Following a dryspell in the first quarter of this year, the HD DVD camp rebounded in Q2 to release more high-def titles than its next-gen rival.
According to industry tipsheet The DVD Release Report, 70 HD DVD titles hit store shelves during the period from April 1 through June 30, compared to 63 Blu-ray titles in the same timeframe.
That's quite a jump for HD DVD, which got trounced in the same metric by Blu-ray over the first three months of the year, releasing only 29 titles (compared to Blu-ray's 69). HD DVD backers have pointed to the format's dearth of new releases in the early part of the year as a primary reason for what quickly became a widening sales lead for Blu-ray.
But while Blu-ray continues to lead in overall disc sales (VideoScan numbers for the week ending June 24 indicate a continued 2:1 sales lead for the format), the good news for HD DVD fans is that Blu-ray's once-growing sales lead appears to have at least stabilized.
Primary HD DVD backer Universal Studios led the Q2 HD DVD push, releasing a total of 33 HD DVD titles on its own. Although the studio has been accused of rushing some of its more recent HD DVD catalogue titles to market at the cost of picture quality, it shows no signs of slowing down with another 23 HD DVD titles already announced for release from now through September.
