PS3 Expected To Remain The Main Force Behind Blu-ray Sales

[zor]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/PS3...ales,5806.html

All interesting, but here's something that piqued me:

"It is interesting to note that movie studios are bringing their movies much faster to the home video market than ever before. On average DVDs are following the theatrical release with a distance of 126 days, down from 129 in 2006 and down from 171 days just five years ago."

[theprophecy247]

Originally Posted by zor

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/PS3...ales,5806.html

All interesting, but here's something that piqued me:

"It is interesting to note that movie studios are bringing their movies much faster to the home video market than ever before. On average DVDs are following the theatrical release with a distance of 126 days, down from 129 in 2006 and down from 171 days just five years ago."

good stuff man, they need to go even faster lol

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

My hopeless dream will be that theatrical releases will be on BD before it hits the theaters.

[Hedchekr]

Its not suprising that the PS3 is driving Blu-ray sales. I tell everyone I know that the PS3 is one of the cheapest Blu-ray players you can get, its upgradable, has a browser, can stream movie from your pc, and it plays games. It is absolutely the best value you can get. Although I still have one friend who says "I don't play games" . Then don't play them.

[stockstar1138]

tomshardware used to be flaming red, they lost a lot of trust from me, and i really have to question the reliablity of their info on blu-ray.

[Tok]

The PS3 is widely believed to remain the primary driver behind Blu-ray sales, as 87% of PS3 owners said they watch Blu-ray movies on their console. The fact that Microsoft decided not to integrate a HD DVD drive into the Xbox 360Xbox 360 , may have sealed the format’s fate: The EMA said that Microsoft sold 316,000 HD DVD add-ons for the Xbox 360, which is marginal when compared to U.S. PS3 sales, which were close to 3 million by the end at 2007.

Well according to the EMA 87% of PS3 users are using the BD capability. Funny, remember the red ants were trying to convince us that it was 10 to 20%. That 10 to 20% might be people who only use it exclusively as a BD player.

I game and watch on my PS3 with a strong emphasis on BD viewing.

Just more proof that Microsoft and Toshiba had no real answer for the PS3 other than some half baked add-on drive. Add-ons usually fail... anyone remember the SegaCD for the Genesis.

[zor]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

tomshardware used to be flaming red, they lost a lot of trust from me, and i really have to question the reliablity of their info on blu-ray.

U know, I googled it and u seem to be right. After WB defection, they still ran an article saying the war was not quite over and made some questionable presentation decisions (like listing WB in the HD DVD studio support camp with an * mentioning they will discontinue after a certain date -- people who just see the cart won't notice it). If I had to guess, I would guess that either the people that run the site are anti-copy protection fanatics or had advertiser or other financial support from HD DVD associated folks or had personally invested in HD DVD and wanted to protect that with their website's outreach. Only looking at one article, it's hard for me to form a good hypothesis for their past bias. Hopefully nothing remains of it.

[zor]

Originally Posted by CraigW

Well according to the EMA 87% of PS3 users are using the BD capability. Funny, remember the red ants were trying to convince us that it was 10 to 20%. That 10 to 20% might be people who only use it exclusively as a BD player.

I game and watch on my PS3 with a strong emphasis on BD viewing.

What's also funny is the article calls the X-box add ons "useless" and that coincides with a Target clearance for them going at $5.

All those "red ants" ... some were probably paid, others were fanatics, and others probably, understandably and selfishly just wanted to protect their investment by encouraging as many people as possible to do what would win it for them.

I also remember the reds going on about "attach rate" to obfuscate things. I honestly don't understand how any1 could have thought HD DVD would have won when the war began. I remember when picking I just went to wikipedia, read up on the technical details and some other stuff and thought it was pretty clear blu would win ... I put it at around 80-20 odds and that was enough for me. I wonder if all the HD DVD initial adopters were Toshiba and MS employees ... that would be really funny if true

[owa]

Cool, with this news maybe all the studios will eventually use custom icons. At least some of them have started to already.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by zor

What's also funny is the article calls the X-box add ons "useless" and that coincides with a Target clearance for them going at $5.

All those "red ants" ... some were probably paid, others were fanatics, and others probably, understandably and selfishly just wanted to protect their investment by encouraging as many people as possible to do what would win it for them.

I also remember the reds going on about "attach rate" to obfuscate things. I honestly don't understand how any1 could have thought HD DVD would have won when the war began. I remember when picking I just went to wikipedia, read up on the technical details and some other stuff and thought it was pretty clear blu would win ... I put it at around 80-20 odds and that was enough for me. I wonder if all the HD DVD initial adopters were Toshiba and MS employees ... that would be really funny if true

I also wonder if some of these so called tech news site got freebies/swag to promote a certain format. I remember a lot of these sites were promoting a red bias pretty hard after the PS3 was intoduced. Even tech some syndicated tech journalists, like Don Lindich, was pretty adamant that HD DVD was a better bet. Today he is singing the praises of Blu-ray.

I think at Cedia last year right around the time of the Paramount announcement, Toshiba was giving out vouchers for free or $99 players to members of certain websites like hometheaterforum. I am sure this swag was extended to other areas.

What's even funnier sites that tried to be more balanced from the beginning like hometheaterforum were swayed by such a blatant payoff. Just call them as you see them.

I agree with you. All I had to do was look at the raw technical specs to see which one would overall be better at delivering high quality audio and video. I felt BD was a better bet from the beginning also looking at the supporting companies.

The only time I was slightly worried was when Paramount took the payoff, but after the waves calmed it was pretty evident that the only way Toshiba could win it was getting a BD-only studio to switch sides. Thankfully Toshiba had already overextended their reach with artificially low priced players.

[zor]

Originally Posted by CraigW

I also wonder if some of these so called tech news site got freebies/swag to promote a certain format. I remember a lot of these sites were promoting a red bias pretty hard after the PS3 was intoduced. Even tech some syndicated tech journalists, like Don Lindich, was pretty adamant that HD DVD was a better bet. Today he is singing the praises of Blu-ray.

I think at Cedia last year right around the time of the Paramount announcement, Toshiba was giving out vouchers for free or $99 players to members of certain websites like hometheaterforum. I am sure this swag was extended to other areas.

What's even funnier sites that tried to be more balanced from the beginning like hometheaterforum were swayed by such a blatant payoff. Just call them as you see them.

I agree with you. All I had to do was look at the raw technical specs to see which one would overall be better at delivering high quality audio and video. I felt BD was a better bet from the beginning also looking at the supporting companies.

The only time I was slightly worried was when Paramount took the payoff, but after the waves calmed it was pretty evident that the only way Toshiba could win it was getting a BD-only studio to switch sides. Thankfully Toshiba had already overextended their reach with artificially low priced players.

Yes I think I looked at studio support too. I was more worried when there were rumors swinging both ways about WB.

It's interesting that AFAIK, while there were a few individuals who expressed support for Blu-ray against their own associated studio's position (Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay), there were none that did the reverse for HD DVD.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by zor

Yes I think I looked at studio support too. I was more worried when there were rumors swinging both ways about WB.

It's interesting that AFAIK, while there were a few individuals who expressed support for Blu-ray against their own associated studio's position (Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay), there were none that did the reverse for HD DVD.

Agree, I was worried about WB, but when a WB spokesperson was an unofficial guest at the BD convention in October last year, it was starting to become clear that Warner was leaning Blu. Granted his comments may have been to get better leverage on HD DVD, but I think they were waiting for Universal to drop and when Paramount dropped BD and when that did not happen they did what they had to do to end the market confusion. Kind of funny that the first studio to drop support was the last major to release a HD DVD title.

Still I think this whole war was decided by the PS3. Before Sony announced that every PS3 would also play BDs, the studios were evenly split. Within weeks of Sonys announcement, Warner and Paramount were neutral. You have to hand it to Universal and Ken Grafeo, they were the only studio loyal to throughout the war.

I have some orders in for Universal titles to show my support to them for coming to Blu so quickly. Never thought when Warner made their pre-CES announcement that this thing would be over by midyear and ALL of the studios would be producing Blu within 2008.

I also believe that the PS3 created a significant market that Universal could no longer ignore. The PS3 not only caused a quickend to the war, but also caused a quick adoption to BD for ALL studios at the end.

[Bobby Henderson]

When a news article claims PS3 is expected to keep driving Blu-ray sales is merely stating the obvious.

I've talked with people on other forums who think Sony is somehow giving other electronics companies a raw deal by allowing PS3 to practically corner the Blu-ray player market. My opinion is companies like Panasonic, Pioneer, etc. have only themselves to blame for PS3 selling so much better than their Blu-ray players.

It should have been painfully obvious to those companies that they needed to think a little outside of the box in terms of BD player design. Instead, they're still releasing some new players that lack LAN ports, have only Bonus View capability (since it is now mandated) and comparatively slow load times.

I think any Blu-ray player that costs more than a PS3 should outperform the PS3 on Blu-ray playback functions. Right now it doesn't seem like they're doing that at all -and that makes it very difficult to justify those higher prices.

About the only area where I see any standalone BD player beating PS3 is audio output options (DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD bitstream output). But it's a minor difference since PS3 can internally decode both formats and output them in up to 7.1 LPCM.

In order to compete with PS3, electronics companies will either have to dramatically improve the quality of their standalone BD players or get the prices down quite a bit lower. They may even have to do both. The PS3 is just one hell of a device. Electronics companies will have to come up with some innovative ideas in order to offer a compelling alternative to PS3 for Blu-ray playback.

[GORT]

Originally Posted by Hedchekr

Although I still have one friend who says "I don't play games" . Then don't play them.

If you dont play games then why buy a PS3

[Driver_King]

Blu-ray support (best Blu-ray player out now), great media support, online...

[deccyj]

I work at a big electronics store and have sold I think 1 single blu-ray player since I've worked there (9 months).

I just tell everyone the PS3 in undoutbedly the best value & featured Hi-Def player available....Then their children usually pester them for it anyway

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

I think any Blu-ray player that costs more than a PS3 should outperform the PS3 on Blu-ray playback functions. Right now it doesn't seem like they're doing that at all -and that makes it very difficult to justify those higher prices.

Yep. There is only one case were a SA makes sense to me as described below. All the other issues are minor to me (fan "noise") or not big enough deals ( rack mounting, IR remote) to trade off the extra value it provides.

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

About the only area where I see any standalone BD player beating PS3 is audio output options (DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD bitstream output). But it's a minor difference since PS3 can internally decode both formats and output them in up to 7.1 LPCM.

That's fine if you have an HDMI receiver. When the SA's are a bit better value I'll pick one up for the analog outs since the upgrade cost on my receiver is too much. Otherwise I doubt I would consider one.

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

In order to compete with PS3, electronics companies will either have to dramatically improve the quality of their standalone BD players or get the prices down quite a bit lower. They may even have to do both.

Both. Those mfgs that have bigger t.v presence will be able to use bundling to help.

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

The PS3 is just one hell of a device. Electronics companies will have to come up with some innovative ideas in order to offer a compelling alternative to PS3 for Blu-ray playback.

By far the best A/V value to come along in a very long time..the 40gb @ $400 is a ridiculous deal IMO.

A version with a digital amplifier could consolidate Sony's A/V product line considerably...then they could be making Apple type profits ala iPod "consolidation" .. instead of the overhead of having too many products that they have now.

[JadedRaverLA]

This really isn't a surprise. They do predict that in 2009 standalones will obertake PS3 sales, though -- which, given the price cuts standalones should take, makes some sense.

Originally Posted by deccyj

I work at a big electronics store and have sold I think 1 single blu-ray player since I've worked there (9 months).

I just tell everyone the PS3 in undoutbedly the best value & featured Hi-Def player available....Then their children usually pester them for it anyway

Nice work, but you obviously don't work on commission. Video game consoles (with next to no margin) generally are kept in a separate (non-commissioned area) for a reason. I stopped working as a salesperson a few months after the PS3 launched, but I sold a number of Samsung BD-P1000 players before the launch and a few Pioneer, Sony, and Panasonic first gen standalone units shortly before I left that position. The PS3 is great for certain customers... but, as a commission salesperson, the PS3 is a paycheck-killer. And the same holds true for stores, really. That said, I use my PS3 as my primary Blu-ray disc player, and really like it. But it does pose some issues for stores and salespeople.

[BluRay2344]

yup ps3 is going to drives sales cause its the most worthwhile bluray machine there is!

[Entertainment72]

Originally Posted by FEP3108

If you dont play games then why buy a PS3

Until you actually own one you won't even fathom what it can do, the PS3 does sooooo much more than just play games..