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.
