The battle is on so many fronts, but...

[br85]

So I just realised the amount of obstacles blu-ray had to overcome to get mass adoption, and all of the things it has to fight against. It's quite a bit:

1. HD-DVD is a fairly similar format looking to do the same thing (although it is clearly an inferior product)

2. All of the studios HD DVD is supporting. Yes, this is a separate point because even if both formats had full studio backing, there would still be two formats, and that causes consumer hesitation

3. SD-DVD already has mass adoption, and continues to please most people. And more importantly, you can get EVERYTHING on SD DVD. Not so with the new formats =(

4. And most important of all, homes without HDTVs. There are still millions of people who don't have HDTVs that can afford them and do watch a ton of TV and movies. NONE of these people are going to buy into HDM until this changes.

But Blu-ray does have a major 1-up in all of this.

I'm sure that most of you realise that this is not a war for the average person's TV, but for the increasing number of people with HD flat panels and/or Home theatres. This number might one day be as high as 30-60% of homes that have TVs, and as a result, SD DVD is probably going to be around for a LONG time.

HOWEVER, at the moment, only those that can afford the outly for HD panels are even considering buying into a HDM format, and because of this, any comparison to previous format wars is rather silly. In the past, price has played a big part because everyone who had a TV wanted to enhance their experience in a major way (VHS it was being able to watch recorded material, DVD it was being able to scene skip and not have their discs corrode or stretch like tape does).

But the HDM is not for everybody, it's for the top echelon of TV owners, who generally tend to want to have the highest quality stuff to "keep up with the Jones's", or just for plain bragging rights. Blu-Ray has a win here, because it is exactly that product. We are not trying to get into J6P's house just yet, because J6P doesn't have a HD set yet. It is the more affluent that buy into the format war, and will be for quite some time.

NOBODY that has a $10k+ Home theatre system is going to buy a $99 ANYTHING for it, they are likely to spend nearly twice that on an HDMI cable. I don't think we need to worry. And, outside of the U.S., Blu-Ray is pwning. Absolutely Pwning.

I Do Blu

[haushausman]

I haven't been worried since hearing the numbers world-wide. Blu-ray sales in Japan are 9:1, and whatever they do with electronics the rest of the world follows (eventually).

[br85]

Originally Posted by haushausman

I haven't been worried since hearing the numbers world-wide. Blu-ray sales in Japan are 9:1, and whatever they do with electronics the rest of the world follows (eventually).

Yeah except minidisc, but that's because the world is dumb. Minidisc was/is an awesome idea. I still see the occasional MD in australia. Then again, it might be cause there's so many Japanese people here XD

[mystiksuicide]

Blu should focus on one important factor and that is that over 90% of the households still dont have a next generation player. That is the market they should be focused on. Blu needs to get more of they're energy educating new consumers of the advantages of blu. Disney by the way hit it right on the head with they're Blu-Ray tour

The hell with HD DVD they will be a blip on the page of forgotten gadgets in a year or so.

[venusiansky]

Originally Posted by br85

Yeah except minidisc, but that's because the world is dumb. Minidisc was/is an awesome idea. I still see the occasional MD in australia. Then again, it might be cause there's so many Japanese people here XD

Minidisc was a great product, but the world was not dumb for not buying into it. Why pay more for something simply because it is slightly smaller? The quality was the same, as far as I know. If the price of the audio discs and players were the same as standard CD's, it would of had a chance.

[br85]

Originally Posted by venusiansky

Minidisc was a great product, but the world was not dumb for not buying into it. Why pay more for something simply because it is slightly smaller? The quality was the same, as far as I know. If the price of the audio discs and players were the same as standard CD's, it would of had a chance.

It was more the convinience factor. Minidisc was around long before mp3 players. Why pay more?

1. Only music device that could fit in your pocket while you listened to it.
2. Couldn't be scratched like cd's (they have that case around them)

And since there was clearly a demand for such things (ala the ipod years later) I think the world just didn't "get it". It was really a wonderful idea.

[br85]

Originally Posted by mystiksuicide

Blu should focus on one important factor and that is that over 90% of the households still dont have a next generation player.-

But, more importantly, getting HD panels into many of those households in the first place. People with lowdef TV's have NO reason to go blu =(

[Beta-guy]

we shouldn't be focussing on the 9:1 sales in Japan, we should be focussed on the 2:1 sales in North America, here why if we only see the positive side the downside never get looked after, Toshiba's firesale hurt, I've seen watching the Product wars website, and saw this...



I'm doing some serious thinking about heading out to do some shopping for BD, but I can only buy 1 or 2 BD's I hope something big happens for BD soon to counteract the HD-DVD sales. I firmly believe if we see the worst for what it is we can correct the situation in favor of BD.

[Farscape1]

Originally Posted by Beta-guy

we shouldn't be focussing on the 9:1 sales in Japan, we should be focussed on the 2:1 sales in North America, here why if we only see the positive side the downside never get looked after, Toshiba's firesale hurt, I've seen watching the Product wars website, and saw this...



I'm doing some serious thinking about heading out to do some shopping for BD, but I can only buy 1 or 2 BD's I hope something big happens for BD soon to counteract the HD-DVD sales. I firmly believe if we see the worst for what it is we can correct the situation in favor of BD.

True, but what the hell is that graph? Number of players of numbers of media sold? If I where Sony I would package a Blu-Ray player with every fricking TV sold, just jack the price of the TV up a tad to make up for total losses. They are already doing this with there LCDs and PS3s, which is a great idea. Now market down there S-300 and create a fire sale of there own and have other manufactures do some thing similar along with having another BOGO free sale soon.... This Christmas the big guns better come out other wise we will be in neutral land for some time to come.