[Sam Posten]

Anecdotal evidence, I know, but my family is starting to ask about Blu Ray, Blockbuster is pushing it heavily, and for the first time there was a significant selection of BDs under $20, may for $16.95 at Best Buy tonight.

Christmas will be huge. Count on it.

[Stephen_J_H]

I was in the mall today and EB Games is running a promo on the PS3: trade in 8 games and get a 40 GB PS3 for $199.99. I've also seen the BD-UP5000 for $399.99, so sub $300 BD players can't be far off. Combine that with some titles now showing up for under $20 and BD may make into a few more homes.

[Nick P]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

Anecdotal evidence, I know, but my family is starting to ask about Blu Ray, Blockbuster is pushing it heavily, and for the first time there was a significant selection of BDs under $20, may for $16.95 at Best Buy tonight.

Christmas will be huge. Count on it.

In my opinion, cheaper software is the key to success. I think most people are willing to swallow a one time higher price for the hardware but, like myself, do not want ot shell out 25-35 dollars for new releases each week.

[Douglas Monce]

I noticed that the Walmart near me, which has never carried players, now has a few Sony blu-ray players.

They also have an end cap with blu-ray movies, most priced around $24.

Good news as far as I'm concerned.

Doug

[Douglas Monce]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick P

In my opinion, cheaper software is the key to success. I think most people are willing to swallow a one time higher price for the hardware but, like myself, do not want ot shell out 25-35 dollars for new releases each week.

I think some people are willing to pay a little more, but not much more. And I don't think most people are willing to pay more than the cost of a regular DVD player, IE $50 to $100 for a blu-ray player.

Doug

[Joseph Bolus]

The Wal-Mart Superstore near me now has an entire aisle dedicated to Blu-Ray titles for the very first time. The aisle is currently about 60% empty, but we all know that Wal-Mart's not going to waste shelf space like that, so I expect it to start to fill up rapidly.

The bottom line is that it does appear as though retailers are getting ready now for a big Fall push for the format. (In "retailer-ese" Fall means August!)

[Marc Colella]

That shelf space at Walmart was paid for, so their anticipation of future sales isn't playing a factor.

I don't think we'll see much of a difference in the acceptance of Blu-Ray this Christmas.

[PaulDA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce

I think some people are willing to pay a little more, but not much more. And I don't think most people are willing to pay more than the cost of a regular DVD player, IE $50 to $100 for a blu-ray player.

Doug

If that's true, then there will NOT be a big move to BD for at least another year (if not longer). People may have all sorts of personal reasons for not wanting to spend more than that (budget, other priorities in life, etc.) but IF they expect that BD players SHOULD cost the SAME as current SD DVD players (a more than TEN year old technology), they are being unrealistic and, simply, wrong. I did not expect my first DVD player (bought in 2000, about the same time frame as current BD players in their cycle) to cost me what a typical VCR cost at the time (and it did not--I paid a great deal more). I had many friends who were unwilling to spend more than the cost of a VCR (perfectly valid) but none of them EXPECTED, at that moment, that a DVD player SHOULD cost the same. They simply waited.

The same applies today. If someone wants to pay no more than a current SD DVD player goes for, then they should NOT complain about not having a BD player NOW. It is simply not a realistic expectation.

[Brandon Conway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen_J_H

I was in the mall today and EB Games is running a promo on the PS3: trade in 8 games and get a 40 GB PS3 for $199.99. I've also seen the BD-UP5000 for $399.99, so sub $300 BD players can't be far off. Combine that with some titles now showing up for under $20 and BD may make into a few more homes.

You can get the Magnavox Profile 1.1 player at Wal-Mart for under $300 right now. Pretty good player for a non-enthusiast, too.

[Douglas Monce]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulDA

If that's true, then there will NOT be a big move to BD for at least another year (if not longer). People may have all sorts of personal reasons for not wanting to spend more than that (budget, other priorities in life, etc.) but IF they expect that BD players SHOULD cost the SAME as current SD DVD players (a more than TEN year old technology), they are being unrealistic and, simply, wrong. I did not expect my first DVD player (bought in 2000, about the same time frame as current BD players in their cycle) to cost me what a typical VCR cost at the time (and it did not--I paid a great deal more). I had many friends who were unwilling to spend more than the cost of a VCR (perfectly valid) but none of them EXPECTED, at that moment, that a DVD player SHOULD cost the same. They simply waited.

The same applies today. If someone wants to pay no more than a current SD DVD player goes for, then they should NOT complain about not having a BD player NOW. It is simply not a realistic expectation.

Its not a matter of them expecting anything. Its a matter of them going, "oh you mean I can get a blu-ray player and it's only a little more than a standard DVD Player? Okay sure".

I just don't think that HD is important enough to most people to invest in it unless it's close in price to current DVD players. I don't think most people would even consider a blu-ray player unless someone points out that they aren't much more than an SD player.

Doug