Blu-ray sales will triple this year

In the face of the credit crunch and rock-bottom DVD prices, manufacturers are hoping that Blu-ray technology will finally catch on this Christmas. The adoption of Blu-ray has so far been quite sluggish, but many industry insiders predict that Blu-ray’s fortunes will turn around this Yuletide.

Although the Blu-ray format has been around since 2006, it has yet to capture the public’s imagination. It is resilient however, and beat Toshiba’s rivalling HD DVD into submission to become the surviving High Definition format.

Blu-ray’s mastery of the HD market mirrors the supremacy of VHS over Betamax a couple of generations earlier. VHS was helped to establish itself as the main video format because it was adopted by the porn industry; if any one wanted to watch porn at home (dirty devils) they had to buy a VHS player.

Secondly, Blu-ray had a competitive advantage on HD DVD because the Playstation 3 was in many ways a Trojan horse to get Blu-ray technology into homes, just as they did with DVD playback on the PS2. Considering some 2 million PS3s have now been sold, Blu-ray had an incredible advantage over HD DVD, despite Microsoft’s half-hearted support with an add-on player for the Xbox 360. Finally, the power of the movie studios had great sway on which format would come out on top. When Warner Bros. announced they would cease to support the HD-DVD format citing ‘consumer indifference and confusion’ in January of this year, the other houses were quick to follow suit. This was the death-knell for the beleaguered HD-DVD format, and the last ones were pressed in August of this year.

Blu-ray has won the battle but has not yet won the war. It might have beaten HD DVD to become the leading high definition physical format but now, people need to be convinced to actually use the technology. Most people do not understand why this thing that looks like a DVD and plays like a DVD should offer anything over a DVD. People do not appreciate the massive improvement to the viewing experience that Blu-ray offers, with the huge storage space allowing for room to place far higher quality video, as well as bonus features.

There is a far larger hurdle stopping people adopting Blu-ray and that is price. Blu-ray discs seem to have already taken a higher price point (perhaps to give the impression of premium quality) whilst DVDs have been lowered to the price of an impulse purchase. For instance WALL-E on DVD costs £9.87 on DVD, WALL-E on Blu-ray costs £16.99. Blu-ray players are also far more pricey with a Samsung BD-P1500 player costing £169.99 whilst a Samsung DVD-1080P8 DVD Player is a snip at £55.  All these issues mean that the adoption of Blu-ray has been somewhat slow but things are set to change.

Industry figures predict that three times as many Blu-ray players will be sold this year than last year. This is down to a number of factors.  There has been a rise in the amount of widescreen HD TVs being purchased and without a Blu-ray player, people will miss out on the HD experience when watching films at home. The quality of image on a high-definition TV is only as good as its source material, and without a Blu-ray player or a similar device outputting high-def content, getting an HD-ready television is largely pointless.

There is a trend for people spending more money on home entertainment as the credit crunch bites. Renting a movie and ordering a pizza has replaced dinner and a movie for many. It makes sense that as people forgo luxuries such as trips to the cinema they will try and replicate the experience at home with a slick home cinema setup. Generally during recessions, people invest more money in home entertainment because in the long run it actually represents a saving.

The popularity of The Dark Knight on the huge screens of IMAX cinemas shows that for film fans the experience of watching a film is incredibly important. The Dark Knight has been constantly sold out since its release in the IMAX. Those watching The Dark Knight in the IMAX have often already seen the film, yet are still willing to spend extra money just to see it again in 3D.  This behaviour shows a shift in how people want to watch films. For many now,  format and the experience of watching are becoming important considerations.

Blu-ray DVDs will be at the top of many Christmas lists because of their association with films such as The Dark Knight and WALL-E. The major film studios are now releasing the biggest blockbusters of the year on Blu-ray, ready to put their full spend behind the format without the fear of having backed the wrong horse. This gives the format incredible publicity, raising the overall profile which will have a big effect on Blu-ray sales. There will be more titles on Blu-ray because it is now the sole HD format and the studios are now releasing more and more of their titles on the format.

Manufacturers are encouraging people to buy Blu-ray by introducing promotions like bundling TVs and Blu-ray players together. The 2.5% VAT reduction represents a significant discount on more expensive items like HD TVs and Blu-ray players. The reduction in VAT is only temporary so people may be encouraged to buy these bigger, slightly more expensive items now, rather than later and miss out on the VAT discount.

The biggest incentive to buy Blu-ray this Christmas however is that some retailers are offering some great Blu-ray deals. David Walstra Sony UK’s home video marketing director  says ‘there are going to be very attractive offers in the shops this Christmas’ for instance with Amazon you can get 3 Blu-ray DVDs for 2, including all of the big name movies showing off the format like Cloverfield, Transformers and Dirty Dancing.

Sky News