Ratatoiee(sp?) and Cars soon. Disney is a HUGE supporter of Blu-ray and will not be switching anytime soon.
Fox will definitely not switch as HD DVD is a broken format and anything released on it will be on the net for trade in days.
HD DVD hasn’t outsold Blu-ray in almost a year now.