Bluray Player sales up 600% since Toshiba Dropped HDDVD.

SPM

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Looks like all the HD player market was waiting for was a format winner. Bluray standalone players are selling at 7 times the rate in December 2007 when Bluray standalone players were already outselling HD-DVD players.

http://gizmodo.com/359023/blu+ray-player-sales-up-600-per-cent-according-to-uk-online-retailer

BD player sales revenue already exceeds DVD player sales revenue, and BD player unit sales are expected to exceed DVD unit sales this August according to one retailer.

http://formatwarcentral.com/index.p...player-sales-expected-to-outpace-dvd-in-2008/
 
From all the things that I have read Blu-ray is starting to stumble at least hear in the states. We can not get any NPD numbers as they claim its too low:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/blu-ray-the-future-has-been-delayed/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9932311-7.html?tag=nefd.pulse
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2307354,00.asp

And given the state of the econmy I highly doubt that Blu-ray sales with outpace normal DVD in Aug. The majority of the folks just don't have an extra cash now to spend on a 300+ player....
 
I bought one. I got the LG BH200 dual format player. With the April firmware update it appears to be the best dual format player, at least according to AVS Forum.

It's quite a nice machine. So far, it has played all my HD-DVDs and the few BR titles I own just fine. It's a good choice for people with extensive HD-DVD libraries who don't have enough space for two players.
 
From all the things that I have read Blu-ray is starting to stumble at least hear in the states. We can not get any NPD numbers as they claim its too low:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/blu-ray-the-future-has-been-delayed/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9932311-7.html?tag=nefd.pulse
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2307354,00.asp

And given the state of the econmy I highly doubt that Blu-ray sales with outpace normal DVD in Aug. The majority of the folks just don't have an extra cash now to spend on a 300+ player....

Blu-ray will go back and forth as the BDA members fine-tune their strategy based on market feedback, and finally realize what works and what doesn't.

They are already working on low player price:
* http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1311 (11 China manufacturers approved to make BR players on May 23rd, for next year)
* http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1307 (Taiwan Kolin to Start Production of Blu-ray Players)
* http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1309 (Panasonic working on LSI chip which not only 50% smaller, but also uses 25% less power, is compliant with BD-Live (Profile v2.0) standards)
These should give us low cost players.

Meanwhile, I think $300-ish BR players just dropped in last week in BestBuy and Walmart:
* http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/best-buy-unleashes-insignia-ns-brdvd-blu-ray-player-for-349-ps/ ($347 - $349)
* http://www.videobusiness.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6561094&desc=topstory ($298)
* http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=827856&p=11437594&highlight=blu-ray#post11437594 (PS3 selling for $399 with free $100 gift card)

I was told the Magnavox and Insignia are both OEM Funai player (Ok, here it is: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1292). By year end, we would know how BDA fare and whether they meet their projection.

EDIT: Personally, I am waiting eagerly for July, the Dark City release on Blu-ray.
 
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Player demand increased significantly since last year (We are comparing regular price in 2008 vs heavily promoted price + freebies in 2007). The 600% surge is likely a promo of some sort.

I believe movie sale raised and hovers around 5% (DVD being the other 95%) for top 20 titles.
 
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Player demand increased significantly since last year (We are comparing regular price in 2008 vs heavily promoted price + freebies in 2007). The 600% surge is likely a promo of some sort.

I believe movie sale raised and hovers around 5% (DVD being the other 95%) for top 20 titles.

The comment by the retailer about BD players outselling DVD players in August is intriguing. I wonder if the retailer has negotiated a low price deal for BD players in August, otherwise how can he be sure about the dates.
 
The comment by the retailer about BD players outselling DVD players in August is intriguing. I wonder if the retailer has negotiated a low price deal for BD players in August, otherwise how can he be sure about the dates.

Who says he's sure? I rather doubt he has any idea at all. It's no doubt in his best interest to sell them over DVD as I'm sure they have much higher margins. So being positive on Blu-ray is just self promotion.
 
It is believable.

High-end consumer electronics retailers expect set-top Blu-ray players to begin outselling DVD players by August, as a wave of new models eases current supply problems.

A Blu-ray player can upscale DVDs too. For high-end retailers, their customers will likely shift to buy Blu-ray instead of premium DVD players -- especially with a little bit of persuading and incentives.

They are not referring to cheap DVD players and mainstream buyers. Market acceptance can be a long road. Not everything has to behave like Wii, iPod and Tamagotchis.

Blu-ray is constrained by its new production infrastructure anyway. PS3 player and AAA BR games currently lead the way in this area.
 
high end dvd players account for what % of sales? I'm sorry but most of the people looking to buy a dvd player aren't looking to spend over $100.

I'd call it wishful thinking and nothing more, unless the price of BD players hits $100 in august.
 
AlphaWolf said:
I'd call it wishful thinking and nothing more, unless the price of BD players hits $100 in august.

Wistful thinking of what ? The quote simply refers to high end retailers think Blu-ray player sales will overtake premium DVD player sales by August in their market. I don't think that's far fetched since that premium DVD player market may be saturated already.

high end dvd players account for what % of sales? I'm sorry but most of the people looking to buy a dvd player aren't looking to spend over $100.

You don't have to be sorry. I think Denon, Marantz and other manufacturers will bring out their BR gears later this year. These players should be very expensive:
[EDIT: Here you go...
* http://usa.denon.com/beyond/products/DVD-2500BTCI.html
* http://usa.denon.com/beyond/products/DVD-3800BDCI.html
* http://us.marantz.com/Products/2393.asp (Oops, it doesn't like deep linking. Look for BD8002 on the site instead)
The enthusiats will drive the early adoptor market anyway but high-end equipments were missing from the war all the while. Remember the HDM market is only unified 3-4 months ago.

As long as BDA treads the market well, they should be able to make a nice beachhead for themselves. I am interested to see and use Portable Copy and Managed Copy myself.

I see those guys are playing with 3D movies too (http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1303). I don't believe there is a market for it. They should focus on digital copies and management, plus ease of use.
 
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Well if they are only talking about beating DVD players in the same price category, that's hardly surprising or even worth an article, but that's not really what the article said. At least that's not the way it reads to me.
 

I don't know of any wistful thinking. Nor did I ever use that word, but if you mean wishful thinking as I said, then the very first sentence would be what I'm talking about.

Although these niche retailers certainly have the ability to massively affect that by changing their product focus, so perhaps I'll be wrong as I don't know much about the specific retailers in question.

It's hardly big news in any event as its overall impact to the general consumer market will almost be nil. There's not enough volume to affect unit price on the media which is what Blu-ray needs to achieve if it ever wants to supplant DVD.
 
I don't know of any wistful thinking. Nor did I ever use that word, but if you mean wishful thinking as I said, then the very first sentence would be what I'm talking about.

Ah yes, I should have copy-and-paste instead of retyping... but for our discussion, we should be able to continue...

Although these niche retailers certainly have the ability to massively affect that by changing their product focus, so perhaps I'll be wrong as I don't know much about the specific retailers in question.

It sounds like they are refering to their usual audience, and they need a better product mix from the vendors to close sales.

It's hardly big news in any event as its overall impact to the general consumer market will almost be nil. There's not enough volume to affect unit price on the media which is what Blu-ray needs to achieve if it ever wants to supplant DVD.

It's a videobusiness.com article. They will naturally reflect on HD movie news like IGN reflect on 360/PS3 news, big and small.

It is newsworthy to the industry as it reports hi-end Blu-ray player's supply issues being alleviated by August, and the retailers commiting to push and demo Blu-ray in-store. The high margin helps to fund further development. In time to come, some of these high end manufacturers will make mid-tier products. Furthermore, if the production is low as implied, these retailers may not be able to get good bulk discount to begin with.

I'd be interested to see their demo/seminar if they include the following components:
* BD-Live for multiple movies
* Portable Copy + Managed Copy of video to iPods and PSP
* Controlling BR player using iPhone/iPhone Touch _and_ vice versa (They'll need custom demo from NetBlender)
* Direct playback of HD camcoders from BD players

The move will be important for people to see Blu-ray's value beyond hi-def or experience the buzz. If they can't afford the hi-end, they can settle for mid, low end ones. So it may have an effect on general BR player sales as well. Naturally, the total DVD player volume is too high to overtake, but this does not mean the whole BR exercise is meaningless.

I expect some of them to eventually bundle a player with selected HD TV sales too. The player may help to push people off the fence to get a HD TV (and a free player) -- especially after experiencing the above demo.
 
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Who says he's sure? I rather doubt he has any idea at all. It's no doubt in his best interest to sell them over DVD as I'm sure they have much higher margins. So being positive on Blu-ray is just self promotion.

I can't really buy that theory. Electronic retailers sell a wide range of products. They sell what customers will buy, and what brings them profit. Unlike the PR we have seen coming from the HD-DVD and BD camps in the past, retailers have no reason to and are not going to push a market where they do not see sales happening. This guy is saying what he is saying and promoting what he is promoting because he thinks that his company will get big sales in the BD player area soon.
 
The format war is over so why are people still quoting selective clearly non-representative statistics to try and prove their format of choice is doing stellar?
 
The format war is over so why are people still quoting selective clearly non-representative statistics to try and prove their format of choice is doing stellar?

One format war is over, the other (BD against DVD) has only just begun!
 
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