Blu Ray Far From Dead

The Digital Bits Reports that Blu Ray is surpassing DVD in its second year, compared to when DVD was out in its second year.

http://thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents Click on the 11/14-1:45pst Daily Column for full article

[Theoneneo81]

couldn't submit the actual link cause it says it was already submitted when it wasn't

[ThatCanadianGuy]

You should use a better picture tho.One that fits.
I would use the report section but im banned for the next 24 days..

[Bebedora]

Oh please...this is embarasing for all that is journalism. Just like any other piece of garbage hemoraging this site.

[Sarcasm]

"Just like any other piece of garbage hemoraging this site. "

lol then what are you doing here? And why do you even bother to take time out of your precious life to post?

[MNicholas]

in the form of HD-DVD and Xbox360 fans.

They never give up. They never go home. They never learn.

The only factor holding back Blu-Ray adoption is HDTV ownership. Blu-Ray players are already at $150 and will soon be profitable at $99.

In two years DVD players will not be available. At that point the market will be able to choose between downloadable HD movies (which will be held back by broadband adoption and speed of broadband) and Blu-Ray. One requires consumers to change their habits while the other fits right in with consumer habits. Result: Blu-Ray will do fine.

Do movie downloads have a future? Sure. Many cable TV stations have had video on demand for ages. It's nothing new. However consumers haven't warmed up to it and there's no evidence that this will change any time soon.

[Danja]

Everyone knows this....Just that The ppl who incested there money in HD-DVD stocks keeps trying to convince ppl Blu Ray is somehow...dying..lol..

Picked up Speedracer boput 2 dayas ago....im really impressed by the picture quality....best i've seen yet

[The gaming GOD]

But damn. I have to say, THAT movie really sucked egg.

It is good for showing of Blu Ray though

[ultimolu]

Uh...no sh*t?

*goes back to Little Big Planet*

[Bebedora]

Fvkn A man

[Nitrowolf2]

i laugh at the people who think BD is going to die soon. Im sure in a not too distant future that almost everyone will own some type of BD player. Someday it will replace dvd completly.

[cmrbe]

Blu-ray is the new standard people.

[tortella]

right u are

[Kush_Reaper]

Unfortunately people don't wanna adapt to new technolohy but they will catch on eventually.

PLAY BEYOND NOT BEHIND

[tortella]

Dark Knight will be the final death blow against DVD in USA

DVD is dead in Japan as we speak

[Clap Your Hands]

- We're now a little over 2 years into the growth of the Blu-ray format.

- At the same point in the early life of DVD, there were 1.2 million DVD players in U.S. homes.

- Fox's Mike Dunn claimed that there are more than 2.5 million stand-alone Blu-ray players in the U.S. today, with another 8 million PS3s.

- An impressive figure when you consider that the laserdisc market - at its height - amounted to a total of 2 million LD players here in the States. In a little over two years, Blu-ray has ALREADY far surpassed laserdisc and is currently running ahead of the DVD adoption curve.

- Price points for both Blu-ray hardware and software are at about the same level as they were at this point for DVD.

- BD hardware sales were reportedly up 25% in October from the previous year. And Blu-ray software sales are actually AHEAD of the DVD software sales curve, and have been accelerating even in the last two months as the economic slowdown has become more obvious.

The DEG says that a year ago, Blu-ray made up about 10% of total sales of new blockbuster titles. Today, that total is 14%, and the industry expects that to increase to between 18-20% in the next year (likely starting with Warner's The Dark Knight).

So much for those claims that Blu-ray will remain a niche market.

[TheExodus]

Yes, that's the positive spin. Problem is that Blu-ray sales should have more than DOUBLED this year with HD DVD out of the way & the substantial price cuts, but that didn't happen which should have you wondering what happened to the other half of the HD market.

[Sarcasm]

"what happened to the other half of the HD market. "

What you mean? They're everywhere. Just look up "Blu-Ray is dying" articles and you'll see where the HD-DVD fans are.

They're also the ones writing
"Digital Distribution is the Future"
"Blu-Ray's Victory is short-lived"
"Cant tell a difference between Blu-Ray and upscaled DVD. But I notice that the 360 version has 2 more pixels on the third level 26.55 seconds into the game."

[Razzy]

About a year ago my boss told me he wasn't at all interested in Blu ray and he's got an HDTV etc. "My DVD player has a built in upconverter and movies look great. I don't need Blu ray"

Last monday he bought one. "unbelievable picture quality difference" He told me. I said "I told you that a year ago" :)

People seem to be coming around. Even my 60 year old uncle bought one for his HD rig, after a bit of convincing by me of course, but he loves it.

[xaviertooth]

great story!

come thanksgiving and Christmas, millions more will find out about it too!

[SWANN]

Grand Puba said it takes people a year to catch on. I believe that
totaly. Look what happened with the PS3 & now Blu-Ray.

[Traveler]

Do we really have to have another Bluray is not dead article? jk
People are always complaining about the Blu-ray is dead articles so I felt like turning it around.

Blu-ray will stay around, I am just not sure it will do as well as DVD did when all is said and done. I mean, I have a huge DVD collection and while I have replaced a few of my favorite DVDs with Blu-ray copies I dont plan on replacing my entire collection. It would be way too expensive and the benefits are fairly marginal. On my HDTV I can't believe how good my upconverted DVDs look. Bluray titles certainly look much better, but it isn't a night and day difference and for many movies in my collection it just isn't worth it. Then there is the growing presence of digital downloads, streaming, and HD video on demand that are sure to offer more and more competition to Bluray as time goes on.
But Bluray will do just fine.

[atomdooze]

Blue-ray is not doing well last time i checked it only accounted for 10%of movie sales. Thats plain garbage. If it starts to do better so be it it wont make my life better of worse. But I wont live with my head in the sand.

[Clap Your Hands]

Did you expect it to conker the marked right from the start?
Did you expect it to overtake Dvd right away?

The market dosent work like that.

It's doing better then the dvd-format were doing at the same point in it's life... That says something about it's success already. Especially because right now Blu-ray is only relevant to half the market of DVD (the ones with HD-televisions).

Blu-ray makes up about 14% of total sales of new blockbuster titles. And the industry expects that to increase to between 18-20% in the next year.

[TheExodus]

Sure, that's why Blu-ray player sales aren't increasing with price cuts:

http://www.videobusiness.co...

and I'm sure that's also why the president of Lionsgate said, "Frankly, we don't care how our product is consumed, all that we care is that it is consumed":

http://www.usnews.com/blogs...

Blu-ray is just as dead as HD DVD, the only difference is that early HD DVD supporters have already moved on while early Blu-ray supporters stubbornly cling to a format they HOPE is still relavent.

[Sarcasm]

"HD DVD supporters have already moved on"

Are you high on some crack or something?

You act as if HD DVD supporters moved on by Choice.

And nobody's sticking to a "dying" format, that's all in your head. People buy blu-rays because they enjoy them. Not because "oh my god, I'm going to get Iron Man, The Hulk, and Dark Knight because if I don't, blu-ray is going to die!!!"

[dale1]

bluray is getting some love over here in the uk samsung,sony,panasonic giving a blu ray player free on selected hd tvs 799 was the cheapest deal i have seen thats a good deal

[InMyOpinion]

These articles are getting old. There's a new one every day. If Blu-Ray is doing as good as some say, how come they need to write articles like this one all the time?

[The gaming GOD]

the same reason they need to write blu ray is dead articles when both hardware and blu disc sales are up

[TheExodus]

Because the Blu-ray alliance is crumbling. First we had Samsung telling us Blu-ray would be dead within 5 years, then we had Apple labeling Blu-ray a "bag of hurt" & now we have Hollywood threatening "we don't care how our product is consumed, all that we care is that it is consumed."

If consumer spending over the holidays is as bad as Best Buy is projecting then Sony is going to find itself in a "bag of hurt" next year when studios begin to abandon Blu-ray because they destroyed their gaming division in hopes of forcing a format they knew Hollywood & consumers would never choose of their own free will.

[The gaming GOD]

Oh but Hollywood DID choose of their own free will (as did the customers if you compared Blu Ray to HD DVD sales). Last I remember, there was a format war last year correct? They CHOSE Blu Ray over HD DVD. If anything MS and Toshiba were the ones trying to tamper with free will ( $50 million for Paramount exclusive movies ring a bell?)

You see, with all your quotes from months ago (yeah some of them ARE old) Blu Ray is STILL outpacing DVD.

It's crumbling yet more and more studios are jumping ON the blu ray bandwagon. Not off

Go figure

[TheExodus]

10 percent of DVD consumers by 50 percent of DVDs. HD DVD owners were buying more HD DVDs per player than Blu-ray owners which tells me consumers chose HD DVD, but Sony coerced Hollywood into backing Blu-ray with PS3 sales projections that would never materialize.

[The gaming GOD]

You can go that route if you want. You say more HD DVD discs per player were being bought that Blu Disc per player. Fair enough. But, you do realize that only happened AFTER Toshiba/ MS bribed Paramount for movies exclusives like the Dreamworks movies and Transformers right?

Multi format releases sold better on Blu Ray. For example, let's take 300. How many stores constantly sold out of the Blu Ray version yet had back stock of the HD DVD version? Plenty

And how do you figured Sony "coerced" these studios anyway? What, you don't think they have their OWN sales data and sales analysis? The bottom line is they saw their OWN sales data and a choice was made

[The gaming GOD]

Blu ray has surpassed DVD when DVD was on the market for the same amout of time. Which means Blu ray is outpacing DVD

Second, if Blu Ray is "dying" why are more and more movie studios releasing on the format? They're even starting to remaster their older libraries for Blu Ray. Do you really think they'd do that if the format was "dying"? They'd PULL support like they did with VCD and Laserdisc. Not the total opposite (adding support) like they are with Blu Ray

And Exodus, you say HD DVD supporters moved on? To what? They sure as heck didn't move to Digital Download considering they have 0.5 percent market share.

[Sarcasm]

It's going to start with Dark Knight...

Then Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Oh man... that's gonna be a killer, cant wait for LOTR in beautiful HD.

[TheExodus]

Best Buy just opened a new store on the corner of Manchester Rd. & Hwy 141 in Manchester MO. One could mistakenly interpret that as evidence that the economy isn't actually teetering on the verge of collapse, but making like an ostrich doesn't alter the reality that Best Buy had committed to that store 6 months or a year ago & likely wouldn't have opened it in the current economic climate.

Same applies to Blu-ray, the titles showing up on shelves at your retailer of choice today indicate Hollywood's sentiment 6 months to a year ago. Half of Blu-ray sales in 2008 were projected for the 4th quarter, but those projections were made before Samsung, Apple & Hollywood began falling off the wagon & consumers began receiving pink slips en masse.

The BDA & DEG aren't going to hold a press conference to state consumer interest in Blu-ray is anemic at best or that Hollywood is getting cold feet. The BDA has an obvious bias for Blu-ray, but the DEG is an alliance between hardware manufacturers & Hollywood which will be out of business if Hollywood chooses to back a format that lets them sell directly to consumers.

[The gaming GOD]

I see I'm going to end up repeating what I just said. More and more released are becoming available on Blu Ray. Not less.

If the Blu Discs on my retailers shelves are indicative to Hollywood's view of Blu Ray six months to a year ago as you say, the library of disc's would be SHRINKING, not increasing. Hollywood wouldn't even bother remastering their older movies and tv shoes if what you just said was true. Go to some websites. You will see not only new movies coming to Blu Disc, but UPCOMING ones too. Which tells me that however they "felt" six months to a year ago is the SAME way they "feel" now.

And despite Samsung and Apple having their own concerns, BOTH are still on the BDA with NO signs of departure.

People have been getting their "pink slips" long before now. This recession actually started last year. Yet despite that, Blu Disc is STILL outpacing DVD. That doesn't sound too anemic to me. As for Hollywood getting "cold feet", I repeat, MORE and more things are being made and remastered for Blu Disc, not less.

It doesn't matter how you try to analyze it. The bottom line is you don't continue to produce for a format if it's "dying". And dying formats don't outpace their predecessors either.

[TheExodus]

Blu-ray support began unraveling 2 months ago with Samsung's announcement:

http://tech.blorge.com/Stru...

followed by Apple last month:

http://www.engadget.com/200...

and studio execs last week:

http://www.usnews.com/blogs...

If you optimistically look at Apple retaining it's membership in the BDA as an indication of support, I can only point out that refusing to offer Blu-ray even as an option doesn't exactly scream, "Go Blu-ray!"

"The bottom line is you don't continue to produce for a format if it's dying." Really? P2 was released on HD DVD last month:

http://formatwarcentral.com...

[The gaming GOD]

As I said before, you can post all the links you want. Both Samsung and Apple are both still in the BDA. You're posting these links but you haven't disputed what I said. And what "studio execs" are we talking about here? All I see is one man's editorial (opinion) quoting the CEO of Lionsgate (and he isn't saying anything negative about the format).

And as for that link about that new HD DVD release, that is ONE movie. Tell me, how many movies are coming out on blu ray per week. Dead formats don't have just one SINGLE movie being made available. Which brings me to the point I made earlier. You just proved what I said about dying formats get LESS releases. Blu Ray has been getting MORE releases.

[Magic_The_Celt]

Like iv always said ^_^

[KrazyFace]

Your totaly on the money with this argument pal, I wish I could give you more bubbles just to shut this guy up. What you've said already doesn't just make good sense, it's a true representation of how the market is functioning right now. ONE movie on HD DVD? Give me a break!!!

[SaiyanFury]

Yeah that went on for quite a while. G-God has made great points. If Blu-Ray was going the way of the dinosaur then we'd be seeing a decline in sales, not an increase.

[TheExodus]

I'm just pointing out what has been reported from HD3:

Still, despite (HD3) panelists bullishness on Blu-ray, execs said season sales will be carefully scrutinized after Jan 1. Depending on how things go with HD discs and other packaged goods sales, it's possible that the industry's go-slow approach on digital downloads could accelerate.

Here's the link:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/...

Obviously Blu-ray supporters are having a bit of trouble on their way to acceptance:

http://oldfashionedliving.c...

[The gaming GOD]

Did that second link help you find solace and peace during HD DVD's journey into obscurity?

And as for that first link (yeah I read it). I will say this one FINAL time since this is my last bubble:

Blu ray's growth is faster than DVDs. Get real fella, how many times have we seen "blu ray is dead" articles show up just to be contradicted a few days later?

And on a side note, Digital Downloads have been around for a VERY long time. The moment stuff like bitorrent, rapidshare, ftp, and others came on the scene digital downloads have been in existence.

And if you people like to get on blu ray, DD's growth rate is PATHETICALLY slow.

First off, as I said, DD as been around for a very long time.

Second, the install base is enormous. With PC, set-top-boxes, PS3, and 360, Digital Downloads should have had a stranglehold LONG ago. But they don't now do they? Instead they have an insanely low market share of 0.5% (half a percent)

But we'll see who is right in the coming weeks now won't we :)

[aiphanes]

Did you know that DD is not 1080p and there are now bandwidth caps? And DD only has .5 percent market share...while bluray has 15 percent marketshare of DVDs marketshare...after only 2 years?

What crack are you on...because there is no way Bluray will fail...its primed to overtake DVD in less than 2 years.

DD will never overtake it...it will supplement it.

Get over it..HD-DVD failed...and is a dead format.
DD is a supplimental format to DVD and Bluray.
Bandwidth caps will get even tighter.
Not everybody in the world has broadband access.
You can take The Dark Knight Bluray from your house to your moms house and watch it there instantly..if you both have a bluray player.
Sony and Samsung bluray players are $149 to $170 during some bluray friday sales.

Panasonic makes a Profile 2.0 bluray player than is as good as the PS3 for $299.99 according to a CNET review.

The PS3 is the reference Bluray player.
Most bluray players will upscale DVDs to 1080p.

Digital Downloads are sub 720p...and can not be upscaled to 1080p.

[demolitionX]

Where DD? is it dead? LMAO!!

[Nikkelz]

very valid points my brother,but at the same time people are talking about how blu-ray is selling faster in its second year than dvd was,but that dont mean jack to me,what i want to know is if blu-ray beat dvd last year or this year...world wide

i love blu-ray and i think the more people own em the cheaper they'll cost

peace and game on my dude

[NipGrip]

Would BR already be beating DVD sales? Is this what you unrealistic people expect? A new format to be obliterating the older format in under 2 years? Get real. It's doing good and growing in numbers every day, but it's not going to overtake DVD anytime soon. I'd say 3 more years at least before the numbers are similar.

BR isn't going anywhere. The fact there is a BR player in every PS3 sold should show you that. Had MS put a HDDVD player in each 360 sold, it may have lasted longer as well.

[GWAVE]

@ NipGrip

The same logic applies to the PS3, it seems. When it came out, people thought that unless the PS3 completely outsold the 360 in 5 days, the PS3 was automatically fail. They continue to think this way. If a PS3 exclusive doesn't sell as much as Halo 3, it is fail. If the PS3 doesn't outsell the 360 in a single month of the year in Japan, it is fail (of course, if the 360 doesn't outsell the PS3 several months of the year worldwide, no one pays attention). If a PS3 exclusive scores 0.1% less than a 360 exclusive on Meta, it is fail. I think many people just have an unrealistic expectation of Sony because they want an excuse to hate them.

[REDZEV]

You Droids are dumbasses really you are. The only reason you like Blu-ray is Becuase Sony stuck it in your POS3. You idiots really need to do thurough research on your Blu-ray. Because none of you know what the Fu*k your talking about.

Blu-ray will be a thing of the past around this time next year. And if you dont believe (which I know you dont) please feel free to go rebuy your movie collections on Blu-Ray please!!! do it for me!!!

[Theoneneo81]

lmao thanks for the laugh Red that was to funny trust me this will not be forgoten by next year next year is huge for blu ray disney alrady has atleast 9 titles scheduled for blu ray Lord of the rings will start coming out to blu and Star Trek movies as well and more bond movies im postive as that those movies will be hotcakes on blu ray

[GWAVE]

Something I find funny: many anti-PS3 people will point to the adoption curve of the PS3 and say "See?!?! The PS3 isn't selling as well as the PS2 within the same lifespan. Therefore, it is the failurez!" In that case, adoption curve is so very important. Yet, when we bring up the issue of Blu Ray and how Blu Ray's adoption curve (both for hardware and discs) is FAR higher than DVD in the same time frame, suddenly adoption curve doesn't mean a thing. I guess I'm not surprised. 360 supporters love to change their tune whenever the market isn't going their way.

Another funny thing is that HD-DVD supporters clung to EVERY SINGLE "HD-DVD outsells Blu Ray" article while the format war was still raging. If a movie title sold more on HD-DVD (no matter how obscure or insignificant the title was), HD-DVD supporters would wave that flag as insurmountable PROOF that HD-DVD was winning the format war. Now that HD-DVD is dead and buried, these same pundits ignore article after article after article showing that Blu Ray adoption is on the rise. Once again, they will cling to one tiny little article that somehow PROVES that Blu Ray will die.

[Z501]

Star Wars is released

[aiphanes]

Digital downloads are not 1080p and do not have HD Master Audio Sound.

Standalone bluray players are around $150 to $170...

[lonix]

why would you rebuy your old video collection?

personally i would just stop buying dvd's and from now on buy blu rays

the dvd's are good enough for the old movies i already have but bly ray is better the reason it hasnt taken off like it should is because of this fact so...

the blu ray library is looking quite big now and dark knight will top it off

[rockleex]

This may be an old article, but I enjoyed laughing at the people trying to downplay BluRay in this article... totally owned.