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May 5, 2008
Game Over - Blu-Ray wins vs. HD-DVD
In January Warner Brothers announced that they would stop supporting HD DVD and sell Blu-Ray movies. Then in February, Toshiba threw in the towel and announced that they would stop shipping HD DVD players. The format war is over, Blu-Ray won.
I have both a Blu Ray and an HD DVD player and they both work reasonably well. There will be no more new movies for the HD DVD player, but I only spent $99 on the Toshiba HD DVD player, and I got five free movies HD DVD movies from a Toshiba mail in rebate. It is a decent player, I don't feel too bad about making the purchase.
I have a few friends that have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for a winner in this format war. Several have purchased a Blu-Ray player in the last few weeks, but Blu-Ray players are still a bit pricey - $399 and up is the typical street price. After Christmas there were a few sales for entry level players at $299.
Now that the format battle is over are you going to purchase a Blu-Ray DVD player? If you have an High Definition television what are you waiting for?
- cheaper players? If so, what is the price price are you holding out for? Under $300,under $200, under $100?
- better players with more features? If so, what features?
- more movies on Blu-Ray?
- cheaper movies?
or, you don't care about higher resolution movies on a disk. High Definition programs and movies from cable, satellite or from an antenna are what you are interested in.
Posted by Bob Gatton at May 5, 2008 10:46 AM
Comments
The problem is that BR and BR players have only gone up in price.
Sony thought that because they won the race and has somewhat of a monopoly over the HD world, people would have rushed out to get their players and start watching highdef dvds.
The thing is people didn't. NPD numbers show that sales of BR players(PS3 not included)are down from the beginning of the year. Some argue that PS3s are increasing and so the NPD numbers don't show the entire picture. That might be true, but the telling part is that BR _movies_ are down aswell, descrediting that argument as well.
The fact is most people have 720p TVs under 40" and that, with a quality upconverting dvd player, they are satisfied wit the image quality. To most a $200-400 investment + $10 premium on each disc is too much. There's only one simple remedy: get the prices of BR disks down to dvd levels.
Posted by: flfny at May 7, 2008 2:29 AM
love blue ray. but the price must come down on the disc for it to really take off.
Posted by: DARRELL at May 7, 2008 8:31 AM
They are just to darn high. We have a 1080p mits tv but we buy a lot of movies and i am not going to pay an extra 10.00 per movie. The price has to come down for me to invest.
Posted by: Geary at May 7, 2008 8:46 AM
It's not an investment. They won't increase in value when you buy the players. Even the movies (BR or conventional) are not the collector items that movies used to be. They are so mass produced. However, I do agree that with the price of fuel, food and overall cost of living increasing, the public just doesn't have that dispensable income as it did in the 80's or 90's when DVD's and CD's were still new technologies. Getting the prices way down is most definately in order.
Posted by: Gr8Chef2B at May 7, 2008 11:06 AM
I have a Blu Ray player, a Sony PS3 used more for movies than games, but I am not buying any disks.
I have been renting. My local Blockbuster has a decent selection of Blu ray movies and they are the same price to rent as a regular DVD. And a grocery store in my neighborhood is going to start renting blu rays this summer.
Posted by: FrankT at May 7, 2008 6:48 PM
I am going to wait until Sony gets their head removed and reduces the post victory inflated prices. My first BD player will probably be a PS3, because I am also concerned about how so many of the new players are already obsolete with the newer features.
I also produce HD content, and currently only deliver it in mpeg, online form.
Posted by: Paul Graham at May 7, 2008 8:39 PM
