Has Blue Ray Failed?
I have just forked out and bought a Blue ray player (Panasonic). The picture is astounding, better than Sky HD.
However I wonder if the public have voted with their feet and decided DVD is good enough, especially with a good up scaling player.
The reason I say this is due to the lack of discs in shops. WH Smith have none on their shelves neither do the major Supermarkets. Specialist retailers such as HMV devote very little shelf space to Blue ray, so the only good sources are internet sites.
Is it that the retailers are not interested, or is it lack of public demand that so few discs are on sale. This would not be the first time a format has failed, remember DVD-Audio and SACD?
I don't think it has failed but agree with you. I spent a fortune on a new Tv and blu ray player but was left disappointed, as my DVD's looked very good. I think if the cost of Blu rays drops then it may be more successful. A recent film i wanted was £3 on a Dvd and £12 for a blu ray copy, which seemed absurd. The PQ is better on blu ray but the cost doesn't justify it.
Walking through HMV in Croydon the other day, I was actually quite surprised at how many Blu-Rays were present there, and at reasonable prices now as well (reasonable for a high street shop anyway in that they were between £10 - £15 on the ones on special offer instead of £25 - £30. Still much cheaper online though).
So I think the tide is beginning to turn now that players can be found under £100.
chudleighpaul:The reason I say this is due to the lack of discs in shops. WH Smith have none on their shelves neither do the major Supermarkets. Specialist retailers such as HMV devote very little shelf space to Blue ray, so the only good sources are internet sites.
Well my local Tesco has about 60 titles on the shelves. Local Sainsbury and Morrisons about 15 titles a piece.
From Amazon:
* DVD (320,261)
* Blu-ray (5,233)
* HD DVD (864)
* UMD (1,921)
* VHS (78,62
So VHS is the second most popular format !!!!
laserman16:
chudleighpaul:The reason I say this is due to the lack of discs in shops. WH Smith have none on their shelves neither do the major Supermarkets. Specialist retailers such as HMV devote very little shelf space to Blue ray, so the only good sources are internet sites.
Well my local Tesco has about 60 titles on the shelves. Local Sainsbury and Morrisons about 15 titles a piece.
My local Sainsbury has an entire aisle with a couple of hundred titles, and half of them are in a 2 for £20 deal.
JohnDuncan:From Amazon: * DVD (320,261) * Blu-ray (5,233) * HD DVD (864) * UMD (1,921) * VHS (78,62
That must be a typo, 78k VHS
Is this for older titles, surely studios dont bring out new movies on VHS?
To be honest hd dvd seemed to get it's act together alot quicker than blu ray but I do love blu ray, the moment pioneer jumped on board there was only one way I would go.
staggerlee:So VHS is the second most popular format !!!!
that is laughable! I didn't even know WHS did DVDs, let alone Bluray.
staggerlee:So VHS is the second most popular format !!!!
that is laughable! I didn't even know WHS did DVDs, let alone Bluray.
The Shelf space in HMV given over to Blue ray is very small compared to DVD. If you are not near an HMV shop you are left with the Supermarkets and WH Smith who appear not be interested.
Impulse buys make up a large proportion of disc sales and if the only option available is DVD then DVD it is. The average Joe Public goes to the supermarket and decides he wants to see a movie that night, then the internet is a non starter so he buys the DVD. I agree that the cost of players has come down which may help, but the discs have to be widely available, which at the moment they are not.
What may help is that multi region players are now available. Early buyers into DVD had multi region players and imported large numbers of discs, because of the extortionate prices charged for region 2 discs. Until recently to buy into Blue ray meant that unless 2 players were used a lot of your region 1 discs could not be played.
Do you live in London, or elsewhere? I think there's lots of focus on Blu-Ray in the HMVs that I visit regularly.
JohnDuncan:From Amazon: * DVD (320,261) * Blu-ray (5,233) * HD DVD (864) * UMD (1,921) * VHS (78,62
Crikey, didnt realise there were anything like that number of PSP discs
You have to remember it's still a young format - Blu-Ray is doing much better than DVD was at the same stage. I don't think you can judge whether the format will have succeeded or failed for another couple of years yet. Once the players are available for £50 - £100 in the supermarket, more people will buy them, and then the number of available discs will increase as demand increases.
I'm not saying Blu-Ray will definitely succeed, I recognise a lot of people may not bother if they think DVD is good enough (as you point out, that's certainly how it's worked in the music formats), but I think it's still too early to write it off.
I disagree.
They have tons in HMV, and every disc I wanted and looked for, I have found on-line, and the price is coming down as well, the only disc I really want is saving private ryan, but soon to follow this year. They were what ? £40.00 when they first came out, now you can get them for as little as 3.00 - 4.00 pounds
I dont think 3D tv will take off as much as games, so I think blu-ray will continue to grow. until Super HD comes out years down the road,
But PS3 will update this
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