Blu-ray celebrates 91 percent sales increase for first half of 2009
By Ross Miller 
posted Jul 16th 2009 5:54PM
posted Jul 16th 2009 5:54PM
posted Jul 16th 2009 5:54PM
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Here we go again.
What was the important bit of this recent report that was left out?
Digital downloads, of course, why?
Could it be because they dwarf Blu-ray's sales?
You decide.
Almost $1 billion v $400 million.
Naaa, nothing to see here, move along, best not even mention it.
"The Digital Entertainment Group today trumpeted a surge in newer video formats for the first half of the year. Although spending as a whole between January and June dropped 3.9 percent versus the early part of 2008, the industry agency says the amount of money spent buying Blu-ray movies jumped 91 percent to $407 million. Direct-download movies also helped offset problems with DVDs and climbed 21 percent to $968 million."
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/07/16/blu.ray.sales.climb.91pc/
S'funny how that (according to some) terrible old Internet infrastructure, that won't be ready for years and years, is already supporting almost $1 billion in sales, well over double Blu-ray sales (in addition to the "14 billion videos downloaded last year" going on by the sharing community).
Blu-ray has a bright future?
I don't think so.
Here YOU go again - the same crying ass post month after month. Guess what - for all the complaining you do - BLURAY IS STILL HERE. And it isn't going anywhere. So you can post on Engadget HD for the next decade, and bluray will still be on store shelves. So...in the real world...you lose, as all of your bluray bellyaching counts for jack.
And the key part YOU are missing is electronic sell through was slightly less than $196M. Electronic sell through is the equivalent of owning a movie. Thus, other $772M came mostly from VOD - which most people with a cable box have access to. There is no special purchase or hardware required above your service provider's STB. Funny how in your quote you chose to leave this little tidbit of info out.
Oh and percentages are a valid form of data. If bluray sold $407M this year so far, and is up 91% from last year, well, you have two of the data points needed to calculate last year's actual $$ sales. So stop complaining and get out your calculator.
Have fun fighting a losing battle against bluray. Your posts here will do nothing to stop it from growing and entering more and more homes. Sucks for you.
It's about stripping out the BS (as if you didn't know).
It's about getting the whole story and not just the obvious pro-Blu-ray spin.
How come you're not asking why you're not getting the whole picture and why can you, like certain others here, always be relied upon to come in attacking those who want to see the whole picture?
Here's another bit they left out from the source.
Blu-ray Q1 shipments were 19.16 million compared to DVD's 312.6, not even 10%.
You'll also find "sell through of standard DVD was down 14 percent to $2.89 billion".
$2.89 billion v $400 million.
http://www.dvdinformation.com/News/press/042809.html
All in all it just goes to show that that 91% number is nothing like as impressive as it's intended to be, it's just a drop in the ocean.
Clearly some here prefer the usual blatant PR & spun BS to the whole truth and the complete factual picture........and rather amusingly they get pretty wound up when anyone gives them the whole picture.
Propaganda is so much more warm & comfy, huh?
Get over yourself!
MFM - thanks for posting this (I'll thank you even if EHD's band of reliable Sony fanbois insist on flaming anyone with anything other than unconditional love for Blu-ray), but I'm a little... perplexed by the stat you've posted.
How, exactly, can digital downloads suddenly now be at $1B a year given the standards are still being worked out and people are still fighting a variety of different technical challenges to get the things to show on a TV? Is it possible the figure includes ALL digital downloads, including, say, iTunes music? Given the vagueness of the article, which talks about "packaged media" rather than movies specifically, my guess is that would be the case.
I also am curious about one discrepancy in the article. Supposedly Blu-ray is up 91% for sales, but only 62% for rentals. With the relatively high cost of BD discs, you'd expect the rises to be the same. Could it be we're looking at a sales increase because a large number of players have been shifted, with new owners buying new discs to go with them, and then being less interested in the format after doing so?
Thank you squiggleslash, it's nice to know at least some people around here are interested in the whole picture (or as much of it as we can find) and not just the cherry-picked bits that make them feel great about their buying choices
(which is weird cos I have plainly said that I have a Blu-ray player too, I'm just not into lying to anyone who might listen about how it's going to slot in as 'the next DVD').
Digital downloads?
My bet is the bulk of their sales now showing are from Netflix, Apple & Xbox live.
You'll notice that even Sony recently brought Netflix to their Bravia TV owners (although strangely not to their PS3 owners, not yet anyways).
The numbers are showing one thing pretty loud and clear, Blu-ray's earnings are disproportionately high compared to DVD but their volume sales are tiny (as indicated by Blu-ray showing a tiny 6% shipped compared to DVD yet 13.8% of cash sales value).
There's the premium being gouged from the early adopting gang right there - and the shipped numbers indicate the mass-market is still decidedly steering well clear.
Some prefer to dwell on the earnings number, I see the minimal mass-market penetration as the problem.
If they do let prices drop to DVD levels that premium vanishes and they are just left with their much higher production line costs eating into profits - assuming the mass market ever were to be enticed to move.
That doesn't seem to me to be a very stable base for anyone expecting the format to last any time.
(which is what I have been saying from the beginning)
Sigh! The old HD-DVD fanboy goes on his usual crusade as soon as there's some positive news about BD.
It's really tiresome to hear this senseless ranting. If you do not like BD, then just let go. If it's as bad as you pretend (which it is not) then it will fail and you're obviously happy. If not, well you're less happy and the rest of us are more happy.
What's predictable is the way certain posters here roll in to defend partial reporting and attack anyone trying to give the more complete and accurate picture.
Every time. Bit of a give-away.
Then there's the endlessly repeated & ludicrous and false claims that anyone trying to give an accurate picture 'must' be a 'hater' (or be in some sort of way odd for preferring something other than the other clear misinformation).
It's laughable.
It's really tiresome to hear this senseless pro-Blu-ray ranting.
If you 'love this CE product that is Blu-ray so much, then just let go.
If it's as amazing as you seem to want to pretend it is (which it is not) then it will really will grow enormously & take over and slot in as 'the next DVD' like you and the BDA always claimed.
You'll obviously be so happy you'll be permanently soiling yourself with joy.
But seeing as it's not going to, well then you're obvious snidey & unhappy demour is obvious to all & fully explained......but at least the rest of us get a good laugh seeing it in the meantime.
Thanks for that.
Oh, and I'd just like to add......before someone says the digital distribution rise (of 21%) was mentioned I'd just say I know, I'm not blind and we're all aware of that and can see that.
That's not the point.
The issue here is the omission of the cash sales amount (almost $1 billion) and the clear spin being put (once again) on silly comparative % numbers with no actual specific sales or cash amounts being given to give accurate reference.
It's the same old same old, manipulation and spin, plain as day.
U left out Lite-HD
Agreed. Real figures paints the picture so much better than stupid percentages. I hate when people use percentages to represent growth without really stressing the actual amounts.
If I was, say, a telemarketer who calls people everyday about their fake car warranty, and was able to con 5 people into buying it one month, whereas the last month I was only able to con 1 person, well then technically my sales are up 500%!!! Of course, 6 sales in two months don't exactly make me a winner. Of course, if I sold fake car warranties, I'd be a loser no matter what.
Hold on.. wasn't it 200% I heard in a couple of other places year over year. This now confuses me.. What was the 200-something % increase then I kept reading?
Seems people just keep publishing some numbers as it fits them as long as they look impressive, screw, let's just make some noise ha ha ha :)
It's so hard to track anything Blu-ray anymore due to all these percentages where you don't know what certain percentages are about what.
Crazy!
But digital downloads made a BILLION.. wow.. that's freakin' amazing.. how the hell did it do that :)
That's the great thing about percentages... its all depending on what you are comparing it to... Take Blu-ray for example... they think that pulling in 10% of the total profits for a week is a good thing, but considering that a BD-Movie is $5-$10 (about 1.5x) that means they are selling fewer movies... but its still 10%... The Blu-tards like picking and choosing their comparisons. Also I think that 200% was localized to the UK not world wide.
But consider this, mass adoption would be showing percentages above 100%, anything below could just be an increase in purchases by existing owners.
60% of all statistics are made up...
@ Bozster.. You and MFM need to understand that no one is saying that DL the internet, ect.. aren't going to be the prefered form of Media distribution some day. Get over it!! Your not smarter than anyone that likes to buy BD because you don't! The fact is that in just two years people have went from spending next to nothing on BD to $400m. If BD jumps another 50-60% in the second half of the year due to $99 players and x-mas/black friday, ect. Sales for BD will total around 750m, not bad in two and a half years. Also, it was brought up in a different post but, the money spent on purchases was actually about 200m or 1/2 of what people spent just on BD. So the rest of the 1B was spent on rentals(PPV, been around since the 80's guy). So that is 1B for Sales and rentals/PPV of all Digital distribution. Not exactly apples to apples. Point is, as long as BD keeps growing, it will be around for years to come. If I were you, I would quit spouting off about the things you think you know, remember HDDVD, some of us do ;)
@3dpenguin.. I really hope that you don't expect people to take you serioulsy when you try to make yourself sound smart by insulting people. Mass adoption is over 100%? so what does it say when DD is only up 21%??
When adoption rates are increasing and current adoption is below common levels for similar technology (such as Blu-ray and DVD) yes 100%+ isn't unheard of, mass adoption is usually associated with exponential increase in users, thus a 100% increase is double the number of users. When one considers that less than 10% of the sales home entertainment market is controlled by Blu-ray there is a lot of consumers out there to pick-up. Where as what is being seen with Digital Downloads, which included streaming, legitimately purchased items, and illegal downloads, less than 50% should be expected because illegal downloads were already pushing 1b+ last year, when you remove the illegal downloads you will find an increase of legitimately viewed digital content is significantly higher than the 100% increase often associated with new and emerging formats/technologies.
The larger the numbers for a market the harder it is to continue growth, and with DVD in a decline, as analysts predicted would be happening around this time in DVD's life, the market is going else where because Blu-ray's market share is only growing marginally in comparison to the 9% loss DVD has suffered, only approximately half of which has gone to Blu-ray. At this point in Blu-ray's life it should be seeing increases of 125% or more from year to year, especially with the drop in price of the players, the hold back factor of DVD in the 90's wasn't the movies, DVD didn't actually take off until cheap players came out at which point it shot up in sales like gang-busters even with prices per movie pushing $30 a unit. As for the adoption rates Blu-ray supporters often pull as being better than DVD at the same point in its life, consider the fact that DVD was on the market for nearly 3 years before the PS2 came out and forced a price drop of all players and it was nearly 4 before DVD players came down to a reasonable price, my first DVD player was bought in fall '99/spring '00 and it was cheap at $120. Blu-ray now has entry models going for that price and below yet it can't muster a doubling of its consumers, which DVD several years in a row until it surpassed VHS. Also, you must consider the idea that when DVD came out consumers were still a little skittish about a new product which required all the old content to be replaced, DVD players didn't play VHS at the time, with no real visual benefit because of the types of TVs they had and how they were connected, where as consumers have much better TVs now, almost all have Component connections at the very least, and upgrading from a DVD player to a Blu-ray player is not as much of a technology shock as it was for VHS to DVD, the same thing happened with Cassette to CD back in the 80s, it takes longer for new ideas different from old ones to catch on vs new ideas based on old ones almost everyone is familiar with.
When adoption rates are increasing and current adoption is below common levels for similar technology (such as Blu-ray and DVD) yes 100%+ isn't unheard of, mass adoption is usually associated with exponential increase in users, thus a 100% increase is double the number of users. When one considers that less than 10% of the sales home entertainment market is controlled by Blu-ray there is a lot of consumers out there to pick-up. Where as what is being seen with Digital Downloads, which included streaming, legitimately purchased items, and illegal downloads, less than 50% should be expected because illegal downloads were already pushing 1b+ last year, when you remove the illegal downloads you will find an increase of legitimately viewed digital content is significantly higher than the 100% increase often associated with new and emerging formats/technologies.
The larger the numbers for a market the harder it is to continue growth, and with DVD in a decline, as analysts predicted would be happening around this time in DVD's life, the market is going else where because Blu-ray's market share is only growing marginally in comparison to the 9% loss DVD has suffered, only approximately half of which has gone to Blu-ray. At this point in Blu-ray's life it should be seeing increases of 125% or more from year to year, especially with the drop in price of the players, the hold back factor of DVD in the 90's wasn't the movies, DVD didn't actually take off until cheap players came out at which point it shot up in sales like gang-busters even with prices per movie pushing $30 a unit. As for the adoption rates Blu-ray supporters often pull as being better than DVD at the same point in its life, consider the fact that DVD was on the market for nearly 3 years before the PS2 came out and forced a price drop of all players and it was nearly 4 before DVD players came down to a reasonable price, my first DVD player was bought in fall '99/spring '00 and it was cheap at $120. Blu-ray now has entry models going for that price and below yet it can't muster a doubling of its consumers, which DVD several years in a row until it surpassed VHS. Also, you must consider the idea that when DVD came out consumers were still a little skittish about a new product which required all the old content to be replaced, DVD players didn't play VHS at the time, with no real visual benefit because of the types of TVs they had and how they were connected, where as consumers have much better TVs now, almost all have Component connections at the very least, and upgrading from a DVD player to a Blu-ray player is not as much of a technology shock as it was for VHS to DVD, the same thing happened with Cassette to CD back in the 80s, it takes longer for new ideas different from old ones to catch on vs new ideas based on old ones almost everyone is familiar with.
@3dpengin.. You seem very confused.
First: you say that illegal DL are included in the 1B+ that DL made last year. How is money made off of illeagl DL again?
Second: It's not like there have been $99 players on the market for a year now. For the first six months of the year players were $150-$300+, movies were expensive, ect, right?? Plus it's a terrible economy, and BD has still growen by 91%(farily close to double).
Third: You go on and on about how VHS to DVD was a hard sell b/c of the transition of formats. BD players play DVD!!! Every CE Co. our there(except Toshiba, not for long though) is only making stand alone BD players now. BD players are hitting the price of an upconverting DVD player. Guess what? BD players also upconvert DVD's, you see, seamless transition.
Forth: You point out that even three years after DVD launched, DVDs were $30 most places, here were are two years in BDs life cycle and Wal-mart, ect, have some BDs priced at $14.99 everyday. There have been $9.99 sales, ect. Most likley the reason that there are 10 million more BD at this point in its life cycle compaired with DVD hey?
Wake up, in the real world BD almost doulble its sales year over year. Better to be thought a fool and keep silent, then open ones mouth and remove all doubt my friend.
Red, Defend... Defend... Defend...
Blu-ray may be catching on but its not going as well as some of the idiots here at Engadget BD would like everyone to believe. And you're comments about BD-Players playing DVD supports my point about adoption advantages for BD, it doesn't force people to buy new equipment and new content, and this has probably helped with its adoption rate up till now, but unless it does much better going through it's 4th year, which is when DVD took off, it won't keep out pacing the adoption rate of DVD. People are choosing either not to replace their old DVD players or replacing them with newer DVD Players instead of with Blu-ray Players. As for media sales most money for entertainment media is brought in by new releases, and back when DVDs were still hovering at $30 new there were $10-$15 DVDs, just not as many as Blu-ray because it took several years for the industry to adopt DVD as a standard distribution method, where as with HD by the end of '06 all the studios were in distribution contracts with one format or another, it took Disney 2 years to start distributing DVD and Fox even longer, but consider this about your dramatically discounted Blu-ray movies, how long does it take them to reach that point vs the price of the DVD of the same title, which is still 50% of the price. A new DVD comes out at around $15 and the next week its up to $20-$25 but if you miss your chance to get that DVD at $15 it'll take only a few months for it to go back down vs Blu-ray which is released first week at $20-$25 and then put up to $25-$30 and stays there for 5-6 months by which time the DVDs have dropped in price twice usually.
Also, I never once said that Digital Downloads were making profit, and the article which stated they exceeded 1 billion last year never stated that either. Why are DD making a profit? Because the movie industry is fighting tooth and nail not to lose control of a false perception that they have more control over disc media than they do of digitally distributed media, when in fact they don't, they are the exact same thing Discs are just a way for the consumer to get a hold of the movies. Legitimately downloaded and streamed feature films are a small percentage of DD'ed content because the number of legal ways of getting them, though increasing, is still marginal at best, but illegally downloaded videos, which make up the largest portion of that number and probably increased by about 5-10% last year thanks to the lack of decent content to spend money on coming from Hollywood, has dozens of options out there which are not controlled, no credit cards or passwords required. Profits won't be seen by Digital Downloads until a standard is adopted for mass distribution instead of half a dozen to a dozen different standards requiring different equipment and different subscriptions and pricing methods to use, Blu-ray has an advantage over DD right now only for this reason.
Best projection scenarios give Blu-ray till 2018-2020 at best, DVD is being given till 2015 at the latest, and I wouldn't be surprised by then if DVD has lost at least 50-75% of its market due to other distribution methods. HD Disc content has lost any chance of replacing DVD because of Sony's and DVD Forum's lack of ability to come up with a unified format and deciding to duke it out for nearly 2 years, thus playing right into the hands of Digital Downloads, a media what Toshiba, Microsoft, and DVD Forum was trying to standardize and introduce through HD DVD but now its not controlled by anybody and we will probably see another format war in the near future because of it.
You know what’s causing a lot of the flack being thrown at Blu-ray supporters like yourself? Its because you and your type go around calling people who don't want to adopt Blu-ray and think "good enough" is just fine stupid and uninformed or uneducated, where in fact its quite the opposite, most of society is informed and educated but doesn't care one flip about Blu-ray because they don't care all as much about home entertainment you informed and educated people do, no they actually go out and do things and don't spend most of their time in front of a TV which cost a good portion of a monthly salary, with a speaker system that is close to the same price. Most people who you are calling stupid or uneducated actually know what the sky looks like beyond the windows of their cars and the amount of time it takes to go from said cars into the store, work, or to the mailbox.
i've bought more blu-ray movies lately. i haven't paid for digital content except for cable and i've been sticking to the free vod. do ad supported streaming sites count.
Any time there's something positive about Blu-ray, MFM and Bozster must come in and try to turn into something terrible. Still don't know why. BD is the best quality home presentation in the history of film. And now that the format war is over, there's no reason to be a hater. So why the desire to see it fail? Especially when every alternative is lower quality by a significant amount (I have terabytes of HD caps/downloads, and BD kills them all).
It really makes no sense. Then again, neither do the false facts they try to present. :-D
-Pie
How do you read negative things out my comment is puzzling. Some of you blind fanboys seem to find these days negative things in any response to justify you rants. I was merely asking for clarification because I've read 3 different numbers in percentage over the course of last month.
Same old same old Bozster.
If you aren't painting Blu-ray as a 'winner'
(despite it being utterly dwarfed by DVD and now well and truly trailing retail digital downloads - as well as being massively dwarfed by so-called 'illegal' downloads)
then you are a 'hater', apparently.
Hilariously, even when you link to the actual official source of the story (and not just a news report of it - my 2nd link above is to the DVD Entertainment Group press release this is all based upon) you get told you are relaying "false facts".
It is pretty laughable stuff.
Cos here any old obvious & ludicrously over-blown Blu-ray PR is lapped up and applauded by the resident fanclub and all critical faculties are firmly switched to 'off'.
They prefer their news to be partial, manipulated and distorted, for some odd reason
(is Hydra still operational or what? lol)
Multi Format Mayhem: Speaking of "Same old same old".....
So what would you prefer mntwister, you tell me which is more honest?
Is it not far far more accurate, honest & preferable to have the actual original press release linked to this story here, and not someone else's news report on the press release?
Is it not also clear that the heading here with that photoshop nonsense is laughably ridiculous, in view of what the press release actually says about the whole market situation?
What's up with telling the whole truth here......and how come the 'attacks' are on those who call for the whole truth and not on those who prefer the obviously spun cherry-picked misinformation & PR instead ?
I'm speaking of ongoing track record.
Every time... every single time!... there has been a post about BD looking good, you guys have posted something negative. "BD isn't doing as well as they say!" "Look Digital Downloads are doing so much better!" But the numbers for Digital Downloads include VOD, which isn't *really* a download per-se, since it works like a channel on an cable box. Beside the fact that this is a *purchase* (BD) vs. a *rental* (DD) system.
You feel free to question the numbers on Blu-ray, but blindly accept the Digital Download numbers like they are the gospel truth (not even taking issue with including Cable VOD being included? Sheesh). Inconsistency abounds here, business as usual.
I am certainly for more clarification, and while I first agreed with you on the 200% earlier, I did a double-take, recalling it was actually quoted as *double* the sales of last year, which amounts to a *100%* change, not 200%. I am also for a more apples-to-apples comparison on BD vs Digital Download.
And, yes, I love Blu-ray. If that makes me a "fanboi" then so be it. Though I think "enjoyer" is more apt. Either way, I prefer that to being a "hater." :p
-Pie
EatingPie - at a guess, that would be because virtually every time EHD posts an article about how well BD is doing, it's usually absurdly over the top.
When EHD feels the need to post four different articles to debunk a nonsensical poll, as Ben did the other week, it ceases to be the poll that looks ridiculous, and starts to be Engadget that does.
This article is, honestly, insane. It promotes a simple statistic using an overly simplistic flawed analysis in order to promote Warner's pro-BD agenda when there's a far more interesting story in the figures anyway. MFM actually read TFA and raised the more interesting story. All some people seem to do is bitch that, *gasp*, something that isn't Blu-ray cheerleading might actually be interesting.
I really think it's a shame EHD sees itself as a branch of the Blu-ray Promotions Group. There's a lot of interesting stuff it buries behind layers of ludicrous cheerleading and BS analysis.
I'm sorry Squiggledash, you're wrong.
EHD posts positive and negative things about Blu-ray. They're not the shills you accuse them of. Of the "four" articles debunking said poll, one of them was actually just the post about the poll, no debunking involved. Another was a poll about the poll. The last was the actual news reference that said why the poll was bogus. This hardly puts EngadgetHD in the pockets of the BDA by any means.
These guys, and you included, make sure to post bad things about Blu-ray any chance they get.
-Pie
This has NOTHING to do about it being a positive bluray article..... it has EVERYTHING to do about Ross trying to make this article look as good as possible for bluray. Notice he mentions the actual figure for bluray but when it comes to dvd or digital distro those real figures are absent. All the figures should have been included but then that paints a different picture and all that work photoshopping that logo would have been for nothing.
I mean if we look at it realistically and that's $400 million was from SALES ONLY on Blu-ray. The $400 million vs $1billion for DL, VOD and online distribution seems pretty impressive BUT.. some might argue this is only for sales while DL/VOD/online account for sales and rentals.
This is true and to be fair we can make an actual comparison based on the numbers shown in the article.
So:
If we look at 5.4 billion in sales for DVD and Blu-ray sales together and then it says $400 million were Blu-ray sales, this means that those $400 mill. are less then 10%..
So if we look at 3.4 billion in rentals for both DVD and Blu-ray.. it's only natural/plain math to assume that rentals are most likely to be about 10% too. So around $300 million.
So if we combine the 2 we get for a total of $700 million for Blu-ray with rentals which still seems pretty low compared to the DL,VOD and online distribution.
I guess digital/VOD/online still seem to be making noticeable amount of money more then Blu-ray. (~$700 million vs ~$1 billion).
This makes you wonder, is Blu-ray really the winner or will studio continue investing more in these alternate sources since they are making them more money?
Not bad for a format that's a "rip-off", but then I guess we're all just "lemmings" for wanting the best AV experience we can get.
Gotta roll my eyes at the DD crowd who seem to have this pathological need to rip into anything indicating BD success. I'm also still waiting to hear how his bright DD future fits into my desire to take media with me where I please, or to have high-bitrate content and superior audio, etc. Heck, I enjoy the occasional stream or download in certain circumstances, but certainly not for HD movies.
Until someone starts separating out actual numbers for HD media's portion of DD, there's not really much intelligent comparison that can be done, eh?
"Until someone starts separating out actual numbers for HD media's portion of DD, there's not really much intelligent comparison that can be done, eh?"
Why? Everything quote is home entertainment. You don't need uncompressed HD to consider it home entertainment. Only 38% of households in US have HDTV to begin with. So it's not even majority and if you think that online distribution will not reach Blu-ray quality in some realistic time then you are just fooling yourself. It's coming as consumers will demand it over time.
The fact that less then 10% (by above numbers in sales) of people actually buys Blu-ray, tells you the level of interest anyways.
Let's be clear, we are not talking about my appreciation for full HD and great quality Blu-ray offers, we are talking about home entertainment as a whole and what happens after Blu-ray and after DVD. As I noted before, Blu-ray is not a flexible format because it doesn't have growth capability without people repurchasing stuff. That's the biggest problem.
Why I would like digital to grow is because it has no limitations as to what type of stream goes through it. It can be even 4k HD that goes through the internet pipelines without you having to buy anything. This will happen without a doubt because internet infrastructure and bandwith will continue growing no matter how much cable providers want to stall because it's the need from consumers, and the industry and huge services and many companies that want to present their content to a wider range of audience.
And let's not even talk about convenience and actual nature preservation by not dealing with plastic and chemicals but use plain digital bits.
@Bozster: Dude, are you seriously bashing away THAT blindly?
"Why? Everything quote is home entertainment". Because, it doesn't make sense to compare BD sales against ALL HOME ENTERTAINMENT, unless you're deliberately trying to portray it in a negative light. Hell, why stop at DD - why not lump in total sales of books, board games, alcohol, auto-erotic stimulation devices, etc.? All are forms of home entertainment, and there are many others.
The central point that some people seem intent on trying to make is that BD is somehow a failed or doomed format. It's relative success versus paid HD streaming or downloads, or even versus DVD at the same point in lifecycle, seem to be far more germane for any comparisons than how BD is doing versus Candyland.
"Why I would like digital to grow..." Okay, I see clearly now. You seem prepared to make any argument that's convenient because you have some personal stake in wishing DD to grow, as opposed to sticking to the actual facts about BD.
Got it, thanks.
Who's bashing? It's only bashing to you if you feel somehow threatened or something. Which I really don't understand.
QUOTE: "Because, it doesn't make sense to compare BD sales against ALL HOME ENTERTAINMENT, unless you're deliberately trying to portray it in a negative light. Hell, why stop at DD"
Who's comparing ALL ENTERTAINMENT? It's fair comparison as we are comparing internet based home entertainment such as DL/VOD/Online sites vs Blu-ray. They are 2 new ways of delivering home entertainment content that's in addition to DVD Simple as that. I really have no interest in bashing. Just stating facts that everyone can actually see for themselves.
And the only reason comparison exists is because I've been hearing how Blu-ray actually made more money then anything online and that it wasn't even close. Now we see that it's not only not close, but internet content in one way or the other generates more money then Blu-ray and by a quite a bit of margin. Whether they are video on demand services, or digital downloads or online sites.. they are all based on one thing. Internet delivery.
It only sounds bad to you because you don't like it and I really can't do anything about that.
QUOTE: "The central point that some people seem intent on trying to make is that BD is somehow a failed or doomed format. It's relative success versus paid HD streaming or downloads, or even versus DVD at the same point in lifecycle, seem to be far more germane for any comparisons than how BD is doing versus Candyland."
I don't think it's failed format. It will take some marketshare and it will exist alongside DVD and DL/VOD/Online deliveries for years to come. It just won't be be-all home entertainment delivery and it definitely won't be new DVD. That's reality and something we can see clearly even now.
QUOTE:
""Why I would like digital to grow..." Okay, I see clearly now. You seem prepared to make any argument that's convenient because you have some personal stake in wishing DD to grow, as opposed to sticking to the actual facts about BD."
ROFL. So wanting digital content delivery through internet to grow makes you some kind of fanatic now? LOL.. No, it only means that I would like to see it grow because it has far more advantages and convenience then optical/physical media. It's simple as that. I don't need to wish for Blu-ray to fail especially considering I've invested thousands and thousands of dollars into Blu-ray.
and what did I write that weren't facts about BD? All we are discuss here is an article and facts. Don't know what pains you so much about that.
i just dont understand all the hostility here. if experiencing the best possible quality from your equipment isnt very important to you, or if blu ray's too expensive and you feel it's a rip off, or you just absolutely hate owning physical media, then that's fine!. but if so, why even come here to post? it's ok to have different opinions. but why then if someone has a different opinion, they gotta be blu tards, fanboys, or lemmings? i wonder if you guys get as passionate about health care reform and education as you do with the bluray association's press statements...
Agreed. There does not seem to be a single snippet of news related to BD that cannot pass without instant passionate attack from DD proponents, laughable writers from thestreet.com, disgruntled purchasers of HD-DVD, et. al. (if, indeed, these are actually separate groups of people).
Nothing wrong with commenting on the validity of an article, or presenting relevant facts, but the tired old crusades are so 2008.
QUOTE: "i just dont understand all the hostility here. if experiencing the best possible quality from your equipment isnt very important to you, or if blu ray's too expensive and you feel it's a rip off, or you just absolutely hate owning physical media, then that's fine!. but if so, why even come here to post?"
Who shows hostility? The only hostility here comes from Blu-ray diehards as far as I can see.
If people were only allowed to post when they agree with something then what would be the point? You don't have to hate something to criticize it or comment on topics that are connected to it.
Here we are discussing numbers posted and the claim of growth for Blu-ray and the state of other home entertainment sources in comparison. The only reason these discussion exist is because news about Blu from BDA always make these outrageous claims and shown in some percentages in order to claim Blu dominance.
Some really long posts here. Do people actually read all of these?
What is "electronic sellthough" ???
And in my honest opinion. I need to know where the numbers come from. Its not coming from NPD... which we need to get. I know Sony and XBOX are not releasing their numbers. So where do all these numbers come from? Where does DEG get their numbers?
And do people just cut and paste their rants from weeks before?
As usual when any (good, as they usually are) news about BD comes out this turns into a post frenzy from MFM and Bozster to tell the rest of the world that they are wrong.
How one can have so much hatred that they feal compelled to counteract every single shread of positive news for a digital format is beyond me.
How someone can be up BDA and corporate ass defending something with such passion you have absolutely no real benefits from is truly unbelievable.
"BUT BUT, It has Electrolytes!" ;)
Well, Bozster, after defending yourself as the unbiased defender of truth and accurate reporting, you just pulled the rug right out from under yourself.
Sheesh.
-Pie
No benefit?
We'll so much for your credibility. Obviously you have a gripe with BD and you spare no effort badmouthing it at every opportunity.
Get a life kid !!!
"Who shows hostility?":
"Some of you blind fanboys..."
"How someone can be up BDA and corporate ass..."
"Who's comparing ALL ENTERTAINMENT?":
"Everything quote is home entertainment. You don't need uncompressed HD to consider it home entertainment..."
"we are talking about home entertainment as a whole..."
My name is Bozster, and I'm a schizophrenic. Please help me.
Joemama pretending to be me.. You might wanna try to get your own personality instead of having corporate culture doing it for you.
And talking about being a schizophrenic. Pretending to be someone else, and emailing and e-stoking authors that write articles that portrait Blu-ray in bad light.
You man, have SERIOUS issues. You are either 10 years old or need to see a shrink like PRONTO.
The guy who wrote "Blu-ray ripping consumers article" answered you very nicely.
"Keep spending lemming"..
Nothing to add.. it's perfect.
I too believe that Digital Downloads are the FUTURE. But those dismissing Blu-Ray as being a dead format because of the supposed death of physical media should consider that NOT everybody has a FIOS connection (there are still a large amount of people who do not have internet at all), NOT everybody is OK with buying a movie that is of inferior quality to what is available on a Blu-Ray, NOT everybody is willing to give up their uncompressed audio, NOT everybody is happy with the selection currently available via download.
Digital Downloading is making strides- HDX via Vudu and being able to buy and OWN HD movies via iTunes is a BIG step- and one day we are going to see something better than HDX quality via iTunes and maybe one day Vudu will offer uncompressed audio on HDX+. And one day the selection of movies will be a lot better.
One day instead of waiting in line at midnight at Gamestop to buy Madden, I will just download it via xboxLive or PSN at midnight- when I decide to upgrade my current 1.5mbps DSL connection to a FIOS or better connection. Right now my ISP charges me 30.00 a month and one day I will be able to get a much faster connection for the same price. Paying 60.00 a month for a switch to Cable does NOT make sense right now to watch inferior quality movies. And I plan on buying Modern Warfare 2 the day it comes out this Nov...you physical media disc-bashers can wait for it to be available as a retail download via xboxLive or PSN.
I know I only need to switch my ISP if I want to be able to do 1080p HD streaming via Live- and that my current ISP is perfectly capable of downloading HD movies RIGHT NOW...well it has been a week and I am still waiting for iTunes to complete my download of Truth in 24 (the free iTunes HD movie) its at 164mb of 2.91gb right now.
I know the PS4 is coming out and yet I bought a PS3...there will always be something better in the future- we have been hearing about downloading movies since the DVD/Laserdisc days and we still bought DVD. Nothing is wrong with forecasting the future but don't try and impose an inferior experience on me by bashing the Blu-Ray medium.
Glad the format is doing decent considering the economic situation
Great analysis from Variety that actually uses this whole article as well:
QUOTE FROM VARIETY:
Sony's PlayStation 3 hasn't moved as many Blu-rays as Hollywood had hoped it would, but the videogame console has clearly established itself as a lucrative platform studios can use to distribute their films and TV shows.
A year after launching its PlayStation Network, Sony has digitally delivered more than 500 million pieces of content to owners of its PS3 console and PSP handheld device.
That includes sales and rentals of movies, TV shows and original video programming.
Altogether, the video delivery service, available through the PlayStation Store, has registered more than 25 million users since launching on July 15, 2008. It saw a surge of subscribers around E3 in June.
The PlayStation Network initially bowed with 300 movies and 1,200 TV episodes. At the time, it had signed up most of the major studios, including Sony, Warner Bros., Fox, Disney, Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate.
It now has all of the majors onboard and boasts more than 2,000 movies and over 10,200 TV show episodes, both new releases and library fare, from 38 different content partners. An estimated 35% of the movies on the network are in HD.
The numbers are notable at a time when studios are keen on creating ways to generate revenues from homevideo now that DVDs have reached their earnings peak.
Helping to put financials in perspective are recent reports from analysts that suggest digital downloads are starting to appeal to mainstream audiences.
The sale of online videos is expected to generate $3.8 billion this year, according to digital media analysts at Strategy Analytics. That would surpass the $3.5 billion that ad-based videos are expected to earn this year.
Digital distribution is up 21% during the first half of the year, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, generating revenue of $968 million. That compares with $407 million for Blu-ray sales.
Who is doing the downloading from Sony will be key in helping to determine just how lucrative videogame consoles will become as a future revenue stream.
While males 18-34, the traditional game-playing demo, unsurprisingly comprise a majority of its user base, Sony said it's been happy to see that more women are embracing the service and influencing which movies and TV shows are downloaded, broadening the reach of the console.
The trend of moving from early adopters into the mainstream fits in well with Sony's efforts to promote the PS3 as not just a game system but an entertainment hub in consumers' living rooms.
Getting there wasn't necessarily easy. It took time to develop the network -- but then it also took some time educating Hollywood on the benefits.
Having Sony Pictures as the initial partner helped sell the service, but studios "had to be convinced that it was a good place to be and that their content was safe and secure," said Eric Lempel, director of operations for the PlayStation Network. "There were lots of discussions, a lot of roadshows, a lot of technical and business evaluations," he said.
That process also involved coming up with a proper release window for programming.
Movies are released through the video-on-demand window, which is typically a month after pics bow on DVD. The films remain available for up to two months. Studios are increasingly releasing films day and date on DVD and VOD, however.
Sony is hardly the only player in the vidgame space to offer digital downloads. Rival Microsoft has also scored well with movie and TV shows offered to its Xbox Live account holders.
To date, Xbox Live has 30 million subscribers who can digitally access movies via Netflix and other video downloads, using their Xbox 360s.
END QUOTE
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006112.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1
Sigh, are you some former To$shiba employee that got laid off after you LOST the format war or what???
Many people are using the PSN service, but there are also people who rent Blu-Ray discs via NetFlix and play it on their PS3s- I don't think it's fair to combine rental sales in the digital distribution tally for "moving units" even though it is helping the platform/studios.
Are the Blu-Ray Netflix renters at all factored in like the PSN store rentals?