Blu-ray in France: a bright future

[Malik]

Hi everybody,

Im new here. I live in France and I strongly support Blue Ray because it is simply the best HD technology. I have read some of the threads and I can assure you that here in France HD Discs sales are about 80:20 in favor of Blue Ray.

And to answer some of your questions about how HD DVD sales increased a little bit before christmas I can assure you that is only about people being unaware that HD DVD is not a DVD that can be played by a DVD player. For example I bought a BD player for my parents for Christmas (Sharp). Of course they were very happy with it and my mother went to a shop in Paris to buy HD discs and when she came back she had bought HD DVDs instead of Blue Ray Discs. She even thought that HD DVDs could be played by a recent DVD player. So my mom didn't understand that Blue Ray is not HD DVD and that HD DVD is not a simple DVD that can display HD picture quality. So I had to explain her everything about HD technology and tell her that from now on she had to buy only Blue ray Dics and not HD DVD.

But she is not the only one doing the same mistake. On wednesday the 26th I went to a shop to buy some Blue Ray Discs. There was a woman complaining about the fact that his DVD player couldn't play the DVDs she bought for Christmas. Actually she bought HD DVDs. She was completely angry. Then I told her that HD DVD is diffrent from DVD and that a DVD player can't play a HD DVD. You know what she said lol... She answered me that her DVD player was the latest DVD player I could ever find in a shop lol. So it means that many people misunderstand the difference between HD DVD and DVD and many of them have bought HD DVDs for christmas thinking that it works fine on a DVD player. Many of them think that HD DVD is simply a DVD which can display HD quality picture. Using the same designation for 2 different things is a big mistake.

For example for a car we don't call it "a 4 wheels bicycle" because it is not a bicycle. So many of you have to be aware that many people in the world are making the same mistake about HD discs. Fortunately the designation "Blue ray Discs" is really different from "DVD" like "DVD" is different from "CD". For the moment many people are confused about HD....

And to conclude most of the people I know who have switched to HD technology have bought a Blue ray player (PS3, Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp...).

So i can assure you the future will be bright for Blue ray

Take care

[blueblood]

Good to know Blu is dominating around the world. And yeah, theres alot of peopl who confuse HD and DVD, wish I could see their faces when they learn the hard cold truth. Down with Dud!!!!!!!!!!

[Icemage]

Merci pour le commentaire de france! Je suis heureux que nos amis en Europe sont fortement soutenir Blu-ray.

[bageleaterkkjji]

Originally Posted by Icemage

Merci pour le commentaire de france! Je suis heureux que nos amis en Europe sont fortement soutenir Blu-ray.

what he said

[richard lichtenfelt]

Cool to hear that perhaps more often than not when someone buys a hd dvd it's by mistake.

[Malik]

Originally Posted by Icemage

Merci pour le commentaire de france! Je suis heureux que nos amis en Europe sont fortement soutenir Blu-ray.

Thanks. Your french is good!

In the UK, in Germany, in France and all over Europe Blue Ray strongly dominates. Honestly when I saw that my mom and that woman in the shop did the mistake I really think that many other people have made the same mistake. With Blue Ray you can't do it because the designation is really different from DVD.

But I think it is the way Toshiba and Microsoft want it happens... It is a shame!! They want people to get confused so that they buy HD DVDs and not Blue Ray....So all of us have to explain to our friends, family and coworkers the difference between DVD and high definition.

[bhampton]

I did my part and picked up Paprika in Paris last summer.

Fnac seems like the place to shop for these. Virgin Megastore had some Mega--Prices,.. Couldn't shop there just had to stare in wonder at the high prices.

-Brian

[Darth Fredius]

I agree with evey word from Malik. Except that's Blu-Ray not Blue Ray.
Anyway I'm French too. I already have more than 120 BR discs at home.
the Blu-Rays sales in France and in Europe are amazing : 75/80 against 35/20.
Blu-Ray has already won the war in Japan, The war in Europe seams to be soon ended with a Blue Victory.
It seams that's a little bit different in the USA, no?
Why ?

[Toxa]

Moi je parle français

[Malik]

Originally Posted by Toxa

Moi je parle français

So im not the only one.

Yes sorry for the mistake. I should write Blu-Ray...

Fnac is certainly the best shop in France to buy Blu-Ray Discs. Most of the sellers working there told me that Blu-Ray is winning the war in Europe. What Blu-Ray needs now is a stronger support from the studios like for example Warner going Blu exclusive and universal going neutral ...

Because as long as there are two HD formats, many people won't be switching to HD. I think that next year is time for this war to be over...

I don't know why in the USa, HD DVD is stronger than in Europe. Maybe the reason comes from the fact that Microsoft is stronger inthe US than around the world...Im just trying to guess...

It is time for this war to come to and end.... I hope that CES 2008 will end this war.

A message for french people: quels sont les meilleurs sites où on peut acheter des Blu-Ray et surtout où le choix est le plus large? Merci d'avance !!

[alain turgeon]

Non tu n'est pas seul,je suis du Québec et francophone. Moi je vais sur amazon.com entre autres pour commander des disques Blu-Ray.

[alain turgeon]

Originally Posted by bageleaterkkjji

what he said

He said ;Thanks for the commentary from France. I'm happy to see our friends from Europe stongly supporting Blu-Ray.

[WickyWoo]

I've had to admit given the anectdotes that perhaps the HD DVD name wasn't the better one after all. All it seems to have done is generate a lot of returns

[Malik]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

I've had to admit given the anectdotes that perhaps the HD DVD name wasn't the better one after all. All it seems to have done is generate a lot of returns

Yes and I have an other example in mind. The last day before christmas a guy bought Shrek 3 (HD DVD) for his daughter. We talked together a few seconds about christmas and I quickly understood that he didn't know he was buying a disc that won't be played by his DVD player since he was telling me "ohh a DVD with Hd picture quality...". And when I told him that HD DVD is different from DVD he didn't believe me so he bought the HD DVD for christmas.... And I was not suprised because I admit it is not easy to understand the difference since the designation is almost the same....

Many people think that HD DVD is simply DVd with higher picture quality whereas Blu-Ray sounds really different. And as far as i know in history when you switch from a technology to an newer one the designation has to change...

PS: Amazon.com propose essentiellement des Blu Ray zone 1 et je cherche "Planet earth" en zone 2...

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Darth Fredius

I agree with evey word from Malik. Except that's Blu-Ray not Blue Ray.
Anyway I'm French too. I already have more than 120 BR discs at home.
the Blu-Rays sales in France and in Europe are amazing : 75/80 against 35/20.
Blu-Ray has already won the war in Japan, The war in Europe seams to be soon ended with a Blue Victory.
It seams that's a little bit different in the USA, no?
Why ?

Cool results for Europe.

The reason it is different here is because the only place Microshiba decided to fight the war is in America.

Imagine if you could get an Toshiba HD DVD player for a clearance price of €65/£50 too. What would have been the result of that?

Of course, you'd might then be seeing a PS/3 for €270/£200 and standalone Blu-ray players under €200/£150, too.

Gary

[Tichols]

Moi je suis danois, mais je parle un petit peu de francais quand meme..

In denmark the results are about the same, as the market is ca. 75-80% BD vs 20-25% HDDVD.. Most people are oblivious as to what HD, HDDVD and BDDVD is tho... :S

In Denmark most BD are roughly 300kr = 60 bucks / 30 punds when they hit stores, and as I have family in belgium and love fnac i can safely say that new BD's are 30 euros there..

I would just like to recommend dvd.co.uk for all you europeans BD fans: most new bd's are 14-18 punds/ 25 euros and the shipping is usually 1 pund... In the long run it pays off, enjoy