Blu-ray player price cuts not spurring huge sales... yet

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 15th 2008 at 8:27AM

What do you know, more number games with Blu-ray. The latest report asserts that Blu-ray players, in general, aren't moving any quicker of late even after dropping between $200 and $300. For instance, Texas superstore Bjorn's and Pennsylvania-based Gerhard Appliances "saw no sales change after Sony and Samsung cut $100 off their respective BDP-S350 and BD-P1500 models to $299 at the end of September." Granted, year-to-date BD sales in the aforesaid price range comprised 17% of all BD decks compared to just 9% for that same window through July. Also (and probably more importantly), it's suggested that consumers will finally move in a big way once the bulk of players sink below $200. Of course, we've been hearing similar for quite some time, but now that Black Friday is but days away, we're finally close to finding out who's right in all of this.

[Image courtesy of 360East]

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, Players

Tags: bd, blu-ray, blu-ray adoption, Blu-rayAdoption, business, economy, retail, sales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highest Ranked

GhostDoggy @ Nov 15th 2008 8:36AM

Maybe the cowsumers they are targeting are having a bit of a hard time in today's economic world.

Highest Ranked

DVD4ME @ Nov 15th 2008 8:41AM

They still ain't going to buy discs in volume at $30-40 either no matter how many players they sell!

Neutral

minimalist @ Nov 15th 2008 12:24PM

In case you haven't noticed, almost every single disc is being offered for 20-25 bucks at Best Buy the week of release. Amazon sells the vast majority of Blu-ray discs for this price (or even less for older releases).

The problem isn't the price. People gobbled up DVD's when they were priced at 20 dollars and higher (and that was just a few years ago in the midst of their heyday). The problem is that people are holding onto their money and not buying much of anything right now. Just about all retailers are hurting. I'd be willing to bet that digital rentals and downloads are slowing down too. Disposable income is still disposable income any way you cut it.

A recession is going to affect every part of the entertainment economic pie, not just Blu-ray.

Neutral

SimbaDogg @ Nov 15th 2008 3:43PM

you must be joking to think that there are discs that are going for 30-40 bucks. i mean, real movies. their are untold new releases that you can get for less than 25 bucks IN brick n' mortar stores. and on top of that, anyone with any sense would hit up the E-shops were you can get hundreds of movies for under 20 bucks, and dozen more under 15.

Highly Ranked

Villan @ Nov 15th 2008 11:36PM

I think the problem here is still to do with disc prices. Mostly when it comes to older catalogue releases rather than new titles.

In Australia, you can go into a shop and find the BD of an older movie for around AU$38. Look at the DVD section and you can find the same movie (sometimes with better and more special features) for AU$15.

That's a MASSIVE difference and one that will have most people choosing the DVD.

Highly Ranked

DVD4ME @ Nov 16th 2008 1:36AM

Where I live they START from $40 , so yes they are to F'N expensive!!

Highest Ranked

Multi-format-mayhem @ Nov 15th 2008 9:18AM

In a time of no recession

$200 isn't enough, neither is $150.

HD DVD proved nothing happens until you hit $99.

People will go for a better DVD player, but only at DVD money.

Then you have the Blu-ray movie discs to shift, which is another big headache for the BDA.

I know a lot of PS3 owners who have been very very picky about what they'll spend the extra on, a lot of the time they aren't that bothered and say DVD is good enough.

The mass-market would be that several times over.

Then we throw in a prolonged and deep (according to almost every economic forecaster I have heard to date) recession.
Then we add into the mix the credit crunch (which is not the same thing) which means the days of easy credit are over (probably for years if not actually for good).

Blu-ray may grow but it will be a very stunted growth and certainly it stands little hope of ever going mainstream now.

......and for those who want to comfort themselves with denial & claim this is all speculation and that no-one can possibly know?

Circuit City didn't file chapter 11 on the back of great CE sales
Unemployment isn't up at 14yr highs (and still climbing) on high sales numbers
US retail sales just didn't post a record fall on strong sales numbers

The economy is in the sh!tter for the foreseeable.
So a bit of peripheral fluff like a brand new, barely known to the general public and relatively expensive video format is not even on anybodys radar to miss
(excepting the PS3 gang & the early adopter crew who, when it all goes t!ts up - even according to the BDA - 'knew what they were getting into').

Small niche and probably short-lived status ahead.

Highly Ranked

clara @ Nov 15th 2008 2:42PM

Yes, it needs to come down to about $160 for anyone to buy it, because anything higher is just a $200+ dvd player.

Highest Ranked

nick @ Nov 15th 2008 9:36AM

Yeah, I think the economy is having an impact. It's not that people aren't buying Blu-Ray, they aren't buying much of anything. Sales are down across the board on just about everything.

I've been joking that this year that retailers will need more than just Black Friday, they'll need Black Saturday and Sunday too. Month to month, sales have been down compared to a year ago.

I'm sure we'll see some greating discounting by end of year, but will consumers bite?

For me, there's still uncertainly looming. So that HDTV purchase I've been eyeing is going to have to wait. I can't imagine buying any big ticket items or paying a premium on anything right now.

Neutral

Ol'bill @ Nov 15th 2008 11:53AM

Well.... it's not the price of the player, it's the outrageous price of the disks, and perhaps, as of now, the collection available for sale.

Neutral

Fargus @ Nov 15th 2008 11:56AM

Texas superstore Bjorns? Ive lived in Dallas for 30 years and have never heard of this SUPER store....

Neutral

LB @ Nov 15th 2008 3:50PM

BMZ what format war are you talking about?

I think Bluray will succeed, but will take much longer due to economic conditions.

Right now I don't buy anything. I'm not even concerned about my video system. My work has slowed considerably in few weeks. Everyone talk to is deeply concerned about the future.

In the northeast there is still some work and we worry. I can't imagine what it's like elsewhere where it's much worse.

Neutral

Ken @ Nov 15th 2008 4:45PM

It was not long ago where you had to throw down $200 for a decent DVD player from Sony, Panasonic, Denon, etc.

Neutral

Multi-format-mayhem @ Nov 15th 2008 1:58PM

Which, in a market now long used to sub $40 DVD players, means absolutely nothing today Ken.

Move on, the market certainly has.

Neutral

DVD4ME @ Nov 16th 2008 1:42AM

Point is everyone did and they work fine, so unless it's cheap they don't want to do it again.

Neutral

YouFaceTheTick @ Nov 15th 2008 7:46PM

Why do people care about the price of discs? Really, consider how infrequently you ever re-watch a DVD. We had hundreds of DVDs - almost never watched any of them. We sold them all and switched to...nothing. Don't miss them in the least.

In a few years we'll simply store movies on a HDD and transfer them around the house. Or order them up from Netflix HD streaming. No sense in blowing $2000 on DVDs when one can pay $240 a year for access to new and old movies on HD.

I fear the day of the disc player is nearing its end. Not in a year or two but within 5-7 or so your kids will think it's quaint how mommy and daddy have those 8-track like movie discs. Just like CDs - who has them anymore? - movies are going digital for HDD storage and streaming.

Neutral

WebDev511 @ Nov 16th 2008 12:53PM

For those consumers that aren't concerned about lossless audio and picture free of compression artifacts or just want to watch the movie, then sure. For those of us that DO want the highest quality audio and video and/or want all the extras, then physical media is the format of choice. Optical discs now, SD Flash in the future.

Neutral

LonnieDvD @ Nov 15th 2008 7:51PM

Like the earlier poster said, the price needs to get below $100.

Neutral

mitchelljd @ Nov 15th 2008 9:57PM

nae i dont believe this stats. from noname website which is biased towards xbox 360. and... based on stats from a local store? not from best buy or a place people know.

sorry, but i just don't buy this news that blu-ray players aren't selling.

Neutral

JBDragon @ Nov 15th 2008 10:55PM

I was eying the $299 Sony Blu-Ray player at Best Buy a couple times, but then I think, No Thanks. I think of all the Extra Costs that go along with it. New Surround Sound Receiver to take advantage of the better Audio, the higher cost Disc's, and really, do I want to start yet another Disc collection when my DVD one is large already. When I answer No to each question I think up, well then it's NO. Instead I'll be signing up to Netflex and try out the HD streaming. Under $10 a month, that's half the cost of 1 Blu-Ray Movie. Buying one Blu-Ray movie would pay for over 2 months of Hundreds of Netflex movie access. Will be it as good as Blu-Ray, highly Unlikely, but I still don't care. Currently my thinking is, I'll just wait for a PS3 Slim with a IR port built in and buy that if there's some games at that time I want to play on it that are exclusive. Then I have a PS3, with Blu-Ray as a Bonus for a few movies only.
Right not, with no built in IR port, No thanks. I also think it's ugly, and so I'm just waiting. Then again, Black Friday comes, I get out to the store late and see a $199 PS3 for sale and buy it. That's pretty unlikely to happen, but one never knows.

Highly Ranked

BMZ @ Nov 17th 2008 9:09AM

Most people are waiting until the format war is over.

Neutral

LonnieDvD @ Nov 18th 2008 7:54PM

I can't wait until Black Friday comes. I want to see how low Bu-Ray players drop.

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