PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) > Articles
bids
10
10
PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3)
"Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey
"Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey
Reuters / Yahoo - March 3, 2008
Submitted by felipedmoreira (378) at 8:41AM PST on March 3, 2008
Over 60 percent of consumers said they had been put off buying a next generation disk player due to the presence of two formats in the market, but this had now changed after Japan's Toshiba pulled out of the high-definition home movie war. 24 percent said they intended to watch next-generation movie disks in the next six months.
"It's great news for Sony who can expect the PlayStation 3 to become the must-have gift this Christmas," said Charles Moore, TV and Film partner at media law firm Wiggin
Discussion - Submit a comment
bids
1Laoldar posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 2:04PM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey@KultofCows,
Oh, forgot to mention. You have to pay extra to get anything in HD. I don't think OTA even exists here now. A person has to pay extra just to get a cable box with component out.[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 182 ]bids
1Laoldar posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 2:01PM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey@KultofCows,
It tends to vary here because our media is very regional in how it's delivered. For instance, in my province we only have two providers of network content (the phone and cable companies). We don't have any OTA providers.
You can get packages that basically include the major networks (American and Canadian), a sports package and the Discovery-type channels (Discovery, A&E, National Geographic, etc). HDTV is quite new here...though like I said, it depends on the regional providers (typically it's the telephone and cable companies competing with eachother).
How noticeable a difference do you find between Blu-Ray and upscaled DVD? Worth an extra $10? It's really hard to find objective opinions on it and I can't see it demonstrated anywhere.[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 182 ]bids
2welshbloke posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 1:33PM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - SurveyThe UK has no over the air HD content although it is planned and being trialed. This will likely be spearheaded by the BBC or BT who like doing that sort of thing.
The majority of HD content would be supplied by your cable or satelite providers and the content is growing but still sketchy with Football (Soccer) leading the way for a lot of households.
I have personally used my Xbox to upconvert movies to my 1080p TV for some time now. For my day to day telly I use the BT Vision box which is a combination of over the air (Freeview)/PVR and IPTV. I actually really like this but alas the plans for HD are still some way off. The box is 1080p capable but like I said no content but it does at least sharpen up the TV guide and menus.
I have absolutely no plans for purchasing a Blu Ray player mainly due to the cost of the player and the media. The majority of folks I talk either have no idea what it is or are confused. This I am sure will lend itself nicely to apathy and I strongly suspect Blu Ray to struggle for some time before the take up reaches a level that my Mother will actually know what it is let alone want one.[ Oracle ] [ Level 30 ] [ Rank: 60 ]bids
2KultofCows posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 1:14PM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey@Laoldar,
How is the local network content in Canada? Many people here just get OTA (over-the-air) HD which is free using an antenna. You get all the networks in HD (Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, etc) which have the bulk of HD programming. Cable only gets you a few extra things here, like ESPN, TNT, Discovery, Food Network, etc. I think Sci-Fi recently started an HD version. That's about a $15/month upgrade here as well.
My Philips 1080p upconvert DVD player was $49 at Best Buy during the holidays. It does look a lot sharper, but it looks better on my DLP than my LCD (the background parts that are intentionally out of focus in a film often look like they are artificially sharpened by the player).
I personally am thinking ahead with Blu-Ray in mind when i purchase my movies. When I still buy DVDs, its mostly for comedies that I don't think will matter if I upgrade. For movies like Live Free or Die Hard, I'll wait and get the Blu-Ray version one day. I went ahead and just bought Transformers on DVD because no telling when Paramount will ever come out with a BR version.[ Admin ]bids
1Laoldar posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 12:59PM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey@KultofCows,
Thanks for the info.
I have a few friends with HDTVs (40 and larger), but they don't seem interested in paying more money for a sharper picture.
I just got my first HD TV today...42" Samsung Plasma 720p for about $1200. It would cost another $300-400 to get one to reach 1080p, which I wouldn't use anyways (again, Canadians get ripped a bit on cost).
I have no desire to get ripped off on HD content right now. HD TV channels here require you to spend $15/month for a new box, plus premium pricing on the channel bundles (besides, most channels I watch aren't offered in HD yet). Blu-Ray movies cost $10-20 more than the same movie on DVD. The prices are still taking advantage of early adopters, so maybe we'll see it drop to a more reasonable level in a few years.
The only thing I might drop money on will be a $50 upconverting DVD player, depending on how things look.[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 182 ]bids
2KultofCows posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 12:40PM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey@KultofCows,
Just a bit more context, my first HDTV was a 27" 720p Westinghouse with no tuner. I believe it was $1,500 at the time. This was about 4 years ago. Now you can get substantially bigger, higher res, better quality, and name brand TVs for much less.[ Admin ]bids
2KultofCows posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 12:38PM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey@Laoldar,
Blu-Ray has been outselling HD DVD in terms of movies, but the absolute numbers were not that significant.
Anecdotally, I do know a number of people buying Blu-Ray movies (they got a PS3 so might as well get the Blu-Ray version rather than the DVD version). Myself and most of my friends own HDTVs and have so for years (these are mostly guy friends who care about TVs, female friends are generally cool with their old 27" CRT from back in the day).
I am on my third HDTV now. The prices of these things have come down deeply. For example, my 42" 1080p LCD HDTV from Magnavox was $999 from Costco (3 year warranty) a while back. 65" 1080p DLP HDTV from Toshiba was $999 from Fry's Electronics just after Christmas (it was a doorbuster deal).
HDTV is a must for watching sports, 24, Lost, etc. At this time, I personally use a 1080p upconverting DVD player just because I have so many DVDs. DVDs are also extremely cheap now, with stores like Best Buy doing $3.99 sales every week now.[ Admin ]bids
2Laoldar posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 12:12PM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey@GoblinMerchant,
I don't know why someone downbid it (I did not), except they might have thought it was old (which it doesn't appear to be).
Does anyone have any idea how many HD movies are being sold right now? Not counting the free ones being given away by companies like Sony, how many are actually being bought? Personally I don't know a single person who is buyin them (I'm in Canada, our HD signal change won't happen til 2011). Also, remember that most conaumers will just get a converter box for the signals rather than throw down hundreds of dollars for a new TV when the signals change...even if they wanted to, many households simply can't afford a new TV.
[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 182 ]bids
1ItachiItachi posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 11:23AM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - Survey@GoblinMerchant,I think similar articles(or articles with similar titles) where posted after hd-dvd died.[ Oracle ] [ Level 19 ] [ Rank: 463 ]bids
1GoblinMerchant posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 9:57AM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - SurveyWhy so many downbids? The survey may be flawed, but this can stimulate good discussion.
Does the UK have the same requirements as the US regarding HD broadcasting being required soon? I think once everyone sees HD broadcasting, they will want it for their stored video as well. Blu-Ray is now really the only option. HD Movies over XBL and iTunes just aren't there yet.[ Guru ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 260 ]bids
1Laoldar posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 9:11AM PST on March 3, 2008. RE: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - SurveyJust a few points after reading this:
-UK survey
-only 40% "have or have access to" an HD-ready TV. First this shows that less than 40% have such a TV ("access to" shows that many just have a friend who has one)
-This survey gives no indication of buying habits in the future, especially not for X-mas. The 24% who intend to watch over the next 6 months could already have access to players...at the very least it doesn't state how many are new viewers.
-The survey talks about the popularity of on-demand programming, a strength of the 360...though it says many don't want to pay for it.[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 182 ]bids
10felipedmoreira posted on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) at 8:41AM PST on March 3, 2008. Article: "Blu Ray" expected to take off - SurveyOver 60 percent of consumers said they had been put off buying a next generation disk player due to the presence of two formats in the market, but this had now changed after Japan's Toshiba pulled out of the high-definition home movie war. 24 percent said they intended to watch next-generation movie disks in the next six months. "It's great news for Sony who can expect the PlayStation 3 to become the must-have gift this Christmas," said Charles Moore, TV and Film partner at media law firm Wiggin[ Oracle ] [ Level 20 ] [ Rank: 378 ]
About Us - The simExchange is the video game stock market and the source
for video game sales forecasts.
2
The U.S. HD situation is pretty overpriced as a whole also - this is the story for most of the regions around the world.
For HD to become mainstream, it is going to need to become a viable alternative to SD services and products in terms of value.