Comments on: Why Blu-ray is failing: In the wrong place at the wrong time

By: VCR to DVD Converter

VCR to DVD Converter — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:25:36 +0000

I’ve got lots of memories on VCR tapes that i would like to switch to DVD, how tricky would it be?

By: George Mitchell

George Mitchell — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:45:31 +0000

We bought this player around June 2009. Since we had been wanting to buy a blu-ray player for sometime to compliment our 1080P 50 inch Panasonic plasma, we took the plunge on this model because of the previous reviews and because of the low price. We have not been disappointed. The blu-ray dvds look fantastic! The standard definition dvds look super, also. We subscribe to Netflix rentals and we haven’t had any problems with their blue-rays or standards. We live in the rural part of our county and do not have available a fast, reliable internet connection, except for the mobile broadband the we use which is much faster than dialup, but way slower than DSL or other types. Therefore, we have never updated the firmware, and still, this unit works great, have not had one problem at all with new, rented, or older recorded dvds.

By: Thomas Jensen

Thomas Jensen — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:47:53 +0000

I purchased a Toshiba HD player because Paramount released the first season of Remastered Star Trek on HD. Subsquently I bought a bunch of HD titles. I’m happy I did because it wasn’t a lot of cash. I have a 42′ plasma and love the look of HD, plus the upscaling is excellent. To boot, Toshiba is still sending updates via disk.

I’ll get into blu when Paramount gets around to the second & third season of trek on blu-ray. I wonder when that’ll happen?

By: kl

kl — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:23:15 +0000

With the world economy in such a bad state with, many experts predicting things won’t pick up until at least 2010, it doesn’t take a genius to see that the mass market won’t be rushing out to replace their DVD systems with Blu Ray.
As for Blu Ray sales, well it’s almost a cetainty that fewer discs will be sold, both DVD and Blu |Ray than usual.
I agree Blu Ray is in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it’s the economy that’s going to bite Blu Rays progress hardest.
Will Blu Ray ever be as sucessfull as DVD?
Not a chance!

By: Norm

Norm — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:26:54 +0000

I have to agree.
I will not get a BR except in a PS3 which I will buy for the gaming. I may rent a BR disk from time to time to try it out but my upscale DVD will keep me from buying BR movies.

By: DaveBG

DaveBG — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:25:39 +0000

No-one ever said there was no difference between DVD & high def.

The point has always been whether the difference between DVD upscaled (which it always has to be to fit on the higher res panel) and Blu-ray is ‘worth’ the high premium Blu-ray demands.

(especially when new audio kit is taken into account to enjoy the new audio standards)

On the mass-market screen sizes (32″ – 50″) – and with the majority of them being 720p/1080i panels, so the l;eap between upscaled DVD & high def is even less – it simply is not ‘worth’ it to many.

“According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) in Arlington, Va., shipments of true 1080p hi-def TVs through July 2008 were 5.1 million units, accounting for $6.6 billion in sales. In comparison, the shipments of flat panel televisions of lower resolutions, such as 480p, 720p and 1080i, amounted to 8.4 million units or $4.6 billion dollars.”

http://blogs.computerworld.com/lower_res_tv_sales_outpace_1080p_hurting_blu_ray

No wonder Blu-ray sales are so tiny
(no matter how much they try and massage the numbers).

…..and as for playing your DVDs on a Blu-ray player?
It is (in my view) no accident that most Blu-ray players are well known for being very poor DVD players.

(obviously they are trying to exaggerate the difference)

By: DavidB

DavidB — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:31:54 +0000

Sorry, not buying it. Even the WORST Blu-ray I have ever watched was better PQ than DVD. And the premise that you must throw out your DVD’s and buy replacements on lu is ridiculous, few would ever do such a thing unless they have hordes of disposable cash. Blu-ray players ALL play DVD’s, so no investment in DVD moviews is lost by upgrading to a Blu-ray player and switching to all future disc purchases being Blu-ray rather than DVD. I don’t consider myself awash in cash, but I for SURE would never buy a movie on DVD any more (except kids movies until we have Blu-ray in our cars).

By: DaveBG

DaveBG — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:52:26 +0000

It’s not just one week of low sales.

It’s a lifetime of minute sales.

DVD sells 1.7 billion units in the USA p.a.

http://www.dvdinformation.com/industryData/index.cfm

DVD sells over 7 billion discs worldwide.

http://www.contentdeliveryandstorage.org/stats/stat-replication_worldwide.html

Blu-ray has yet to match even 1% of those (true) sales numbers, ever.

Forget Nielson’s funny PR BS, it’s just statistical number-wang.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:49:47 +0000

I have to say that I’m tired of hearing the same old comment that most people won’t want to rush out and replace their DVD library. Who the hell ever said that they had to? I’ll watch my 300+ DVDs on my Blu-Ray player, thank you very much. And now I buy all my NEW movies in Blu-Ray.

And to say the difference between DVD and Blu Ray is minute is a bit of a stretch. Maybe on a set smaller than 40″, but above that it’s quite noticeable.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:14:39 +0000

Wait until Star Wars comes out on Blu-Ray.