Report: " Only 14 percent use consoles for movies"

[JTK]

Another random think tank focus group came up with this:

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/show_...stnews;title;2

http://www.thediffusiongroup.com/The...-Uncertain.htm

Latest research shows that although most consoles are capable of playing DVDs or downloading movies from the Internet, gamers just don't seem to be interested.

A new report released today from Dallas-based think tank The Diffusion Group "On The Use of Game Consoles for Movie Viewing" shows that 80 percent of consoles in households can play DVDs, or have the ability to download and watch films from the net. However, only 30 percent of those surveyedwere aware that their console could play movies, and less than half of those--some 13 percent--had actually done so. Of this 13 percent, three quarters used the console only for playing back a DVD disc, and the remaining quarter also purchasing or renting movies online.

For those who own consoles connected to the Internet, watching films or TV shows online proved to be a little more popular, with 42 percent having used their console at some point to do this.

The report's author, Dale Gilliam III, commented, "Today's next-generation games consoles such as the Xbox 360 or Sony PlayStation 3 are true digital multimedia powerhouses. Yet very few of these devices are connected to the Internet and, even though these same platforms may feature a high-definition DVD playback system, very few consumers are using them for non-gaming media applications."

This would seem to conflict with Microsoft's own statistics, which recently reported that six million people had signed up for Xbox Live accounts.

The report criticised the lack of consumer awareness that consoles were also multimedia players. It stated, " demonstrates how poorly many consumers understand the capabilities of today's game consoles and a major barrier to persuading consumers to start using these platforms for non-gaming media consumption."

I have a hard time believing the percentage is that low myself, but whatever.

[jorg]

still 13% of 4 million ps3s? thats like what 4 hundred thousand

[jermwhl]

This doesn't indicate whether these are PS3 only stats. And it doesn't say BD vs. HD-DVD, it only says DVD. So we're talking about all consoles....PS2, Xbox, 360, and PS3 playing DVD's.

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Originally Posted by jermwhl

This doesn't indicate whether these are PS3 only stats. And it doesn't say BD vs. HD-DVD, it only says DVD. So we're talking about all consoles....PS2, Xbox, 360, and PS3 playing DVD's.

Actually I think it is pretty clear in the tone that they are talking about all gaming consoles. This research is not specific to HD capable consoles.

[atomik kinder]

Then who is buying all of those Blu-ray movies? I think this pertains to all systems, since they also mentioned Microsoft. I know when I had a PS2, I really didn't use it for playing DVDs. I already had a DVD player. and you know most of the 360 owners don't have the HD-DVD add on.

[RichiPuppy]

yeap, and I am sure that of playstation 3 owners, more then 30% know it has a bd player.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by jorg

still 13% of 4 million ps3s? thats like what 4 hundred thousand

thats exactly what they want you to think oh we've asked everyone with ps3's what they use it for. I know I have 2 and I didnt get asked any questions probly the same as alotta people did, all the did is use a couple hundred people some of which may be bias and not even like it, that doesnt mean anything


thats a poll it probly says 13% of the 200-1000(if they were lucky) who filled it out, it means zero....

[supersix4]

if you read the second link it says THIS SURVEY was based on 2,000 peopleLMAO I never realized that 2000 ps3's is the same as 4 million+ the survey should say when we asked 2000 people what they used there console for 14% said to watch movies who really cares about 14% of 2000 people

[babyBlu]

Originally Posted by supersix14

if you read the second link it says THIS SURVEY was based on 2,000 peopleLMAO I never realized that 2000 ps3's is the same as 4 million+

I know...Wow, what a thorough analysis. And out of those 2000 people, probably 10 were PS3 owners. No conclusions can be drawn from such a small sample. These are probably the same idiots who work for Toshiba and spewing out such crap analysis that we are constantly forced to hear, based on little research.

[Steverhcp02]

Originally Posted by supersix14

if you read the second link it says THIS SURVEY was based on 2,000 people LMAO I never realized that 2000 ps3's is the same as 4 million+ the survey should say when we asked 2000 people what they used there console for 14% said to watch movies who really cares about 14% of 2000 people

Take a stats class....its not how many they interviewed its how they conducted the interview.....2000 is a large enough amount to get a possible +/-3 or 4 % error if conducted randomly nation wide via yes/no answers without loaded questions.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by supersix14

if you read the second link it says THIS SURVEY was based on 2,000 peopleLMAO I never realized that 2000 ps3's is the same as 4 million+ the survey should say when we asked 2000 people what they used there console for 14% said to watch movies who really cares about 14% of 2000 people

2000 fairly selected individuals is a good sample size for that market actually.

Now the issue is if they were fairly selected or not, which is more a critique on the surveying organization, to which I'm not capable of responding.

Originally Posted by babyBlu

2000 people is not a large enough sample, no matter how random the sample is. The total population of "gaming consoles" is too large for a sample base of 2000 to be any where close to a +/- 3-4% error.

Not to brag, but I took classes like Quantum Physics and Thermodynamics in college, which involved a high amount of statistical analysis. The research in this article holds no credence.

Statistical analysis is not scopes and measures, forunately [for both halves]. 2000 is a reasonable sample size. The 2,000 sample size is about what Gallup used for their immediate history samplings.

And for some odd reason, I suspect that the number of gamers in the US is less than or equal to the number of people in the US .

[ Add / Edit ]
And the post updated... They are refering solely to DVD playback. Which isn't surprising at all. Aside from the PS3 and 360, consoles aren't upscaling movies. And even the first gen PS2s weren't outputting progressive. However, consider, in 7 years, how many people are going to be using their ps3 for blu-ray playback. It'll be a larger number than that 14%, but prolly not as large as the current rate.

[babyBlu]

Originally Posted by JTK

I have a hard time believing the percentage is that low myself, but whatever.

I agree, but this is for "all" systems. The PS3 "pool" is relatively small compared to the PS2, which I never used to play dvds, but was aware that it could. I'm curious what was the sample of people they polled. If they polled more PS3 owners, I bet the % would be higher.

The type of person who drops $600 for a PS3 knows its capabilities, I think. My guess would be that 20-30% of PS3 owners use it as a bd player, or at least a dvd player, and 100% of PS3 owners know that it can at least play dvds.

I can understand new PS2 owners not knowing that it plays dvds. Now at such a low price, it attracts more of the "average" consumer who may just think of it as a gaming system.

[matthewrounds]

Originally Posted by babyBlu

The type of person who drops $600 for a PS3 knows its capabilities, I think. My guess would be that 20-30% of PS3 owners use it as a bd player, or at least a dvd player, and 100% of PS3 owners know that it can at least play dvds.

You would think this is true, but my dad thought it only plays BD. Now my dad is a pretty smart guy, engineer, just uninformed. I bet there are more out there who don't know that it will play DVD's

[k20king]

I have 54 BD Movies and 3 games.

I originally bought the PS3 for the movies!

As long as Blu Ray Wins!

[Steverhcp02]

6.4 million 360 users
1.5 million PS3 owners
44.5 million ps2 owners
15.5 million xbox users

67.9 million total consoles in the USA able to play DVD movies.

just under 9 million are used for DVD playback. That seems pretty accurate to me because of the penetration of the xbox and PS2 you have to take into account that these are NOT being used as DVD players simply because DVD players are so cheap now people just have standalones and timmy just plays his PS2.

You guys always fail to realize that these surveys reach out beyond the web surfing type like us, WE are the ones in the minority and its a tiny tiny tiny minority especially when considerind that 44.5 million of the 67.0 million consoles are PS2's which ONLY play DVD movies thus almost rendering them useless when families dont have their kids playing their PS2 on the family room TV, trust me, this survey is not very outlandish.

[babyBlu]

Originally Posted by Steverhcp02

67.9 million total consoles in the USA able to play DVD movies.

sample of 2000 out of 67.9 million people equals 0.0029% of the population sampled. I've never owned an xbox but doesn't that need some kind of add-on to play dvds. That should be factored in as well. I don't think the xbox should count since "out of the box" it isn't capable of playing dvds. Including the xbox skews the numbers lower than they really are.

I agree with smiley, I too would like to see the breakdown by system.

[supersix4]

thats what im saying they didnt offer up very much info compared to other better polls i've seen conducted, it really gets to me that people do this also in political aspects of surveys ... you wanna do a poll, fine but make it mean something really invest.