The first independent data on Blu-ray and HD-DVD disc sales has found that Blu-ray is outselling its rival by a factor of more than two to one.

Figures gathered by Nielsen VideoScan show that for every 47.14 HD-DVDs discs sold in the first week of January, 100 Blu-ray discs were sold. By the second week in January the HD-DVD figure had fallen to 38.36.

The most popular film with the Blu-ray camp is Crank, a thriller with Jason Statham playing an assassin who is poisoned and must keep his heart rate up to stay alive.

HD-DVD buyers are more tempted by Batman Begins and Mission Impossible III.

The figures cover only two weeks, however, and may have been skewed by the fact that only two HD-DVD titles came onto the market during this period.

It is also clear that the bulk of Blu-ray purchasers are PlayStation 3 owners. Over a million units of the games console have been sold in the US so far.

HD-DVD manufacturers said at the Consumer Electronics Show this year that 175,000 of players were sold in 2006.