Blu-ray still faces challenges

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23 Apr 08 13:24 by Timmie in category Uncategorized To news archive

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Recent studies from ABI Research showed that Blu-ray still faces a few challenges. Of course Blu-ray is the official high-definition format, but people didn’t gave up on their good old DVD player yet. Especially when their player is upconverted, many aren’t interested in a Blu-ray player. "We are starting to see an increase in the number of DVD players with built-in upconverters, and the video processing is getting better with each new generation," says principal analyst Steve Wilson.

Besides the rising popularity of upconverted DVD players, Blu-ray still hasn’t established a strong Blu-ray market. Many say that Blu-ray survives because of the Playstation 3 since 85% of the Blu-ray players can be found in Sony’s console. ABI’s study found that dedicated Blu-ray players and PC-based Blu-ray players won’t catch up in terms of market share until about 2013.

Now that the prices of dedicated players are still high, studios will notice that the end of the war didn’t turn out the way they thought it would. Wilson concludes his research by saying that the studios will be disappointed when they don’t see the volumes of players going up.

9 Comments

IkbenHenk: Posts: 15; Posted on: 23 Apr 08 14:01

I'm still doubting to buy Blu-ray, how many movies are there actually that are really worth to be seen on Blu-ray and do you only get the HD benefits if you have a really large screen?

DukeNukem: Posts: 998; Posted on: 23 Apr 08 15:34

If you have a small screen (less than 42") then just get an upsampler.
This message was edited at: 23-04-2008 15:34

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 23 Apr 08 17:22

You see we're back to the same old problem they all thought things would go ballistic once the war was over - but they didn't count on the "credit crunch" and with peoples reluctance to upgrade more than one item of consumer electronics - i.e. for HD you need the player and the TV - thousands of dollars worth. So dream on you guys. Blu-ray might have it's time but I reckon it'll be limited - by 2013 we'll hopefully see the begiinings of (at least) of on demand HD services over the web. At least in some countries anyway. Further to all this no one wants to pay a premium for HD content - seriously it's good, but not that good!

Zod: Posts: 438; Posted on: 23 Apr 08 17:28

Of course DVD isn't going to die out when over 80 percent of people still have non-HD tv's. They've got a product that is contingent on the selling of another even more expensive product, not the greatest place to be in.

Crabbyappleton: Posts: 5756; Posted on: 23 Apr 08 20:23

Blu ray is doomed. There is no reason to buy it unless you have money to burn and the added DRM makes it unpalatable to anyone with a lick of sense. Anyone who might want such a device, is also heavy into home theater and most folks rather stream video off a HDD. Not ditz around with a flakey and expensive BRplayer. When you make a HTPC and get a decent videocard and decoder, you can really get some nice results from either DVD or ripped DVD even on a 42-50 inch screen. I would say the percentage of homes that could accomadate a 58-65 inch screen is small and this is what is really nice to have in order to view 1080p. Most good demos of the tech will use a large display like this to accent the difference to folks. The only reason BR movies are even selling at all, is from folks that shelled out for a PS3. they probably get tired of games and think- "What the heck- I'll try a movie on this thing.
This message was edited at: 23-04-2008 20:27

Hypnosis4U2NV: Posts: 1464; Posted on: 23 Apr 08 21:52

Flu-ray, making you sick to your stomach.. :r It will be a while before people start blowing money on it, thanks largely in part to its pricing.. In an economy which is in a recession, record high oil prices and a weak dollar, I doubt many will even invest in HD..

DukeNukem: Posts: 998; Posted on: 23 Apr 08 22:05

If you ask me, HD DVD got out just in the nick of time. Now that the US is on the brink of a recession, people are not going to flock to $30 Blu-ray discs. Period.

neo1918: Posts: 259; Posted on: 24 Apr 08 03:27

Up-converted DVD cannot touch the quality of HDTV or Bluray, period.
This message was edited at: 24-04-2008 03:31

greensabath: Posts: 47; Posted on: 24 Apr 08 06:21

umm...neo....I have bluray PS3 and upconverting player... If you are right next to the screen, you can tell a difference. You are able to see the pixels on the dvd, versus hardly any pixelation on bluray. (I have a Sony 40 inch HDTV) But if you sit back farther, like 10-15 feet, and set the TV preset to vivid, upconverting dvd looks pretty damn close. Close enough to not warrant at least $300 for a player + High costing movies. This is why I haven't bought any blu-ray movies. Because they are way too expensive for only a modest increase in quality (unless you go like 50+ inches up for a tv)

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