Blu-ray Awareness Tops 60%, But Hardware Penetration Low

I think if they really want to increase blu-ray disc sales, making the blu-ray disc prices in par with normal DVD prices would have to happen.  Keep in mind, another competitor not mentioned is the movie downloading market.

Unless you have a really big screen HDTV, I don’t think HD DVDs are worth the money. When I can buy a used copy of most any SD DVD for $10 or less and then upscale it to 1080i, why pay $25?

John, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I will say that If you’ve got a 1080p or 1080i display and you’re upscaling everything from a DVD to 1080i, you’re losing detail, losing color depth and saturation, and gaining artifacts compared to using genuine 1080p source material. You’re really missing the HD experience by using a DVD as source content.

And out of the 9% of HD players sold there are 38% returned to retailers because the person wasn’t happy with the picture or their disc wouldn’t play.
Reasons why Blu Ray will remain a niche market:
1.HDTV’s are only in 18% of homes,the number is climbing but very slowly.
2.BD player prices are too high,$400USD+ for a player is rediculous.
3.Blu Ray disc prices are too high compared to the SD version.
4.Blu Ray titles available as of 3/08 is 600 compared to 86,000 SD titles.

John, based on this comment im not sure you have seen a true HD image. The difference in HD vs. SD most cases is dramatic, regardless of screen size.

The equipment prices are too high and the disc prices are too high. While I agree the picture and sound are better, I am not sure that it is three time better. Since the prices are staying high I am looking at improving SD DVD’s through video processing.

I could care less about how many titles are out on Blu-ray/HD-DVD. All the new movies are on 1 or the other, so unless you’re going to become a blu-ray collector(didn’t learn your lesson from the worthless SD-DVDS/VHS tapes/laser discs you have lying around now, huh?), the lack of titles is not a problem.

I have about 200 SD-DVDs, and over half of those I’ll probably never watch again and don’t care if they ever come out in hi-def.
One poster mentioned that there are 86,000 SD titles. At least 80,000 of those are garbage and most people would not be able to sit through. I’ll take quality over quantity in this case.

I will concede that blu-ray prices are too high. When I have to start spending over $20 for a DVD, it causes me to seriously question how badly I want to see it. I have Cinemax and Starz HD channels, so sometimes I’ll just hold out until it broadcasts there.

Besides, picture quality, another benefit to blu-ray/HD-DVD is lossless audio(TrueHD and DTS-HD). It really is superior to any of the formats found on SD-DVDs. It’s crystal-clear and immerses you in the movie even more.

Man are people cheap. $300-$400 is “way too high”?
I paid $1200 for an S-VHS deck, $900 for a DTS combo Laserdisc player, $40-$100 for LD movies, and it’s mind-blowing that people think something that delivers uncompressed audio and 1080p picture is overpriced at $300. The prices aren’t as ridiculous as attitudes about prices seem to be.

“I paid $1200 for an S-VHS deck, $900 for a DTS combo Laserdisc player”

You obviously have lots of disposible income,the average consumer is not going to spend $400USD on a player and $40 for a movie.

Well I am definitely middle-class wage earner. At the time I bought those things back in the mid-late 90s I don’t have any kids so maybe that gives me more to spend, but to me $400 is a fantastic deal for everything a PS3 delivers. I paid $600 for mine a little over a year ago and it’s the heart of my home theater.

I guess I just think of people who frequent the AVSforum and CEPro as HT enthusiasts, for whom this kind of investment isn’t going to mean they have to choose between heating their home or buying into HD media. Maybe I’m wrong about the avg. income of home theater buffs. From what I see in magazines and web sties, people are spending $50k-$500k dollars on basement home theaters that blow my setup away. The stuff that gets showcased makes me feel pretty poor so I don’t feel like I’m rolling in dough.

Crude Dude = cheap dude
Get a friend to show you all the NON GAME functions of a PS3 and see if you still think $400 for one is not worth it!

And SOny just lowered their prices for BR Discs to $18-$23 so its getting better…...