I don't care what the mass media is saying, we are closing in on the tipping point... (1 Viewer)

[ManW_TheUncool]

Thanks for the extra bit of info/reminder though the info I found, which corroborates w/ my own recollections, point to sometime more like late 1999 or early 2000 as the initial release date for those 1st batches of Apex players (at the ~$180 price point). And the

 

[John H Ross]

Blu-ray players are still a flop in the US, says NPD | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

[RickER]

Thats funny John. I knew it would be a crap story the second i read that HD DVD was doing better than Blu-ray. Thanks for the laugh anyway.

 

[TravisR]

Those sales stats have been brought up in another thread but the drop in sales between January and February numbers being quoted in that article conveniently forget that the format war ended in January. With the format war ending that month, there was a big sales increase in January so the sales in February were going to decline no matter what.

It's just another example of using stats to fit the point they want to make. In this case, they want to say "The sky is falling" so they make sure not to give any context to place them in so it sounds bad.

 

[John H Ross]

You're very welcome!

 

[AaronMan]

I think I would be able to stomach the higher prices for the software if there was more on the disc than just the movie. I'm not paying 35 bucks for a movie-only disc of Commando or RoboCop. That just isn't going to happen.

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

That's a poor example of the format as a whole, considering that most releases have plenty of special features, and sell for less than $35.

 

[Scott-S]

I don't know if this was mentioned here yet (too busy to read it all) but I just came across the following link that had some interesting numbers about BR sales.

Here is the link:
Hollywood In Hi-Def

Here is a sample:

So it would seem that all the doom and gloom talk is not justifed.

 

[Edwin-S]

Well, if Blu-ray is going to be a complete failure then someone forgot to tell the rental stores in my area. While still small, the BD section at local video stores are steadily increasing in size.

I asked the clerks about the rental rate of BD discs. They told me that the rental rate has increased quite a bit, since HD DVD threw in the towel.
I also notice that they are starting to bring in more than one copy of a particular film for rental.

While I do not believe that BD will supplant DVD any time soon, I also think BD will prove to be more than a niche market.