General Economic Problems=Slower Adoption rate?

[mtmw1863]

Do you think that deteriorating economic conditions could be a threat to people adopting Blu-ray or even HD in general?

[JTK]

Originally Posted by mtmw1863

Do you think that deteriorating economic conditions could be a threat to people adopting Blu-ray or even HD in general?

Wow, what a loaded question this is.

Obviously I could start off with asking you to be more specific, like "What deteriorating economic conditions and where and what fields and with whom?" and then all of a sudden we're into politics and several other subjects that are not allowed to be discussed on this forum.

The short answer to your question is:

With the "early adopters" buying this stuff now and the crowd of people that typifies "early adopters"?

No, not really.

[mtmw1863]

I work in the mortgage industry. With alot more people having issues with making payments, housing values falling, etc. I wondered if this might have an effect on Blu-ray becoming more mainstream?

I did not mean for it to be politcal (Although I see how it could easily go in that direction). I also did not mean for such a heavy issue for a Sunday. Sorry.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by mtmw1863

I work in the mortgage industry. With alot more people having issues with making payments, housing values falling, etc. I wondered if this might have an effect on Blu-ray becoming more mainstream?

Tough to say. I guess it depends on who is actually being affected in that subprime market right now and who's stuck with bad loans and the rest of it. (I'm WAAAAAY oversimplifying all of this. )

Big picture overall? I could be very unpleasantly shocked, but I doubt that there's going to be any serious effects on eventual HD adoption with BD and the rest of it.

I guess time will ultimately tell the tale.

I did not mean for it to be politcal (Although I see how it could easily go in that direction). I also did not mean for such a heavy issue for a Sunday. Sorry.

It's all good.

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by mtmw1863

I work in the mortgage industry. With alot more people having issues with making payments, housing values falling, etc. I wondered if this might have an effect on Blu-ray becoming more mainstream?

I did not mean for it to be politcal (Although I see how it could easily go in that direction). I also did not mean for such a heavy issue for a Sunday. Sorry.

It definitely shouldn't be political. A very small percentage of folks who relatively recently took out mortgage loans (particularly ones with "teaser" intro rates that subsequently had their interest rates escalate) are having trouble making their higher mortgage payments. Since recently housing prices are not rising as much as they had in the past, some lenders who extended loans to boarderline borrowers (and frequently misled those borrowers) are worried (with good reason) that they may be about to lose money on their loans. And these lenders are looking for a taxpayer "bailout". I personally would vote against any politician who would support such a bailout. But no, the borrowers who may be experiencing such problems making their escalating mortgage payments are likely not candidates for Hi-def purchases anyhow. Maybe some of the lenders are; but that's the breaks in our private enterprise system.

[Jimbo976]

I guess maybe if you assume that everyone lives in the US? Many other countries in the world (including where I live in Canada) are certainly not in any kind of economic downturn.

[ReduxInflux]

i think you may have a point there. and the confusion of the market only heightens the concern. in my opinion, people are holding their money tight, refraining to make a confident investment in an expensive product that has 2 competing formats giving people vhs vs betamax flashbacks. until universal wakes up and goes neutral (hopefully this years 4th quarter lackluster hd-dvd sales and strong relatively strong blu-ray sales will force them to), the hd market will continue to be lethargic... its an uncertain time in all aspects...

[ay221]

After the global economic meltdown, people won't even be buying dvds.

[Deane Johnson]

I think there is something psychological in the air economically, but I can't quite figure out what it is. The economy is reportedly sound, but I don't sense people are thinking a lot about spending on bigger ventures like home theater.

The higher end home theater and automation dealers in my area aren't exactly excited about what's going on.

[ay221]

bump

[Kristin Simard]

Originally Posted by mtmw1863

Do you think that deteriorating economic conditions could be a threat to people adopting Blu-ray or even HD in general?

No, not really. The industry is headed toward total adoption of high definition, so any down-turn in the economy would only slow the general adoption of the new technology, not prevent or stop it.

[Matt X]

Originally Posted by mtmw1863

Do you think that deteriorating economic conditions could be a threat to people adopting Blu-ray or even HD in general?

- as far as starting from scratch (buying all the stuff to fully enjoy HD - Big HDTV, BR player, movies, surround system), I would say yes conditions will affect this (although economic growth in general is actually still healthy, inflation is largely under check, unemployment still low). But if things DO actually "get bad", those that HAVE already adopted have a ready-made, source of entertainment that would be cheaper than "going out" in many cases.