Top 5 Reasons Why Blu-ray Won

[stockstar1138]

5. Superiority in Specs - While many formats that have superior specs have failed for the cheaper, lesser format, it certainly doesn't hurt consumer's perception of the format to know that it is the best around. Somebody looking for the best audio and picture quality went with blu-ray.

4. Advertising - The whole way through, but especially in the final 6 months of the war, blu-ray did a much better job advertising than hd dvd. They advertised to current PS3 owners that yes, their ps3 was in fact a blu-ray player. They advertsised on Sunday afternoon football games and it appears they hit their target audience perfectly as standalone sales took off in december. HD DVD showed very little of this.

3. Studio Support - If people are going to spend a couple hundred on a player they expect to watch all their favorite movies in HD right now. With only having 2 studios that don't support blu-ray it was a much easier to sell to consumers than the format that had 4 studios not supporting their discs.

2. Pricing - Yes, this might come as a shocker to some as this is considered an HD DVD advantage, but I assure you it was not. The higher price of blu-ray allowed CE manufacturers to actually make some money off hardware. This is somethings Toshibas incredlibly low-priced HD DVDs did not allow, so when CE manufacturers had to decide what to make, they chose blu-ray. It would have been a lot harder for Warner to go blu, if Sharp, Samsung, Onkyo, Denon, Venturer, Integra, and many cheap chinese manufacturers had gotten into the game. Toshibas ridiculous prices prevented all of this though. With hardly an CE support HD DVD has fallen on its face, as nobody is their to stick up for it besides Toshiba, and the low priced Toshibas are the reason for this. Retailers also made more money of blu-ray hardware sales too, as they had to sell the Toshiba products very near cost. This encourage certain retilers such as Target and BJs to only support the blu-ray format.

#1 PS3 - Not only did the PS3 put millions of blu-ray players out on the market, it also helped lower the costs. Blu laser diodes came down in price 90% because of the mass production of them for Sony's PS3. This allowed other CE manufactuers to jump on the band wagon, due to cheaper production costs. Mass blu-ray disc production had to occur as PS3 games were selling millions of copies a piece (5 have so far) with many more selling far more than any blu-ray movie has. This allowed for the price of a disc to come down which made it easier to attain better profits for both studios and manufuacuters. The PS3 also vaulted blu-ray movie software sales over HD DVD giving studios even more reason to stick or join blu-ray.

[cajmoyper]

Sweetness. I had no idea about the blue lasers being so cheap now. The PS3 is the greatest thing ever invented.

[glenn22]

I would re-order your list to:

1. PS3
2. Studio Support
3. Superiority in Specs
4. Pricing
5. Advertising

[esteban2]

I'd say the PS3 is reasons 1, 2, 3, while 4 and 5 would be studio support.

studio support was critical during the 9 months when HD-DVD was on the market and BD wasn't. It kept interest in HD-DVD low, so that it didn't build up a huge advantage over BD during that time lag.

[CptGreedle]

You say they are cheap.. and yet....
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/896a/

This blue laser pen uses the same violet laser technology both Blu-ray and HD DVD use. And yet this laser pen is $900! The green ones, which are brighter than red but not as bright as blue, are still around $100+. Red lasers are a dime a dozen, usually only $10 for a red laser pen.

Granted they are not paying $900 for a blu-laser in a blu-ray player, but it gives you an idea of how much more these cost then the red laser that DVDs use... i wonder why green got skipped over completely.

[bluflu]

Here are my top 5 reasons:

1. Superiority in Specs.
2. Superiority in Specs.
3. Superiority in Specs.
4. Superiority in Specs.
5. Superiority in Specs.

[hellmonkey]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

Granted they are not paying $900 for a blu-laser in a blu-ray player, but it gives you an idea of how much more these cost then the red laser that DVDs use... i wonder why green got skipped over completely.

cause green M&Ms kick ass and CEs knew that people would try to eat the lazers thinking they tasted like green M&Ms

[SpikesBluBlooded]

Well written Stockstar!

[esteban2]

Originally Posted by bluflu

Here are my top 5 reasons:

1. Superiority in Specs.
2. Superiority in Specs.
3. Superiority in Specs.
4. Superiority in Specs.
5. Superiority in Specs.

If by specs you mean "copy protection", which was critical to Disney and Fox's decision to be exclusively Blu, then i'd agree.

[Branden]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

5. Superiority in Specs
4. Advertising
3. Studio Support
2. Pricing
#1 PS3

i agree. but let's not forget the internet.
thanks to the internet consumers were/are able to quickly and easily find information regarding the format war and thereby could make their own informed descisions.
during the VHS/Betamax war people essentially had to believe what the potentially biased floor staff at sears told them, unable to make as informed descisions as they could now.
if there were no internet now then all those M$ fanboys working at BB would have surely had a larger influence in how this format war went (or prolonged).

and also the fact that the availablility of porn online prevented porn from becoming a significant influential factor this time around.

[xwingsct]

Definitely the capacity.
Storage is never enough in PC world. the bigger the better.
And that Blu-Ray just sound so cool

[Go Blu]

Cuz we all bought tons of movies?

[PLASMA-1080P-FULLHD]

and u should also add all the CE support except TOSHIBA. SAMSUNG and LG kinda went purple tho


People support is prob the ultimate death blow to DUD. IMO

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by PLASMA-1080P-FULLHD

and u should also add all the CE support except TOSHIBA. SAMSUNG and LG kinda went purple tho


People support is prob the ultimate death blow to DUD. IMO

The LG did not sell well, and the "Samsung" dual format player was made by TSST, which Toshiba has a 51% stake in, so who was really pushing for TSST to do a dual format player, Samsung, or Toshiba, I think it was the later.

[bhuyanp]

1-4:PS3
5:Studio Support

[Neo65]

The combo disks was supposed to be a HD DVD strength. If we can call gluing two shiny disks together a strength. ?!?

In reality from (a) prices to (b) yields to (c) reliablity across players to (d) aesthetics of two shiny sides with no disk art, the combos were just bad execution.

300 is the best title to highlight this problem. Even though the hd dvd disks had more interactivity stuff, it was outsold by the cheaper BD version by more than 2:1 in 2007.

Why did Warner really switch : Look at 300's sales numbers.

[iceman]

CE support?

[Shin-Ra]

6. Blu-ray.com

Originally Posted by Iceman

CE support?

He sortof included that in 2.

[haushausman]

Originally Posted by glenn22

I would re-order your list to:

1. PS3
2. Studio Support
3. Superiority in Specs
4. Pricing
5. Advertising

+1

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by Iceman

CE support?

CE support was only because of the pricing of the players. if told those CEs that they would not turn a dime on BD hardware (like HD hardward) not too many people other than Sony and Pannasonic would have entered the game or stayed in the game (RCA, Onkyo for HD DVD)(

The CEs didn't just magically align themselves behind blu-ray.