“More Americans own dedicated HD-DVD players than a Blu-ray player, at least according to the results of a Harris poll released late on Thursday. Although the HD-DVD format died in Feb. 2008, 11 percent of the consumers surveyed by Harris own an HD-DVD player, versus 7 percent who own a dedicated Blu-ray player. If game consoles are combined, however, the position reverses: 9 percent own a Blu-ray-capable Sony PlayStation 3, versus 3 percent who said they own an HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360.
Sony, for its part, claims 11 million Blu-ray devices are in American homes, executives said at a press conference Thursday night describing new BD-Live features. BD sales grew 400 percent during the first quarter, compared to a year ago, said Mike Abary, Sony’s senior vice president for information technology products and audio. Abary did not reveal the actual sales numbers, however.
Harris also polled consumers on their preferences and buying habits. There, the numbers tend to favor standard-definition DVDs, with consumers stating that they purchased six standard-format DVDs in the last six months compared to a disc in a high-def format.
The Harris poll apparently did not take into account the growth on video-on-demand services, which encompass both SD and HD video formats.” Story at PCmag
