Blu-ray Growing, but 58% Still Confused
Some people still think standard-def DVD is "good enough" compared to Blu-ray Disc.
For our shiny 1080P HDTVs, there’s nothing better for them than a Blu-ray Disc movie (or HD DVD, if you’re feeling nostalgic). And it appears more people are getting onboard the high-definition movie train.
According to the latest NPD data collected from point-of-sale tracking data, first quarter sales of stand-alone Blu-ray players in the U.S. grew to more than 400,000 units, an increase of 72 percent over the same quarter last year.
The dollar sales for the period only increased by 14 percent, however, reflecting the large difference in hardware price from 2008 to 2009. The average selling price for a stand-alone BD player (meaning no PC drives or PS3s) fell nearly 34 percent – from $393 dollars in Q1 2008 to $261 in Q1 2009.
Of consumers surveyed by NPD, 6 percent of respondents said they were “extremely or very likely” to buy a Blu-ray player in the next six months. On the other hand, 58 percent of respondents said that they were “not very familiar” with the Blu-ray format.
NPD also revealed that when consumers were queried about the reasons for not upgrading to Blu-ray, responses included that the current DVD player is “good enough,” or that the hardware and software was too expensive.

Sure, Blu Ray is much better for visual quality. However, some people don't mind the difference in quality and can enjoy a normal DVD as well. I don't necessarily watch a movie or TV for the visual quality, but more for the stories told, so despite being tech-savy and liking the higher resolution, I don't feel the need to shell out money for Blu-Ray.
My point is that some people really mean it when they say DVD is good enough for them.
Bottom line, Blu Ray is much better, if you dont think so, go to your local bestbuy and look at their demos. If you are really just too cheap, say that, don't try to act all high and mighty and say that Blu Ray is just overpriced DVDs.
ALthough I do agree that paying for software to watch a movie from a disc that you paid for on a player that you paid for is bullshit. Thank god you can download any version of CyberDVD for free these days.
Sure, Blu Ray is much better for visual quality. However, some people don't mind the difference in quality and can enjoy a normal DVD as well. I don't necessarily watch a movie or TV for the visual quality, but more for the stories told, so despite being tech-savy and liking the higher resolution, I don't feel the need to shell out money for Blu-Ray.
My point is that some people really mean it when they say DVD is good enough for them.
Personally I still won't buy a blu-ray player until I can find one a good one under a hundred bucks.
On the other hand I was interested in blue-ray as backup medium, but HDDs have become so cheap...
So I would say for an average person DVD does the job.
I do not own a lot of discs however as they are simply too pricey still.
If I had to choose blue-ray or DVD it would be a no brainer…. Blue-ray.
The color depth and sound are still much worse than HD (Blu Ray and even HD DVD if you can find them).
ALthough I do agree that paying for software to watch a movie from a disc that you paid for on a player that you paid for is bullshit. Thank god you can download any version of CyberDVD for free these days.
LCD's don't "scale down", content is always scaled to the display resolution whether by the player (standalone or PC) or the display. Scalers on low end displays usually have very basic interpolation algorithms and that's why the resulting image looks bad compared to that from a player. Some players have sophisticated algorithms for interpolating that exploit spatial and temporal information from the pixels that produce pretty good upscaled images.
I do agree with you that the Blue Ray format brings other improvements than image resolution. I do not agree that because you purchased a BD movie and a BD-ROM that you're entitled to pirating a player. If you feel that HD players should be free and paying for them is "bulshit" then go to SourceForge and start working on an open source one. It's an excellent way of protesting.
Of course it's better, but if you compare to the earlier format evolution its a very small step forward. When DVD came out, it was one huge upgrade over VHS, making the leap was very tempting.
Blu-Ray is a very small upgrade compared to DVD and most people don't really mind missing out on it unless its very cheap. That and the fact that most people don't even have the TV for it, or its not big enough to see a difference unless you sit right in front.
I doubt companies will bother making a new format after this, and if they do people won't buyt it. Unless they invent real 3D or something
That will be at extra cost...
Thankfully LG and ASUS are bundling decent HD player software with their products. ( But I have to pay EXTRA for 5.1! )
You're attempting to make the argument that 480i to 480p was a bigger improvement than 480p to 1080p? You sir, fail.
Your comments are rude and naive. First of all, the public general opinion was confused about Blu-Ray. The general public does not go out of its way to learn things, it has to be fed to them. With that said, I wouldn't buy anything that I didn't understand and the issue certainly wasn't helped by the very public battle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. The next issue was that as one of the reasons for not upgrading was that their current hardware and DVDs were good enough. That doesn't mean Blu-Ray isn't better. It means they are happy with what they have. Not everyone would buy an expensive new car even if they could afford them just for the sake of it. There are other considerations too. Personally I like a TV that is large enough for me to watch what I want but I certaily do not want it to dominate my room, TV is not everything to some people. Therefor I am happy with a 37'' or even a 32'' LCD and my DVDs are fine on it and in my opinion good enough. I have this opinion because I remember when DVDs came out and everyone thought they were great and people were not sitting around complaining about the quality of the picture. Just because there is a newer technology does not mean that the older one is now useless, the failure of Laser Discs would be a good example here. Then there is the issue of cost. Blu-Ray hardware is still way too expensive, especially in this economic climate and that has nothing to do with being 'cheap'. Why should I pay out £1000's to replace my current DVDs for a slightly better picture when I believe that my DVDs are good enough? I have always said that Blu-Ray will fail. Not because of its cost or lack of massive benefits over DVDs. I believe this becuase we as consumers are moving rapidly towards an on-demand culture. With faster and faster internet connections, massive libraries of content, no discs to get scratched or stolen, etc... Surely this is the way to go?
P.S. Try to be consistant in future. Before commenting on other poeple being 'cheap' why do you want 'freeware' software when you can pay for better software? Or are you being 'cheap'?
blue ray is a fine product it juts has no home
I have a superb "old-school" CRT TV and my beloved Denon Audio set.
If i wanted to get full use out of the blueray thing i would have to buy a new TV (and to be more correct one that is has at least the same screen size) and a new audio set.
And to be honest you can call me crazy but there is no sound like a good tube Denon (or some other high end brands), its not like we are capable of hearing quadrophonic any way thus making the "suround experience" either depending on cheap chip solutions in overpriced systems or a well regulated setup in an adjusted room.
I think it might be possible the load of people that was not to sure about HD-DVD and or BlueRay thought about the same about the subject.
VHS tape can stretch and degrade in a really bad way over time. Remember how sometimes you had to put in the tape and then you had to adjust the tracking? Remember all the static and discoloration? Remember the pitch of the sound shifting up and down?