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Blu-ray-unit-sales-decline-in-2008_2009
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NICEBUD
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Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 04:58 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
ebenton
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Joined: 11 Jul 2003
Location: The WINDY state (Florida)
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 06:13 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
I think that if sales take off for the new Funai Blu-ray players that are currently selling for $288 or $298 at some Wal-Marts, then maybe Blu-ray player sales would go up sooner than 2011. Many people who already own HDTVs and who have already bought HD DVD players might buy one.
Also, the existence of a lower-priced Blu-ray player might cause a price drop from some of the vendors who are currently squatting on the $400 price point.

MOVIEGEEK
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Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Location: CA,USA
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 07:43 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
This is no surprise,high player and media prices are keeping people from buying.
If prices don't come down Blu Ray may not be around by 2011.
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ejai
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Joined: 13 Jun 2001
Location: New York USA
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 09:15 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
People who purchased HD-DVD players are more likely to hold out on purchasing a blu-ray player anytime soon. There is still some bad blood over the outcome, and some feel that they have better things to do with their money than buy another similar system.

Some people I know have reside to being content with DVD, most don't see a significant difference that constitutes purchasing a hi-def system.
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jman98
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Joined: 08 Oct 2004
Location: Freedonia
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 09:38 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
The lack of support in current BluRay players for the final BluRay spec and cost are why I haven't bought one. I did buy an HD DVD player at the start of the year, right before Warner Brothers abandoned the format sad.gif

Only the PS3 is guaranteed to support the final BluRay spec. Special features may not work at all on other players. I think that there might be one standalone player now that supports the final spec and there are supposed to be some others this summer that do, but those players start at $600 US.

rumplestiltskin
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Joined: 15 Jun 2003
Location: United States
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 09:43 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
"Ordinary" DVDs look great on my 32" wide-screen LCD set. HD shows (from iTunes Podcasts) also look great but these are nature or NASA shows. I have no desire to see every pimple or pockmark on some Hollywood starlet's behind (which, after all, is the "advantage" of Blu-Ray, right?).

I actually haven't used a DVD disc in a number of months; all the content from the Internet (iTunes store included) works just fine...and most of it isn't HD.

Blu-Ray: The answer to a question no one has asked.

Relayerman
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Joined: 06 Sep 2006
Location: United States
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 10:50 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
Like Windows Vista is to XP, there just isn't enough bang for the buck in going from regular DVDs to high-def. As with any new technology there will be the young folks that go for it with zest and those like me (I'm 54 and getting weaker in eyes and ears every year) that just don't see the point of moving that way.

Now, if someone came out with a 3D video-around (like audio surround) where I can immerse myself right in the picture or where the whole image I'm watching is life-size and 3-dimensional...well, I just might have to go for that! laugh.gif

SCDVD
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Joined: 05 Oct 2004
Location: United States
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 11:03 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
rumplestiltskin wrote:
"Ordinary" DVDs look great on my 32" wide-screen LCD set. HD shows (from iTunes Podcasts) also look great but these are nature or NASA shows. I have no desire to see every pimple or pockmark on some Hollywood starlet's behind (which, after all, is the "advantage" of Blu-Ray, right?).

I actually haven't used a DVD disc in a number of months; all the content from the Internet (iTunes store included) works just fine...and most of it isn't HD.

Blu-Ray: The answer to a question no one has asked.


Exactly. I have made that point before. Sure, Blu-ray is sharper BUT to many (most?) people the difference is small between upconverted DVD and Blu-ray. To many of them it isn't worth the price difference. When I make that point, there are some people that like to "correct" me and disagree. But I shrug it off as the remark of someone who likes to seize this type of comment as a way of mutated bragging about their superior eyesight or their 280 inch super-wonder TV something.

Some actors and actresses don't like HD because it makes it more difficult to mask their age. I have a PS3 and I rent Blu-ray discs from Netflix. I have a 50' Plasma TV. My normal viewing distance is about 15 feet away and my eyesight is 20/20. Yes, DVD is a little softer than Blu-ray but the viewability "experience" isn't noticeable unless you critically concentrate on it.

The success or faiure of Blu-ray will depend on the acceptance (or lack of) from the overall consumer market. The "numbers" will tell the story. A few techniods playing spec-e-poo will have nothing to do with it.

videopoo
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Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 11:45 Posts View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
I'm surprised no one mentioned the US is in a recession. All businesses are being effected, including Blu Ray.

serega
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Joined: 30 Jun 2006
Location: United States
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 12:17 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
Quote:
I'm surprised no one mentioned the US is in a recession. All businesses are being effected, including Blu Ray

US is not in recession technicaly. Economy still expanding, just at slower rate. Some families in recession tough. Definitely priorities change when news aren't great.

jagabo
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Joined: 09 Dec 2005
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Post Posted: May 14, 2008 12:20 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
MOVIEGEEK
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Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Location: CA,USA
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 12:37 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
jagabo wrote:
Because everyone's buying a PS3 to watch Blu-ray:

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/05/14/playstatio ... ony-triple


That's true,I read somewhere that the PS3 makes up 93% of all BD players.
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PuzZLeR
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Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Location: Toronto Canada
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 12:37 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
It's still inevitable that DvD will be replaced by BD, just that the progression curve is slow in the early going from the format war's residual resentment.

Here a marketing ploy that will boom sales: Toshiba publicly congratulating Sony and Sony welcoming Toshiba with open arms as a blu-ray partner. I'm sure the two are already in cohesion and planning.
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MOVIEGEEK
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Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Location: CA,USA
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 12:38 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
PuzZLeR wrote:
It's still inevitable that DvD will be replaced by BD, just that the progression curve is slow in the early going from the format war's residual resentment.

Here a marketing ploy that will boom sales: Toshiba publicly congratulating Sony and Sony welcoming Toshiba with open arms as a blu-ray partner. I'm sure the two are already in cohesion and planning.



Pure fantasy

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TBoneit
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Joined: 09 Feb 2003
Location: USA
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 12:44 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
Lets see, Gas for the car is almost $4.00 a gallon, Electric and Natural Gas for cooking and heating is way high anymore, Fodd is up and going higher, especially staples like flour and rice and beans.

I can see the change in my buying habits and my brothers. We were talking the other day and he mentioned he needed some paper disc sleeves. He wasn't going just for that, he was waiting till he needed more items in that direction, Then he mentioned looks like chicken this week since it was on sale and relatively cheap.

I'm becoming the same way myself. I'm looking at my satellite oackage with an eye to trimming costs. Same for the phone bill. If I wasn't expecting to pay off a $230+ monthly bill in the next month or so I'd really be hurting as my hours at work have been reduced from 45 hours a week to 40 hours a week due to business being slow.

In short it's the economy.

The only thing I'm looking forwards to buying is the new Philips Divx player as it has USB2.

victoriabears
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Joined: 22 May 2004
Location: Canada
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 13:45 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
I see blu ray replacing dvd as being more about the equipment than the content.

Its like listening to crap music on a great hi-fi, the problem, in my humble, is that the product that is produced for movies and Tv is such low quality.
It seems to me as a BBC loving Brit, in Canada, that most Hi Def fans want to watch sports, and for the drama lovers, its the content that matters not the picture quality.

Soopafresh
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Joined: 01 Jan 2004
Location: United States
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 13:50 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
Other than a few Coppola and Spielberg (arguably) movies, is there anything really worth watching in HD? Okay, the "Planet Earth" series, maybe.

gshelley61
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Location: USA
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 14:01 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
The high def viewing experience on larger 1920x1080p screens (larger than 60") is definitely enjoyable, and there's no doubt the HD DVD and Blu-ray discs are superior to standard DVD (especially in image detail and sharpness). I've got a big screen 1080p DLP and own both types of players (I rent the discs from Netflix). It's all great in my case and I really enjoy them... however, the general public does not want or need high def discs. Most people have smaller sized screens (the majority of which are still standard definition 4:3 tube TV's). DVD's look more than perfectly acceptable to the masses and the hardware/software is very affordable.

$600 Blu-ray players and $30 discs will simply not sell except to a handful of videophiles.

PuzZLeR
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Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Location: Toronto Canada
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 15:11 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
@MOVIEGEEK:

LOL!

But nobody seemed to care when Sony made and sold VHS players and blank VHS tapes after their BetaMax lost to VHS in that format war.

Business is business. These people are business people first, not gangsters relishing the idea of turf, rivalry and being enemies when it would be good for business otherwise.
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Rich86
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Joined: 17 Feb 2004
Location: USA
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 15:27 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
MOVIEGEEK wrote:
jagabo wrote:
Because everyone's buying a PS3 to watch Blu-ray:

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/05/14/playstatio ... ony-triple


That's true,I read somewhere that the PS3 makes up 93% of all BD players.


The fact that most of the folks with blu-ray player capabilities are actually PS3 owners simply says the PS3 gaming community is the only thing keeping blu-ray afloat - and probably accounted for the demise of HD-DVD? Does anyone believe that the PS3 will be what carries blu-ray forward into the home based entertainment mainstream in the future? I'm afraid that profile 1.0 $400 standalone players and $30+ movie releases are the biggest anchors on the blu-ray boat. cool.gif

PuzZLeR
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Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Location: Toronto Canada
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 15:44 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
Soopafresh wrote:
Other than a few Coppola and Spielberg (arguably) movies, is there anything really worth watching in HD? Okay, the "Planet Earth" series, maybe.
...and maybe 300. But few others.

I too don't think HD is necessary for everything. Certainly not for romantic comedies, political documentaries or the complete set of some 70s TV sitcom.

Blu-ray will prevail over DvD. But SD will live on, even in BD. Once DvD dies there will be plenty of "SD complete box-sets" released on single BD discs due to their higher capacity and better codecs.
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wulf109
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Joined: 02 Jul 2002
Location: United States
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 18:33 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
Blue-ray will never gain wide acceptance because for the average consumer it is an incremental improvement on an existing product. DVD was a huge leap in convenience and quality over the VCR. Most people who bought VCR's when they were current never used them to record but to play tapes on. We all know we're paying premium prices so manufacturers can re-coop development costs. Toshiba's revenge would be to release Blue-ray players at a $200.00 price point. The hardware is too expensive,the disks are too expensive. Soon retailers will stop carrying Blue-ray. Expensive inventory and it isn't moving off the shelf.

Constant Gardener
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Joined: 27 Mar 2006
Location: Canada
Post Posted: May 14, 2008 20:53 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
Incremental improvement is right. I have "Planet Earth" on Blu-Ray, which is stunning, but "Dr. Who" on an Oppo player isn't appreciably worse. I don't expect to buy any more Blu-Ray discs until the price and content are competitive.

PuzZLeR
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Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Location: Toronto Canada
Post Posted: May 15, 2008 12:22 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
All new, and relatively new, technology is expensive. What's so different here?

The companies are just skimming the early market to grab the early enthusiast and, as wulf109 pointed out, recover some of that R&D investment. This is the norm until economies of scale and learning curves on manufacturing take effect before prices go down.

But, if the BD market is ever in jeopardy, there will be a price reduction to save it. Yes, it's only an incremental benefit over DvD, but as well, in theory, and technologically speaking, it can replace the incumbent DvD 100% (but not in reverse) - a healthy DvD market is good news for BD when it's only a short-term price issue that keeps it from absorbing it entirely.
wulf109 wrote:
Toshiba's revenge would be to release Blue-ray players at a $200.00 price point.
You raise a good point here but I don't think they can get away with it. All attention will be on Toshiba in that they are conducting an illegal price war and it will be snuffed quickly. Toshiba may think twice before attempting something like this, which may be percieved as "suicide bombing". I believe there is much more reward for them, marketing-wise, to work with Sony now.

I believe all this "death of blu-ray" talk is revenge from HD-DvD supporters, which includes the poster of this thread.
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wulf109
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Joined: 02 Jul 2002
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Post Posted: May 15, 2008 12:54 Posts Comp View users profile Send private message Reply with quote
Question? Blue-ray players low price is $400.00,my local Sam's is selling one for $377. Yet the PS3 which sells for $400 plays Blue-ray but is also a game console. How can the PS3 and standalone players sell at the same price?

neomaine
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Joined: 09 Jul 2001
Location: United States
Post Posted: May 15, 2008 15:26 Posts Comp