Blu-ray: Why it Will Stay Blue

By  |  Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 12:05 pm

blu-ray-logo-thumb-200x200I just got finished reading two pieces on Blu-ray: one from David Carnoy from last week on why the format will succeed; and the other from Jeremy Toeman, who countered David’s argument that it actually may be closer to failure.

Blu-ray is in a lot of trouble at this moment. It’s kind of a one-two punch: with the sinking economy, people have less money to spend on expensive gadgets. Blu-ray is still one of them, with most players still well above $200 if not $300.

Add to this the fact that streaming media is really beginning to take flight (yesterday’s Inauguaral hiccups notwithstanding), and it isn’t looking good for Sony’s format.

Yeah, Sony may have finally won a format battle, but the protracted fight may have just taken too much time and ended up wounding Blu-ray just enough that it will never be able to replace DVD.

Like Jeremy says, there just is not a whole lot of value proposition to Blu-ray. People with HDTV’s are indeed finding their upscaling DVD player looks wonderful for a third of the price of the Blu-ray player.

The only way Blu-ray is going to stay afloat here is the PS3. And you all know my opinion on that subject.

 
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11 Comments For This Post

  1. Mornelithe Says:
    January 21st, 2009 at 12:34 pm

    Yawn, you doomsday theorists crack me up. It’s taking off faster than DVD did. Whatever you’re smoking out there in Cali, send some my way. Would love to see reality through as warped a field as you do.

    Morne

  2. mindchaotica Says:
    January 21st, 2009 at 1:04 pm

    I happen to agree with you up to a point Harry. I think that Blu-ray will survive but the only way it can do that is to incorporate streaming features in the players. so that way people can have both the HD Blu-Ray and use streaming media for the other things.

  3. Ed Oswald Says:
    January 21st, 2009 at 2:17 pm

    I wrote this one. As for the streaming, I do agree. But I think its one of those “too little, too late” deals. the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war really crippled Blu-ray IMHO. It would have probably crippled HD DVD just the same had it won..

  4. Dave Zatz Says:
    January 21st, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    Actually, what hurts Blu-ray most is “Blu-ray” – from a branding/marketing perspective, it would have been better for “HD DVD” to have won. It should be immediately clear to most what it is and why they’d want it.

  5. megatron Says:
    January 21st, 2009 at 5:31 pm

    This is a joke, like the other poster said BluRay is “taking off faster than DVD did.” And don’t forget unlike DVD the adaptation of BluRays is closely tide to the adaptation of HDTVs.

    Considering bluray capacity is already able to go as high as 400GB I think the right format won this one.

  6. Greg Says:
    January 21st, 2009 at 7:07 pm

    Sigh. Just another blogger who makes a doom and gloom article (despite the very good numbers from end of 2008 for Blu Ray) to get some hits.
    So be it.

    Bla Bla The Dark Knight 1,5Million sales in 2 weeks, Bla bla Tons of players sold, Bla Bla % of pdm versus DVD rising compared to 2008, Bla Bla Blu Ray +350% compared to 2007, Bla Bla Vizio releasing a full featured player for $199 MSRP in April, etc. etc.

    As you can tell, I’m treating this article with the respect it is due given the lack of research given by the author.

  7. Deo Says:
    January 22nd, 2009 at 3:34 am

    350% growth on top of nothing is still only a few units.

    The video rental business is changing radically, I guess once blu-ray catches up in two or three years people will be mostly downloading movies from companies like Netflix, that’s a market it won’t have.

    As for media for computers (boot disks that come with your new computer) and videogames, it won’t be long until they start shipping flash devices instead of DVDs, that’s another market it won’t have.

    Are collectors enough to justify a whole industry for Sony ? Hardly.

    Embrace the future, streaming is the only real way to go.

  8. Brian S Says:
    January 22nd, 2009 at 6:43 am

    Upscaling DVD playback looks wonderful? For small enough screens, yeah, I’ll grant that. For larger ones (42″ and larger), there’s a definite difference, one that you can never match by interpolating from that little bit of resolution.

  9. Marc Says:
    January 22nd, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    I totally agree. Blu-Ray is a waste of time. Unless you have a 50″ TV (and therefore a 30 ft wide room) the quality difference is not noticeable when compared to an up-scaled DVD.

  10. John Grever Says:
    January 27th, 2009 at 8:58 am

    Blu-ray will progress when the cost comes down. Until then, it will stay in a slow growth mode. Anybody hear of elasticity- an economics term that describes the likelyhood of greater revenue at various price points? Clearly Blu-ray needs to reduce selling costs at both the player level and the content, but the player has to come first. THEN sales will jump.

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  1. ZNF ‘Round The Web Says:
    January 22nd, 2009 at 6:03 am

    […] networked Samsung (capable of Netflix and Pandora streaming) or PS3 to get more bang for your buck. Blu-ray: Why it Will Stay Blue Actually, what hurts Blu-ray most is “Blu-ray” – From a branding/marketing perspective, it […]