Blu-ray Disc Association Says Prices Won’t Drop Soon

It has been reported that the prices of Blu-ray players are dropping.

The Blu-ray Disc Association, however, doesn’t seem to put much stock into those contentions. Blu-ray player and disc prices won’t fall until volume increases, said Andy Parsons, chairman of the association, according to TG Daily.

His comments came at the recent DisplaySearch/NPD HDTV conference in Los Angeles.

“There’s not enough market [volume] to lower the price,” Parsons said.

Parsons, who is also senior vice president of Advanced Product Development at Pioneer Electronics, added that manufacturers must build awareness in order to increase volume. He indicated that digital downloads pose a major threat to Blu-ray’s market share.

PriceSCAN, a price comparison service, disagrees. It says average Blu-ray player prices dropped 8 percent in the first two weeks of September.

Sony also will reportedly drop the price of its BDP-S350 Blu-ray player by $100 to $299.

The Entertainment Merchants Association says Blu-ray will outsell DVD in 2012, generating more than $9.5 billion in sales.