Blue Ray is doing a poor marketing job...

[Rowe223]

I've just come back from a visit to HMV (a Canadian music/movie store), Best Buy and Future Shop (a Canadian version of Best Buy) where is seemed reasonably obvious to me that HD was outselling Blue Ray. Let's put aside for a moment that this might be explained by the fact there have been more XBox 360's sold at this point than PS3s (which, unless you're a technophile and have already purchased an HD or Blue Ray player is going to determine which one you buy) and take a look at the movie cases.

The average consumer has absolutely no idea what a blue ray or HD is - therefore when looking for something to play high definition movies they're simply going to go for the box that:
A) Has "HD" printed directly on it, and
B) Has "DVD" printed on it which is familiar - people stick with what they know.

As ugly as it would be, every blue ray case should have "Plays in High Definition!" and "The Next Thing in Movie Viewing!" in big letters across the front. Otherwise you're going to see the Blue Ray go the way of the dodo in the next few years...

[Rowe223]

I've just come back from a visit to HMV (a Canadian music/movie store), Best Buy and Future Shop (a Canadian version of Best Buy) where is seemed reasonably obvious to me that HD was outselling Blue Ray. Let's put aside for a moment that this might be explained by the fact there have been more XBox 360's sold at this point than PS3s (which, unless you're a technophile and have already purchased an HD or Blue Ray player is going to determine which one you buy) and take a look at the movie cases.

The average consumer has absolutely no idea what a blue ray or HD is - therefore when looking for something to play high definition movies they're simply going to go for the box that:
A) Has "HD" printed directly on it, and
B) Has "DVD" printed on it which is familiar - people stick with what they know.

As ugly as it would be, every blue ray case should have "Plays in High Definition!" and "The Next Thing in Movie Viewing!" in big letters across the front. Otherwise you're going to see the Blue Ray go the way of the dodo in the next few years...

[Blue]

It's quite the opposite in Oz (all comments below ONLY refer to Aussie land).
HD-DVD has not yet been released here, but in the BB equivilent stores and the large homewares stores (the ones that sell Beds, washing machines, TV's etc) all have their blu ray displays going (many with multiple dispalys). There are "information" displays explaining blu ray etc. I don't expect to see HD-DVD in these sorts of stores as theses stores don't carry any Toshiba products.

A mass media campaign has not yet started for blu ray (HD TV's they are pushing hard at the moment) but I suspect until they are in position to be able to supply high volumes they will keep a low profile.

I only have a few BD disc's but on the front cover is advertised 1080p / BEYOND HIGH DEFINITION. So they are letting you know. On the wrapper there is sticker stating it will only play on a blu ray player.

The DVD part may actually backfire as if you are unaware of HD and think that the HD-DVD is "Superbit type DVD" you are going to be for a nasty suprise when you drop it in your DVD player at home.

Until both formats move from bleeding edge status, prices will be outragous, supply limited and variety very low and education to masses non existent. I think next year, (as in a day away) will be when this stuff gets legs and starts to run. Bring on 2007.

[Blue]

Have merged the threads into one as they are the same. There is only need to post in one area. Spammers are experts at posting the same snake oil, get rich quick etc or worse still a "fanboy".

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Rowe223

I've just come back from a visit to HMV (a Canadian music/movie store), Best Buy and Future Shop (a Canadian version of Best Buy) where is seemed reasonably obvious to me that HD was outselling Blue Ray.

I'm wondering how you're assessing this difference? My HMV is keeping BD way behind in title counts, and their disc prices are nuts. BB has equal sized sections for BD and HD DVD, and the BD one seems to be depleted faster than the HD DVD. My Future Shop doesn't carry enough discs to warrant a comparison.

There was no real BD sales in Canada until the PS/3 because the Sammy price was so totally rediculous. So, you're looking at the difference between eight months and one month of people willing to purchase in significant numbers.

Gary

[Petra]

BDA focuses their marketing on the U.S market. In the U.S you will see B&M stores having BR players with end-caps/demo/presentation areas.

[jorg]

its true i haven't seen one add for blu-ray other then in some magizens but with hd dvd its all over the malls in canada

[Petra]

Originally Posted by jorg

its true i haven't seen one add for blu-ray other then in some magizens but with hd dvd its all over the malls in canada

a couple of weeks ago, Toshiba set up a small stand in the ground level of Eaton mall in Toronto. But that was really a moot point, since a few steps away, there is a Sony store with all of its BRAVIA glory

[view-it-blu]

You would think that companys that were trying to apeal to a highend customer market would have HIGHEND AUDIO for their product!!
(DTS HD, ES, or 7.1)
You cant watch a Universal movie, pick up a Sound and Vision magazine with out being overwhelmed with the wanna be "sigh and sound of perfection".

[blitz6speed]

I visited Frys and Best Buy today for various items and i can tell you that wherever i went, Blu-Ray was EVERYWHERE. At frys, they had a very high end sony LCD (i think 60", was gorgeous) with a sony blu-ray player playing Ultraviolet. Looked absolutely stunning. As we were watching, groups of others came and stared with a lot of "that looks so amazing" "look at how the colors are popping off of the screen", etc etc. They also had a Samsung display 2 isles down but it wasnt getting as much attention as the sony setup.

Best buy had the same 2 combo, Sony LCD + BD player playing a demo disc with scenes from Ice Age 2 and a few other flicks. Looked stunning of course. They had a Samsung end cap prominently displayed as well, and i didnt even notice it till i saw a crowd of people watching it and then realised its a blu-ray display again. Pop into magnolia, Pioneer Elite with the Pioneer Blu-Ray player playing Superman Returns.

I didnt see HD-DVD players anywhere. No signs. No end caps. Nothing. If you didnt know that the discs with red cases were HD-DVD, you'd have no clue a competing format even exists. I also saw a guy grabbing The Descent at frys on BD. I asked him what player he had, and he proudly answered he has a PS3 and absolutely adores blu-ray. Hes purchased 15 titles so far and has no plans to slow down anytime soon. I asked him where he bought them all, and no shock, from frys.

From what i experienced today, it just concludes one thing to me. HD-DVD lives and breathes on AVS Forum. It has no entity in the real world. As far as everyone is concerned outside of the forums, there is no war.

Anyway, thats my 2 cents.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by blitz6speed

I didnt see HD-DVD players anywhere. No signs. No end caps. Nothing. If you didnt know that the discs with red cases were HD-DVD, you'd have no clue a competing format even exists. I also saw a guy grabbing The Descent at frys on BD. I asked him what player he had, and he proudly answered he has a PS3 and absolutely adores blu-ray. Hes purchased 15 titles so far and has no plans to slow down anytime soon. I asked him where he bought them all, and no shock, from frys.

I recently noticed my local best buy has done the same.

They had the HD-DVD endcap and display unit up for about 2 monthes or so before the BluRay unit came in, then they had a competiting display set [right next to each other]. And just recently when I went shopping after buying my PS3 [muwahaha], I noticed that they now just had two Blu-Ray endcaps [why they'd feel the need to compare/contrast the Sony player and the Samsung, I dunno].

[BLu-Balls]

I agree with the most of you in regards to the marketing stand point. However, what is the real piss-off, is the fact that the majority of the stores hear in Canada have staff who know virtually nothing of the two formats. Musicworld staff didn't even know that HD or BD existed. Another are overpriced stores that stock both formats such as, HMV and Starstruck. Businesses like these are dragging sales down for BD and HD. They are not placing the product in a visable location and are overpricing their stock because there is no turnover. $49.99 for World Trade Centre?!?! We all know of the different costs for titles with different studios. At this moment the only places to purchase BD titles for me are BB, Futureshop and Walmart.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by view-it-blu

You would think that companys that were trying to apeal to a highend customer market would have HIGHEND AUDIO for their product!!
(DTS HD, ES, or 7.1)
You cant watch a Universal movie, pick up a Sound and Vision magazine with out being overwhelmed with the wanna be "sigh and sound of perfection".

I think the "highend" customer (and many mid range) couldn't care less what decoders are in the player, but what decoders are in the receiver (and getting the signal between the two) - or should that be the headend amp. If naming one particular magazine, I would take what they have to say with a grain of salt (actually less). Any magazine that wants to have some semblance of objectivity should not allow part of their website to be proudly sponsored by... advertising in a Mag can sway articles, but sponsorship!
Actually lossless PCM comfortably fits into the category of High end sound, so many (if not all) meet that criteria.

[view-it-blu]

Originally Posted by Blue

I think the "highend" customer (and many mid range) couldn't care less what decoders are in the player, but what decoders are in the receiver (and getting the signal between the two) - or should that be the headend amp. If naming one particular magazine, I would take what they have to say with a grain of salt (actually less). Any magazine that wants to have some semblance of objectivity should not allow part of their website to be proudly sponsored by... advertising in a Mag can sway articles, but sponsorship!
Actually lossless PCM comfortably fits into the category of High end sound, so many (if not all) meet that criteria.

retract the claws their tiger. the topic was was marketing. lossless PCM can not even come close to the real theater experience. 8 channel is the entry level for your local theater to be ( DTS SDDS DOLBY DIGITAL ) . with BLU-RAY 7.1 home theater is just that a theater at HOME !

[Blu-Light]

I see some more HD-DVD hacks have found their way to this forum.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by view-it-blu

lossless PCM can not even come close to the real theater experience.

Huh?

Lossless and LPCM can encode the exact same (to the bit) audio source as available in the theater. The venue itself would be the differentiator, not the audio encoding technology.

I can see why you might argue that a HT can't come close to the real theater experience. But, that isn't what you said.

Gary

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by view-it-blu

retract the claws their tiger. the topic was was marketing. lossless PCM can not even come close to the real theater experience. 8 channel is the entry level for your local theater to be ( DTS SDDS DOLBY DIGITAL ) . with BLU-RAY 7.1 home theater is just that a theater at HOME !

What are you saying there? That lossless PCM in a Blu-ray is worse than a movie theater sound? Or that you have a movie theater sound now, at home? Isn't theatrical DD, DTS and SDDS, compressed, therefore worse than lossless 7.1? Please clarify. Your post seems a little bit confusing


(btw SDDS is 7.1, but in a 5 front, 2 surrounds arrangement, which I actually prefer to the 3 front 4 surround of 7.1 receivers)

[view-it-blu]

Originally Posted by Blu-Light

I see some more HD-DVD hacks have found their way to this forum.

if i am upset with Blu-ray what makes you think i am happy with the short bus version!

[view-it-blu]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

What are you saying there? That lossless PCM in a Blu-ray is worse than a movie theater sound? Or that you have a movie theater sound now, at home? Isn't theatrical DD, DTS and SDDS, compressed, therefore worse than lossless 7.1? Please clarify. Your post seems a little bit confusing


(btw SDDS is 7.1, but in a 5 front, 2 surrounds arrangement, which I actually prefer to the 3 front 4 surround of 7.1 receivers)

pcm is up for debate
7.1 3 front 2 surround 2 rear surround
7.1 was the promise of DTS-HD & DOLBY TRUE
SDDS is a theater digital sound system it stands for SONY dynamic digital sound
sorry if this was confusing.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by view-it-blu

pcm is up for debate

What exactly about PCM is up for debate?

SDDS is a theater digital sound system it stands for SONY dynamic digital sound

I think most people on here know this, and, believe me, if anyone here knows this, Deci does, but, what's your point again? Sorry, just trying to clarify again.

sorry if this was confusing.

Maybe it's just me, but I for one am losing what exactly the point is you are trying to make about these sound formats.