Blu-Ray movie among Amazon's Top Ten

Dominus Atheos · Post by **Dominus Atheos** » 2007-03-15 05:53pm

In another high-def first, the Blu-ray edition of 'Casino Royale' cracked the top ten on Amazon's DVD top sellers list upon its release Tuesday, peaking late in the evening at #8.

Updated hourly, the Amazon list tracks all video disc sales at Amazon, including standard-def DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD. And while the top of the list is usually dominated by standard-def DVD releases, some early adopters have made sport out of tracking how next-gen releases on both formats stack up in Amazon's overall rankings, spawning at least two frequently updated head-to-head charts (at HdGameDb and eProductWars ), and countless posts on our own Smackdown Forum.

The strong performance for 'Casino Royale' at Amazon would seem to back up predictions that the latest Bond flick would score record-breaking overall first-week sales for a next-gen disc. The current record holder is the Blu-ray edition of 'The Departed,' which as we reported last week is said to have sold a total of 20,000 units in its first week out last month.

Lest anyone misunderstand this news and start sounding the death knell for standard-def DVD, it should be noted that two other editions of 'Casino Royale' (both standard-def DVD) also cracked the top ten yesterday -- the wide screen two-disc version (at #1) and the full screen two-disc version (at #10).

Still, it is a milestone, and the forums are already abuzz with predictions of which next-gen title might be next to meet or beat 'Royale' on the Amazon chart.

As a computer user, I've always hoped Blu-ray would come out on top. I just want 50 gig optical disks, if only for back-up.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2007-03-15 06:12pm

Casiono Royale, though, so not exactly a small, unknown movie and given Sony said they'd give away free copies with the PS3 too, I expect it will be even more popular than the best rated HD-DVD movie.

I, too, would like a BD-ROM drive for back-up; have you seen the price though? Just for the discs it's a good chunk of change, without going into the prices of the drives themselves which, Sony hopes, will come down in price far sooner than HD-DVD ones.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2007-03-15 06:15pm

What the heck is the big deal about Blu-ray? Doesn't a halfway decent player for it cost upwards of $1000?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2007-03-15 06:37pm

That would be my point, yes. The big deal, as you put it, is that one DVD sized disc is more than capable of holding an average sized HDD amount of data. I could back my present computer's contents on just three of these discs.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2007-03-15 06:39pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Casiono Royale, though, so not exactly a small, unknown movie and given Sony said they'd give away free copies with the PS3 too, I expect it will be even more popular than the best rated HD-DVD movie.

Sony's product placement in Casino Royale bordered on absurd. I especially loved how the security cameras in the resort he goes to back themselves up onto Blu-Ray disks. I guess that if I want my security camera footage to be backed up, I may as well do it with the next-generation optical format with the highest data-density.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-03-15 06:57pm

Of course, what's more significant HD news is this:

Blu-Ray is currently selling more than twice as much as HD-DVD, and has sold nearly ten percent more than HD-DVD since each format was introduced.

Basically, Blu-Ray is selling more and faster than HD-DVD.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2007-03-15 07:04pm

Master of Ossus wrote:
Sony's product placement in Casino Royale bordered on absurd. I especially loved how the security cameras in the resort he goes to back themselves up onto Blu-Ray disks. I guess that if I want my security camera footage to be backed up, I may as well do it with the next-generation optical format with the highest data-density.

I remember my brother and I pointing out each instance from the HD5 in the drawer during the pre-credits film noir sequence (a unit my brother actually has, yet has been out-of-production for a year now) to Bond quite blatantly pointing out he uses a Vaio. It was actually worse than I, Robot, though the Converse appearance in that movie was hilariously obvious. I expected Will Smith to say "Yeah, vintage 2005. Buy them in stores today, viewers!".

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-03-15 08:29pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Basically, Blu-Ray is selling more and faster than HD-DVD.

I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Blu-Ray is the format with more room to grow in the future, if I understand it correctly. On the other hand, it's owned by Sony, Sony is a shithead company, and we don't really want the entire next generation of home video to be a Sony monopoly.

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-03-15 10:00pm

Darth Wong wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Basically, Blu-Ray is selling more and faster than HD-DVD.
I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Blu-Ray is the format with more room to grow in the future, if I understand it correctly. On the other hand, it's owned by Sony, Sony is a shithead company, and we don't really want the entire next generation of home video to be a Sony monopoly.

Indeed. Frankly, i'd rather not entrust my media entertainment future to a company that thinks its gaming consoles can make desktop computers obsolete.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6152133.html

Of course that's just Philly Cheese Steak talking (crappy joke name, I know) , but given some of the things Kutaragi has said, to say SONY demonstrates even a basic level of sanity would be blasphemy.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2007-03-15 11:20pm

Blu-Ray may be off to a good start, but I'd still be surprised if it ends up ahead. The PS3 may not be selling well compared to the other consoles, but there are still a lot more people who want a PS3 than a stand-alone HD optical player, and if you've got the player, you might as well get a blu-ray movie or two. HD-DVD is cheaper, and that's something whose importance simply can't be overstated. When you can get an HD-DVD player for $100 and BD players are still $150-200, we'll see which one sells better.

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2007-03-16 02:45am

Just what is so great about Blu-Ray anyway? Lets put the memory storage aside for a minute and the few new lines of resolution. This really sounds more like a repeat of VHS Vs. Beta in the 1980's or CD vs. MiniDisk in the 1990's ( Remember MiniDisk ) I don't really think it will reach above the 'niche market.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-03-16 03:07am

Late to the party, eh?

Dennis Toy wrote:I don't really think it will reach above the 'niche market.

For the time being that's more or less what they're targeting and settling for: the high-end home theatre market niche, much like laserdisc occupied in the 1980s.

And as for your remake about "a few new lines of resolution," you should consider that in addition to HD-DVD and (particularly) BD's much greater storage capacity, that high definition has double the resolution of standard definition.

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2007-03-16 03:33am

I'm just more interested in the content of the media than the look. If it has more of the things i like ( special features, making of featurettes, games or uncut movies) then it doesn't matter if it looked like 1980's VHS, i'd still like it.

One example is satellite radio, everyone says its low quality sound and it doesn't have much bandwidth. I say to hell with the quality of the sound. It has more content than regular radio which is higher bandwidth but with its repetetive content.

TheMuffinKing · Post by **TheMuffinKing** » 2007-03-16 06:23am

I'm waiting this format war out. Hopefully HD streaming media will be available in the next decade. I'm infatuated with the idea of downloading HD movies from the lazi...convenience of my own home. Yes there are a lot of isues with this, but hopefully something like this happens. However, I do like the BD's storage capacity and backing up stuff (as previously mentioned) would be a lot easier. On the other hand, Sony seems to be purposely trying bad business practices... Maybe their president is a real masochist.

Netko · Post by **Netko** » 2007-03-16 08:10am

I'm personally in the HD DVD camp, for two reasons:
1) Sony are douchebags. Nuff said

2) HD DVD supposedly has a much easier transition for manufacturers from DVDs to next gen formats. Hopefully, that will allow it to reach reasonable prices for media faster then Bluray. And as far as capacity goes, most movies on HD DVD are 2 layer discs, while Bluray are 1 layer so actually, currently HD DVD has better capacity, and longterm it doesn't really matter all that much. Both plan on piling on layers for as much as they can, and until we know the layer limit of both formats (and there have been insane, 6 layer prototypes shown) and can thus determine their maximum capacity, the capacity question is still open - we really should be looking at GB per $ - and with the manufacturing advantage I'm willing to lay my bets on HD DVD getting us to affordable prices faster then Bluray if it is the victor.

And until we're either get a clear victor or combo drives (especially recorders) I'm sitting this one out and rooting from the sidelines.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2007-03-16 10:22am

Or, escaping the obvious black and white fallacy here, we go with the companies now gluing BD and HD-DVD discs together like the original double-sided DVDs before DVD9. Two discs for the price of one, since not even the big media and technology companies are keen to fall on their swords if Sony or the other side's main backers lose.

I do think on-demand, downloadable content will be even bigger though. So long as DRM is shitcanned and broadband is kept cheap and being installed everywhere, along with the emergence of Wi-MAX, it'll look far more appealing.