My habits for buying movies have totally changed in the last 6 months. My SD DVD buying has essentially become zero, other than for a couple of titles which are not a factor in HD. I won't buy a SD disc, if there is a HD version. I have decided not to buy any HD disc for a title if I own it in SD [With the exception of Planet Earth]
If there is a title on BD, that isn't region free, then that has dropped into "future purchase in the UK"
I used to buy a lot more dics, maybe not on a monthly basis as the poll suggests, but in tranches of 8-10 discs, then maybe nothing for a month a two. If you averaged it out probably would be 5-6 a month. This has dropped to nearer 1-2 a month on average. [I have started to rent for the first time]
I must also confess that I am very particular about where I watch a film, e.g I fly a lot, with very reguarlar trips to Asia, Australia and the US [at least 2 of those destinations a month]. I will not watch a film on an aeroplane, if I have not seen it at the Cinema / on DVD with my Projector first. Now strangely enough I have become aware of a new subconscious rule that I have been applying to myself. I have decided to buy a full HD Display, and oddly enough I sort of want to "save up" my viewing for when I have this - this has been a factor in slowing up my purchases as well.
Returning to the original post, I still think people think about this in to much of a "black & white" fashion. e.g. the demographic of the average PS3 owner doesn't buy discs" I think it makes know difference at all, well as little difference as it always has. I think at least 20-30% of owners own a PS3 because it is a Blu-ray player. They are just as likely to buy discs as any other standalone owner in my view. The remainder who own a games console, well a proportion of them anyway will buy discs.
I don't think Sony or anyone believed for one minute that PS3 owners were going to be buying discs as if they were going out of fashion [wish the were in fashion to be honest], but they bet on them kickstarting the BD format. In that context it has, i.e. wherever the PS3 has been launched, Blu-ray discs have responded in much higher sales. I know poeple argue that with the result of slow demand, this fact will diminish, but that is some strange logic, those same 800K PS3 owners currently in Europe won't change their buying habits, just because they're only being added too at a rate of 200K a month.
I have no doubt that the HD DVD add-on was launched to Kick-start the HD DVD market, although that now seems to becoming a more pointless purchase by the day, with the very lower costs of HD DVD standalones, i.e. for $100 more, you can buy a fully-featured unit rather than one full of comprimises.
I do agree though, I believe the sales numbers for both formats are significantly higher than the numbers we see [don't?] would suggest. If they are not, then this war is a pointless exercise, since poeple must be buying players and doing nothing with them. I think the fact the studios are releasing them so fast also suggests the sales are better then we have numbers to support.