Consumers delaying blu purchases

[stockstar1138]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...7%7D&dist=hppr

didn't see this anywhere, good read, discuss.

[dpomp]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...7%7D&dist=hppr

didn't see this anywhere, good read, discuss.

{checks link info before clicking}

[JasonS]

Well that's pretty obvious. You can't find a full profile decent player on the market for under $400.00 and many CE's are still releasing players this fall at $600 - $800. I consider myself to be a big techie and always an early adopter but if it wasn't for the PS3 I wouldn't even be into Blu-ray yet for those prices.

[Y3k Bug]

Well it's interesting...I don't like the vagueness of "over half of the 1000 respondents". Does that mean 51%, 59%? I have to assume (dangerous I know) that if it was 60% or higher they would have said something other than "over half".

Sounds like pretty decent numbers actually. Although not directly stated, it implies somewhere between 18% - 26% are planning to buy one this year, and then another 23% in the next year. That's right around 50% (give or take) planning to buy within 18 months.

Not too shabby.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by Y3k Bug

Well it's interesting...I don't like the vagueness of "over half of the 1000 respondents". .

Excellent point. Media is always the harbinger of doom..... it sells better than happy, feel-good stories.

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by dpompeo

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[prerich]

Originally Posted by JasonS

Well that's pretty obvious. You can't find a full profile decent player on the market for under $400.00 and many CE's are still releasing players this fall at $600 - $800. I consider myself to be a big techie and always an early adopter but if it wasn't for the PS3 I wouldn't even be into Blu-ray yet for those prices.

If you have a modern PC you can have a full profile player for under $200.00

[nick1091]

One thing I thought was telling in the article was the below quote:

over half of the 1000 respondents, citing "other priorities," say they have no plans to purchase one

Now, I'm shooting in the dark without knowing the scope or options those polled were given, but the fact of the matter is that with high gas prices and the perception of being in the midst of an economic slump, consumers as a whole are more cautious with how they spend their discretionary income. This effects all sorts of things from travel, eating out, home improvement, etc., and most certainly consumer electronics. I'd imagine that if this poll was about GPS systems, iPods (with the exception of the actual iPhone), or home computers, you'd probably get a similar response.

If anything, the fact that "unreasonable pricing," or "little value to upgrade" was not the prevailing reason not to purchase should actually be taken as a good sign. People know and want Blu-Ray players, they are just awaiting an economic upswing or more affordable players prior to plunging in.

[Bobby Henderson]

It's another phony baloney "FUD" article.

Most people interested in buying into Blu-ray are continuing to buy the only Blu-ray player worth a damn: Playstation 3.

Now whose fault is that? Sony? I don't think so.

No one has been twisting the arms of engineers and marketing types at Panasonic, Pioneer, LG, Samsung and more to keep making stupidly limited players based on a product strategy 1 or 2 years out of date. Yet plenty of doofus idiots at said named companies are doing just that.

These companies are going through the motions gambling on the idea that "serious movie fans" will avoid buying a toy game console (Playstation 3) and go with their slow to be developed half-assed products.

I think the writer of this news article needs to look at PS3 sales, which have been rather good in recent months. The general public isn't stupid. Many in the public who are into home theater know fully well PS3 is by far the best value per dollar spent on entering the Blu-ray market. Standalone players have a gigantic amount of ground to make up in order to compete with PS3. Right now, standalone Blu-ray players suck incredibly bad compared to PS3 -especially in regard to the higher prices they command for the vastly limited, inferior feature set.

[syncguy]

Hardware prices are an issue for blu-ray sales. I expect blu-ray players will follow HDTV sales. Perhaps some encouragement is needed to bundle blu-ray players to HDTVs. Of course the prices should be right. At the moment the player prices are in the high-side.

Also it is very important to have day and date release of blu-ray with DVD. Otherwise it will be a really frustrating experience for anyone going for blu-ray. If blu-ray can be released a week or two prior to DVD release, it will be a huge push for blu-ray sales.

[blu-boy]

The slow adoption of blu ray & high definition into most homes doesnt bother me in the slightest. Regardless of whether the public adopt is sooner or later doesnt really matter to us blu fans, nor should it worry us. High Def is here to stay.

[allstar780]

Consumers Dont Know What They Want!!! We Have To Cram It Down Their Throats And Tell Them They Like It!!!

[aviman33]

Most people won't buy Blu-Ray until their DVD player breaks and the BD players price is close to that of a DVD player.

[aviman33]

Originally Posted by allstar780

Consumers Dont Know What They Want!!! We Have To Cram It Down Their Throats And Tell Them They Like It!!!

Consumers know very well what they want, and HD isn't high on their list. If on their list at all. I don't get you guys with the "if they see it, they'll love it" mentality. They might love it, and tell all their friends about your system. But to them it's frivolous and not worth the cost.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by allstar780

Consumers Dont Know What They Want!!! We Have To Cram It Down Their Throats And Tell Them They Like It!!!

Yeah. See how well that worked for HD DVD?

We need to stop crying like little girls about the price of blu-ray. The only good thing which came from the format war was the great deals we were getting.

Price comes down in time. Besides, do we really want to virtually devaule the price of DVD overnight? That would piss off more consumers than it would make happy.

Patience is indeed a virtue. Now let's get over ourselves.

[Bobby Henderson]

I also have to chime in too on the whiny price complaints.

Look at the value of the U.S. Dollar. One dollar in 2008 value is worth only about 2/3 the value the dollar held in 1999. And back then, most DVDs were priced well over $20. The equivalent of that value would be over $30 in today's value. Even when The Matrix was released on DVD at an astonishing sub-$15 price, that price now would be over $20 in today's dollars.

People also need to shop around. They have only themselves to blame if they impulse buy a BD at Sam Goody's or FYE for full MSRP. The front page of this web site usually has links to BD bargains at Amazon.com.

Not every movie on Blu-ray costs $30 or more. I've been buying most of mine from Amazon and often paying under $20 for them. I've also bought some Blu-ray discs at stores like Wal-Mart or Best Buy when certain movies had pricing specials on them. I bought The Departed and Crimson Tide on Blu-ray at Best Buy for $15 each. Those are cheap prices for good discs.

Originally Posted by aviman33

Consumers know very well what they want, and HD isn't high on their list. If on their list at all. I don't get you guys with the "if they see it, they'll love it" mentality. They might love it, and tell all their friends about your system. But to them it's frivolous and not worth the cost.

If that sentiment was actually true then this web site and others relating to HD-quality entertainment wouldn't even exist. I wouldn't be seeing the major upgrades taking place for my satellite TV service. The Blu-ray format itself wouldn't be trending upwards in sales rates either.

[Seeking_Alpha]

Originally Posted by dpompeo

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[aviman33]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

If that sentiment was actually true then this web site and others relating to HD-quality entertainment wouldn't even exist. I wouldn't be seeing the major upgrades taking place for my satellite TV service. The Blu-ray format itself wouldn't be trending upwards in sales rates either.

Because we are the lunatic fringe. We are the few who really appreciate the experience of quality audio and video reproduction. I'm not a whiner, I'm just a realist.

[ThePhantomOak]

Originally Posted by Y3k Bug

Well it's interesting...I don't like the vagueness of "over half of the 1000 respondents". Does that mean 51%, 59%? I have to assume (dangerous I know) that if it was 60% or higher they would have said something other than "over half".

Sounds like pretty decent numbers actually. Although not directly stated, it implies somewhere between 18% - 26% are planning to buy one this year, and then another 23% in the next year. That's right around 50% (give or take) planning to buy within 18 months.

Not too shabby.

This might help if you really care to know.
http://www.abiresearch.com/products/...ket_Update/115

[fighthefutureofhd]

very true. and think about what will happen when the masses do adopt blu-ray. will the quality stay or will it actually go down. let's face the reality of it all. the masses don't give a crap about quality video and auido, pq, and all that stuff. they just want to watch the movie. they don't care about anything else. i got a bad feeling that if blu-ray goes to the masses it will at the expense of quality that many are already complaining about with releases like speed racer.