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Blu-ray Adoption Soft, More Still Own HD DVD

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the this-is-still-going dept.

MojoKid writes "A new study by Harris Interactive notes that currently, one in ten Americans (10%) own an HD DVD player, while just 7% own a Blu-ray player. Crazy, right? More Americans own HD DVD right now than the 'winning' format, Blu-ray. If you think about it, that statistic isn't that shocking. When HD DVD was around, it was far and away the 'budget' format for high-def. The players were cheaper, the films were cheaper. In other words, it was a format more ready to thrive in a down economy. Blu-ray was always viewed as a niche format for those absorbed in A/V, not the common man's format. The survey also found that on average, consumers purchased approximately six standard format DVDs in the last six months, compared with one in HD DVD format."

17 of 685 comments (clear)

  1. Flawed interpretation of the study by Joehonkie · · Score: 4, Informative

    So they're counting the PS3 and the Blu-Ray players as separate items in their study. If you add the two together, Blu-Ray adoption is higher. Of course, the question is if they count Xbox HD-DVD drives, but those numbers are probably low.

    1. Re:Flawed interpretation of the study by Abcd1234 · · Score: 3, Informative

      The PS3 is, first and foremost, a Blu-Ray player. That's how it was designed, that's how it was marketed

      Buh?? I call bullshit. The PS3 is a gaming platform that happens to double as a Blu-Ray player, just as the PS2 was a gaming platform that doubled as a DVD player. I've never seen any evidence that it was ever marketed as anything else, and I'd love to see support for such an outlandish claim.

  2. I work in he rental industry by SchizoStatic · · Score: 5, Informative

    As a way to make some extra dough I work at a video rental chain (the largest here in the US) and just from what I have seen no one really wants to rent Blu-Ray. We got 90% of the new releases on Blu-Ray and yet they prefer dvd even at the same price point. Who wants to buy a blu-ray player at over $200 right now when I can keep buying dvds at a cheaper price. Blu-Ray is beautiful yes but for most pictures I don't need or want to pay an extra 10-20 dollars for it.

    --
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    1. Re:I work in he rental industry by furby076 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Quick Google search for "blu ray player" on google shopping turns up a Blu-ray Disc® Player BDP-S300 for 150. This is refurb.

      What you guys can do to help increase your rentals of Blu ray? Put up two tv's that are the exact same tvs. Put up a blu ray player. Put up a regular dvd palyer. Play the same movie (different formats appropriately) and have them play at the same exact time. Now that you convinced your customers which is better (and it is fairly dramatic) enjoy your rentals.

      Also - don't be afraid to put up old movies. Top Gun looks great in blu ray.

      For added fun sell blu ray players on the cheap or help customers find great deals online "Want to rent blu ray? Not sure what to look for? Let us help you."

      Bring this suggestion to your boss and if your boss is smart your boss will use this idea. Considering video rental stores are lagging in sales this is a cheap way to increase them. This will also make the boss happy with you. Do it a couple of months before your annual review and get a better raise?

      --

      I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
    2. Re:I work in he rental industry by guyniraxn · · Score: 4, Informative

      Perhaps it's your TV? I have a PS3 and it's got a really nice upscaler for DVDs but it can't add in texture and details that aren't in the image. While the DVDs look great, there is still a clear difference with Blu-Ray. It's sharper and has more detail. You could also have some poorly transferred HD-DVD titles, there are a lot out there on Blu-Ray too; I always read reviews at highdefdigest.com before buying one so I don't get burned with a movie that'll look just as good on DVD.

    3. Re:I work in he rental industry by Arkham · · Score: 3, Informative

      At 720p you can barely tell a difference. At 1080p the difference is more noticeable.

      However, the difference between Blue-Ray and DVD isn't just in the picture, it's in the sound. If you have a true HT setup (I have a 7.1 home theater room with a 1080p projector), and the difference between a DVD and a Blue-Ray is noticeable in the picture quality, but especially in the sound quality.

      --
      - Vincit qui patitur.
  3. Disingenous, at best by Coopjust · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you combine the 360 addon owners with the regular pool, 14% of those surveyed own an HD-DVD player.

    So, if you combine the PS3 owners with the regular Blu-Ray owners, 16% of those surveyed owned a Blu-Ray player.

    Here is the logical response you probably have now: "But, every HD-DVD owner (including addon) bought it to watch Blu-Rays, while many PS3 owners probably bought it just to play games."

    That's taken care of by the survey too. Out of all, PS3 owners 25% buy all their movies in Blu-Ray and another. 32% buy "most" of their movies in Blu-Ray. So 57% are regular Blu-Ray buyers now, and many PS3 owners are waiting for prices to come down.

    HD-DVD owners? Stores gave the players away. They were cheaper than other upscaling players at some point. The addon for the 360 was $20 at my local stores with 5 free movies. Many HD-DVD owners probably bought closeout gear at low prices.

    So while the percentages may technically be right, with the fire sale that followed HD-DVDs failure, it's not terribly suprising. And the 7% is it at least 12% for Blu-Ray buyers, since over half of all PS3 owners buy movies.

  4. Re:It was budget because it was failing! by BeardedChimp · · Score: 5, Informative

    This isn't true, from here:
    "The primary advantage of this format is a low manufacturing cost. Since HD-DVD media is so technically similar to standard DVD media (it uses the same layer thicknesses as DVD, made of similar materials), the discs can be produced with only a slight modification to existing manufacturing lines. "
    "This technology comes with a significant price. Manufacturing Blu-Ray discs requires significant costs in updating DVD fabrication equipment, and would be a sharp manufacturer cost increase over HD-DVD."

    Toshiba also got the jump on sony and released it's first players months earlier allowing it to get production ramped up. It's true that when HD-DVD started to lose they chopped at the price, but it was already significantly lower than Bluray.

  5. Re:Blu-Ray needs piracy by jrumney · · Score: 3, Informative

    Blueray has piracy, at least in South East Asia, where there are malls full of shops selling Bluerays with the best covers a 10 year old color photocopier can provide, for the same price as 3 DVDs that aren't even out in the cinema yet (ie about $8).

  6. Re:I always maintained blue ray was moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Enjoy your 480p content then. Doesn't matter what resolution your monitor can handle, you need to pair it with a suitable source. DVD looks pretty bad on a monitor, unless you're 10' away from it. And what's the point of that? And did your roomate have his TV calibrated properly? Too much sharpness and edge enhancement will add halos, it's possible that you were seeing that. 300 had a strange look & feel, could be that as well. Go check out A Bug's Life, hell even the older Bond films on BD and you should be very impressed.

    My couch is about 9' away from my new 52" LCD and everything I've watched on BD looks amazing. Definitely better than up-scaling regular DVDs.

  7. Re:I always maintained blue ray was moot by artemis67 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's amazing. Sony are so bad at format wars that, even when they win, they lose.

    This quote from the article doesn't tell the whole story, though:

    "A new study by Harris Interactive notes that currently, one in ten Americans (10%) own an HD DVD player, while just 7% own a Blu-ray player. Crazy, right?"

    If you look at the chart, they've separated out the PS3 owners from the Blu-Ray player owners. Combine the 7% Blu-Ray owners with the 9% PS3 owners, and that's 16%. I'm sure that most PS3 owners didn't feel the need to buy a separate Blu-Ray player.

  8. Re:I always maintained blue ray was moot by Talderas · · Score: 5, Informative

    So you're judging your opinions of HD on one of the few movies that was done almost entirely in front of blue/green screens, the exception being the scene involving the Persian horseback messenger coming across the hills. Mind you 300 was about 90% blue screen and 10% green screen. I'd venture to say that unless you were seeing this effect the entire movie, then your complaint isn't nearly as problematic as you make it out to be.

    --
    "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
  9. Re:I always maintained blue ray was moot by futuresheep · · Score: 5, Informative

    Chances are your friend doesn't have the TV calibrated properly. Turning up the sharpness too high on many Hi-Def sets will cause this effect by adding in a lot of edge enhancement (ringing) to the image. Getting a good calibration disc like AVIA or Digital Video Essentials will make a huge difference in the appearance of HD sources.

  10. Re:I always maintained blue ray was moot by Ross+D+Anderson · · Score: 3, Informative

    To be fair I think that sounds like a one off, and a bit of an knee jerk response on your part. I've personally not noticed that issue with any HD films I've seen (though I've not seen 300 in HD, the film sucked enough in SD). Blade Runner, for instance, looks absolutely stunning, as does Planet Earth, and the Pixar films look gorgeous too.
    I'd give it another go before I make my decision on one, very poor, film.
    Additionally, I'd get your mate to check he hasn't turned the sharpness of the image on the tv way up as this can cause JPEG-esque blocky artifacts to appear.

  11. Re:I always maintained blue ray was moot by locnar42 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I bought a PS3 for the main purpose of watching movies and for my kids to play a few games on here and there. I use it for watching BluRay and DVD and find the interface as easy as any DVD player I've ever owned. I own the remote control also, but even when the kids have lost it and I have to use the controller it's pretty much just one button click to get the movie going. I never owned a PS2 so I don't know how it compares. I did use an original XBOX as a DVD player for a little while and found it so pitiful (even with the remote) that I bought a separate DVD player instead, however my XBOX remote was flaky and I don't know which one caused the other.

  12. Re:I always maintained blue ray was moot by BillCable · · Score: 4, Informative

    It was reported that Criterion uses the Playstation3 as their reference Blu-ray player. So I'd say it's up there in terms of quality.

  13. Re:Blu-Ray needs piracy by kamapuaa · · Score: 3, Informative
    No...for some reason I don't quite understand, it's become standard operating procedure for Asian bootleg DVDs to have the Blue-Ray insignia on the (flattened) box. This is even true for cam recordings you find on the street. However the actual disks are DVD-5, and only DVD 5. DVD 9s (which are much less common, because they cost $1.50 instead of $.75) will usually come in plastic cases with higher-quality box art and no Blue-Ray insignias.

    Blue Ray players are very difficult to find in East Asia, while those "Blue Ray" bootlegs are *everywhere*...

    Of course, those in the know are just downloading off emule or youku.com anyway, why waste $.75?

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