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Blu-ray player sales are falling
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The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 30 April, 2008
Despite Blu-ray's victory over rival format HD DVD, it seems Blu-ray player sales are falling or seeing little to no growth in various markets.
The latest figures, according to the NPD Group, show that Blu-ray standalone players sales (excluding the PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray PC drives) have mostly decreased since the beginning of 2008, or seen no growth. Sales dropped 40 percent in the ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
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Junior Member
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1. May 2008 @ 10:08 |
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Another consideration too keep in mind for switching from SD to HD is the Jan 1st 2009 switchover (at least in the U.S.) to HD broadcasting. Granted, people will get thier government discounted HD tuners and whatnot, but the sales of HD tv's will increase as their prices decrease and the demand to have a set that can actualy show an HD broadcast in its fullest capacity will compel many consumers this year alone. I can remember in the late 90's when I saw the Matrix on VHS, and then found out my friend had a DVD player and the matrix on DVD!!! WOW!!! I thought it was the coolest thing EVER! But never even expected to own a DVD player right away because at the time they were expensive as hell in comparison to the ol' VHS tapes. Things have certainly changed and now DVD is the new VHS... I'm not saying Blu-Ray will do the same to DVD right away... or ever, but once people can start to appreciate the resolution of Blu-Ray with a compatible TV set things will shift in its favor. Until the market is completely "saturated" with the DRM of Blu-Ray I give props to the people out there who are helping crack it faster and easier every day.
.. you know, the SAME way it went down with DVD's.
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Member
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1. May 2008 @ 11:04 |
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That's it, I am buying a VMD player.
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erjl
Newbie
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1. May 2008 @ 11:18 |
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The January 17, 2009 change over in broadcast is for Digital TV not HD TV. I'm sure a lot of stations will broadcast HD but the requirement is for digital not analog. Currently in the rural area I live in I receive three Digital channels. Two SD and one HD.
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goodswipe
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1. May 2008 @ 11:41 |
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Originally posted by A_Klingon:
The US recession may be a small-ish factor, but overall, I chalk Blu-Ray's pathetic market progress on still WAY too-high-prices for the standalone players; the discs themselves, and FAR too little selection of either.
I have yet to see a blu-ray disc title in the stores for anything less than FULL (inflated) retail price, and I have yet to see even ONE blu-ray player at, (say) Walmart. (I have no intention of ordering one by mail).
If Sony & all the other blu-related companies want to inch past niche status, then they need to get up off their as*** and start *acting* mainstream. Otherwise, I see blu-ray as just another (failed) Laser-Disc-Like (12") format.
Man, you sure do a lot of shopping at Wal-Mart. Do you live in a small town?
I still haven't bought into Blu-ray because of price and because I am happy with my HD DVD player for now. Yea, 400 dollars isn't that much, but it certainly is for something I'm not in dire need of. I can still buy HD DVD movies for 9-15 dollars and be happy. I'm sure there are lots of people out there that share these same feelings.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1. May 2008 @ 11:44
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BludRayne
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1. May 2008 @ 12:40 |
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blu-ray(DRM) bad, HD good. If you can't see that, get some glasses!
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SProdigy
Senior Member
5 product reviews
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1. May 2008 @ 13:49 |
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Originally posted by Vr0cK:
Well this article excludes PS3, so maybe everybody is realizing that the PS3 is simply the better deal and decides to purchase it so why by a stand alone for the same or more money. Until there's an article saying that PS3 console sales are going down then there's a problem lol =P
Herein lies the problem. Sony WANTS you to believe the PS3 is a better value, so I sense their reluctance to drop the price of stand alone players until the PS3 drops in price. However, it's not like PS3 is dominating it's market either, and we'll never be able to effectively gauge who's buying the console to play games, movies or both.
I also agree with the upconverted DVD factor. Honestly, some of us are happy paying HALF the price for a movie that has negligible differences to it's Blu counterpart. (LOL, how many people wear eyeglasses or contacts?)
I think we can all agree that without the PS3, Blu-Ray would already be on it's death bed.
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A_Klingon
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1. May 2008 @ 18:08 |
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Originally posted by error5:
Sorry A_Klingon but BluRay cannot be a mainstream product at this point in time. It cannot become a mainstream product until HDTV market penetration reaches at least 50% to 75% of households. You won't see this until the prices of 40 inch or larger HDTV's reach $500 or less.
Yep, in a nutshell I think you've hit the nail right on the head, error5.
But - needless to say - Sony et al, wants desperately to go mainstream - god knows they've paid out enough payola to establish themselves right from the start - Sony, for example, is no stranger to proprietary, failed formats (miniDisc; beta, AccuTrack (or whatever it was they called their lossy audio codec), and they wanted to lay the foundation immediately for worldwide format dominance here with blu-ray.
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This is the point that people seem to forget: You need a fairly good sized HDTV to appreciate the advantage of BluRay.
Yes, absolutely. One would be nuts to shell out all the extra $$$ now being charged for discs and players just to play back content on a 17" bedroom monitor unless they've got wads of money burning a hole in their pocket (in which case they could afford a large-screen HDTV anyway).
For everything and everyone else, basic DVD has ALL the bases covered for the foreseeable future. Cheap discs, cheap players, plenty of both, cheap burners, cheap blanks, workable on ANY TV both large & small - HD and non-HD alike, and general ease-of-use easily as good as blu-ray.
The blu-ray proponents would seem to have their work cut out for them.
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A_Klingon
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1. May 2008 @ 18:16 |
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Originally posted by sgriesch:
Originally posted by A_Klingon:
The US recession may be a small-ish factor, but overall, I chalk Blu-Ray's pathetic market progress on still WAY too-high-prices for the standalone players; the discs themselves, and FAR too little selection of either.
Yep, that'll do it. I have seen "buy 2 get one free" offers at Best Buy and CC, but $60 still seems like a lot for 3 movies. And as for selection, the article about Paramount's relases just backs that up. (Face/Off, Bee Movie, and Next) Not real dazzlers IMHO to start their BR campaign.
'Buy 2 get one free'? Actually, sgriesch, even that's a better deal than what I can get from a local Walmart.
"Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse Of The Black Pearl" (2-disc set) cost me $33.71, and I don't even have a blu-ray player yet. <gg>
No other blu-rays are on sale there either. Not even one. Haven't even seen a blu-ray player there yet.
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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1. May 2008 @ 18:23 |
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Originally posted by hulud86:
Why buy a Blu Ray player when you can get a PS3 for the same price?
Because most (I say most) die-hard videophiles who have invested a fortune in their home theater systems would prefer to have a "proper", built-for-the-purpose blu ray standalone, to play back their movies rather than a high-tech gaming console.
And also.... I suppose for the same reasons most people use an ipod or other mp3 player to play back their music files rather than a cell-phone.
Each has a preferred MAIN purpose.
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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1. May 2008 @ 18:32 |
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Originally posted by goodswipe:
Man, you sure do a lot of shopping at Wal-Mart. Do you live in a small town?
No. (Halifax, the capital city of Nova Scotia, Canada). We have 3 or 4 Walmats kicking around the general area).
Sure, I shop Walmart, why not? Generally, they have better prices than (say) Best Buy, and what-the-hell? -- There's a local Walmart just up the street from me.
(In fact, - if I can get my a** off this computer before the store closes, I'm running out in a minute to pick up a cheap $40 bread-maker from them! - <It won't play blu-rays though.> ) :-D
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JRude
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1 product review
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1. May 2008 @ 21:15 |
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I feel sorry for all you market driven sheep! A new, better format or operating system requiring ya mortgage your house & pets for slight incremental improvement at a loss of control of what YOU OWN! Ha haaa! mp3?! Ya talk of HD and listen to mp3?? Get a grip....don't fall for every pretty face that lifts your billfold! I have an excellent stereo and MANY vinyl and CD discs...BluRay? Not worth the DRM and hardware purchases. iPod? Get the REAL music! FISTA!? Keep your XP and enjoy what you PAID for! Wetting your shoes for every ''upgrade'' makes the industry happy and proud. And! Reduces your choices and operability. Baaaaa....baaaaa...
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sgriesch
Junior Member
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1. May 2008 @ 22:46 |
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Quote:
Originally posted by sgriesch:
Originally posted by A_Klingon:
The US recession may be a small-ish factor, but overall, I chalk Blu-Ray's pathetic market progress on still WAY too-high-prices for the standalone players; the discs themselves, and FAR too little selection of either.
Yep, that'll do it. I have seen "buy 2 get one free" offers at Best Buy and CC, but $60 still seems like a lot for 3 movies. And as for selection, the article about Paramount's relases just backs that up. (Face/Off, Bee Movie, and Next) Not real dazzlers IMHO to start their BR campaign.
'Buy 2 get one free'? Actually, sgriesch, even that's a better deal than what I can get from a local Walmart.
"Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse Of The Black Pearl" (2-disc set) cost me $33.71, and I don't even have a blu-ray player yet. <gg>
No other blu-rays are on sale there either. Not even one. Haven't even seen a blu-ray player there yet.
Most of the "good deals" that I have come across were from Best Buy, Circuit City, and Amazon.com. Mainly, when they do bogo offers in the stores. I was able to get the Spiderman Trilogy from Amazon for $46, but haven't seen a deal that sweet in a while. As for Blu-Ray players, I am using a PS3. (Bought the 60GB before it went away). It works well, and also connects to my HP Media Server very seamlessly. I'm not a fan of the stand-alones. If Blu-Ray died, I could still at least play some games or stream media to the PS3.
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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1. May 2008 @ 23:02 |
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I believe most people feel good enough (GE) is adequate as in SD (I also feel that most means about 90% of all the people on this planet). In tough times as we are in now , no need to splurge and pay for higher priced BD. BD may indeed wind up as a niche market for videophiles only and upconverted SD may be here for the next 10 years till a new revolutionary data storage system of very very high quality comes in at an affordable price to superceed and challenge upconverted SDs.
"The flimsier the product,the higher the price"
Ferengi 82nd rule of aqusition
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varnull
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1. May 2008 @ 23:11 |
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Was in Asda earlier (Golborne)... they have decided to not stock BD films at all in that store on the grounds of not one single ps3 game having been sold despite having the top 10 on the shelves every week since release. They were taking them off the shelves to make way for some product they think they can sell.. blank dvd and cd.. philips and tdk.. arrrrrrrrgh.. I walked on for the reduced bread.
Around here BD is a total washout... nobody has bought. Not even the millionaire who owns the local small shopping mall. he likes his £30 Dual upscaling dvd player.
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viny1313
Newbie
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1. May 2008 @ 23:41 |
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I smell a price cut :)
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AfterDawn Addict
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2. May 2008 @ 00:53 |
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Originally posted by viny1313:
I smell a price cut :)
I don't. We'll see which one of us is right.
"The flimsier the product,the higher the price"
Ferengi 82nd rule of aqusition
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nobrainer
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2. May 2008 @ 05:32 |
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Originally posted by A_Klingon:
Originally posted by error5:
Sorry A_Klingon but BluRay cannot be a mainstream product at this point in time. It cannot become a mainstream product until HDTV market penetration reaches at least 50% to 75% of households. You won't see this until the prices of 40 inch or larger HDTV's reach $500 or less.
Yep, in a nutshell I think you've hit the nail right on the head, error5.
But - needless to say - Sony et al, wants desperately to go mainstream - god knows they've paid out enough payola to establish themselves right from the start - Sony, for example, is no stranger to proprietary, failed formats (miniDisc; beta, AccuTrack (or whatever it was they called their lossy audio codec), and they wanted to lay the foundation immediately for worldwide format dominance here with blu-ray.
Quote:
This is the point that people seem to forget: You need a fairly good sized HDTV to appreciate the advantage of BluRay.
Yes, absolutely. One would be nuts to shell out all the extra $$$ now being charged for discs and players just to play back content on a 17" bedroom monitor unless they've got wads of money burning a hole in their pocket (in which case they could afford a large-screen HDTV anyway).
For everything and everyone else, basic DVD has ALL the bases covered for the foreseeable future. Cheap discs, cheap players, plenty of both, cheap burners, cheap blanks, workable on ANY TV both large & small - HD and non-HD alike, and general ease-of-use easily as good as blu-ray.
The blu-ray proponents would seem to have their work cut out for them.
i wouldn't let nextgen see you talking like that or the other pro sony anti m$ mod on afterdawn, or one of the numerous sony bloggers, they will take your privileges away A_Klingon.
@ varnull
its the same in the UK, tesco the largest retailer in the UK, do not stock the ps3 console, ps3 games or blu-ray films, but they DO stock dvd, ps2, wii, 360, psp, ds and books.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. May 2008 @ 05:37
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juankerr
Member
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2. May 2008 @ 07:18 |
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Originally posted by viny1313:
I smell a price cut :)
The price cuts COULD come when the new 2.0 models arrive.
For example: when the Sony BDP-S350 gets released you could see a price cut for the S300. When the BDP-S550 comes out then they should cut prices on the BDP-S500.
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nopcbs
Junior Member
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2. May 2008 @ 09:36 |
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All the Sony fan boys who wanted the affordable player HD-DVD format to lose should be very pleased. The ONLY reason that there are Blu Ray players at anywhere near $300 is the former HD-DVD competition carryover. That's gone. The market is simply not willing to over-pay for a Blu Ray player when they saw HD-DVD players at well under $200 (even under 4100 at the end) and upconverting DVD players can be had for well under $100 and they are plenty good enough. The only Blu Ray player worth buying is a PS3 and that only with the $100 Sony Card incentive. And even that is a marginal "buy".
Too bad the wrong guys won.
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nopcbs
Junior Member
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2. May 2008 @ 09:36 |
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All the Sony fan boys who wanted the affordable player HD-DVD format to lose should be very pleased. The ONLY reason that there are Blu Ray players at anywhere near $300 is the former HD-DVD competition carryover. That's gone. The market is simply not willing to over-pay for a Blu Ray player when they saw HD-DVD players at well under $200 (even under 4100 at the end) and upconverting DVD players can be had for well under $100 and they are plenty good enough. The only Blu Ray player worth buying is a PS3 and that only with the $100 Sony Card incentive. And even that is a marginal "buy".
Too bad the wrong guys won.
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Moderator
16 product reviews
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2. May 2008 @ 09:53 |
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Originally posted by nobrainer:
i wouldn't let nextgen see you talking like that or the other pro sony anti m$ mod on afterdawn, or one of the numerous sony bloggers, they will take your privileges away A_Klingon.
Just as we should take yours away for talking bs/instigating moderators with your "assumptions" and your continual violation of forum rules? Do you think comments like these would go unnoticed? You would hope so. You really have been crossing the line as of late and are lucky I am not the mod I used to be when it comes to the way I handle people with bad attitudes here.....REALLY Lucky. But keep it up, you are only digging your own grave by calling people (especially moderators) out.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. May 2008 @ 10:01
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susieqbbb
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2. May 2008 @ 10:32 |
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I like my dvd upconverter.
Why spend 400.00 for a blu-ray player to play movies in 1080I when i can get a upconverter for only 79.99 and convert my 20.00 dvd's into 1080I at half the price of blu-ray all i look at blu-ray as is another umd movie format and we all could see what was going to happen to this media with the psp.
Sony needs to learn and make some changes if they want to compete in this new economy of money savers and penny pinchers
Here is what would save sony.
1. blu-ray player 200.00 to 100.00 max if they cannot produce this they are already dead.
2. Dvd's are 22.99 to 20.00 u.s so then why do i want to spend 30.00 to 70.00 for blu-ray
I don't think so.
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eatsushi
Senior Member
3 product reviews
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2. May 2008 @ 10:42 |
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Originally posted by susieqbbb:
1. blu-ray player 200.00 to 100.00 max if they cannot produce this they are already dead.
They're coming. Like error5 said, price drops in HDTV's will parallel a price drop in BluRay players.
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2. Dvd's are 22.99 to 20.00 u.s so then why do i want to spend 30.00 to 70.00 for blu-ray.
You're looking at the wrong places to buy. No one pays MSRP anymore. I've averaged $19.00 to $25.00 for new BluRay releases when I buy from amazon. I've never seen a $70 BluRay title unless it was a multi-disc series.
Added: There's a $14.99 sale on selected Fox BluRay titles at fry's.com:
http://www.highdefforum.com/showthread.php?t=71351
Quote:
$14.99 Fox Blu-ray sale at Frys.com
1. I, Robot
2. Independence Day
3. Sunshine
4. Simpsons Movie
5. Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
6. Pathfinder
7. Kingdom of heaven
8. The day after tomorrow
9. X-Men: The Last Stand
10. AVP
11. 28 Weeks Later
12. Night at the Museum
13. Mr. Brooks
14. Robocop
15. Me, Myself and Irene
16. Eragon
17. Rescue Dawn
18. The Hills Have Eys 2
19. Mr. & Mrs. Smith
20. Ice Age: The Meltdown
21. Die Hard
22. Die Hard 2
23. Die Hard With A Vengeance
24. Live Free or Die Hard
25. Man on Fire
http://shop3.outpost.com/template/dvd
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. May 2008 @ 16:00
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ematrix
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2. May 2008 @ 16:06 |
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Wrong, MSRP equals price fixing and indeed affects how much you end up paying for movies. Consider that if the distributors tag a US$30-40 MSRP on DVD and Blu-ray movies, it means that they sell their products to the stores for about half that price.
Indeed some stores offer movies below MSRP, but not all of them do, certanly not everyone around the world, because unless they're a mayor retail store with high sales, it's not profitable to lower their prices permanently.
This has been the mayor problem for the past decade, distributors have refused to lower the MSRP on DVD movies, even so production costs have lowered since 1997, and this tendency will continue on Blu-ray movies.
But if the distributors asked much less to the stores for their products, and established a lesser MSRP, it would be more profitable and much easier to the stores to sell them, since it would be more accesible and atractive for us to buy them even if the store asked full MSRP, and even more people would consider getting movies at stores.
Blu-ray will not gain mainstream market, regardless if Blu-ray players get cheaper in the following years, if Blu-ray movies keep being overpriced. Imagine you get a printer for US$50 just to find out you'll end up paying that same amount every time you need to buy new ink cartridges... someone might say you could spend less if you refill them yourself, which leads me to the following...
DVD became mainstream not thanks to overpriced movie releases, rather because everything related to DVD such as players, recorders and blank media, got cheaper, much cheaper, but mainly when DRM protections were cracked on DVD movies, it allow the vast mayority of DVD users to take advantage of inexpensive hardware and get movies for a small fraction of what they would have paid for at stores.
Consider that movie sales figures acount for only that small percentage of DVD users that actually purchase movies, and currently only a tiny fraction of those are buying Blu-ray movies, it's tough to ignore that Blu-ray is selling a few millions of movies, against billions of DVD movies sold on same periods.
The bottom line is that most consumers preffer DVD, including that vast mayority that actually doesn't get their movies at stores, and rather spend money on inexpensive upconverting DVD players, specially in times where you have to keep an eye on your wallet.
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eatsushi
Senior Member
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2. May 2008 @ 16:54 |
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Originally posted by ematrix:
Wrong, MSRP equals price fixing and indeed affects how much you end up paying for movies. Consider that if the distributors tag a US$30-40 MSRP on DVD and Blu-ray movies, it means that they sell their products to the stores for about half that price.
This still doesn't change the fact that I have never paid more than $25 for a new release BluRay title even though avarge MSRP's are $39.99. The fact remains that no one needs to pay MSRP if they know where to look. Case in point - the $14.99 sale on fairly new titles at fry's.com.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. May 2008 @ 16:55
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