Blu-ray Slow to Catch On, May Not Dominate for Years
Blu-ray may have won the format battle against competitor HD-DVD, but it seems that it may still be a number of years before it bests its remaining competition: the humble DVD. Because DVD players can be found for a tenth of the cost of Blu-ray players, often priced at $300 and up, would-be adopters are slow to upgrade to the format.U.S. spending on disc-based movie purchase and rentals fell three percent last year, and is expected to drop another two percent this year. Hope had been that the quick adoption of high definition sets would spur a boost in spending on media, but others are doubting that now given the recent economic downturn.
And, with more and more viewers relying on downloadable and on-demand services for videos rather than traditional disc-based media, there's some wonder whether Blu-ray will ever be the powerhouse that DVD is now. That said, overall the format seems to be doing just fine, with Blu-ray sales so far matching those of DVDs when that format began to gain traction, meaning there's certainly plenty of potential for success with Sony's new discs. [Source: USA Today]
Filed under: Audio/Video
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Jun 3rd 2008 12:09AM
HD-VOD or Xbox Live Marketplace until the price of Blu-ray players are under $200. No way will I shell out that kind of money for a player and $25+ for a movie. Get bent Sony!