30% of HD DVD Users Acess Web Content

Hollywood (CA) - Universal today released some facts on usage of special Web-enabled content that is available on several of its HD DVD movie titles.

Universal said that an average of 30% of people who bought its HD DVDs with Internet features actually accessed those features. Such titles include Evan Almight, Knocked Up, and the first season of Heroes.

All HD DVD players are required to have an Ethernet port to connect to a broadband Internet connection, a requirement that has not yet been matched by Blu-ray.

The HD DVD Promotional Group also said this week that more than 80,000 unique users had accessed exclusive Web content from the HD DVD version of Transformers, a Dreamworks title. Both Universal and Dreamworks are in the small pool of movie studios releasing high-def titles exclusively to HD DVD.

"We’ve only scratched the surface in offering web-connected experiences to fans of hit movies and TV shows," HD DVD Promotional Group co-president and Universal executive VP Ken Gaffeo.