Blu-ray adoption extremely slow
Was Toshiba right to state that Blu-ray is not going to replace the venerable DVD on the way to movie downloads and VOD? Judging by Blu-ray player sales, it now seems like a very possible scenario.
Still being happy with DVD discs, I have supported that there are many good reasons to not adopt the Blu-ray format. And that was before HD-DVD’s sudden end… But apparently, getting HD-DVD out of the way was the easy part and the hard job is to convince consumers that Blu-ray devices and discs are the road forward. According to NPD numbers, player sales fell 40% January to February and rose by only 2% February to March.
This is not exactly the statistics expected from a format that is hoping to become the next standard. And bear in mind that in many countries Blu-ray discs have hardly appeared on shelves due to non-existing demand or no subtitle support. Moreover, movie fans that have already built large collections are not so bothered to start all over again, while the quality differences with cheap upscaling DVD players are not important for the overall home theater experience.
Blu-ray became a known name thanks to a high profile HD format war between big players and lots of media coverage. But under current conditions, it will never become the DVD of the future. The Blu-ray vs HD-DVD war meant years of lost time in a race against certain-to-come movie download services. If you heard of the SACD and DVD-Audio formats but at the same time feel adventurous, before investing in Blu-ray big time do some history reading. If you want to play it safe, DVD still seems the best way to go…
Link 1: ElectronRun – 9 reasons to not upgrade to Blu-ray and stick to DVD
Link 2: New York Times
[...] Still being happy with DVD discs, I have supported that there are many good reasons to not adopt the Blu-ray format. And that was before HD-DVD’s sudden end… But apparently, getting HD-DVD out of the way was the easy part and the hard job is to convince consumers that Blu-ray devices and discs are the road forward. According to NPD numbers, player sales fell 40% January to February and rose by only 2% February to March. (continued) [...]
May 5th, 2008 at 14:34