Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: Blu-ray, Sales, DVD | Themes: Audio/Video Players, Digital Entertainment, Home Theater
Chicago (IL) - The forces behind Blu-ray disc may have won the battle against rival HD-DVD earlier this year, but they still have yet to win the war for the hearts, and dollars, of consumers. This seems to be the findings on a new survey from research firm ABI Research.
ABI found in a sampling of consumers that many are still quite happy with their current DVD players and don’t see a compelling reason to make the step up. Whereas VHS to DVD was perceived as a jump worth making for the better quality, said ABI analyst Steve Wilson, not as many shoppers are yet convinced of the better viewing experience offered by the next generation format.
"While half of the respondents to our survey rated Blu-ray’s quality as ’much better’ than standard DVD," said Wilson, "another 40% termed it only ’somewhat better,’ and most are very satisfied with the performance of their current DVD players."
High prices of players and the need for an accompanying high definition television, among other factors, also played into only a marginal percentage of those surveyed saying Blu-ray was a purchase soon to be made.
Wilson added the one possible "bright spot" is that the Blu-ray enabled PlayStation 3 from Sony has seen a strong following, meaning the installed base for this technology will continue to grow. How many extra sales of Blu-ray discs this means remains to be seen, though ABI found no real evidence to indicate fewer discs sales to gamers versus non-gamers.
Things, of course, may change as time progresses for Blu-ray sales.
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Anyone that responded it's only "somewhat better" have apparently either only watched blu-ray movies on their SDTVs, or have never really seen 1080p in person. Blu-ray brand aside, If you can't see an enormous difference between 480p and 1080p, I suggest getting your eyes checked.....
If you use normal 24" to 28" television... the difference is not that big...
With bigger screens... yeah you got the point.
One thing that would increase adoption of Blu-ray in the US is stand-alone recorders not r/w drives that are meant to be in PCs, but true stand-alone recorders that are meant to be in an audio/video rack. But draconian copy protection and they mistaken attitude by some manufacturers that in the US people only record to DVRs is hampering that.
My main reason for holding off buying a Blu-ray deck is because I want a stand-alone recorder and I am not willing to shell out $400 or perhaps more for something that I will get rid of when stand-alone recorders finally hit the US market.
One dealer that I know has also said that they could sell quite a few stand-alone recorders to people who want to archive content from their HD camcorders. Personally, I would like to archive my VHS collection as well as some Digital 8 and Hi-8 tapes.
According to an article that I read recently, the only sales of stand alone devices in Japan have been stand-alone recorders. Apparently, no manufacturer has sold a play-back only stand-alone device in the Japanese market, and the current market price for stand-alone recorders in Japan is around $400 US. So, why not in the US????
Hear this Blu-ray device manufacturers: the longer you keep stand-alone recorders out of the US market, the longer this delay in conversion from DVD to Blu-ray will take - assuming you do not kill the market for Blu-ray in the US.
And if its the draconian copy protection in the US that is keeping you from introducing stand-alone recorders, take it to court. You manufacturers ought to be able to win on the basis of the VHS ruling from years ago that copying for personal use is legal.
I only moved from VHS to DVD because you couldn't find any movies on VHS anymore.
And believe me, there are much more people like me, many of which are even worse.
A really retarded study; in fact, I haven't met one person who doesn't know the advantage of HD or doesn't want HDTV.
PRICE PRICE PRICE. DVD Player, $29 at ALDI. Blu-Ray Player, AT LEAST $300. DVD Movie, $13 for a new release. Blu-Ray Movie, $30. Sony needs to get a clue.
I think its more of the price point of Blu-Ray, particularly the discs themselves, not the players that is slowing the adoption to the technology. They're also competing with streaming services like Netflix, Tivo, and iTunes, which DVD never had to contend with. I don't really see Blu-Ray having as large an install base as DVD does.
I think its more of the price point of Blu-Ray, particularly the discs themselves, not the players that is slowing the adoption to the technology. They're also competing with streaming services like Netflix, Tivo, and iTunes, which DVD never had to contend with. I don't really see Blu-Ray having as large an install base as DVD does.
I had to change my pants after watching my first blu-ray movie. It was a discovery channel movie on the galopagos islands...... AMAZING
feet away while I'm watching my 2nd of 2 movies a month is it better?... Not unless there is a BD sales guy in the room beating me into submission with a plasma TV. I'm not the keep up with the Jones's type, a fanboy, or one to buy into hype, so except for storage (maybe... HDD is big, cheap, and fast...) I wouldn't consider BD until/unless the price for all the BD stuff is very close to DVD stuff.
Simple cost/benefit. $400 for a descent BD player, $30 for a BD movie, plus another $3000-$4000 for the equipment to make it worth while. Nice DVD setup < $1000. Is HD/BD better? Of course. From 15 feet away while I'm watching my 2nd of 2 movies a month is it better?... Not unless there is a BD sales guy in the room beating me into submission with a plasma TV. I'm not the keep up with the Jones's type, a fanboy, or one to buy into hype, so except for storage (maybe... HDD is big, cheap, and fast...) I wouldn't consider BD until/unless the price for all the BD stuff is very close to DVD stuff.
I've adopted Blu-Ray almost a year ago. It is much better quality, much better sound. No one can deny that. If they do, they need to get their eyes/ears checked. Yes, the price of players is still high, but look at about a year ago, they were like $800+, they are now around $300-400. The price of movies is still a bit high, but places like amazon has deals quite often (buy 2 get 1 free) and quite a few places have them for 2 for $40 or 2 for $50. Walmart had some decent titles for $18. If you actually look around, you can get movies for not that much more than what DVD's use to cost.
A lot more people are going Blu then what some of these articles on Tom's have posted.
Here are a few links:
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1355
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1222
I see a lot will happen this Christmas with Blu.
The difference is very great. The picture is awesome. The fact that it is a "Pricey upscale product" that has no bearing at all unless you already own a High Def TV...Notsomuch...
This product would have taken off like lightning if not for greed.
CD?DVD Drives are the absolute standard in EVERY computer. I can buy the "DRIVE" at Tiger direct WITH Lightscribe for $29.99. I can then buy a spool of 100 discs for $10 on sale.
Have you PRICED A BLANK BLU-RAY DISC?..What the HELL is that!
I don't want a hard drive...but thats what the blank discs are priced like. 1 BLANK DISC FOR $47..??? a spool of 10 for $265..?Then the cheapest drive I can find is a Lite-On at $250. Kind of high don't you think? Add to this that all HD Content is so protected from piracy, what are you going to record onto these "Donald Trump" discs?
No, This format is not on the fast track to acceptance...Sure as hell not by me.
Mind you there are also people like me who invested big bucks into early HDTV (1080i), the early ones of which are not compatible with HDCP protection. I'm not about to buy a blu-ray player and risk the possibility of a studio deciding they want me to have HDCP and then screwing me over with SD resolution.
I'll stick with my Upscaling player until my current TV dies, its just too worrisome to spend money on the new format for High Definition, when I know the studio's have the option at any time to check for HDCP and scale back the resolution on me whenever they feel like.