Our DVD and Blu-ray sales estimates are based on weekly retail surveys, which we use to build a weekly market share estimate for each title we are tracking. The market share is converted into a weekly sales estimate based on industry reports on the overall size of the market, including reports published in Media Play News.

For example, if our weekly retail survey estimates that a particular title sold 1% of all units that week, and the industry reports sales of 1,500,000 units in total, we will estimate 15,000 units were sold of that title. The consumer spending estimate is based on the average sales price for the title in the retailers we survey.

We refine our estimates from week to week as more data becomes available. In particular, we adjust weekly sales figures for the quarter once the total market estimates are published by the Digital Entertainment Group. Figures will therefore fluctuate each week, and totals for individual titles can go up or down as we update our estimates.

Because sales figures are estimated based on sampling, they will be more accurate for higher-selling titles.

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for November 8th, 2011

November 7th, 2011

It's a rather mixed week on the home market. Granted, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 is coming out this week, but it doesn't make its home market debut till Friday. Also, after the Harry Potter releases, there's a huge drop in quality. Given the issue with the Harry Potter releases, it's best to wait till next year and grab the ultimate editions. I'm not sure there's anything here that rises to the level of Pick of the Week. In the end I went with Captain America: The First Avenger on Blu-ray Combo Pack, even though it didn't come out this week. However, the screener was late and it is the best release on this week's list. More...