Analysts are predicting that there will be no Christmas Blu-ray bonanza this year, and the reason is because of the lack of affordable players hitting the high-street.
Analysts at Screen Digest have noted that because of hardware supply constraints earlier in the year, the European BD promotional campaigns had to be reined in.
This is backed up by news from Home Cinema Choice magazine that Sony is "hedging its bets" by limiting stock of its flagship BD-PS550 player in UK.
Fall in price
Speaking about the Blu-ray problem, Richard Cooper, Screen Digest Analyst said: "A shortage of cheaper Blu-ray players means that the sub-$300 machines that are already appearing on US shelves are unlikely to materialise in Europe this Christmas.
"Combined with the recession, this means the format is unlikely to move much beyond the early adopter market this year.
He continued: "However, BD hardware prices will start to fall in 2009, and in due course even price-conscious consumers will start upgrading, not least because the format's backwards compatibility means they can continue to make the most their existing library of DVDs."
Your comments (8) Click to add a new comment
castaway666
November 26th 2008
8. I agree with ownership... no matter how much i love my MP3 players, nothing feels as good as when I get my hands on a limited edition DVD/CD etc.. the time and effort into art-work..
I'm still wary of losing downloaded content, and having to restart all over again if you had to re-format HDD's etc...
I got my PS3 for blu-ray playback and as soon as prices comedown i'll get getting a dedicated player or PS3 again for my other room.
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weezer
November 26th 2008
7. I did the 'ownership' thing for years with LaserDisc and VHS. But now I've got Sky HD, I just don't see the point in owning content any more. I never watched the damn things anyway; I still have DVDs in the wrapper from last year. Now I can series link, record films to watch when I like or even see stuff on iPlayer, discs feel expensive and redundant. And so, Blu-ray, for that reason… I'm out.
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mitel5215
November 26th 2008
6. I recently bought a Blu-ray player assuming it would be better than my PS3, and while it is, and noticeably so, I still wish I'd saved my money.
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calcio
November 26th 2008
5. BD aint dead - just sleeping. Fact is that as we get more au fait with HD we get less tolerant of other formats. It may not be the huge step that VHS - DVD was but people like to physically own *something* even though downloads are far more practical.
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philocrates
November 26th 2008
4. This is nothing to do with Mamma Mia, so I don't care
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blueskythinker
November 26th 2008
3. It's still all about the PS3 when it comes to Blu-ray, once Sony drops the price of it's console then the format should fly
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jmace86
November 26th 2008
2. The Blu-Ray players are still ridiculously expensive. My mum has just bought a new HD TV and I was thinking of buying a Blu-Ray player for her, but it is still about £200 for a profile 2.0 player. I would almost be better off just buying a second PS3 and then it would also be capable of upscaling my standard DVDs.
Until the players drop in price, Blu-Ray will take a very long time to get some real traction.
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weezer
November 26th 2008
1. Oh, give it up. BD is a dead end - no-one cares, beyond cinephiles and people with too much money to burn.
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