Consumers Cold To Blu-Ray Players

[Dashken]

The high-definition DVD format war is over, but U.S. consumers remain unenthusiastic toward players supporting the winner Blu-ray, a survey showed.

Nearly seven in 10 people polled by Harris Interactive knew that Blu-ray had beaten HD DVD, and nearly a quarter of them said they had been waiting for the rivalry to play itself out before buying an HD player. By April, however, few of the respondents had actually bought a player.

Based on an online poll of more than 2,500 U.S. adults, Harris found that nearly nine in 10 people own a standard DVD player, but fewer than one in 10 reported owning devices available today for playing HD content, namely, HD DVD or Blu-ray disc players, Sony PlayStation 3, and the external HD DVD player for Microsoft's Xbox 360. These numbers are surprising, given that more than a third of consumers overall report owning an HDTV.

Furthermore, only 9% of non-Blu-ray player owners say they are likely to buy a Blu-ray disc player within the next year, even when they are made fully aware that the format is the definitive technology for players of HD content going forward, Harris found. Notably, the percentage of HDTV owners likely to buy Blu-ray players is only slightly higher at 14%. Currently, about 10% of HDTV owners also have a Blu-ray disc player.

Price could be a contributor to the lackluster response to Blu-ray. While players of the format still average above $300, standard players only cost between $80 and $150, which include an up-converter to generate a higher quality picture that older standard players.

There's also the consideration of being able to download HD videos. "While this is likely to catch on more with the technophiles than with the mass market due to the complexity of downloading, it does provide another alternative," Joan Barten Kline, VP of Harris media and entertainment practice, said in a statement released Tuesday.

Sony-backed Blu-ray won the format war after Toshiba said this year it would no longer lead the HD DVD camp, and discontinued making HD DVD players and recorders. The company had sold 1 million players and recorders worldwide, including sales for drives for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/share...leID=207800191

[Chai]

Not surprising, players are too expensive.

[Mac Daddy]

Yep Chai is right its like anything new consumers (including me) usually wait a bit for the prices to come down

[ZuePhok]

sales of media is always driven by piracy

[PsYkHoTiK]

Prices are falling.

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to buy another (family 'took' the other one) PS3 in July (MGS4!!!!).

[miahman]

a PS3 is cheaper and has a built in blu-ray player lol

and they wonder why their sales of bluray players are low

[rogue_tomato]

I wonder if those stats include PS3 sales...? Even so, you can't blame people for so far avoiding the Blu-Ray format... The format war just ended, and most people are just learning about HD and whatnot.

I look towards the holiday season for falling prices and some great deals for Blu-Ray stuff. By then, I should have added a Blu-Ray player to my household (be it stand-alone of PS3 )

[miahman]

hoping to buy ps3 after exams.

i heard most games are region free, is that true?

to stay on topic, ps3 blu ray players are not region free

[PsYkHoTiK]

Games are region free. Movies are always region locked (even on the PSP).

[miahman]

whooo thats cool.

btw any users fom japan here? if so i think you know what i'll be asking lmho