Blu-ray sales low

A surprising look and the aftermath of the format wars.

"Americans vote with their wallets and say standard def DVD is fine, thanks"

[Montrealien]

The only thing I have against this piece is that they don't seem to factor PS3 sales as a blu-ray player, they only speak of stand alone players.

[sonarus]

Movie industry peaked and has been declining steadily. The emergence of blu ray gave them an increase last yr. Blu ray is doing just fine. Stand alone blu ray players need to drop price though

[fenderputty]

every analyst and rational person knows that the PS3 will be the driving force behind BD for at least another year, this article's whole premise is off.

This is the same trick the HD-DVD camp tried to play when they were fighting it out. Meanwhile movie sales are up. Go figure.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news...

[Drekken]

I refuse to pay $30 for a movie. Renting movies @ $21 a month unlimited is a better deal. I understand people still love to collect, but with the woes of the economy.. these companies need to get real. Amazon BOGO was the only way I would buy bluray and even then it is still expensive.

With that said... I bought GTA and I am still going to see Ironman! (offtopic, but I am excited!)

[theKiller]

blue ray players is still expansive!! DVD is not bad yet, HDTV is not the standard yet!! but by the end of this year things will look much better!

[fenderputty]

I've never payed full price for a BD movie. I buy all moves off of amazon. I just paied 18 bucks to get "I am Legend".

NEVER EVER EVER buy a bd movie from a retail store unless they have deals going on.

[Dark_Vendetta]

Here in Europe you even sometimes have to pay over 30€ = about 47dollar for 1 movie? No thanks especially because I can get the same in standart definition für 8-9€

[Kholinar]

"The only thing I have against this piece is that they don't seem to factor PS3 sales as a blu-ray player, they only speak of stand alone players."

No one doubts that the PS3 is selling well and pushing BR media sales/marketshare size. But I'd bet it's very frustrating for those hardware makers who jumped on the BR bandwagon. They must be bleeding money. So while it's good that the ps3 is still selling, you can understand why the hardware part of this alliance would be nervous.

[Genesis5]

Yes they say stardard def is fine thanks, until they buy a 1080p HDTV.Then they go hmmmmm, actually the Bluray is better. Or if they happen to need a disc with more storage space on it. They go wow. I can fit way more on this.

[squallsoft]

Blu Ray id doin fine. Thisnks like this take time to catch on.

-Squall

[SIX]

Cheaper.

BTW, still waiting for

Cloverfield
Heroes
Transformers
Beowulf

Make it happen already!

[Tempist]

I think they also neglect to realize that many in the US don't have much money left to shell out on electronics. I'm willing to bet that sales in everything are more or less down. I bet if it was compared to countries like Canada, the UK, France, Germany and Japan, the US would be shown to be slumping while everyone else is one the rise or on par.

This article is very much misleading since it's not taking other factors into account.

[Defectiv3_Detectiv3]

A few weeks ago they just posted an article claiming sales a blu ray titles were up 300%.

Now, although this was not the same for harware, one would concur that a 300% rise in blu ray dvd sales might be seen as a success

[Horny Melon]

It's about players.

[VaeVictus]

they've been releasing home runs recently on blu ray.

I can has LoTR, Star Wars, Matrix please?

[pwnsause]

how many times am i going to say it. blu-ray is going to sell by the end of the year, aka BLACK FRIDAY=CRAZY DEALS. especailly now that HD-DVD is dead, BLu-ray can now break through, i dont understand how people are suprised that BD is not selling now. hello, its called its expensive right now! wait till the end of the year, especially when people are realizing that they have to switch their TVs to HDTVs because of the new standard in watching TV this feburary.

[Danja]

I agree with you on that logic...but isn't DVD sales on the decline also ??...

I guess some HD-DVD supporter is still mad , I expect Blu Ray sales to pick up in the fall when all the big summer blockbusters are released on BR , plus the Black Friday effect , plus a price drop which will happen .

[GameDev]

the new standard is only for digital broadcasts, this has nothing to do with HD, broadcasters can still cast in SD but it has to be digital.

[Delive]

And I am American. Hmmmm.

[athlon770]

I only picked up "The Golden Compass" on BD.

[Legion]

I just picked up 15 DVD movies in the past 2 weeks. So what was the point again?

[meepmoopmeep]

stand-alones are way too expensive atm. and most are not even Profile 2.0 compatible. even most discs themselves. for $20-30 it's still way too expensive to start any collection.

what the movie industry should do is release new titles on blu-ray a few weeks before they release standard dvds to help push the HD media.

[Brian5247]

More HD-DVD fanboys cant take the superiority of the Blu-Ray format! Its hilarious!

[bosels11]

your right - lame crap article of denial. SOOO untrue!

[zapass]

but now, I must admit I do enjoy reading these frustrated losers who get everything wrong over and over cuz they're so jealous, so envious and so dumb!

losers, bring it on, this is entertaining, LOL!

[lawman1108]

When a standard DVD looks just fine on an HD TV. Try sub $20 bucks and people will buy it.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

The 98% DVD fanboys are out to get ya.

Dumb sh!t

[Pain]

All that wasted $$$ supporting Hi-Rez Dvd, they could have just went for the True High Definition Next-Gen,Movie...Porn and Video Game Storage and been smart about it.

like only an idiot Bought HDDVD....was Dead From the Start.

and i like this part "Americans vote with their wallets and say standard def DVD is fine, thanks".

Makes sense why XBOX 360 is America Choice.

[heyheyhey]

Sony should release the films from their studios exclusively on BD, no DVD version

that would get BD-player and PS3 sales up

[PirateThom]

If people can't get the film they want on DVD, because it's only on a format they can't play, they're more likly to get a pirate copy or download it illegally.

It's a no win situation.

[heyheyhey]

fair point

although many people are against that stuff

and many have no access to pirate hard copies and have no expertise in torrenting films illegally

[Legion]

That would end Sony's investment in DVD sales. No win. Not enough Bluray owners to make it profitable. But the other film companies would love for them to do some stupid crap like that. lol

[digger18]

I remember when DVD first came out. My first DVD player (pioneer) cost me around £500 ($1000) and DVD's were £20-£25 ($40-$50) each, but they soon caught on. Plus taking into account that £20-£25 was a lot of money them days.

What was the screen rez of VHS? I bet there is a bigger jump in screen rez from DVD to Blu-Ray, than there was between VHS and DVD

[Bladestar]

are you putting into the equation.. that VHS -> only required a drive and a disc... while HD blu-ray requires new HD TV, Drive + discs? just because blu-ray may hit $99 does not mean TVs will... specially one big enough for 1080P...

ohh not to mentioned all the obvious benefits DVD had over VHS... no lorger rewind... instant chapter selection.. interativity with menus... multi-language caption and even mult-langue voice.. yeah... good luck comparing DVD vs VHS and DVD vs Blu-ray... ohh and DVD could be seen on a black and white TV...

Fine you want to support blu-ray... that ok... but let's not go as far as comparing extra pixels to the huge list of benefits that DVD had compared to blu-ray.....not to mention that it was cheaper to adopt...

You see.. before blu-ray can win... Sony needs to convince the mass market... including low income families that they need to replace their TV sets that seem to work fine... spend thousands that they don't have for the ocational movie rental... yeah... just like DVD vs VHS.

ohh and though HD DVD could of run the same fate... the drives were a lot cheaper for the consumer... and many movies came with double sided discs... that can run on standard DVD players that could be used for both consumers... those that have HD DVD and thouse that dont.. helping on the transition...

[digger18]

You do make a good and valid point there Bladestar.

I was forgetting about the price of a HDTV to add to the equation.

Also I think it was a shame about HD-DVD, it was a great idea to have both DVD and HD-DVD on a single disc. Its a pain now that the new movies I buy on Blu-Ray, I can't just take it upstairs and watch it on my DVD player in my bedroom.

[Legion]

I think a better comparison would be from the VHS jump to the Laser Disk. As we all have seen, that Laser Disk thing didn't fair too well. Yes a lot of people actually bought the Laser Disk, but it was replaced soon with the DVD. People aren't ready for Bluray... and when they are ready to upgrade, a newer better format will already be ready to jump in. Bluray is not the future... Bluray is the Laser Disk of our time. Sorry... it is already obsolete in the minds of tech nerds. Google some finer products that will be out in the next 5 years. (about the time period where American consumers will start buying new tech again)

[ApocalypseShadow]

oh wait,hd-dvd is dead.

just like vhs and dvd,sales aren't going to skyrocket over night.it takes frickin time.

it's like the same haters,360 fans and losers against sony or bluray still have an agenda.it's like everything has to happen overnight.

"we want games NOW."
"we want next gen movies sales to skyrocket NOW."
"we want sony big franchises to release NOW so that we can criticize them."
"we want sony to release HOME NOW,so that we can bag on anything it doesn't have at launch."

"NOW-NOW-NOW!!!"

ps3 gamers waited and got a reliable system.we waited and got the winning next gen movie format that will only rise as hd tv sales rise and movie prices fall.we waited and got great new franchises like heavenly sword and motostorm.and we will wait and laugh as sony outsells microsoft over a 10 year life cycle.

sometimes PATIENCE is a VIRTUE for those who understand what i mean.

megaton..................

[Nostradamus]

Its a big conspiracy, huh?

These xbox fanboys are hampering blu-ray sales!!

Oh, no!!

[ApocalypseShadow]

what i'm saying is that bluray sales will pick up as sales of hd tvs go down,movie prices go down and players go down.to expect a ridiculous jump in sales overnight when hd-dvd just got its @ss whoop is retarded.

it takes time.but haters don't have patience.they are always expecting more in a short amount of time.did dvd sales jump astronomically overnight when it was released?no.did vhs sales jump overnight when beta was beaten?no.

i'm saying how foolish haters are to what happens over a period of time.not when they want it to be in their small brains.

megaton..................

[jones smokey]

most people by a ps3 for blu ray and not a stand alone blu ray player, if u look at it over 12 million ps3 solds combine it with stand alone blu ray players and u will see the sales are not that low, ....give it like 2-5 more years when this talk about next gen entertament settles in propley, this new gen is not more than 2 years old.

[joevfx]

its just low cause they rasied the blu ray prices back up after the war ended. this isnt really gonna effect blu ray in the long run. Once the prices drop again it will start selling more, chrismass 2008 will be the time for blu ray to shine.

[zapass]

the bluray discs sales are strong, like PS3 sales...
that was part of the plan, it's funny how some people don't get it!

http://www.highdefdigest.co...

[mrlokievil]

They are just too expensive. I'm not paying $30-35 for a disc that doesn't have anything that isn't on the standard dvd but i'm also not buying as many dvds either. They keep raising the prices of dvds and expect people to keep paying it.

[anh_duong]

stupid stupid dumb article ..

firstly, the whole industry slowed in Q1 since standard DVD players sales are also down to the tune of 39 percent. A similar drop in blu-ray players which dropped 38% (40% drop in jan/feb followed by a 2% rise in March). However, the numbers ignored PS3 consoles which increased considerably from the previous year. furthermore, the author HADN'T't realise that blu-ray HADN'T FULLY WON the format war in january and february (the 40% drop months) and in March when blu-ray won blu-ray player sales actually increased by 2% during a time when DVD and HD DVD players continued to drop. How stupid is that?? The writer talks about blu-ray sales being poor but hadn't realised that blu-ray hadn't won the war during that period so of course blu-ray sales would have been on a par with other formats.

secondly, most people buy ps3 for their blu-ray players until standalone prices drop. so to not include ps3 sales is stupid.

thirdly, The nascent Blu-ray Disc saved the day for the sellthrough business, per Nielsen VideoScan sales data, with DVD unit sales in the first quarter down 1.2% from the first quarter of 2007 but Blu-ray Disc sales up a whopping 351%. source http://www.hollywoodreporte...

dvd sales are DROPPING and blu-ray sales are rising EXPONENTIALLY. The consumer is transitioning from dvd to blu-ray. the author is not including media sales which is the single biggest driving force for growth in the home video market. It is actual media sales that are more important for studios because this is where they make the money. the author has willingly ignored the explosive growth in blu-ray media sales. GET this: actual spending on blu-ray and dvd media grew in a period when dvd and standalone players decreased! why? because of blu-ray media sales which increased whilst dvd sales decreased! so do studios care if they have record and explosive growth in revenues from blu-ray disk sales?? of course not!

fourthly, also wasn't there an article today saying that now 80% of ps3 owners use the console for blu-ray videos as opposed to 40% a few months back. this can only help blu-ray sales grow even faster.

finally, as paramount, universal and dreamworks release their catelogue on blu-ray the number of choices and purchases will increase.

i hate stupid articles by stupid journalists . The guy should be fired. nothing annoys me more than incompentent analysts.

note also what camp the author comes from by just readin his last comment:

Despite the format's demise, HD DVD discs are still on sale and at a discount, while the players themselves can play and upconvert standard DVDs, which helps extend their longevity.

What has this got to do with an article talking about blu-ray sales???

[ukilnme]

I'll take my PS3 over a stand alone player any day of the week but I will stick to renting bluray movies until the in store prices drop below $20.

[Zeevious]

If you'd just switch to GEICO.

I've heard it's SOoo easy, a caveman can do it!

;)

[PSWe60]

I haven't bought a Blu-ray disc in about a month primarily because of our crappy economy and the price of gasoline.

[Tsalagi]

That's what people need to realize before they write these articles declaring the death of something. The whole reason sales of HD movies and TV's (in the U.S. at least) was so high was because people were using their houses as ATM's to buy all those big screens and Blu-ray players. Now that the housing party is over, gas prices are high, and the cost of living climbing higher everyday not everybody can afford $1000+ televisions to watch high-def movies on. So naturally sales are going to be lower than what they were when everybody was spending recklessly.

[digger18]

Lol, you should try paying for gasoline over here in the UK.. Its around £4.54 per gallon (£1.19 per litre). that coverts to around $9.08 per gallon

[wass007]

poor xbots hddvd fanboys go ahed shed ur tears cuz we dnt giv a tiny rats ass!!!!!

[Death]

Since PS3's aren't necessarily bought for their Blu-Ray movie capability it is hard to factor in how they impact Blu-Ray movie sales. If you want to figure it out yourself, the PS3 NPD nubers look like this:

Dec 07 797k
Jan 08 269k
Feb 08 280k
Mar 08 257k

Obviously the fall from December and the Holiday rush is a given, but over the quarter sales did go down after a brief spike in February. As the numbers show, PS3 sales are a wash from month to month since they are relatively consistant. This leaves actual dedicated player sales to make up the differance either positive or negative as far as growth is concerned.

There is a reason Sony is starting to adopt digital distribution. The format war is dead and they need to look into future trends. For hard based media Blu-Ray is the choice. This leaves a lot of room though when you look at what people actually want to spend their money on.

-Death

[anh_duong]

ps3 usage for blu-ray video has double amongst ps3 owners in the past year.

[Legion]

Doubled? Is that over the whole system or attach rate? I doubt the attach rate has doubled. And I would expect the whole system rate to double with the increase in PS3 sales throughout the year. And where are your numbers for this?

[pp]

i'll rather wait untill microsoft comes out with there own blu-ray player than shedding money on crappy ps3

[4D]

Waiting for 4D??? Curing Cancer??? Grilling hamburgers??? Wow this gives all new meaning to the Sony DustStation 3.

WAIT B3YOND

[brothersimon]

@4d - ololooloo

[DFresh]

This is only because the players themselves are very high the cheapest player is $400.
Just wait till prices go down and then see the final result.'
You can't even buy Standard Definition TVs anymore only HD.
Look at any store and see this for yourself.
What makes you think this same process won't happen once your DVD player breaks?
Exactly you have no choice but to upgrade.
I love HD Entertainment once you have the best you don't need the rest.

[SacT0wnF1n3st]

I think at the end of the day Blu Ray will be the next gen format for movies and all Blu Ray movies are gorgeous.

[Lucreto]

Wait until they discontinue DVD we will sure see a rise then.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

By the time Blu-Ray comes close to that of DVD, there will be other "cheaper" formats to choose from.

[xboxme]

plus doesn't it suck when you buy a bluray title, you can only play it in your home that has the player. good luck taking that to another room w/o bluray, a friend's house or in the suv.

hmm, didn't hddvd have the combo disc that solved that problem?

did the people really choose bluray over hddvd? apparantly not... cuz those people are not buying them.

[Dreamworker]

a HD-DVD add on with 6 HD-DVD's for $42. I don't think i'll buy more HD-DVD's. Just was a good deal for 6 movies.

[40cal]

It takes years for new tech to become main stream. Took CDs along time, took DVDs along time, is taking HDTVs along time and all three where expensive for along time.

Blu-Ray is not going any where any time soon. Be patient people.

[Ali_The_Brit]

rofl whats the alternative. Blu-Ray is the official sucsessor of DVD, not only is it massive increase with quality obviously its got a much better java menus and oh lets not forget it holds 5 times as much. and lets not forget ps3 has it and xbox dont. they all laughed at sony when they opted for a blu-ray player, whos laughing now?

[brothersimon]

Blu-fail

[RUF1]

Sony's not helping itself, though, by keeping the prices high for Blu-ray discs. As much as I love high-def, I don't want to pay $34.99 and up for movies, unless they come packed with features and extras. Sony needs to get the prices of those movies down as soon as possible if they want their format to thrive.

[DomUltra]

Hilarious article, many other articles and stocks prove otherwise.