Blu-ray player sales on the rise, report says

I haven't bought a DVD in more than a year. Since getting a PlayStation 3--which plays Blu-ray Discs--I just find it difficult to justify paying a slightly lower price (for a DVD) for a noticeably lower quality picture.

It wasn't always that way. There was a time when I didn't understand the appeal of Blu-ray. Now, it's difficult for me to even watch a standard DVD. Even the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy--which was the holy grail for me for DVD picture quality only a few years back--disappoints me to watch.

Sony's BDP-S360 can be found for less than $300.

(Credit: CNET)

It appears I'm not alone. According to a report released Wednesday by market research firm The NPD Group, first-quarter 2009 sales of stand-alone Blu-ray players (read: not including the PS3) in the U.S. surpassed 400,000 units, an increase of 72 percent over the first quarter of 2008. Dollar sales increased 14 percent, to reach $107.2 million.

"The rising penetration of high-definition televisions and lower Blu-ray player prices are broadening the format's market opportunity," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD.

Sounds likely to me, especially in the current economy.

NPD's Blu-ray Report also revealed that purchase intent for Blu-ray set-top boxes rose slightly, with 6 percent of respondents saying they would be "extremely or very likely" to buy such a device in the next six months, compared with 5 percent who responded similarly in the August 2008 report. Honestly, that barely qualifies as an increase. Still, according to the report, 58 percent of adults continue to report that they were still "not very familiar" with BD.

NPD also reports that the average selling price for a stand-alone BD player fell nearly 34 percent--from $393 dollars in the first quarter of 2008 to $261 in the first quarter of 2009, and that consumers who claim that they are likely to buy in the next six months expect to pay $214 on average.

The data for NPD's report was collected via an online survey of 6,994 consumers between February 25 and March 6.

[crescentdave]

Evidently the "bag-o-hurt" isn't going away ...

[Synthmeister]

Steve Jobs "bag-o-hurt" was the onerous licensing fees and process involved with BR not the tech itself. Supposedly that process will be streamlined and cheaper by this summer.

Personally, I think the tipping point will happen by Christmas 2009 with sub $150 BR players, and sub $1000 1080p HDTVs already in places like Walmart and Costco. People will simply rent BR movies until the prices come down, just like we did with DVDs.

[lewac]

well my problem is this.. the cost of a blank that cost 30X more than a dual-layer DVD! for 3X or so more data space. that does not equate in my book. also take a look at the price of burners. yeah its gonna be awhile and well before that time guess what happens? yeah memory sticks and SSD's are gonna be moving in on "spinner" turf in a very BIG way. so don't waste breath with blue-ray by the time one spends all those bucks the memory stick will blow ALL spinning discs away. DVD, dual DVD, blue-ray... good-bye forever. HDD and scuzzy are going the same way... five years hence they'll all be a part of history. and guess what... all this stuff that is being replaced? with re-writable stuff.

[DJOmega6]

It's hard to take you seriously when you add an 'e' to blu-ray. That and your lack of capitalization at the beginning of sentences.

[CFSacks]

Most people want to have a permanent record of thier favorite movie. A 25 or 50 gigabyte memory stick will not likely be cheap ever. Not really caring about burnable blu-ray. Just want to see my favorite high def movie when I want to. Also, downloading 25 or 50 gigabyte files will never be cheap either when ISPs start charging by the gigabyte. Some might be motivated to pirate blu-ray disks which is why they are concerned about burners. I wouldn't mind reasonably priced blu-ray burners/media for the ability to store large amounts of legal stuff like my photos or such. Copying DVD's or Blu-ray's of course is illegal. Just some thoughts.

[deanbvfx]

a dual layer DVD-R can set you back 45p
Where as a 8GB(9GB ain't made) flash drive will set you back £11 at the cheapest.
BD-R is £3.50 for 25GB version, cheapest 32GB(once again no exact size comparison) is £45.
Blu-Ray is more £ per GB than DVD, but compared to flash memory both are stupidly cheap. And that is how it will always be.
And I have a stash of 1p CD's with a crap load of stuff backed up. Im not gonna just get a ton of Flash drives for archiving stuff.

[nicmart]

The "content providers," which is to say the movie studios, are, as usual, acting the fool. The cost of Blu-Ray movies is absurdly high, so I, like many, have shiny players that are barely used. The number of disks on sale at Costco and Sam's Club/Wal-Mart has thinned during the year. I would have expected at least Warner, which pioneered lower-cost DVD movies, to be more aggressive in the pricing of Blu-Ray titles, but they are shooting themselves, and consumers, in the foot. Bewilderingly, the studios prefer a format -- DVD -- which is easily copied by anyone with a PC.

[DJOmega6]

Actually, Warner has been very aggressive price wise with their back catalog. Movies like The Departed, 2001, and Clockwork Orange are often on sale on Amazon or Best Buy for $15-$20. As for newer releases, I expect the prices to come down just in time for Christmas.

[planblove]

True, dude stop looking in stores and buy them online. A LOT of good deals online on the top tier movies and older titles.

[CFSacks]

I got my Sony Blu-ray player at BJ's just after "Black Friday" for $190. Same unit now costs $280! What gives? Hope the prices do come down for others. I wouldn't have payed much more than I did.

[deanbvfx]

I don't tend to by many DVDs any way, but since I got my PS3 I've not really bothered with getting DVD's when £2 extra will get you a Blu-Ray version.
It was pretty good last year with Iron Man and Dark Knight on Blu-Ray, and this year has Watchmen, Star Trek, the raft of '3D' films.
I think one of the turn off seems to be that people think they need to re-buy their film library like they did with VHS->DVD. If BDA get some ad's out showing that Blu-Ray no only plays DVDs but upscale them to HD too then it would clear up some of the confusion around the tech.

[Don Key]

I think this has more to do with people replacing broken DVD players with Blu-ray players because they are so cheap now. They know they will need one in the future and it plays DVD's so why not?

I have a Blu-ray in my PS3 but never use it. Doesn't really grab me much and I'm on a 42 inch HDTV. Not a fan of the hiked up prices from new Blu-rays and rentals.

[anothadave]

you can get bluray films for £8 online no trouble now. amazon and play.com are always doing 3 for 2 deals or 2 for £18 or similar. so complaints about prices are just old news! ive not bought a dvd in nearly 18months. with a little searching the same film can be bought on bluray for roughly the same price but with the far superior picture and sound quality. remember its not just the physical disk price that raises the cost of the bluray film, the content is of much higher quality than dvd so requires more work in transfering it to the disk and quite often requires restoration of the film stock and remixing the audio too. i remember when dvds first came out and they where nearly £20 for a new movie, £200 for a dvd burner and a fiver a piece for a dvdr. how short peoples memories are...