Consumers prefer Blu-ray over HD-DVD 4 to 1

[mckmas8808]

I know that some people will view this as PR but here you go.

I will bold the important parts.


July 13, 2005 06:01 AM US Eastern Timezone

Blu-ray Disc Leads in Early Format Match-up: Preferred by Consumers 4-to-1 Over HD-DVD; Study Shows Technology Company Support, Capacity and Ability to Play Discs Across More Brand-Name Players, Computers, and Gaming Machines Drive Preference

HOLLYWOOD--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 2005--A new poll suggests that as the battle between Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD heats up, consumers overwhelmingly prefer Blu-ray Disc as their format of choice.

In the poll, conducted by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, a nationally recognized strategic polling firm, consumers were given a side-by-side comparison of the two formats on the following dimensions: technology company support, Hollywood studio support, gaming console support, disc capacity, potential movie title availability and anticipated launch dates.

In this side-by-side format comparison, 58% of the 1,200 consumers surveyed preferred Blu-ray Disc, 26% were undecided and only 16% preferred HD-DVD. Of those consumers who indicated that they are extremely interested in purchasing the next-generation format, 66% favored Blu-ray, 19% were undecided and only 15% preferred HD-DVD.

The poll, conducted in the US, also examined consumer attitudes toward high-definition television and next-generation disc formats. Among the key reasons consumers preferred Blu-ray were the ability to play the discs in more CE devices, personal computers and gaming consoles, backward compatibility with current DVD media, disc capacity and the ability to record large amounts of high-definition or standard definition video and data.

"While we are still in the pre-launch phase for both formats, Blu-ray Disc is the early front-runner," said Mark Penn, whose firm conducted the poll. "Consumers perceive Blu-ray as the favorite on technology company support, gaming, storage, and disc versatility."

The surveyed consumers placed considerable value on the amount of recording space available to suit their digital lifestyle, on Hollywood's ability to fit movies, bonus and interactive features on a single disc and on the single-sided Blu-ray Hybrid Disc, which allows both high and standard definition versions of a movie to reside on a single disc that can be viewed in either a Blu-ray player or a DVD player.

"From day one, we've focused on delivering the best possible consumer experience while building support from the best brands in the world," said Maureen Weber, chief BDA spokesperson and general manager of the Optical Storage Solutions Business at HP. "The result is a format that delivers a consistent, compatible consumer experience across a range of platforms, which is clearly something that resonates with consumers."

The launch of Blu-ray Disc is expected to offer consumers a broad selection of movie and broadcast content from Walt Disney Pictures and Television, Miramax, Touchstone, MGM, ESPN and Sony Pictures. A selection of Blu-ray players, recorders and computer drives are expected from Sony, Hitachi, Sharp, Panasonic, LG Electronics, Pioneer, Philips, Mitsubishi, and Samsung as well as PC hardware from Dell and HP. Gaming hardware will be available from Sony with the release of PlayStation 3, and software will be available to the leading gaming software manufacturers.

So what do you that? Could this all end up being PR or is there some truth to the article.

Original Source from sonycowboy @ GAF.

 

[Tap In]

not to mention it has the coolest name next to BlueTooth.

 

[pegisys]

according to the May survey of 1,250 consumers by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates for the Blu-ray Disc Association

Link

Not saying it might not be true but people who give survey for there product, usually come out ahead

 

[mckmas8808]

Well ok, but my reason for posting it was to point out what made people think that way. The reasons seem very logical to me. I think this will be the case for most people.

 

[Tap In]

from link

But HD-DVD has other advantages. It costs less and is easier and faster to make. The Blu-ray-backed survey did not poll customers about pricing.

 

[mckmas8808]

from link

But HD-DVD has other advantages. It costs less and is easier and faster to make. The Blu-ray-backed survey did not poll customers about pricing.

But its not faster to make. I remember an article that stated that the Blu-ray disc can produce more disc per square inch or something. Cost less and easier for now is true though. To me it seemed like overall the consumers like Blu-ray more.

Did those consumers even know that HD-DVD right now will cost less to make? Did they even have to know? And how much less will HD-DVD movies cost than Blu-ray movies?

What happens if and when BD movies sell as fast as Blu-ray hardware (i.e. PS3)? Obviously HD-DVD have no chance (unless they can get the x360 which I don't think will happen soon) of selling hardware as fast as Blu-ray. And we all now that software sells usually follow hardware sells.

If and when BD software sells are great wouldn't that bring the price down naturally anyway? Wouldn't this price reduction happen faster than HD-DVD if it doesn't sell as fast?

 

[pegisys]

not many people knows or cares what the difference between the two are, some will get whatever comes first so they can watch hd movies, some will get it just because it's new technology, some will see both as pointless because they just got a dvd player, only people that really care about a format are the ones that read forums and news sites like this one or someone making money off of it

 

[Josh378]

not many people knows or cares what the difference between the two are, some will get whatever comes first so they can watch hd movies, some will get it just because it's new technology, some will see both as pointless because they just got a dvd player, only people that really care about a format are the ones that read forums and news sites like this one or someone making money off of it

There are peopel who feel the same what about the DVD player and STILL is only using VHS tapes....

-Josh378

 

[scooby_dooby]

lol,

" consumers were given a side-by-side comparison of the two formats on the following dimensions: technology company support, Hollywood studio support, gaming console support, disc capacity, potential movie title availability and anticipated launch dates. "

So they got a presentation, paid for by sony..err I mean BRA, comparing side by side blu-ray vs hd-dvd, with no mention of price, and blu-ray won? surprise!

so it wasn't based on their unbiased opinion, but on their opinion after watching a biased presentation. heh, if they had've just asked people straight out, it would've been 90% "what's blu-ray/hd-dvd?".

 

[SanGreal]

IAmong the key reasons consumers preferred Blu-ray were the ability to play the discs in more CE devices, personal computers and gaming consoles, backward compatibility with current DVD media, disc capacity and the ability to record large amounts of high-definition or standard definition video and data.

How do these consumers know they'll be able to play BRD in more more CE devices and personal computers than HD-DVD? The rest of the reasons are all things HD-DVD has too.

 

[mckmas8808]

IAmong the key reasons consumers preferred Blu-ray were the ability to play the discs in more CE devices, personal computers and gaming consoles, backward compatibility with current DVD media, disc capacity and the ability to record large amounts of high-definition or standard definition video and data.

How do these consumers know they'll be able to play BRD in more more CE devices and personal computers than HD-DVD? The rest of the reasons are all things HD-DVD has too.

Well because they told them. They gave them a list and said hey look at this.

some will get whatever comes first so they can watch hd movies, some will get it just because it's new technology, some will see both as pointless because they just got a dvd player

But everybody will have one that buys a PS3 though. Your argument works against HD-DVD more than it does Blu-ray. In the PS3 you basically get it for free (in a way). No need to spend sub $1000.

 

[Guden Oden]

I'll only speak for myself and nobody else when I say I will never EVER buy a HDDVD drive just to get HDDVD. If I buy like, an x360 console and it comes with HDDVD, well, that's a different story.

I won't spend hard-earned money on such a half-measure like that, no way. BR all the way baby, and I don't give a shit if BR discs are more expensive to make or yield less for the manufactorer or any of the other PATHETIC crap the BR-haters (like PC-Engine for example) have offered up in the past, because disc price is like the smallest piece of the pie that is the cost of a movie or game.

BR is bigger and faster and better than HDDVD. That's all I am interested in.

 

[mckmas8808]

I'll only speak for myself and nobody else when I say I will never EVER buy a HDDVD drive just to get HDDVD. If I buy like, an x360 console and it comes with HDDVD, well, that's a different story.

I won't spend hard-earned money on such a half-measure like that, no way. BR all the way baby, and I don't give a shit if BR discs are more expensive to make or yield less for the manufactorer or any of the other PATHETIC crap the BR-haters (like PC-Engine for example) have offered up in the past, because disc price is like the smallest piece of the pie that is the cost of a movie or game.

BR is bigger and faster and better than HDDVD. That's all I am interested in.

I agree Guden. Blu-ray movies may be 1 to 2 dollars more. So whats the big deal?

 

[Blazkowicz]

shouldn't be the cost of production more like $0.2 vs $0.1? who cares anyway when it's for a $20 movie or a $60 game.
even better : a VHS tape is more expansive than a DVD, yet movies are more expansive on DVD than on VHS.

Blank media (for consumers) prices may be an issue, though they should cost about the same here with that fscking blank media tax.

 

[PC-Engine]

I'll only speak for myself and nobody else when I say I will never EVER buy a HDDVD drive just to get HDDVD. If I buy like, an x360 console and it comes with HDDVD, well, that's a different story.

I won't spend hard-earned money on such a half-measure like that, no way. BR all the way baby, and I don't give a shit if BR discs are more expensive to make or yield less for the manufactorer or any of the other PATHETIC crap the BR-haters (like PC-Engine for example) have offered up in the past, because disc price is like the smallest piece of the pie that is the cost of a movie or game.

BR is bigger and faster and better than HDDVD. That's all I am interested in.

Considering HD DVD will have the movies I want and considering Holographic drives will be backwards compatible with HD DVD and coming out next year, it's a no brainer for me. Why care about BR's slight capacity advantage when HVD will leave it in the dust as a storage/recording format?

shouldn't be the cost of production more like $0.2 vs $0.1? who cares anyway when it's for a $20 movie or a $60 game.
even better : a VHS tape is more expansive than a DVD, yet movies are more expansive on DVD than on VHS.

Blank media (for consumers) prices may be an issue, though they should cost about the same here with that fscking blank media tax.

Yeah blank media costs are going to be the deciding factor where realworld usage is concerned. People are not going to be buying $50 blank BRDs. For the near term blank DL 30GB is going to last for awhile until HVDs start to become the defacto standard recording media with hundreds of GBs of storage.

 

[Tap In]

snip...

The official story: See below.

What we heard: Earlier this week GameSpot received a press release about a new survey supposedly showing the general public's overwhelming preference (almost 4-to-1) for Sony's forthcoming Blu-Ray DVD format over Toshiba's equally unreleased HD-DVD format. The report raised a few red flags, not the least of which is that it was sent to us by a public relations representative for the Blu-Ray Disc Association, which--it turns out--funded the study. So it's not surprising that the press release only summarized parts of the survey with results that favored the Blu-Ray format.

When GameSpot asked for the raw data from the study, we received a glaringly incomplete selection of "quantitative data cuts" dated May 31, 2005--the full results of the survey have not been released. Included in those cuts were responses to questions about whether a generic next-generation disc format (which just happened to have Blu-Ray's feature set) sounded like an improvement over ordinary DVDs, assuming they were roughly equivalent in price (big surprise, they did). However, manufacturers will need to overhaul existing factories in order to accommodate Blu-Ray production, and that cost of upgrading is expected to be passed onto the consumer for as much as an extra $10 per Blu-ray Disc (BD).

Interestingly, there was no corresponding question about the HD-DVD's feature set, or at least none that made the publicly released portion of the survey. A question asking whether the respondent would prefer a format supported by Sony, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Apple, TDK, Thomson, Sharp, LG, and JVC (that'd be Blu-Ray) or one supported by Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo, and Thomson (HD-DVD) did make the list. But there was no such question about whether people would prefer a format that makes the discs $10 more expensive or just 10 percent more expensive, as is expected with HD-DVDs.

Bogus or not bogus?: On the survey's legitimacy, bogus. On the public's preference for Blu-Ray, possibly not bogus. That's the sort of thing that the full results of the survey might help us determine. Where they at?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/16/news_6129324.html?part=rss&tag=gs_xbox&subj=6129324

 

[Ty]

Good lord, if BR discs are going to be $10 more than DVDs then frankly BR is DOA regardless of HD-DVD's existence.

Heck, I'll go so far as to say that ANY format that comes out at that price point is relegated to niche status unless they can quickly ramp down the prices comparable to current DVD prices. Without appreciable difference in the quality between DVD and it's successor (be it BR or HD-DVD) because the vast majority of TVs won't show a pixel of difference, then consumers simply won't buy into it. This is unlike when DVDs came onto the scene is immediately everyone could tell the difference between it and VHS (and I'm not just speaking about the increased PQ).

HVD, where art thou?

 

[Frank]

The producers need to change their machinery to produce BlueRay disks. The production of single-layer BlueRay disks itself can be cheaper than (HD-)DVD disks, as the hard part is putting the different slices togeter, and you don't have to do that with single-layer BR.

Only when you look at the price of the initial volumes, and have those pay for all the changes to the production machinery can BR disks be $10 more expensive to produce than HD-DVD.

But then again, if it is fully automated, who cares about the price difference? It can only be in maintenance or materials, and that isn't the case. So if it's $0.01, it's a lot. Add a few cents payment for the investment, and that's it.

It's mostly a marketing argument, and the producers complaining they have to invest money.

As for the holographic media: I think I've read about some producer coming with a holographic media next year for the last 10 years or so. So I'm a bit sceptical.