Study Concludes Blu-ray Not Red-Hot

[admin]

Blu-ray is no slam-dunk according to researchers. But a recent Harris Poll has some very interesting results about consumer HD buying habits. We can probably all agree that focus groups and marketing brain-trusts aren’t going to help Blu-ray, but lower prices certainly will.

Discuss "Study Concludes Blu-ray Not Red-Hot" here. Read the article.

 

[swestbom]

Blu-ray doesn't just need lower prices, DVD has to be quickly phased out or we will have another SACD format on our hands.

 

[mouettus]

Blu is to remain niche market. It has been said and explained so many times.

It's been what... 3 years now that this technology is out and even the war and the blu-ray win and the news I still talk to people who have no clue what Blu-Ray is. When DVD was introduced, everyone was talking about it...

It is not a takeover, it is luxury!

 

[Jack Hammer]

Unfortunately, I think the format war killed the "must have it now" sensation and people realized they can live without it. I'm not convinced its a done deal though. DVD took a while to get off the ground and was slow to become mainstream. IMO the jury's still out on this one.

Jack

 

[Alamar]

As I've said before Blu has a clear path to success ... the issue is whether they can get everyone to go along with it:

-- Get all devices to the latest standards [profile 2.0]
-- Lower the prices of devices so they are appetizing to J6P
-- Get content providers to phase out DVD in favor of Blu

There will be short term loss of profits but if the choice is people don't get to see movies or invest in Blu [for only a small premium in price compared to DVD] then they'll flock to Blu in droves.

The odds of the above happening though [anytime soon] are almost nil because I doubt you'll get companies to suffer short term losses while they phase out DVD [which they should make $ on]

 

[Pyrrho]

I can tell you why I have not purchased a Blu-Ray player:

1. There have been too many reports of buggy players not properly playing the discs, where one must constantly upgrade the firmware to get the stupid thing to work (if the manufacturer even bothers making new firmware available).
   
2. I don't like the region limiting crap on the players. It is for price fixing and censoring what one can watch. (With DVD players, I always research how to hack it to make it region free BEFORE I buy, and if a player cannot be hacked or is not out of the box region free, I don't buy it—NO EXCEPTIONS.)
   
3. The cost of the software is too high.
   
4. The selection of the software is too limited. There is no way I am going to spend $400 on a player to play just a half dozen or so movies that I want to see.

All of the above needs to be fixed before I plan to buy. (Of course, not all players have to be bug free, but the one I buy needs to be, or I would return it for a refund.) I would be perfectly willing to spend the current $400 necessary to have a player, but not until they deal with the issues above.

I don't expect that everyone who has not purchased a Blu-Ray player is like me, but I doubt my reasons are rare.

 

[westcott]

I was killing time in a book store the other day and was looking at the BR disc prices. I could swear they have gone up............not down!!!!

Most of the discs were in the US$30 price range. What a rip off. Who wants to buy a disc at that price?

I agree, US$10 is the price these discs need to be at to increase sales now. Otherwise, NetFlix and BlockBuster is getting all the revenue one could hope to garner through disc sales to those who already own the hardware.

Pay me millions of dollars to do your market research. It is obvious they have hired the wrong crew.

 

[Pyrrho]

...
-- Get content providers to phase out DVD in favor of Blu
...

The only way that will happen as a way to get Blu-Ray adopted is if the owners of the rights to the DVD format prevented everyone from legally making DVDs. Otherwise, some makers are going to keep making them, as they sell, and they already have the factories in place to keep making them. And if you are a film maker, you will want to make films for studios that release things on DVD, because you will want to make more money than you would if they did not release it on DVD. The pressure to keep making DVDs is tremendous, and will continue as long as people don't abandon the format.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that survey indicates that 9% of the people out there who don't own BD currently are looking to purchase within the next year, and only about 35% actually own HDTVs, so in the next year one quarter of the HDTV owners will be buying a HD player despite some of the high prices associated with BD at this time?

On top of that, it indicates what may amount to a tripling of the BD market place over the next year?

I'm not sure, but the prediction from the BD camp was to have about 8% of the market by the end of this year as the goal, and the numbers in that poll seem to indicate that as a very realistic accomplishment. "Not red hot" - and "Hitting market expectations" are not necessarily exclusive to each other and a poll which randomly chooses people may or may not give solid results, but it does seem to be very much in line with what the BDA has said it wanted to accomplish this year.

The fact that any report has then decided to spin this informatio in a bad way, seems to be just plain stupid. Over 9% of the US population buying into BD in the next year on top of the several percent who already have? That's pretty darn significant and an indicator of a product very much gaining popularity!

Then, as we move into next year and see prices fall, players become more stable, and more and more releases available, we will see continued growth of the format.

I would say, despite the nearly 90% ownership of the market that DVD enjoys, the fact that DVD revenues are falling is an indicator of a true product that is a long way from 'red hot'. Meanwhile, BD growing over 300% in the past 12 months, according to some reports is NOT 'red hot' - and follow up surveys which indicate that trend to continue? You'll have to explain 'red hot' to me better than the reporters have for it to make sense, that's for sure.

 

[cubbie5150]

I can tell you why I have not purchased a Blu-Ray player:

1. There have been too many reports of buggy players not properly playing the discs, where one must constantly upgrade the firmware to get the stupid thing to work (if the manufacturer even bothers making new firmware available).
   
2. I don't like the region limiting crap on the players. It is for price fixing and censoring what one can watch. (With DVD players, I always research how to hack it to make it region free BEFORE I buy, and if a player cannot be hacked or is not out of the box region free, I don't buy it—NO EXCEPTIONS.)
   
3. The cost of the software is too high.
   
4. The selection of the software is too limited. There is no way I am going to spend $400 on a player to play just a half dozen or so movies that I want to see.

All of the above needs to be fixed before I plan to buy. (Of course, not all players have to be bug free, but the one I buy needs to be, or I would return it for a refund.) I would be perfectly willing to spend the current $400 necessary to have a player, but not until they deal with the issues above.

I don't expect that everyone who has not purchased a Blu-Ray player is like me, but I doubt my reasons are rare.

You, sir are NOT alone....

 

[MUDSHARK]

The only thing stopping me is the handshake problems I'm currently experiencing. No HDMI no lossless Bitrate so I may just not bother with it.

 

[Rico]

Oppo was my answer. For now, at least.

I need an better TV first anyway.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I've been buying new BD's off Amazon for around $15. Fry's has a few on sale for $11.99 this week. You can get used BD's off Amazon for under $15 shipped. I bought the Die Hard 4 movie collection for under $40 shipped. I got Planet Earth for a few dollars more than that. I just ordered a used copy of the Orphanage for $14.50+2.98 sh. There are plenty of affordable good movies out there on BD if you look around and watch for sales.

Jack

 

[westcott]

I've been buying new BD's off Amazon for around $15. Fry's has a few on sale for $11.99 this week. You can get used BD's off Amazon for under $15 shipped. I bought the Die Hard 4 movie collection for under $40 shipped. I got Planet Earth for a few dollars more than that. I just ordered a used copy of the Orphanage for $14.50+2.98 sh. There are plenty of affordable good movies out there on BD if you look around and watch for sales.

Jack

Thanks for the heads up. I guess the reason I have never seen these lower prices is because I rarely buy discs. I would rather rent. I do own a few discs like the HDDVD Blade Runner collection but that is it for HD discs. I have maybe ten or 15 SDDVD's. NetFlix is my source of choice but if I even just have to own a copy of something, I will be sure to go to Amazon or Fry's.

 

[Seth=L]

The next time you all visit Wal-Mart (this Sunday and after) you notice many stores will have a dedicated Blu-ray section with around 4 or 5 Blu-ray players along with a broader selection of Blu-ray discs. The disc selection won't be as much as many Best Buy/Circuit City establishments, but enough to get the ball rolling. My Wal-Mart store has been selling HDTVs like crazy, so it shouldn't be long before the average consumer becomes interested.

As for the SACD comparison, I don't believe Wal-Mart ever had SACD. Wal-Mart has tremendous weight in the market, it's possible that Wal-Mart may be the one to bring Blu-ray prices down to a more digestable level. For starters, Wal-Mart will be selling a Magnavox Blu-ray player for under $300. It's not a feature laden piece of equipment, and probably isn't profile 2.0, but J6P isn't going to know the difference.

 

[mouettus]

My Wal-mart isn't a small-town wal-mart. It is a smart center. We have 3 stores in the same city. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm in Canada but I never saw wal-mart carry blu-ray or anything high-tech. phones, low-fi tvs, video games, dvds... that's about it. I think the PS3 is the most hi-tech toy they have.

 

[Seth=L]

My Wal-mart isn't a small-town wal-mart. It is a smart center. We have 3 stores in the same city. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm in Canada but I never saw wal-mart carry blu-ray or anything high-tech. phones, low-fi tvs, video games, dvds... that's about it. I think the PS3 is the most hi-tech toy they have.

They don't sell a range of LCD tvs? My store, which is in a small town by itself, carries a broad range of LCD tvs, as do the stores in the neighboring larger city of Fort Wayne. Maybe the Canadian Wal-Mart stores are different. If you look the Magnavox Blu-ray player up online you will find many people discussing that player among others being put up recently at Wal-Mart stores (even though they aren't supposed to be up for sale until this Sunday).

 

[mouettus]

They don't sell a range of LCD tvs? My store, which is in a small town by itself, carries a broad range of LCD tvs, as do the stores in the neighboring larger city of Fort Wayne. Maybe the Canadian Wal-Mart stores are different. If you look the Magnavox Blu-ray player up online you will find many people discussing that player among others being put up recently at Wal-Mart stores (even though they aren't supposed to be up for sale until this Sunday).

US and Can wal-marts are definitely different!

http://www.wal-mart.ca/wps-portal/s...event&departmentId=63&lang=&pageNum=1&tabId=1
That's all they have in the "home theater" department

 

[gliz]

I have absolutly no intension of spending on red dime o blu-ray it is just to costly

 

[Jack Hammer]

I have absolutly no intension of spending on red dime o blu-ray it is just to costly

Do you mean "never," "just for now," or "until the prices come inline with current SD DVD prices"?

Jack