10 Movie Releases That Can Save Blu-ray

With DVD still dominating retailer's shelves, and digital downloads and upscaling players pinching some of the limelight, Blu-ray has had a pretty hard run of it of late. All is not lost for the format, however, it needs the right film release to get back on the straight and narrow.

[CEO OF N4G]

Blu ray dose not need to be saved.

[Rick Astley]

Apparently it does, since the DVD version of Iron Man outsold the Blu-ray version in first week sales. /sarcasm

[chaosatom]

SO by that logic, PS2 will kill Xbox 360.

lol.

[tehReaper]

Uhm..DVD IS killing Blu-ray in sales, my friend.

Blu-ray players(and even the price of the disc) need to drop in price more before the mass market starts picking it up.

DVD is pretty much the norm for people right now. DVD sections overtake the Blu-ray sections, DVDs are cheaper, and pretty much everyone owns a DVD player.

Give it time. Blu-ray will pick up in sales soon. I think December will be a start. Dark Knight FTW!

[Gue1]

-and VHS was the norm for people before the DVD came...

"DVDs are cheaper, and pretty much everyone owns a DVD player. "

-and VHS were cheaper, and everyone owned a VHS player. i remember trying to buy a DVD for $500 around 2000 until the savior called PS2 appeared!

"Give it time. Blu-ray will pick up in sales soon"

-Blu-ray is the only way for the masses to watch 1080p video quality on their HDtv's so of course the sales are going to pick up in sales sooner or later.

[RussDeBuss]

of course dvd is ahead right now, but that does not mean blu ray needs saving.
most things i have read say blu ray is selling better for at this point in its lifetime than dvd was at the same point in its lifetime. the more people get HD tvs the more they are gonna want hd media, and most people are not interested in digital distribution, and it cannot compete with the quality of bluray. also the more ps3's that are sold means an extra bluray player in peoples homes.
it was the same whne the ps2 came out, people were reluctant to buy a new player, but they or their kids wanted a new console, got a ps2 and then tried some dvd's and thought to themselves they would never get another vhs.
the only things that may hold bluray back, but in no way will mean the format needs saving are recession, altough it means shops are selling hdtvs cheaper so people will still buy them. and there are still some blurays being released, especially older films that are not recorded or converted that well and do ot take full advantage of what bluray can do, but as the format matures this will be less of a problem.

[darkdoom3000]

"Uhm..DVD IS killing Blu-ray in sales, my friend. "

HOLY CR@P! a format that has been out for nearly 10 years and which is now the main format selling more than a format thats only been out for 2 years!?!?!?

what has the world come to...

[TheExodus]

12 people agreed with the statement that Blu-ray does not need to be saved vs. 1 who disagreed? Either 98 percent of the visitors to this site want to see Blu-ray fail or 98 percent of the visitors to this site are...

[Real Gambler]

HDTV need to be saved too then. They are more expensive than old tvs. Just wondering why everytime I visit a store, I barely can find any good old tube tv... Those LCD and Plasma TV should die because they are more expensive and they don't. Still, I'm expecting an article from Tech Radar about the fact that because LCD and Plasma are too expensive, they should die too.

[tehReaper]

Darkdoom

I'm not against Blu-ray, I'm just stating facts. I've been for Blu-ray ever since I heard about the space and online capabilities.

I was trying to get across how dumb these "Blu-ray death" articles are. Everything I said is true, and pretty much represent what these articles say, but I went one step further and explained that once mass market picks up, Blu-ray will thrive.

[morganfell]

It is people like you demon that lead to these ridiculous articles. Give Bluray time? How much faster do you expect it to grow? It is far outpacing DVD in it's growth and is the sole reason DVD sales over all were not in the toilet earlier this year. - Bluray held up the DVD market with it's blistering pace.

You were trying to get across how dumb these articles were? Did you read your own comments in 1.3? That is joining the naysayers, not pointing out their skewed suppositions.

Bluray is burying Japan sales and with every major release we see it exerting it's influence worldwide. If sales were waning then moronic pieces like this article might have some merit.

Bitter HDDVD (ha ha I am laughing at you) and 360 fans supporting any negative word about Bluray, regardless of how absurd, are the reason for these articles, not common sense or honest market analysis.

[red5ive]

what the... another one of these "save blu-ray" crap articles?? ahh gosh. retards.

[SRU9600]

I already own The Matrix trilogy on HD DVD, but I can't wait for The Lord of the Rings to be released.

[DaCandyman]

Just another article from an author that invested his money into HDDVD. And is still Pissed about the loss.

[SRU9600]

As someone that owns multiple HD DVD players, I gotta say that "losing" the format war was one of the best things that could have happened for us.

HD DVDs are cheap. I mean DIRT cheap. Like Transformers for $1.99 cheap.

I have around 70 HD DVDs and I paid $5.99 or less for at least 60% of them! Many were $3.99 or $1.99! I got the Matrix Trilogy for $20, season one of Battlestar Galactica for $14.99 and a bunch of other insane deals.

I buy new releases on Blu-ray (obviously) but continue to purchase HD DVDs at incredible prices.

I couldn't be happier.

[SaiyanFury]

Wow, considering the rapid adoption rate of BD, I wasn't aware it needed saving.

[jadenkorri]

there always an epic fail, some poor sap believes that blu-ray sales is not doing good, writes an article on how to save something then it ends up here....... here's the fact, comparing blu-ray sales compared to dvd sales back when it released comparing the sales percentage, you clearly see that blu ray is doing way better than dvd.... Comparing sales of Blu ray to dvd sales today is utterly ridiculous.... almost everyone owns a dvd player and sales for dvd of course will ALWAYS be higher, were as blu-ray sales will always be lower due to its install base......really if someone out there is expecting blu ray sales to beat DVD, when dvd been out for 10+ years and has a huge f*cking install base compared to a blu ray which released approx 2 years ago....goto the f*cking doctor and get your head out of your a$$..

[tehReaper]

morgan

WTF are you smoking? Ohh I forgot, if I don't fully support Sony, I'm automatically against you.

You can continue to just act like Blu-ray is doing amazing(it's not yet, but sales are better than when DVD started..) and completely dismiss every bad thing said about it. What I stated is 100% true, and it will stay that way until the mass market price hits. Yeah I said give it time, because obviously there are people out there downplaying its sales. I attempt to defend Blu-ray, and everyone takes it as if I'm against it.

You people get so dang bitter if the truth is said about Blu-ray. Like I said before, I wasn't trying to bag on Blu-ray. But since I tried to throw my perspective on it, I get attacked. All you said was basically Blu-ray doesn't need saving. Did I say it did? All I said is that Blu-ray is obviously not the video king right now and I told it like it is. Do you want me to say, "Ohh yeah, Blu-ray is the hottest selling new technology ever"? Do you want me to just lie and say that the Blu-ray section at Wal*Mart is bigger than DVD? Probably, because God help us all if one true negative fact about Blu-ray is said.

My opinion on it? I want it to do better, I want cheaper prices, and I want it to be the norm. It's not possible right now because the mass market isn't after HD viewing yet. Not everyone wants to switch to a new format right off the bat.

Ohh and the remark about HD-DVD doesn't bother me. Before Blu-ray, I never owned the addon nor a player, and I downloaded digitally for HD movies. Believe me or not, I do not care. In the end, you're not open for opinions, because you're obviously a fanboy protecting his fortune. So back off. Let people form their own opinion.

[waznotwaz]

I wouldn't worry mate.I couldn't find anything wrong with what you had to say either.

[morganfell]

You are the inhaler here:

"I was trying to get across how dumb these "Blu-ray death" articles are. Everything I said is true, and pretty much represent what these articles say, but I went one step further and explained that once mass market picks up, Blu-ray will thrive."

Now look at your other previous post:

"Uhm..DVD IS killing Blu-ray in sales, my friend.

Blu-ray players(and even the price of the disc) need to drop in price more before the mass market starts picking it up.

DVD is pretty much the norm for people right now. DVD sections overtake the Blu-ray sections, DVDs are cheaper, and pretty much everyone owns a DVD player."

How is that pointing out how skewed these articles are? You are mimicking them. Qute perfectly I might add.

DVD is hardly killing Bluray sales when you consider Bluray is still an entry product and on several recent occasions IT HAS BURIED DVD. Iron Man anyone? That is becoming the norm rather than the exception.

If you were really trying to point out the idiocy in these articles you would have quoted actual market analysis that shows how fast Bluray is growing, faster than DVD did on it's inception. Instead you just restate, and thereby agree with these horribly researched and wishful HDDVD mournful articles.

Now go have another toke...

[tehReaper]

Wow, you're one sad fanboy.

Go attack someone who is actually ATTACKING Blu-ray, instead of wasting my time with your nonsense. These articles talk about how Blu-ray will eventually fail. I say the opposite. Just because I state the obvious and detail the current situation, doesn't mean I hate Blu-ray.

Jesus, you're so one minded.

[morganfell]

Why attack elsewhere? It is fairly obvious you made a comment and then after the edit time closed you tried to back peddle on your previously stated view.

Agreeing with one of the main points of the 'impending doomsayers' is hardly saying the opposite. If you can't realize you went down the wrong path then my participation here is like throwing schoolbooks at a brick wall.

Besides, I can just put you on ignore and not have to ever deal with such ridiculous and erred comments again.

[tehReaper]

Back peddle my comment? My friend, it's VERY possible to be able to see that Blu-ray is NOT breaking any records. It's doing great, but right now it's quite expensive. People can't put trust in such a expensive format during this recession. Me? I own only 7 Blu-ray movies, I want more, but between all the games this holiday, I probably won't have any extra money for Blu-ray, except The Dark Knight.

How can I get it through your head that I have FAITH in Blu-ray? I can be two-sided at times, but not with Blu-ray. I only stated how the situation is now, but does that mean that I believe in the future it will fail? NO.

Blu-ray is like the PS3. Blu-ray is the format of the future, DVD is the format of now. 360 is console of now, PS3 console of future. It's very clear that the PS3 will overtake the 360 soon. When that happens, Blu-ray will gain popularity and will increase its install base. Then you'll start seeing impressive numbers from Blu-ray, and staggering numbers from DVD.

Can we please close this discussion? I'm not against you, but for some reason you think I am.

[ultimolu]

...*headdesk*

[fury]

...

[yanikins111]

you both get bubbles

lol @ headdesk

[jadenkorri]

thats exactly what i do every time a read an article like this

[Imallvol7]

wow, there is a new article every week on how Blu Ray and PS3 need to be saved.

[tehReaper]

One word:

Hits

[PirateThom]

I want Jurassic Park on Blu-ray.

NOW!!!1

[Ice2ms]

Yes Please !!1!

[Bob Dole]

Lets just hope they don't change all the guns to walkie-talkies this time.

[BBCnewsrocks]

another blu-ray is dying/will die/better alternatives to blu-ray article.

[OGharryjoysticks]

Sure if you have an HDTV you can see a bluray is crispy but not everybody has an awesome TV. But even people who don't have HDTVs have some type of surround sound hooked up today. Being able to hear things you never did is not only helpful but essential from now on. Seriously, take this bit of advice - buy blu ray for the audio. You will never have to ask anyone "what did he just say?" because the layers of sound never overlap.

[shadowghost752]

However you don't need a huge hdtv to appreciate blu-ray, i have a 21 inch 1080i Polaroid HDTV, (i can't afford a bigger tv because i am a student and i am saving for a laptop), but it still looks great on the tv i have it is all about budgeting

@firstknight, no nobody lied to me it does display 1080i and blu-ray works fine, but as i said it is all i could afford

http://www.reevoo.com/revie...

this is it excpet i got it as a 21 inch model

[Firstkn1ghT]

Your using a 21 inch for bluray??? Oh man, somebody lied to you.

[darkdoom3000]

tell me about it, ive got a 42" 1080p and normal resoloution is very very blury. while my PS3 is pixel perfect.

[AbdullaMTR]

Only who need help are (blueray haters).

[Baba1906]

save the what from the what now? there isnt even an other high def medium we could change to. dvd was last gen and hddvd is pretty dead. so what is killing what now? but well this is not even mass media information as it doesnt have any news values at all.

[darkdoom3000]

"and hddvd is pretty dead"

Quick someone use a phoenix down! (FF refrence)

[robep3]

HITS! thats all, my first DVD player cost me £300(about $500+ at that time) I could have bought 3 VHS recorders for that!.
Almost every house you pass where I live have large flat screen TV'S
(MOST UP ON THE WALL TO HIGH!) when people see their first BLU-RAY film they will want some player for their tv be it a PS3 or stand alone,when I saw a film played on dvd that was it no more videos the same will happen with BLU-RAY!!!

Rob.

[KARMA2009]

Blu Ray Far From Dead

LATE UPDATE - 11/14/08 - 1:45 PM PST)

We'll be back on Monday with some reviews and a new column from Barrie. But I just wanted to jump in here quickly today with some interesting Blu-ray news...

First, according to CNN, Wal-Mart will be selling a Magnavox Blu-ray Disc player for just $128. You read that right - $128. Thanks to Bits reader Val for sending the link.

Also today, the Digital Entertainment Group held an interesting press event this morning in Hollywood to talk about the latest HDTV and Blu-ray Disc market research. On hand were senior home video execs from all the major Hollywood studios. Among the interesting revelations (and we'll be talking about them a lot more on Monday) were these: We're now a little over 2 years into the growth of the Blu-ray format. At the same point in the early life of DVD, there were 1.2 million DVD players in U.S. homes. Fox's Mike Dunn claimed that there are more than 2.5 million stand-alone Blu-ray players in the U.S. today, with another 8 million PS3s. Price points for both Blu-ray hardware and software are at about the same level as they were at this point for DVD. BD hardware sales were reportedly up 25% in October from the previous year. And Blu-ray software sales are actually AHEAD of the DVD software sales curve, and have been accelerating even in the last two months as the economic slowdown has become more obvious. The DEG says that a year ago, Blu-ray made up about 10% of total sales of new blockbuster titles. Today, that total is 14%, and the industry expects that to increase to between 18-20% in the next year (likely starting with Warner's The Dark Knight). Much of this is being driven by the adoption of HDTVs in the U.S. (which are now installed in 50% of U.S. households). The DEG's research indicates that some 28% of HDTV households in the U.S. currently view Blu-ray movies. No actual hard numbers were given, but according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are roughly 111 million households in the U.S. (as of 2007), so some 55 million of those current have HDTVs. At a 28%, that comes out to about 15 million U.S. households watching Blu-rays, either on stand-alone players or PS3s. That's our own rough calculation based on the estimated percentages the DEG provided. We suspect the actual number is somewhere between 10 and 15 million, which would more closely match up with the estimated number of BD players and PS3s mentioned above - something north of 10.5 million. Regardless, that's still an impressive figure when you consider that the laserdisc market - at its height - amounted to a total of 2 million LD players here in the States. In a little over two years, Blu-ray has ALREADY far surpassed laserdisc and is currently running ahead of the DVD adoption curve. So much for those claims that Blu-ray will remain a niche market.

Again, we'll have more on all this on Monday. In the meantime, have a great weekend!

[TheExodus]

It is physically IMPOSSIBLE for Blu-ray to have a 15 million household install base in the US when only 2.5 million stand-alone players & 8 million PS3s have been sold:

2.5 million + 8 million = 10.5 million

If the BEST CASE scenario for Blu-ray is a 10.5 million install base what happens after you discount for overlap of households with both Version 1.x & 2.0 players? Households with both stand-alone players & PS3s? PS3 owners who aren't watching ANYTHING on Blu-ray?

[Azurite]

from "save Blu-ray" articles.

[THC CELL]

why save
BR is doing very well

[heyheyhey]

"10 films that will push Blu-Ray towards dethroning DVD"

...fixed

what is with these Blu-Ray articles and the term "save"?

[rekonizakilla]

Why are all of these comments so reasonable and inoffensive. It's as if you've read the article and recognized it's irrelevance. Why is there so much pressure on blu ray to compete sales wise with dvd. It's the same logic as expecting hybrid or electric engines to compete with conventional petrol engines. As far as I know hybrid cars are doing alright aren't they? Haven't seen any articles (on other sites)saying what 10 things could save the hybrid. Feck this story it sucks

[darkdoom3000]

Well considering its getting adopted faster than dvd, i can see why it needs to get saved. /sarcasm

[hay]

It needs to be saved form inevitable success! /jk

[ReBurn]

That better-than-DVD adoption rate includes PS3 consoles. Take the PS3 out of the mix and the adoption rate isn't quite as good. But overall it is still doing well.

[yanikins111]

arti-choke

[Vitalogy]

...and the pointless and useless articles continues once again!

BD is winning, for so long, the hi def war against hddvd but "they" are still releasing articles "how to save BD". Geez, aren't you sick of it already!?

Stop it once for all, BD doesn't need to be saved, you do! Seek your doctor and ask him for some phychic treatment or so.

[reelife]

The blu-ray is not close to die!!! Is that the only thing ya got f*cking X-bot?

[BenderDGreat82]

Personally, I find it hard to believe that Blu-Ray needs saving. Whenever I go to Target, a nice portion of Blu-Rays are selling (it doesn't hurt that most of the best-sellers are $20 or under). That brings me to my next point: if they want Blu-Ray discs to sell higher, they need to lower their prices. People would rather buy the DVD version and save $10 in the process. But then again, this is what happened when DVD came about 10+ years ago. They started off expensive, but the format quickly overtook VHS and dominated. Repeat history Sony and you should be ok.

[TheMART]

"chaosatom - 5 hours ago

PM
Track
Ignore1.2 - LAMO, so they are saying that DVD will kill Blu-ray.
SO by that logic, PS2 will kill Xbox 360.

lol. "

No. But thats simple:

God of War II about the best game of last gen/PS2 sold what, 2 to 3 mln. copies over all the time its out now?

Installed base: 120 mln. users

Gears of War 1 on the 360 sold 5 to 6 mln. copies, at its launch there were nearly 10 mln. 360 users.

Gears of War 2 on the 360 sold 2 mln. copies in its first few days already, with about 25 mln. 360 users out there.

Thats totally different seen the DVD - BluRay fight. If your comment would be right, a great PS2 game should have sold 25 to 40 mln. copies, or lets say about 20 to 40% of all PS2 users. There is no game that did or will do, it seems a PS2 user buys very few games. On the 360 however, the users buy games.

Furthermore, there are multiple games on the 360 that sold a lot, Halo 3 on 8 mln. copies.

There are what 47 games on the 360 or so that sold more then a million. Compare that to PS3.

DVD to BluRay on the other hand, what % of all discs are DVD's and how much is BluRay? BluRay will be death before it grows to a standard, killed by the digital downloads.

[digger18]

I see your talking sh!t again Mart.

It will be a min of 5 to 10 years before peoples IP's are fast enough for Digital downloads. Damn, over half of the people I know don't even have the internet installed in their homes, so what chance does DD have?

Blue-Ray is now ahead of DVD in the same time curve.

You said also:

"God of War II about the best game of last gen/PS2 sold what, 2 to 3 mln. copies over all the time its out now?

Installed base: 120 mln. users

Gears of War 1 on the 360 sold 5 to 6 mln. copies, at its launch there were nearly 10 mln. 360 users.

Gears of War 2 on the 360 sold 2 mln. copies in its first few days already, with about 25 mln. 360 users out there."

How many other games were out for the PS2 by the time GOW2 arrived?

And how many good games were out on the 360 before GeOW1 was released?

When I got my launch 360, all I had to play for nearly a year was PDZ, until GEoW1 arrived. We 360 owners were starved for good games until then.

You a fu*king joke Mart

[PopEmUp]

so you telling me that god of war 2 sold only a little cause of piracy of a DVD format. Well can you take a look at 360 what that look like in the drive, that right it god damn DVD. Either way it the same thing, as for the reason why Gear and Halo sold more is simply because of online, and if GOD of war has the online function with the ps2, do you think it would sell less than GEAR, even if it does it only by a few unit

btw Digital Download? are you serious stop dreaming, and do you even think M$ would take that share lol, look at Sony they also play a big part in Digital Download as well as raw format, look at Game like silent hill, Burnout, just to name the two, and btw which xbl have the size of those games compare what on the PSN

[heyheyhey]

you said the install base for the 360 is 25mln...... looooool

and your not making any sense buddy... it just seemed quoting chaosatom was a means for you to glorify GeOW sales

[Magic_The_Celt]

haha it doesnt need saving -fail-

[gamerdude11]

It took DVD 4 years to have a million seller (Matrix) at launch, Blu-ray will achieve that in 2 and a half years (The Dark Knight).

[belal]

it isnt even 25 mill yet! its more like 21 mill ;) get your math right :)

[digger18]

I know, I was only quoting what that dumb fu*k Mart said.

[silverchode]

out of those 21mill 33% of them have gotten the rrod :)

[Karum]

What a garbage article (based on the title).

Won't be giving techradar a hit.

[blakstarz]

I don't see where it needs to be saved...the movies seem to sell well across the board....the only thing I would suggest is coming down a bit on the price, but I always get my movies off of Amazon...they are very reasonable for the quality your getting.

[McLuvn]

FF: Advent Children
RE: Degeneration

before Sleeping Beauty or Wall-E

[strotee]

1,000,000 Movie Releases That Cannot Save HD-DVD

[phalanges]

I'll be getting some of those titles when/if they ever get release.

[yog-sothot]

The LOTR trilogy is probably the first series of movies I'll possess in DVD and BluRay !

[mettalhead70]

This again?
Correct me if I'm mistaking but isn't blu-ray doing better than dvd was in the same period of time?I'm pretty sure it is so why does blu-ray need saving?

[Shmotz]

Blu Ray does NOT need any saving.
"With DVD still dominating retailer's shelves, and digital downloads and upscaling players pinching some of the limelight, Blu-ray has had a pretty hard run of it of late"

Yeah DVD is winning because its cheap,VHS still did quite well when DVD was released.Yeah digital downloads may be doing good but I doubt their doing as well as Blu Ray or anything else,I dunno. and upscaling is just bollocks. Theres hardly a difference.Of late? Every time I go to the store I see empty spaces for Blu Ray since people bought them all.

[rawd]

Weekly Blu-ray sales in millions

4/27/2008 - 9.20
5/4/2008 - 7.08
5/11/2008 - 6.56
5/18/2008 - 7.99
5/25/2008 - 12.38
6/1/2008 - 10.05
6/8/2008 - 10.02
6/15/2008 - 12.73
6/22/2008 - 8.48
6/29/2008 - 8.88
7/6/2008 - 7.86
7/13/2008 - 8.42
7/20/2008 - 7.61
7/27/2008 - 8.00
8/3/2008 - 9.42
8/10/2008 - 6.89
8/17/2008 - 6.19
8/24/2008 - 7.07
8/31/2008 - 9.12
9/7/2008 - 10.60
9/14/2008 - 9.18
9/21/2008 - 8.87
9/28/2008 - 10.92
10/5/2008 - 26.84
10/12/2008 - 14.37
10/19/2008 - 17.94
10/26/2008 - 17.71
11/2/2008 - 12.22

And people haven't even started their holiday shopping yet

[devilhunterx]

Guys relax, its only Techradar

[mushroomwig]

bluray does NOT need saving...dvd outsold it? well, considering you can buy a dvd player for around £40 these days, is that suprising? >_>

I remember vhs outselling dvd at one point as well!

[tk]

BR is out for little more than a year...
It is gaining fast on the DVD market... Great growth figures...
With only a fraction on the installed players it is not outselling the Billion DVD players in sales.. oh no... it is failing...

How many times are we going to hear this drivel?

[xg-ei8ht]

Please stfu with the blu-ray crap. and the ps3 needs to be saved crap.

Both are doing very well year on year sales.

[PsYcHoToE1]

How fu#king stupid is this article. Why does it need saving when it's doing well?

[pshizle]

bluray will not die

CDs are still around even though there are digital downloads

[xwabbit]

Who approves this kinds of dumb articles :/

[Enigma_2099]

Do we have to have one of these articles submitted every week or something?

[CrippleH]

We need to by saved by these "need to be saved" articles.

[anubis12]

common person...vhs bulky big waste of space....to dvd = a cd =SWEET...blu-ray = a CD......people this is different from dvd and vhs

dvd = cd
blu = cd

some people just dont care or see a big enough difference for their $$$

good blu-ray black Friday sales though.

[badkolo]

ALL NONSENCE.

There is one thing that will help and thats it TIME.

There isnt anything but dvd to compete with when it comes to movies, besides downloads eating it the equation, the only thing blueray is fighting is dvd and ony TIME will help.

They are not dropping the br disc prices much, and the selection still isnt huge so once again only time will help.

big movies will spur sales and that happened with dvd as well, cheaper standalone prices will spur sales , lower disc prices will spur sales and more ps3 sold will spur sales, and since blueray isnt replacing dvd over night no matter what 10 movies arrive tomorow morning for gods sake, only time will help.

If done right, a lower stand alone price,a lower ps3 price, lower br disc prices, rw blueray and more movies available at dvd prices and the wirch could start next year.

[Ldubbz]

BR's biggest hurdle is HDTV adoption...only 34% of US households have HDTV's. Therefore the potential market is that much smaller. Another issue is content...while blockbuster films (like Iron Man, Batman, Transformers, etc.) are great audiovisual treats, many older/smaller films and TV series are just fine on DVD (and still not available on BR in many cases), especially when price is factored in.

Besides HD quality and some rarely used extra features, the actual form factor and other benfits associated with optical media (long life, no quality degredation over time) are the same. Not to mention that DVD's already provide 5.1 (not up to BR standard, but neither are 95% of stereos and setups), and upconverting DVD players.

Then there is the prevalence of the DVD player...VHS never enjoyed the level of ubiquity that DVD enjoys...its small size and price means that we have portable DVD players, cars with DVD players, laptops with DVD players, TV's with integrated DVD players, 360 AND PS3...and of course PS2. HD is unnecessary for cars or portable setups, and buyers want one format that will work in all of those different things.

BR is great for what it does, but it will never enjoy the sales or market share of DVD, especially with digital downloads becoming more and more popular...remember that bandwidth will be increasing tenfold in the next few years, and on-demand 1080P, (and eventually 4K) will not be far behind.