I echo the comment--the difference between a good upconverting DVD and a blu-ray is minimal, especially if you're watching movies with dark tones like Pirates of the Caribbean series or Harry Potter series. Now, throwing on a free digital copy version that is compatible with either the iphone and the Zune, that would be welcomed. This Digital Copy crap that only works on certain devices suks.

HD TVs make up only 34% of the total US TV user market.

http://www.leichtmanrese...ress/111208release.html

Of course that will rise in time but we also know on the latest figures available that the HD TVs that have been sold are small (32" - 42") 720p sets.

http://blogs.computerwor...e_1080p_hurting_blu_ray

None of this helps Blu-ray.
The difference between upscaled DVD and Blu-ray on a 32" - 42" 720p HD TV, at normal viewing distances is minimal.

Blu-ray is the new Laserdisc.
That's great for those of us who can accept that and afford these disposable formats.

It is pretty funny watching the PS3 fanboys who screamed so long and loud for their expensive game console format to win now realising they have been suckered.
The Samsung guy said another 5yrs and he's probably right.

New caps ISP's are imposing will make sure hard copy media won't go away any time soon. Even with a 52" HDTV, a DVD Player with a HDMI Upconversion output is good enough for me

Any idiot that goes out and buy's a bunch of blue ray movies ought to be kicked in the balls. The optical formats in their entirety are on the way out the door. Just wait it out.

Hard copy media is not going away, despite what the 14 year old MP3 crowd thinks.

And there are plenty of folks who choose not to opt for volatile streaming technologies for transient viewing as opposed to dealing with better quality archival media - despite the much more attractive business model from a distributor perspective that downloads present. And that is not going to happen without some form of DRM.

Now that does not mean that everyone will opt for BR! With its prohibitive price of entry and the high consumable unit costs, its simply not going to fly.

But it 'ain't' streaming that is killing it!

"Hard copy media is not going away, despite what the 14 year old MP3 crowd thinks."

You jest, but that significant crowd hasn't bought a CD in many years.

Dude.. I'm 39 and have been using digial music since the 80's with a c64 then amgia's, apple and PC's. I do not think I'm alone at my age.

Way too many issues with now digital media. (how many people have had your kids put the $15 disc in the toaster.. Did you get a replacement for $1.. no you bought another copy...)

SYS 64738

Its the kids wo are not buying as they think they are entitled to music for free. They also can't find Chicago on a map, nor identify the continent of which Mexico is a member.

But they are not the only market for media, and certainly not the one that controls the majority of spending.

Hardware sales are down for a number of reasons, and not all are due to perceived price or because of listening to it on an iPod.

Most significantly, how many CDs have you been excited to purchase? If you are like me, that is not a function of the media, but rather of the available product choices! And I am a 'collector'! Yup, I just can't wait for the next rap release....yeah...

I agree,

I've only bought a handful of the best summer blockbusters like Iron Man, Indiana Jones etc...

BD will fail eventually. A more affordable format will replace it within two years and players will be $99

I though Mexico was a city in the country of Africa, like Sarah Palin.

BTW, seeing her in HD takes away a lot of the MILFness. (shudders)

No but they probably have a computer that has an optical drive in it. Heck I bet the said computer probably had recovery discs of some sort that must be placed in this said aging optical drive in order to restore it.

I might be even daring to say that they have burned a CD with said optical drive to be played later in another optical player of some sort.

Just like DVD-Burners are standard and have replaced all CD-ROM/CD-Burner drives I can see BD-ROM and eventually BD-Burners doing the same. You could purchase a new OS and install it using a BD drive of some sort just like you could with DVD-Rom drive. The same can't be said for streaming media or flash cards or other removable media. Of course price is still one of the big factors (if not the factor) holding this transition from taking place.

I am 27 and I have not bought a hard copy move (unless it was on sale or used) in a long time, but I have bought from iTunes and subscribed to a lot of stores (most of which are closed down now...). DRM is definitely a hassle (except with itunes and an ipod) and more trouble than its worth but DRM is on its way out along with s***ty optical media. Like I said, wait it out. Ive been buying DRM free music for a good bit now (in fact i have made a pact with myself not to buy from itunes unless the track has no drm). Amazon's music store also has DRM free tracks, because of customer confusion and terrible experiences with DRM, what would make you think that movies will not soon follow the trend. Again, wait it out. Dont be a fool and buy every movie you want on BRD or you will regret it sooner than you think.

You are usually on top of things but you seem to have missed the opps that story is just that a story. The whole Africa thing was false.

Most people(unlike me) do not care that BluRay is clearer. It isn't worth the extra $$ to many, I just got the new technology DVD player from Toshiba XDE that clears up ALL DVD DISKS by 15-20%, I paid under $100 for it on Amazon.com.. Now ALL of my disks look much better. Blu Ray could absolutely go out,ad HD DVD did. It is NOT catching on to the mass appeal. Between being too expensive,as well as the increasingly popular movie download options, BLURAY may never really catch on.

I have said many times that, the reason there is not as many BluRay sales as normal DVD's is because the Movies that have come out the last 3 years have mostly been average.
Now if StarWars Double Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Titanic, Lawrence of Arabia, Aliens Quadtrilogy, Jurassic Park Trilogy, Schindlers List, Indiana Jones Boxset, and Gladiator, Came out on BluRay this Christmas, there would be no doubt what would be top of the DVDBluRay Charts=== All of the above and some. All of a sudden BluRay would be popular

The buying public isn't as susceptible to being conned blind as Sony had hoped. They obviously haven't learned anything from their most recent failure, SACD.

Or was that the PS3?

In any event, customers want value. Sony hasn't provided that in decades. When the economy gets tight, the purveyors of overpriced fluff suffer the most.

Merry Christmas, Sony.

Only you (roj the Palmetto Bug for whom the US is to blame for all things) would turn this into an issue linked solely to Sony!

Who cares who is behind BR?

I don't care if it the Sisters of Mercy (the order, not Eldridge's band- I would buy THAT!) Orphanage who was licensing BR, you MISS THE POINT!

You would do well to spend your time explaining to sjc001 who Rosanna Rosannadana was. LOL!

Roj!
you might be right about the POS3. I thought about that yesterday.. reason 1 why it gets schluffed off because of the 360.. the multiplayer. They screwed that.
I know its off topic but your comment made me think.. yea im sure they're going to suffer in sales on that end too.

So when the bloray commission released reasons why the players cost soo much and SONY responded to theyre costs in production how does this not relate to Sony?

They have they're hands in soo deep into the bloray its like they're baby.

"Its like {THEIR} baby"??? (Unless you actually meant that "its like 'they are' baby"! LOL!)

"LIKE" their baby?! It IS their baby! You nitwit!
Boy, you do belong running with the ol' Pametto Bug who also thinks that Intel is "technologically bankrupt"!

To the average person on the street, the success or failure of BR is not a function of which company developed it! Hell, you still don't seem to understand who did! (...Give me a moment to stop laughing so hard that I can try to type...)

The prohibitive factor is the PRICE.
Only the Palmetto Bug can turn the BR issue into a reflection of his fetish regarding Sony.

The fact is, Sony has still not recouped their NRE (non-recurring engineering) development costs! They still haven't made a penny off this technology!

If BR players and consumables were the same price as regular DVDs, they would fly off the shelves.

Oh what's the use, he still hasn't a clue...LOL!

I'm disappointed! You {edit: eg. Danno. roj is simply incapable!} are better than this! But thanks for the laugh! ;-}

At the end of the day, the toy doesn't provide value - so it tanked. Just like all the other Sony proprietary overpriced (and underpowered) cons.

End of discussion.

Dress it up in a tutu and make it dance - you still can't change the facts.

Or the sales figures.

I mean, the song has been sung so many times over the last two decades that you don't even need to hear the words:

"Let's come out with a Brand New Technology. No one really needs this but we'll artificially hype it and make it sound like the Second Coming. We'll make it proprietary as hell and attach a HUGE licensing fee to it so the cost of it will be golly-gee-whiz. We'll put the Sony name on it because the rubes still believe - stupid suckers - that the brand means quality. And even though it's not really as good as we claim, we'll spin and spin and make the con work. Oh No! People are wising up! This is awful! It's happening again! It's Beta, ATRAC, MiniDisc, SACD, PS3 revisited!!! Where did we go wrong??? After all, we followed the same blueprint as we did with all the others RELIGIOUSLY!! AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!"

** fade to black **

Tee Hee.

So much emotional angst when the only pertinent word is "price".

LOL!

Talk about a religious rant, get off your dysfunctional pulpit c0ckroach. No wonder they kicked you out of Jamaica!

PS3 multiplayer sucks a fat ass, which is why I haven't bought a single game for it.

The 360 got it right, unfortunately the consoles all break. Buy an Elite if you are going to get a 360. The warranty is killer and you will have it back in no time when it RROD's. I got a brand new one, not a refurb.

The PS3 is still the best BD player for the money and we get a ton of use out of ours using the 1080p upscaler.

No one I know who owns a PS3 bought a game yet. They all rent BD's from Netflix.

Were on the same page. It was a bad choice of words on my behalf there fox

Yea I looked at Resistence 2 for the PS3 yesterday. I see they have bug issues for multiplayer. I used it to watch my blodisk Ironman. Not totally impressed with reflection i should have skimped and went for the Dvd. The lack of additional features saddens me.

Damn.. our family put a $20 limit on gifts this year. (last year was lame with trading $100 gift cards) Time to get real.. If you need something buy it. But save your $$'s because things are going to be bad. can't stop the CYCLE.

But the good news for Sony is there still are alot of hedgefund managers that can buy more stuff and rebuy all other stuff.... Time to downsize stuff...

Do things that doesn't cost tons of money and are good for you. For example. play a video game for 4 hours vs. surf/ski/swim/hike/ride for 2 hour.. how much better will you feel..

We are all in this together.. everyone in the world is affected.

"Do things that doesn't cost tons of money and are good for you. For example. play a video game for 4 hours vs. surf/ski/swim/hike/ride for 2 hour.. how much better will you feel.."

I think you got that backwards, either that or your logic is upside down!

Get off your posterior and do ANYTHING where you move, other that sit playing a video game for 4 hours!

foxy we can agree on many things.. however an avid gamer would be called a liar if they didnt say that this seasons lineup of games is too damn addicting and amazing to put down or refuse to play.

Gears 2, COD! boy o boy the 360 is buzzing!

A few of the games are fun...and addictive.

But I would maintain that it is still healthier and more productive to get off one's posterior and get some reasonable exercise and perhaps even interact with people instead of peripherals all day long.

And I dare say that they will have less likeihood of encountering peeps like roj, aka the Palmetto Bug, and sjc001, as they dysfunctionally sing their off-key chorus of "It's America's fault".

...and that is indeed a healthy thing! LOL!

wow another buy two get one free sale.. lets see if that sparks the sales shall we?

They really need to cut their losses now before they dig themselves a bigger hole and the betamax is carved on his forehead rather than his tombstone.

Well, I expect the following years will be wrong years too....

This year is just fine. What's not is the prices of blu-ray players and burners (for computers). ANY other year I would not buy a burner at those prices, so this year is no different really.

I agree.

Ah I see...so there's no recession and the economy is doing just fine...this year is really no different then any other year in which the economy was booming, because you're doing just fine.

I sometimes wonder if people know that they're actually NOT the center of the universe...

I think he may have meant that this year and the recession and next years to come with a recession still don't excuse the fact that people aren't willing to pay that price for the players. I think he meant that last year the price was around the same and he was still not willing to pay for it as many consumers.

Problem is now even if they lower the prices like the article says some would rather have food or electricity than have a new player to play dvds.

And where exactly did you get all that from? I said that this IS a bad year, but it's no different than any other in one particular respect: I would not buy a $200+ burning device. Clearer now?

Exactly, Danno!

The thing is that most people don't really think that a "burner" (type of disc doesnt matter) is something worth spending $200-400+ for.
And actually $200 is more of an american price really. In Europe the minimum price is ~250EUR, and that's only if you look well enough :/

250 EUR!!!! what the deuce.. why are you paying twice as much as north america?
$500 for a player or burner is appauling...

Ask sjc001, he'll tell you! LOL!

lol

While I agree that the pricing is what essentially is killing BR, the fact is that $200plus phones are flying off the shelves.

So its more a matter of priority and the fact that upscaled DVDs are perceived as beiung more than adequate for the use than are prohibitively priced BR disks and players.