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Blu-ray titles thrashing HD DVD in the US

Blu-ray Disc is currently spanking the HD DVD format 2-1 in the US. But the battle's not won yet

Blu-ray Disc movies in the US have outsold their HD DVD rivals by nearly 100 per cent so far this year. New figures from Home Media Research show that BD titles are setting the HD benchmark in sales and that HD DVD risks being left behind.

US movie-watchers purchased 2.6 million BDs in the period from the start of the year until the end of September. That's compared with the HD DVD format which has sold just 1.4 million titles. Almost a 2-1 spanking in favour of Blu-ray.

Read: Why Blu-ray vs HD DVD is still a cold war

While the Blu-ray Disc Association will be super-keen to hail these figures as evidence that the BD format is winning the format war, things are not so straightforward.

For instance, yesterday it was announced that the HD DVD-exclusive Transformers movie had sold over 190,000 copies in its first week alone. And some analysts think that the web-enabled features in Toshiba's HD DVD players will spear a comeback for the format in the run up to Christmas. Not to mention the low prices.

HD DVD to make comeback?

In total, North Americans purchased four million high definition movies in the first nine months of 2007. But compared with Transformers on standard definition DVD which sold 8.3 million copies in only one week, the HD figures show how the HD format has yet to resonate with most consumers.

Still though, the numbers do yield at least one interesting piece of information. The best selling Blu-ray player by far is the Sony PlayStation 3. And despite the HD DVD Promotion Group's persistent claims that the PS3 is not a proper BD player, it seems the movie sales figures say otherwise.