With the HD DVD format now in the rear view, Sony says it has an open road leading to Blu-ray domination by the end of this year.
Blu-ray, Sony’s high definition video disc format, accounts for about 20 percent of the global market for movie disc sales. DVD sales account for the other 80 percent. By the end of this year Sony hopes those numbers will be closer to 50/50, president Ryoji Chubachi said at a press conference in Taipei last week, according to DigiTimes.
This ambitious goal will rely not only on Blu-ray’s new Hollywood studio partners (those who were formerly with HD DVD), but also the growing success of the Playstation 3 video game system, which contains a Blu-ray player. Recent reports indicate the PS3 will outsell the rival Xbox 360 game system this year.
With DVD sales slowing, the movie studios (of which Sony is one) are hoping the high definition disc market can be their next multi-billion dollar cash cow. Multiple studios have stated their desire to jump-start this market as the reason why they backed one format over the other.
However, if they think it will be such an easy transition from one dominant format to another, they have another thing coming. Many consumers are perfectly content with their standard DVDs, which cost less and does no require an expensive new piece of hardware to play.
The quick movement of multiple big companies into the digital distribution realm could slow Blu-ray adoption rates as well. Apple, of course, is the big name that invaded the living room with the Apple TV, but Netflix is working on a living room digital box as well. Microsoft, makers of the aforementioned Xbox 360, also has a digital movie distribution channel over its Xbox Live service.
Both Apple and Microsoft’s digital distribution offerings have options for purchases in high definition as well, though, that HD really doesn’t compare to the definition Blu-ray discs can offer (ZDNet’s George Ou has a good explanation of this). Sony would be wise to play that aspect up if it hopes to increase Blu-ray adoption.
[photo: flickr/hyku]
6 Comments
-
Richard said:
George’s explanation is actually not very good, some of the stuff in that post is either exaggerated or outright false.
-
MG Siegler said:
@Richard - care to explain your thoughts on it?
-
Albert said:
I would agree that HD is being taken over - I’ve seen liquidation sales at Amazon and Best Buy to get rid of their HD inventories recently because of the upcoming news that Blu-Ray is going to be the dominant DVD format.
Blu-Ray discs are only slightly more expensive to manufacture/imprint over normal DVDs (both use standard polycarbonate plastic and a stamping method using an OQ injection molding machine). It’s just a matter of time before they start dropping the Blu-Ray prices. Once that happens, especially on Blu-Ray players which still cost over $200, the market will begin shifting as people replace their normal tube TVs with 1080P LCDs.
I have confidence to say that once the retail market picks back up later in 2008, Blu-Ray DVDs will shine.
-Albert
-
albert the idiot said:
@albert….paid by sony?
you really dont have a clue, sure eventually disc production costs will drop. But in your sony fanboyism you neglect the inital capital costs involved…go back to school albert you are truly clueless -
Albert said:
Actually I don’t own any Sony products (Other than a Playstation), so I wouldn’t say that I am a big Sony fan. Initial costs = tooling + machine + stamp. It repays itself significantly faster than you would think.
I’m in the optical media industry, so I would know. If you have experience with manufacturing, why don’t you provide some insight. Thanks!
-
Laughing too hard said:
What are these Blu-ray shills on, eh?
DVD sells 750+ million movies per year.
Blu-ray hasn’t even hit 15 million sales in 2 whole years since launch.
They’re still stuck relying totally on a game console with no sign of a decent range of supposedly final spec players at mass-market friendly prices (ie $100).
50%?!
Those guys are dreaming.
Blu-ray is still almost totally invisible in the mass-market.
5 Trackbacks
2:33 pm
Blu-ray steps up integration with other hot tech » VentureBeat said:
[...] goal of having Blu-ray control 50 percent of the video disc market by the end of this year may be laughable, there are some interesting collaborations going on with the technology that should help its [...]
6:17 am
digital box said:
[...] media master, bbc digital, digital tv, freeview tv, freeview, …http://www.digitalboxshop.co.uk/Sony could have difficulty taking Blu-ray share to 50% this year - VentureBeatApple, of course, is the big name that invaded the living room with the Apple TV, but Netflix is [...]
6:50 pm
Roundup: Cleantech gets record investments, Google opens enterprise market and more » VentureBeat said:
[...] prize — $50 in store credit. Maybe you can help Blu-ray players get close to Sony’s hoped-for-but-unlikely 50 percent market penetration. Vignette acquires white label video publisher Vidavee — The [...]
10:17 am
Blu-ray wins — and everyone loses interest » VentureBeat said:
[...] writing last month that we thought Sony was crazy to think it could increase Blu-ray sales to be half of the digital movie disc market by the end of the year, we noted that this is a hard [...]
5:45 pm
Sony tries to one-up Microsoft in digital distribution, mostly fails » VentureBeat said:
[...] to acknowledge that distribution over the Internet will eventually take over (a trend that makes Sony President Ryoji Chubachi’s earlier claim that Blu-ray will have 50 percent market share b…r seem both unlikely and [...]