Star Wars: Blu-ray Sales Stats for the Week Ending 17th September 2011

[admin]

It's the result everyone's been waiting for. Just how did Star Wars do on Blu-ray.

Unfortunately, Star Wars, released during the week ending 17th September 2011, had its spotlight partially stolen by the release of Thor, which ended up being the best selling disc on DVD and Blu-ray, leaving Star Wars a somewhat distant second.

Combined, it allowed Blu-ray market share to reach an all time high, 34.8%, easily beating the previous record set by Avatar (27.4%). Revenue wasn't a record though, as usually, as the holiday period produces better results due to combinations of hit releases, and two just wasn't enough.

Thor itself recorded a first week market share of 61.18%, and on all discs (both Blu-ray and DVD), it outsold Star Wars by more than a ratio of 2.5 to 1, and so, Thor was probably more influential in getting the record revenue results than Star Wars.

The complete saga boxset for Star Wars was the best selling out of the three available boxset, with the original trilogy selling very few copies in comparison (15 times as few), while the prequel trilogy got the result it deserved, outsold by Halloween II.

Just for completeness, not that it really matters, or is a good comparison at all, but DVD revenue dropped 14.2% compared to the same week last yet, while Blu-ray revenue rose by 197.2%!!

You can read the rest of the stats and analysis here.

[rago88]

I for one have not joined the BluRay family yet for the simple reason that my 5 yr old Panasonic Plasma, as great as the picture still is, only shows at 1080i so I would have to upgrade to a 1080P.. It will play but won't get full resolutions.
btw:
the 42" Panasonic Plasma we have was 2300.00 US back then[95- '96] and that was a special open box price..
Last I checked we could buy 4 of them now for same price..
Also only had 1 HDMI input cause BluRay was either not out or in it's infancy back then..

[admin]

Is your TV's native resolution 720p? I think it would be, but it should also accept 1080i input. I had a 720p TV as well (a 50" Pioneer, also just with the one HDMI input), which I used as my main Blu-ray viewing set before I upgraded to a 1080p one, and there's a huge difference between DVD (non upscaled) and 720p Blu-ray. Even with upscaled DVD, it's easy to see the benefits of Blu-ray, especially in terms of colour reproduction. I think I posted somewhere before that I really didn't get the best out of my 720p TV until I started viewing Blu-ray/HD DVD, so I think Blu-ray is worth trying on your TV.

And you don't really want to know how much I paid for my 50" Pioneer - an embarrassing amount that I shall never mention again!

[drfsupercenter]

LOL, that's because it's Pioneer.

I remember when we were shopping for HDTVs, the guy at Best Buy (in retrospect, probably a horrible place to buy TVs) said something along the lines of "Pioneer is the best you're going to get, but they're also like the Ferraris of HDTVs - Panasonic is like your Ferrari at a non-sports car price"

So we ended up getting a Panasonic one, which was actually a really great TV - save for this burned-in vertical line is where pillarboxes would go, due to us having that TV for about a year before getting actual HD cable programming...

[rago88]

My tv is native 720P...
THE one HDMI is being used for cable box while the red/green/blue [composit/componet?] is being used for the upscale dvd player.
I guess I could do the red/green/blue for a BluRay Connection
as I understand the picture quality is same as HDMI minus the digital audio that THE 1 cable hookup provides. [ I go thru a Harmom-Karden receiver regardless]. A bluRay is not out of the question although a new Plasma would be nice, after I get over the fact that maaaaaaaaaybe 300.00 US is the most I would get for 5 yr old Panasonic 42" Plasma..

funny how you buy a new car for 30k and don't blink when you have to trade it in or sell it for half the price 5yrs later or more but falling electronics prices make you scream when you see what your used exspensive component is worth 5 yrs later..

[admin]

LOL, that's because it's Pioneer.

I remember when we were shopping for HDTVs, the guy at Best Buy (in retrospect, probably a horrible place to buy TVs) said something along the lines of "Pioneer is the best you're going to get, but they're also like the Ferraris of HDTVs - Panasonic is like your Ferrari at a non-sports car price"

So we ended up getting a Panasonic one, which was actually a really great TV - save for this burned-in vertical line is where pillarboxes would go, due to us having that TV for about a year before getting actual HD cable programming...

I definitely overpaid, but the Pioneer is still a good TV. Compared to some of the non premium plasmas around today, it still holds up picture quality wise, even if it's only 720p.

Recently got a Samsung 58", and of course, its picture blows away the Pioneer's without even trying.

My tv is native 720P...
THE one HDMI is being used for cable box while the red/green/blue [composit/componet?] is being used for the upscale dvd player.
I guess I could do the red/green/blue for a BluRay Connection
as I understand the picture quality is same as HDMI minus the digital audio that THE 1 cable hookup provides. [ I go thru a Harmom-Karden receiver regardless]. A bluRay is not out of the question although a new Plasma would be nice, after I get over the fact that maaaaaaaaaybe 300.00 US is the most I would get for 5 yr old Panasonic 42" Plasma..

funny how you buy a new car for 30k and don't blink when you have to trade it in or sell it for half the price 5yrs later or more but falling electronics prices make you scream when you see what your used exspensive component is worth 5 yrs later..

I would say that HDMI still easily beats component, unless you're using very good quality component cables, in which case, the HDMI would still be a little bit better. Plus with the new AACS rules, new Blu-ray players have HD output disabled on component (or just don't come with component output).

You could get a $20 3-to-1 HDMI switcher, which is what I used before (a tip though - do the switching when both connected devices are off, to avoid burning out the HDMI chip - Pioneers are prone to this problem, due to a design flaw that allows elevated voltage to be supplied to the HDCP chip). If you want to spend a little more, a HDMI receiver would also do the job plus provide high-bitrate audio at the same time.

[rago88]

good info...

I forgot about the component angle..
your correct as this eliminates the " making copies"of" due to both ends of the cable being different therefore digital info only traveling one way.
started that little gem with upscale dvd players in the US which forced me to buy an OPPO upconvert via component cables.
I think now any upconvert hooked up via component cable let's the machine know this and will downgrade a HD dvd to standard 480P.
I assume new BluRays don't even have any as you said.