Blu-ray losing ground

Posted on Saturday, September 27 2008 @ 8:06 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck

New numbers from Nielsen VideoScan show the high-def Blu-ray format has a though time competing against DVD:

Blu-ray players may have fallen below the $200 mark, but according to new numbers from Nielsen VideoScan, Blu-ray's market share in the video disc market has slumped in the past week. While Nielsen releases its numbers on a week-by-week basis, and a one-week decline isn't a huge deal, this could indicate a rough holiday season for Sony's hi-def format.

If you've been keeping up with us, you already know that this comes as no surprise. Except for home theater enthusiasts, most buyers are fine with the video quality (and affordability) of DVD. Factor in the floundering economy, the high cost to adopt the technology, and the number of alternatives to view video content via rental models, video-on-demand, and the Internet, and the numbers make sense.

Nielsen VideoScan's numbers show a drop to an 8 percent of the overall market--DVDs making up the other 92 percent of the market share.

Source: CNET

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Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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Re: Blu-ray losing ground
by Anonymous on Sunday, September 28 2008 @ 19:07 CEST

I think the competetive landscape is missing a key element, HD PPV on Cable and FIOS. It has both high quality and a gigantic convenience factor, that is hard to compete against.

Bluray has had a devil of a time getting their players down to lower cost. After finally putting HDDVD behind them, the continued high cost of the players was a shame, and really made the PPV market shine, convenient and no extra cost.

If good players, with very little lag, and 7.1 sound can come in at the $200 price point you will probably see more people bite. But the existence of most premium features on players in the 450+ price level, coupled with other HD level options with no extra price and no going out to rent discs is going to make it hard for Bluray to gain a footing.

Microsoft, who is an investor in Comcast, and was helping HDDVD is often theorized to have just been delaying Bluray long enough for on demand and downloadable programming to gain a foothold. It's really looking like that tactic wasn't all that unlikely.

We need high quality, full featured $200-250 level players. The ones at 400+ should record as well as play and you "might" have some market gain for Bluray. Otherwise HD boxes with 7.1 sound and 1080p are coming soon, and those used for PPV are likely to make Bluray a tough sell.

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