Disc Sales: 'Planet Earth' Breaks New Amazon Record; HD DVD Staging a Comeback

[Ruined]

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/s...w_Amazon_Record_HD_DVD_Staging_a_Comeback/580

The HD DVD edition of Planet Earth is now holds the record of historically highest ranked Amazon HD disc ranked at #4 on the Amazon DVD charts, beating out the previous record holder (Casino Royale at #7). Now that releases are back in full swing, it appears HD DVD has gotten back in the saddle sales-wise! Good news!

 

[patsu]

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=970361&postcount=52

 

[SPM]

Hmmm strange. An old documentary scores the highest ever sales! I guess HD formats must still be really niche. Or does this indicate that people are more likely to but documentaries and rent films.

Also why weren't BD sales of the same title as popular? Could it be that gamers don't go in for documentaries in a big way, and prefer other types of films?

I am wondering if there is a very different niche being catered for BD and HD-DVD at least at this early stage with with the games-phobes going for HD-DVD players and the games-philes and later adopters going for PS3 BD players. it is also interesting that the ups and downs in BD and HD-DVD don't seem to track each other despite the fact that most studios support both formats. This seems to confirm the different niche theory.

 

[Gerry]

Hmmm strange. An old documentary scores the highest ever sales! I guess HD formats must still be really niche. Or does this indicate that people are more likely to but documentaries and rent films.

It's hardly that old - it was broadcast last year.

 

[pelly]

It's hardly that old - it was broadcast last year.

Here in the US, I'm pretty sure this just made its debut a month or two ago...first time ever shown...

 

[Random Digital]

Here in the US, I'm pretty sure this just made its debut a month or two ago...first time ever shown...

I'm actually looking forward to the David Attenborough narration over Sigourney Weaver.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Here in the US, I'm pretty sure this just made its debut a month or two ago...first time ever shown...

In the US, yes, but the UK got the whole series last year.

 

[Captain Chickenpants]

I'm actually looking forward to the David Attenborough narration over Sigourney Weaver.

They released it with someone other than David Attenborough narrating? Sacrilege!

Part of what makes these documentaries work so well is his narration.

CC

 

[Random Digital]

They released it with someone other than David Attenborough narrating? Sacrilege!

Part of what makes these documentaries work so well is his narration.

CC

Just for the US broadcast, the US DVD release has the original narration.

 

[Arwin]

It's hardly that old - it was broadcast last year.

Not only that, but it is the first in the BBC series that has been almost completely shot in hi-def. And they really did their best to take shots that benefit from this. It is awesome. I just got it on BluRay now. I noticed that they put it on 4 single sided discs, 550 minutes total. So there was an opportunity here to put it on 2 discs. I didn't have much time to watch but I previewed a short section and it looks just awesome.

And content wise, it's also rather spectacular. The shots of the huge (HUGE) great white jumping clean out of the sea while catching a seal in slow motion is just (you can see a bit of that online somewhere in the 15 minute trailer for the series).

 

[Captain Chickenpants]

And content wise, it's also rather spectacular. The shots of the huge (HUGE) great white jumping clean out of the sea while catching a seal in slow motion is just (you can see a bit of that online somewhere in the 15 minute trailer for the series).

And if they had the shark in Jaws doing that we would have considered it ridiculous and unrealistic!

 

[Arwin]

And if they had the shark in Jaws doing that we would have considered it ridiculous and unrealistic!

I keep telling my girlfriend that no matter how fantastical some of the stuff may seem in movies, you'd be surprised how often it turns out to be outdone by reality.

 

[Sxotty]

I keep telling my girlfriend that no matter how fantastical some of the stuff may seem in movies, you'd be surprised how often it turns out to be outdone by reality.

Fiction has to make sense reality doesn't.

 

[Arwin]

Oh, I just checked the encoding (I like the display mode on the PS3 during playback that gives you all that info, the current bitrate, encoding for video, sound, etc), and it's VC1 also. As I understand this format hides 3:2 pulldown best, so I'm giving it a good shot at becoming the HD standard, at least for a while.