High-definition movie DVDs in the Blu-ray format have outsold the rival HD DVD standard in Europe this year, breaking the 1 million barrier and constituting 73 percent of all HD movie discs sold.
Citing industry sales data, the Blu-ray disc association said in a statement on Tuesday that Blu-ray movie disc sales had topped 1 million units and,
Hollywood and electronics manufacturers are hoping that new high-definition DVDs, with better picture quality and more capacity, will revive the slowing home DVD market.
But the launch of the next-generation DVD players has been complicated by the fact that there are two competing technologies available, Blu-ray and HD DVD.
HD DVD was developed by Toshiba while Sony backs the Blu-ray standard.
Of the high-definition movie discs bought by consumers so far this year in Europe, 73 percent were in the Blu-ray Disc format and 27 percent were HD DVD, according to sales data provided by Media Control Gfk International.
Blu-ray said the best-selling titles were 300, Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Home Media Research said in October Blu-ray Disc DVD titles had outsold rival HD-DVD titles by almost 2 to 1 in the first nine months of the year in the United States.
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