According to a new research report from Sony, using figures from Nielsen VideoScan, Blu-ray has outsold HD DVD by a ratio of 9 to 2 for the week ending March 18. During that week, Blu-ray accounted for 9 of the 10 top ten selling next generation discs, with Sony's Casino Royale shipping over 100,000 units on Blu-ray to the retail market. HD DVD's release "Departed" which sold as a DVD/HD DVD combo reached the number 5th spot.
The Nielsen VideoScan figures are the entertainment industry's leading source of sales data for high street shops. As of the 18th of March, the totally tally of both formats reached 844,000 units for Blu-ray and 708,600 for HD DVD since the launch of both formats. Going by the VideoScan figures, in the top ten selling titles since the launch of Blu-ray and HD DVD, the #1 spot is the Blu-ray title "Departed". The HD DVD version of this title is at the #6 spot.
Finally, it is worth noting that the VideoScan figures do not take some online stores or the retail giant Wal-Mart into account. Blu-ray and HD DVD also have a long way to go in taking in taking on the current standard definition DVD format. This can be clearly seen once one looks outside of the top 10 HD sales list, as many titles on Blu-ray and HD DVD have sold fewer than 200 units since their release.
Further information including the Top 10 Nielsen VideoScan tables can be read on this High-Def Digest report here.
