Blu-ray still has a lot of convincing to do before
ABI believes it's the future, mostly because of upconverting DVD players. According to the analyst's figures, while 35% of DVD players sold today (that low?) upconvert, 60% will by 2013 (again, that low?). The state of Blu-ray hardware going forward isn't to their liking either, with principal analyst Steve Wilson stating "studios better hope that people are playing movies on their Playstations. Otherwise there
's very little installed base." With PS3s accounting for 85% of Blu-ray players in 2008, ABI doesn't see things evening out until 2013, with
high prices for dedicated players keeping sales volume lower than studios would like. Of course, ABI also saw
combo drives as the next big thing in 2012, so we wouldn't return all of our high def discs just yet.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
WebDev511 @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:02PM
You can bet Sony is counting on people buying them as blu-ray players first and picking up a title or two just to see what the fuss is all about.
RPGJock @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:43PM
What wrong this blog site. I posted a couple of things and never got the email for confirmation. this the same account I use for Joystiq. What is going on?
Truth Teller @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:33PM
The reliance on the PS3 is a very double-edged thing.
Blu-ray drives ever-further up the PS3 cul-de-sac......and so what?
It's making no headway whatsoever in the real genuine a/v mass-market where it remains almost entirely invisible and at an off-putting expense.
Great if you are happy to see HDMs a niche premium product.
Way to go Blu-ray.
Not.
mntwister @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:35AM
LOL you need to find a life Truthteller, holding resentments for so long has been proven to cause bad health.
Mike @ Apr 24th 2008 12:58AM
There better be stand alone blue ray players this fall at 2.0 for less then a ps3 player....or bring back HD DVD it was priced to make a difference now...not 5 years from now.
Peter @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:47PM
Well, the PS3 is kind of the only choice if you want a profile 2.0 player right now. It's the only player that supports 2.0 and at least someway supports all the HD Audio Codecs.
Daniel @ Apr 23rd 2008 12:31AM
i hate stupid people trying to tell them that and they want a Samsung 1400. same price as the ps3. i told them get the ps3 and he like i don't game. people are stupid. also up converting has nothing on the real real.
JBDragon @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:45PM
I could care less about Blu-Ray, and will have nothing ever to do with Blu-Ray. I plan to stick with DVD's for years to come! Blu-Ray is not worth it.
Mr. E @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:05AM
Just out of curiosity, why are you even bothering to come here to Engadget *HD* and posting something like this? If you don't care about HD, you're just wasting time here.
JermTool @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:53AM
Just admit you're too poor to afford blu-ray.
rboogz @ Apr 23rd 2008 12:46AM
Easy to understand - the "average consumer" (not the videophile) will gladly spend less than $100 on an upconverting player with an HDMI output. Models now advertise that they will upconvert to 1080p - you can't beat that. Why spend $600 on a GOOD Blu-Ray player (and close to $30 for Blu-Ray discs) when all the standard definition discs they already own look perfectly fine when upconverted?
Jeff N. @ Apr 23rd 2008 12:55AM
I don't care about Blu-ray, I will stick with my Laser discs. ;-)
El perron @ Apr 28th 2008 8:38PM
I could give a crap about blu ray, i'm sticking with my VHS,
XDragon @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:23AM
Considering you can get a PS3 for $400 and its better than any standalone or combo player for Blu-Ray and DVD upconverting, who cares about the prices of other standalone players. You can pay more for less if you want, but that's just stupid.
HD-DVD would have won the format war if PS3 owners weren't buying Blu-Ray movies; remember that HD-DVD sold more "standalone" players then Blu so the PS3 is the BIG difference!
XDragon @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:28AM
Its an old argument that Blu haters and people with little undrstanding of HD use. Upconverting is nice, but far from HD. I'd rather own a LARGE projection SD TV if I wasn't going Blu. You spend all this money on an HD TV so I want my movies to look awesome, not just ok. People can think what they want while I enjoy Blu's amazing quality!
Vine @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:29AM
I said it the other day - It's a dead format. The average person doesn't care about the small upgrade you get in video.
It's not a tough sale - it's impossible. Video geeks are the only ones that care, and that's a small percentage.
Bring on the media streamers that play your movies, music and pictures without leaving your couch - that's the future baby!
Mark @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:35AM
Actually its an inevitable sale. Virtually every developed country is moving from analogue to digital, from CRT to LCD (or plasma etc.), from SD to HD. People with money will replace their TV sets. When people buy a new TV they will buy a new player to go with it. Blu Ray players play HD content and they play SD content from existing DVDs. It is very clear that Blu Ray player sales will closely track the adoption of HD TVs.
Joe T. @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:59AM
I think Blu-Ray has a 50-50 shot at succeeding vs. a combined force of streaming and DVD. Of course, I also thought that HD DVD was going to be the winner as the next-gen disk format.
I think that Sony is going to be hedging their Blu-Ray bet a bit by offering streaming HD via the PS3. As a content owner, they've got an advantage over Apple, Vudu and XStreamHD (now there's some tech I like). And through their successful negotiations with other studios during the HD DVD battle, they've laid a foundation on which they can build favorable streaming deals. And I think Sony's management finally has the upper hand over their notoriously meddlesome attorneys.
Heck, I'm even breaking down and buying a PS3 (and IR adapter-- wtf, sony?) to replace my profile 1.0 player in my media room (right next to my HD DVD player). It'll never see a video game-- of course my son'll probably convince me otherwise.
Mr. E @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:15AM
I saw all these same arguments bandied about during DVD's launch. As a LaserDisc owner at the time of DVD's launch, I personally believed that DVD wouldn't achieve mass market success, because not only was DVD non-recordable, it really wasn't much if any better in quality than LaserDisc, and LD hadn't achieved mass success in the marketplace. I guess we all know how that turned out.
If people had so little interest in video quality upgrades, HDTVs just wouldn't be selling, pure and simple. Now we have Blu-ray, which is CLEARLY superior to DVD. As prices drop, more and more people are going to want to have a native HD source for their HDTV.
I'm not worried about Blu-ray's future at all.
J @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:53AM
Because you said it the other day, it must be true!
Paul Fernandez @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:40AM
@ loosely
I would avoid calling anyone a retard when it comes to upconversion. Way before HD DVD and Blu-ray came along, I had an LG upconverter that was all the rage on the forums. It was one of few players that enabled 720p/1080i over component (as long as you stuck with the original firmware), and suddenly my DVD collection looked "magical" to my eyes.
If I had a 1080p-capable display back in 2003, paired with an HDMI-only upconverter from Oppo for 100 bucks, I would've easily bought more DVDs and been done with it. That's what Joe Consumer is doing now, and our economy isn't exactly casting a $600-$1200 Blu-ray player in the best light right now.
Paul Fernandez @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:54AM
@ loosely
I would avoid calling anyone a retard when it comes to upconversion.
Way before HD DVD and Blu-ray came along, I had an LG upconverter
that was all the rage on the forums. It was one of few players that
enabled 720p/1080i over component (as long as you stuck with the
original firmware), and suddenly my DVD collection looked "magical"
to my eyes.
If I had a 1080p-capable display back in 2003, paired with an
HDMI-only upconverter from Oppo for 100 bucks, I would've easily
bought more DVDs and been done with it. That's what Joe Consumer is
doing now, and our economy isn't exactly casting a $600-$1200 Blu-ray
player in the best light right now.
Mr. E @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:25AM
Jeez, you naysayers keep inflating the costs. $600-$1200 for a player? In case you haven't heard [yeah right], the PS3 can be bought for $400, and there are standalone players, both out and announced, for less. More importantly, no reasonable person expects Blu-ray mass adoption right around the corner. It's still the early adopter period. DVD took MANY years to overtake VHS. Blu-ray is on a very healthy growth trajectory for a new format. Certainly better than failed formats of the past.
In 2-3 years, when the consumer has a choice between a $50 upconverting DVD player, or a $100 Blu-ray player that's backward compatible and upconverts DVDs, what do you think most people are going to choose? That's a no-brainer.
Mark @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:32AM
I think the PS3 will always represent a good percentage of Blu Ray players but it will not *lead* the players. We are going to see stand-alone boxes becoming increasingly cheap and they are obviously going to drive the market more than the PS3. The PS3 made a good pathfinder for the format, but I expect its lead will disappear. The PS3 is still an awesome player though so even if it did lead, it would be a reflection of how well built and futureproof it has proven to be.
Mark @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:37AM
And besides if you want upconverting, then Blu Ray players have that covered too. People who've just dumped down money on a new HD TV want HD content to play on it. Upconverting players might be okay for cheapass owners, but people with money (i.e. the people who matter for a new format) will just buy a Blu Ray player.
mntwister @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:34AM
I don't believe the survey is very accurate. Prices of players are going to be coming down and more and more high def televisions are being sold. DVD was a format where any tv will work, so the story is different here. I read some comments above here about "small difference" in quality. Are you guys nuts? small difference? Watch an upconverted DVD and then watch the same title on blu-ray. MAJOR difference. People are spending thousands on their high def televisions, as more titles become available on blu-ray and those prices fall, and player prices fall, I believe this story will turn out to be total fiction.
Interesting to see the hd-dvd fanboys are still searching out stories like this. I guess you have to do something when you have no new high def titles to watch or other news to read about the dead format.
med1320 @ Apr 23rd 2008 1:37PM
People have been telling me to buy a PS3 for awhile now and I kept saying No, No, No, I don't play games. I only play my games on my PC and online. But after thinking and learning and researching about the PS3 its really not a bad deal to get. You can watch Blu-ray movies and also play games 2 for the price of 1 that sure is not bad at all. So by this summer I think I will be buying a PS3 mainly for my movies and on occasion play a game or 2.
Does this PS3 have DTS capability?
A newbie to PS3 here!!!!!!
Mr. E @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:25PM
Yes, the latest PS3 firmware adds DTS-HD decoding. In order to take advantage of the latest audio codecs (Dolby Digital EX, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and DTS-HD Master Audio), you will need a receiver that accepts HDMI audio input. The PS3 internally decodes the advanced codecs, and outputs to your receiver via LPCM over HDMI. This means you don't have to worry about your receiver being HDMI 1.3 compatible. Any and all flavors of HDMI (1.1, 1.2) will carry the uncompressed multichannel LPCM signals, no problem.
If your receiver doesn't have HDMI, all is not lost. You can still connect your PS3 via the good old optical Toslink connection. Using this will still give you superior audio compared to DVD. The DTS core on Blu-ray is 1.5 Mbps, versus (I think) 750 Kbps on DVD. I actually don't have a receiver with HDMI inputs yet, but it's on my list. I'm going to wait until the full suite of 2008 receivers has been released, then get the one that's best for me.
Welcome to the fold! You will absolutely love your PS3.