Making Sense of the High-Def DVD Numbers

Iria · Feb 10, 2007, 07:03 PM

Source: PC Magazine
________
As a former business reporter, I tend to believe in the value of numbers: gross revenue, profit, inventory turnover, et cetera. But numbers can also be misleading, as the pro-forma "profits before all the bad stuff" earnings statements proved during the height of the dot-com boom.

Right now, the Blu-ray and HD DVD next-generation DVD camps are engaged in a brutal battle for market share, where only one is expected to be the winner. Capturing a critical mass of consumer dollars also means capturing the consumer's faith that a particular format will be the winner. No one wants to sink money into the next Betamax. All this means that next-generation DVD sales numbers are becoming more critical, both as an indicator of actual sales as well as a guide to what your fellow shoppers might be thinking.

Currently, the only real source of independent sales data on next-generation DVD sales has come from Neilsen VideoScan, a member of the well-known Neilsen family of companies that generate the ratings used to determine the popularity of TV programs. Neilsen has tracked sales numbers since November, and provided weekly data to industry trade publications on a week-to-week basis. However, the firm kindly sent over a spreadsheet of all of their numbers, which we used to produce the attached graph.

mike2h · Feb 10, 2007, 08:09 PM

all that & the guy said basically.... nothing.

SFOSOK · Feb 10, 2007, 10:08 PM

Thats not true, he said the spike was probably due to the gift certificate.

I don't know if I agree with him but the current numbers now don't really mean sh*t because we are not far enough away from the holiday season for things to even out.

Lelisevis · Feb 10, 2007, 10:56 PM

I believe love will win the day, how about a conglomeration of the two formats, we could take the Blue from Blue-ray and DVD's from HD-DVD's and market them as Blue-DVD's hopefully it would win the war before people realised they weren't buying smut.

mike2h · Feb 11, 2007, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFOSOK

Thats not true, he said the spike was probably due to the gift certificate.

I don't know if I agree with him but the current numbers now don't really mean sh*t because we are not far enough away from the holiday season for things to even out.

he didnt SAY anything. a lot of 'ifs' & 'maybes' based on, by his own admission obsolete & incomplete info. even his ending conclusion was pretty useless.

SFOSOK · Feb 11, 2007, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike2h

he didnt SAY anything. a lot of 'ifs' & 'maybes' based on, by his own admission obsolete & incomplete info. even his ending conclusion was pretty useless.

Well I'd rather an objective opinion that you may view as "nothing" instead having to sort through all that bullshit that is now refered to as online journalism (or news in general).

Judas · Feb 11, 2007, 07:01 AM

I didn't read it,

but would the xbox360 HD-DVD drive have soething to do with the number of HD-dvd's being shipped have something to do with it, considering that the drive had king kong HD-DVD bundled with it?

mike2h · Feb 11, 2007, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFOSOK

Well I'd rather an objective opinion that you may view as "nothing" instead having to sort through all that bullshit that is now refered to as online journalism (or news in general).

he didnt have a real opinion, thats my point. he also has no real sources that anybody with any interest couldnt find & have been in a LOT of articles already.
all he did was dredge up info that, according to him was out of date & incomplete, & then gave a vague opinion. u call that journalism?
i do agree with u about all the bullshit though - need hipwaders

Feb 10, 2007, 07:03 PM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 89	Making Sense of the High-Def DVD Numbers Source: PC Magazine ________ As a former business reporter, I tend to believe in the value of numbers: gross revenue, profit, inventory turnover, et cetera. But numbers can also be misleading, as the pro-forma "profits before all the bad stuff" earnings statements proved during the height of the dot-com boom. Right now, the Blu-ray and HD DVD next-generation DVD camps are engaged in a brutal battle for market share, where only one is expected to be the winner. Capturing a critical mass of consumer dollars also means capturing the consumer's faith that a particular format will be the winner. No one wants to sink money into the next Betamax. All this means that next-generation DVD sales numbers are becoming more critical, both as an indicator of actual sales as well as a guide to what your fellow shoppers might be thinking. Currently, the only real source of independent sales data on next-generation DVD sales has come from Neilsen VideoScan, a member of the well-known Neilsen family of companies that generate the ratings used to determine the popularity of TV programs. Neilsen has tracked sales numbers since November, and provided weekly data to industry trade publications on a week-to-week basis. However, the firm kindly sent over a spreadsheet of all of their numbers, which we used to produce the attached graph.

Feb 10, 2007, 08:09 PM	#2
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 91 System Specs	all that & the guy said basically.... nothing. __________________

Feb 10, 2007, 10:08 PM	#3
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	Thats not true, he said the spike was probably due to the gift certificate. I don't know if I agree with him but the current numbers now don't really mean sht because we are not far enough away from the holiday season for things to even out. __________________ Warning* - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Feb 10, 2007, 10:56 PM	#4
Lelisevis Howlin at the moon Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 1,663 Rep Power: 0	I believe love will win the day, how about a conglomeration of the two formats, we could take the Blue from Blue-ray and DVD's from HD-DVD's and market them as Blue-DVD's hopefully it would win the war before people realised they weren't buying smut.