DEG Study: Blu-ray Favored Over Downloading

Home Media Magazine:Blu-ray Disc's prospects for the future appear bright, despite slower-than-expected sales attributed in part to the down economy.

An independent study found HDTV owners familiar with Blu-ray favor the format over downloading and streaming by a margin of nearly 10-to-1, with about 70% of respondents citing the fact that there's a physical disc to keep as a key factor in their decision to buy Blu-ray.

The study, conducted this fall by market research firm SmithGeiger on behalf of DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, surveyed more than 1,100 HDTV owners in the United States and another 500 in Japan and 500 in the United Kingdom.

Respondents were asked to share their views on various forms of HD media, including digital downloading, streaming and Blu-ray Disc.

The study found 96% of Blu-ray Disc users are familiar with downloading and streaming services, but that two-thirds believe watching a movie on Blu-ray is a better overall entertainment experience. Nearly nine out of 10 Blu-ray users said they would likely recommend the format to potential buyers.

The survey also found that 28% of HDTV owners already own at least one Blu-ray Disc player, either standalone or PlayStation 3. By significant margins, these Blu-ray owners say the packaged media format beats both DVD and VOD in picture quality, sound quality and extras. Blu-ray even received high marks for title availability, a testament to the Hollywood studios' concerted push to release high-profile product on the format. According to The DVD Release Report, there are now more than 1,000 Blu-ray Disc titles either already in stores or in the pipeline.

The DEG findings are contained a white paper report, ""HDTV Owners: The Prospects for High Definition Media," that was presented today to media and analysts in Los Angeles.

At that presentation, Chris Lang, SVP of SmithGeiger, said he is surprised at Blu-ray's strong showing, noting that he had initially expected digital downloading and streaming to fare better. But primarily because of the superior picture and sound of the high-definition packaged media format, he said, "even younger groups are tending toward Blu-ray."

The DEG's Amy Jo Smith said Blu-ray Disc software sales are rising fast, and the format just celebrated its 2 million-unit month. She said the DEG projects Blu-ray Disc sales will account for up to 20% of total sales of certain upcoming high-profile titles, including Warner Home Video's The Dark Knight, the year's No. 1 movie.

[Genesis5]

No kidding. I like to collect movies and games then display them in my book cases. Friends and family also like to borrow them once in a while. These things are hard to do if they are all stored on a hard drive or mass storage device.

[Gue1]

most nerds and people with the money and equipment for this, think that this is as easy and fast as sharing music for the masses. but they are wrong...

[JokesOnYou]

"The study found 96% of Blu-ray Disc users are familiar with downloading and streaming services, but that two-thirds believe watching a movie on Blu-ray is a better overall entertainment experience"

Yeah I guess IF you ask Blu-ray disc *users*=(owners) most of them would say they prefer a disc over downloading....hell they already spent money on the hardware to play HD movies, so I reckon they want to see Blu-ray become the next standard.

This study data is slanted in favor of Bluray by mixing and matching the data, because if you read carefully why does it state "HDTV owners familiar with Blu-ray"? forgive me if I'm a little skeptical but it just sounds like a closed poll in order to get positive news for bluray, I mean why not just a poll of random "HDTV owners"? Either way bluray should do fine but I just think this data is BS, I highly doubt if you asked 1,100 random HDTV owners about their preference for HD movie watching AND gave them the pro's and con's of both that it would come out 96% in favor of Blu-ray in fact I've seen polls/analysis suggesting much different numbers in favor of DD....ha ha I guess it just depends on which group is *behind the poll.

JOY

[Pebz]

Pretty much any study that is publicly released, rather then only used for research, is done like that. It's basically advertisement.

Like: "Study shows that 9 out of 10 dentists recommend this tooth paste." What they forget to tell is that like all those dentists are sponsored by said tooth paste producer and only reason they don't say 10 out of 10 is to make it seem believable.

[ruibing]

@JokesOnYou
"familiar with Blu-ray favor the format over downloading and streaming by a margin of nearly 10-to-1"

In other words, they simply need to have seen the difference for Blu Ray at a friend's house or some store. They polled over two thousand people, and found that those who are familiar had this preference. They can then use this data to encourage the Digital Entertainment Group to use more advertisement to spread awareness of Blu Ray.

[SaiyanFury]

Really? More people buy BDs than digital downloading or streaming HD video? Doesn't surprise me one bit considering you need bandwidth over 20mbps in order for digital downloading and streaming to be a reality. I only have access to 1.5mbps and that's the best that I have access too. Yeah, I think I'll be buying BDs for a long while to come until 20+mbps connection speeds become available sometime in 2015 or later here in Florida.

[BrianC6234]

"This study data is slanted in favor of Bluray by mixing and matching the data, because if you read carefully why does it state "HDTV owners familiar with Blu-ray"?"

You must think nobody will upgrade to HDTV or care about video quality. HDTVs with 1080p are getting cheap. If you have a 1080p HDTV you don't want to watch a downloaded movie. Blu-ray looks a lot better.

This reminds me of when DVD first came out. It didn't take over right away. VHS movies were still cheaper. But as DVD players got cheaper the DVD movies also got cheaper and soon were almost as cheap as VHS. Then VHS died out and DVD was everywhere. This doesn't happen over night.

I think downloading could do damage to movie rentals but if you have to spend more than a couple dollars on a permanent movie you should buy it on disc. What would you do if your hard drive died and you lost all your movies?

[Gun_Senshi]

I'd prefer a hard copy over a limited Soft copy.

Also, downloading is way far off. Most countries internet still have download limits and some other countries not so fast internet. How can yuo download a 25GB Movie when your download limit is 20 GB?

[Milky Joe]

The package I'm on at the mo has a 5GB cap per week (Only counts 4-midnight weekdays, midday-midnight weekends) and apparently it's an 8meg set up. I don't think I've ever got past 5. I am definitely not ready for DL films.

I'm in the UK by the way.

[White-Sharingan]

in my country I only have 3meg speed

so I much prefer blu-ray (which I have) over downloads

[ruibing]

Not only that, I seem to avg 250 kb/s for residential broadband connections. This would mean a two hour movie cannot be larger than 1.8GB, which is pretty small compared to even HD-DVD, much less Blu Ray.

[PirateThom]

Legal downloads are usually lower quality (essentially sub-HD upconverted to HD resolutions see also: DVD upscaled), only available for rental, cut into monthly download limits if you have one, don't come with special features and every single studio would love a world where we don't own the products and are unable to trade or buy second hand.

[Sarcasm]

Don't forget that you don't get any "extras" with digital downloads. I personally like to see the "making of" documentaries for my favorite movies like Iron Man, Transformers etc.

And they are usually in HD as well, so it's very enjoyable.

[Spike47]

There are still countless people that are not informed well about this and it will take more than 6 years for people to start catching on.

[Gue1]

exactly my point. not as easy and fast as sharing music...

music data is small enough to download it fast with any type of connection to then transfer it to some music device like an MP3 player or iPOD to listen to it on the car or whatever place with the headphones. and it's easy to share it with your friends...

[ZILLA]

when you get home and throw in MGS4 or the IRON MAN movie its heaven on earth.

[Statix]

I expect the sales potential for Blu-Ray to grow over time as the percentage of households with HDTVs continues to gradually increase over time. As more and more people migrate into the HD era, more people will want to be able to watch high-definition movies and content on their new HDTVs.

[poindat]

What was all that about digital downloads taking over and blu-ray slowly dying away while DVD remains king?

Fact of the matter is, almost everyone who actually owns a blu-ray collection (I really doubt much of the bashers do) are very satisfied, myself included.

I personally can't see why anyone with an HDTV would want to continue streaming for watching DVDs. What a waste of money.

[skyfire2261]

I disagree.

I have had a complete shift on content ownership. It came about slowly over that time, but unmistakable.

BD is in a death spiral for me. I may buy my absolute favorite movies, but that will likely result in maybe 3 disks a year. Now, I just feel ownership is all a waste of money and that likely the amount of money I spend for owning a physical copy of any media no longer carries the same weight it once did.

This all came about looking at my Video game collection (about 1000ish titles) and wondering why the hell I spent so much money on them and exactly how many sessions I got of each one and what it would have cost me to rent them for that number of views.

The fact is, content is becoming more accessible and will ultimately be even cheaper per view that it won't even be worth buying. Most movies I *may* re-watch perhaps 3 times (there are outliers of course, but on average over time it's typically 3). Even at a price of $15 per disk, renting it 3 times @ $5 per will always make more sense for me.

I now have to retract any statements I have made in the past about content owners (or at the very least me ) not shifting to rental because they don't have that mindset. Clearly, I have made that change and I can't see myself going back.

[poindat]

Well if you don't feel that you are going to get your moneys worth, fair enough.

I just like the feeling of having something that actually belongs to you. Truth be told, I also only buy the best films, but as prices start dropping I will probably end up purchasing more and more.

[titntin]

Though I enjoy 'owning' a physical disc, thats not the big differentiator for me.

I'm a quality whore.
Unless a digital download can offer me the same quality as a blu ray, its simply not a comparible product, and I've never seen a download thats even remotely close in terms of quality.

[ultimolu]

^-^

That means we won't see DD in a long time.

[Rhythmattic]

No SHlT Sherlock!

[Kratos Spartan]

I guess that's that

'back to oblivion'

[Nod]

"An independent study found HDTV owners familiar with Blu-ray favor the format over downloading and streaming by a margin of nearly 10-to-1"

I'd be interested to know how many of the people surveyed were unfamiliar with Blu Ray and what their views were.

"96% of Blu-ray Disc users are familiar with downloading and streaming services, but that two-thirds believe watching a movie on Blu-ray is a better overall entertainment experience."

hang on a sec.... if two thirds of Blu Ray Users believe watching Blu-Ray is a better overall experience, that means ONE THIRD don't.

seeing as it's talking about Blu-Ray users thats quite a shocking amount.

[andron]

But that's another story LOL.

The 2 major reasons I haven't bought many Blu-Ray's yet are:

1: They were/are expensive. Price has gone down and will hopefully get even lower.

2: The selection haven't been that great. Older Hollywood drivel or the latest Hollywood drivel are not on the top of my list.

[divideby0]

so far all games I was given a choice for I chose BR over DDL.

The prices for DDL are a complete RIPOFF. There is NO reason for them to be as much as they are...
If they want DDL to suceed, drop the prices where they should be

[fossilfern]

If im not mistaken if you download a 1080p movie its not native 1920x1080 i think its like 1xxxX1080p (Not sure what the download resolution is) im not sure i could be wrong and for people like me id rather have the full quality picture and the fact i really cant be botherd waiting to download a movie and you can sell it on when your done but its a good idea when the movie store comes to europe on the PS3 ill probably download SD programmes but probably not HD programmes unless they are native 1080p if they are native 1080p can someone tell me :D thanks

[titntin]

Blu rays ARE all native 1080P - 1920 x 1080 pixels.

The ONLY exceptions to this are some american TV discs which were originally mastered in 1080i format. But all films are full 1080P.

[Fanboy Slaughter]

"70% of respondents citing the fact that there's a physical disc to keep as a key factor in their decision to buy Blu-ray."

....as to why Digital Distribution will NEVER be a commonplace format for movies. Hard Drives can be corrupted, have mechanical and data failures, and simply put, if this happens all of your movies are now gone, doomed to be re-downloaded at the cost of massive amounts of time, bandwith (considering most ISPs are now imposing Gestapo-like restrictions of bandwith), and quite possibly the re-purchase of your movie, thanks to DRM.

[thenickel]

Bluray will be around for a bit but Digital Distribution will continue to get stronger and kill Sony's format. Soon we are going to get some shocking news and hopefully Sony's choice to force bluray on the market was the correct choice.

[DiabloRising]

Of course, all DD needs to do to "kill bluray" is come up with viable storage mediums at cheap prices, kill consumer demand for wanting a physical format that cannot be erased on a whim, come up with a reliable business model for pricing/sharing/renting/owning , come up with acceptable file sizes for mass consumption/storage, prevent ISPs from putting bandwidth caps on downloads, increase highspeed availablity throughout the country, increase download speeds for all, lower ISP prices should a separate service be charging for movies, match DVD's pricing, include true HD material, include full sets of extras and documentaries per movie...

But yeah, DD will do ALL of those within... let's say 2 weeks. SHOCK! Then DD will take over. Right?

[GWAVE]

Oh wow. Are you serious? Do you seriously believe what you post?

How ignorant can you be? Blu Ray market penetration is somewhere between 10% and 14% in the US (it's higher and lower worldwide depending on what country you're talking about), yet Digital Distribution is at a measly 0.5%.

Let me guess: you're one of the people who sided with HD-DVD and then when that got canned, you went right along with Microsoft when they said "Uh...uh...uh...Digital Downloads are teh future!"

And it's not Sony's format. Blu Ray is supported by electronic manufacturers and movie studios worldwide and the support continues to increase.

[thenickel]

I guess you guys no know the future because you sure as hell seem to think you do. The truth is you don't no more then I do, and no matter what you see now doesn't mean things will stay the same. You might think you no what your talking about right now but in the end we will defitnitely see who's comment was ignorant lol.

[Bladestar]

"The study found 96% of Blu-ray Disc users are familiar with downloading and streaming services, but that two-thirds believe watching a movie on Blu-ray is a better overall entertainment experience." ... you think? lol! what kind of idiot would buy into blu-ray and spend hundreds or thousands for a player and TV and not favor blu-ray?

did you guys heard about the new study?

"A study found that 96% of the people like like women will not makeout with a male!"

"A study found that 98% of the males prefer peeing while standing instead of sitting in the toilet."

"A study found that 99% of the people that work like to get paid."

Freaken duhh... why don't you ask a group of people that do not own a blu-ray drive and like downloading music, movies and games?

This is just another marketing tool by the blu-ray camp.

[xaviertooth]

so that study reveals that the person on my avatar is a retard!

when you see him, just please slap a blu-ray disc on his balding forehead 3x!

[man0fsteel]

Blu -ray will be aligned with the sales of Hi-Def TV's for years to come. Once the majority of TV electronic consumers make the switch, Blu-Ray will be ready for it

[asyouburn]

people prefer drinking water to drinking urine. . .

[bee2427]

Does anyone ever wonder what medium microsoft is going to use in their next consol? I mean i dont think they can get by using dvd in a few years, I wonder if the xbox 720 will come with blu-ray in it

[MTEC8]

I don't think digital downloads will ever take over physical discs. When I buy a movie or a game I like to fill another slot on my DVD shelf. Anybody think that in the future, parents are going to like the fact that after shopping at Wal-Mart and picking up Iron Man 3 for their kid, and all they bring home is a piece of paper with a redeem code of "x29hds8jitkt". Or "Merry Christmas son, hurry up and open all of your envelopes". I don't know about you guys but when I buy something I want to be able to hold it in my hands. The next Xbox will have to use Blu Ray, or they can choose to bring out HD-DVD2 but DD.

[na2ru1]

HD video downloads are cons if it only consists of 5-7GBs. Upconverted?

[PLAYSTATIONGENRATION]

Wants to wait that long for a movie..then you hdd courpts