AfterDawn: News

Specialty stores expect Blu-ray to surpass DVD in August

There has been a lot of discussion over the last several months about whether consumers even care about the availability of Blu-ray or any other high definition disc format. A significant drop in sales volume following the death of HD DVD would seem to suggest that price is currently a bigger factor than resolution or other quality factors. Apparently that's not true for everyone though. Specialty electronics retailers like Ultimate Electronics and Crutchfield are expecting to be moving more Blu-ray players than standard DVD units before the end of 2008.

On one hand these retailers are seeing the benefits of the upcoming transition to all-digital TV signals next year. “I think HD of any kind is experiencing a lift, as people become more cognizant of the DTV transition,” said Matt Duda, Ultimate Electronics merchandising director of video. “People wonder if they need a new TV, and it’s a great time for retail to capitalize on that. Just getting that footstep in the door is a great way to educate consumers about all high-def products.”



At the same time the customer base for these retailers was already leaning toward Blu-ray, but hasn't had a lot to buy in the last couple of months. “People have been waiting weeks for Sony players, but it should get better later in the summer,” said Rick Souder, executive VP of merchandise at Crutchfield. “In August, it will be the first time that Blu-ray overtakes [standard DVD] sales for us on a unit basis.”

Duda sees a similar future for Ultimate Electronics. “There should be a healthy supply by August and [manufacturers] should be caught up in production,” he said. “You’re getting five to eight new [BD] players in the market, and you’ll see Blu-ray catching up with standard DVD.”


Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 28 May 2008 1:37

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• 17 comments

• iluvendo

  That is like saying "We here at Acme premium Car sales sell more luxury cars than Sailboats"
  
  
  Duh !!
  
  
  While it is true that many a owner of a luxury car owns a sailboat, it still is a non sequitor.

  28.5.2008 01:59 #1

• BuddhaJ

  The US Government has sent out a lot of checks for 600 dollars. People are using this money to splurge on things. DVD players aren't being sold as much since everyone at this point already has one and if they need to get one it is to replace a broken unit. So dvd recorders, upconverters and blu ray will increase as people see a need for these.
  
  So hardware is going up but what about software. I think a lot of people are going to see the blu ray dvd for 25 and the sd dvd for 15 and when they actually compare the difference they will see they aren't getting much better quality. Instead of buying more blu ray movies they are going to buy the regular and be happy with what they got.
  
  If blu ray wants to take over they need to bring hardware down to regular dvd player levels and bring the movies down to the same price. If they can get this done before digital downloads take over then congrats but I see it is a niche market and will last for so long.

  28.5.2008 02:13 #2

• mike.m

  Unless Blu-Ray Players drop down to a reasonable price, I don't see BR-Disc selling significantly more than DVD in August.

  28.5.2008 02:36 #3

• Gradical

  hahahaha by August, yeah right!, in your dreams.
  
  Do you remember how succesfull DVD was?, i do!, and even dvd with all the advantages over VHS could'nt crush it this fast, so... DREAM ON!

  28.5.2008 09:25 #4

• oappi

  Like fist post said... i wouldn´t be suprised if they sell more bd players in august (if they drop dvd) =).
  
  VHS vs DVD there was major con in dvd, Recording time. Vhs had lot more "space" and it is still keeping some ppl who dont care quality on vhs.
  
  Bd in otherhand has incresed quality and recording time. 50gb recording space on sd video sounds kinda nice. Still i dont think ppl want to pay extra for that so they really need to get prizes down. Over 20€ for one bd disk is just stupid. BD´s only con seems to be scratches because of hd-dvd battle they didnt have time to desing box around those bd disks.

  28.5.2008 09:45 #5

• eatsushi

  Quote: Apparently that's not true for everyone though. Specialty electronics retailers like Ultimate Electronics and Crutchfield are expecting to be moving more Blu-ray players than standard DVD units before the end of 2008.Before everyone gets excited, note that the article says SPECIALTY ELECTRONICS RETAILERS. These are the high-end dealers and specialty A/V shops that cater to the serious audio and videophiles and early adopters with deep pockets.
  
  This is actually already happening at our local A/V dealer. All their new custom home theater installation orders are with BluRay players. There's a shift from high-end DVD players (like Arcam and Meridian) to BluRay hardware from Denon and Pioneer Elite.

  28.5.2008 10:36 #6

• lynchGOP

  Originally posted by iluvendo: That is like saying "We here at Acme premium Car sales sell more luxury cars than Sailboats"
  
  
  Duh !!
  
  
  While it is true that many a owner of a luxury car owns a sailboat, it still is a non sequitor.
  
  AGREED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
  The rampant stupidity in the world is causing me to lose faith. One would only hope and assume that standard DVD player sales will be outsold (ALREADY) by Blu-ray. I mean.............frankly, WHO DOESN'T HAVE A DVD PLAYER ALREADY?!
  
  Can we all say "nat-ur-al ev-o-lu-tion of things"

  28.5.2008 10:54 #7

• lynchGOP

  Quote:Quote: Apparently that's not true for everyone though. Specialty electronics retailers like Ultimate Electronics and Crutchfield are expecting to be moving more Blu-ray players than standard DVD units before the end of 2008.Before everyone gets excited, note that the article says SPECIALTY ELECTRONICS RETAILERS. These are the high-end dealers and specialty A/V shops that cater to the serious audio and videophiles and early adopters with deep pockets.
  
  This is actually already happening at our local A/V dealer. All their new custom home theater installation orders are with BluRay players. There's a shift from high-end DVD players (like Arcam and Meridian) to BluRay hardware from Denon and Pioneer Elite.Ultimate Electronics and Crutchfield aren't "specialty"..........PERIOD. They sell great equipment but no "audiophile high end" like McIntosh, B&O, B&W, Carver.
  
  How anyone with an actively thinking mind could put the label "specialty" on Crutchfield and UE is beyond me. A Bang and Olefson store is specialty, ma and pa stores are specialty. Tweeter...........not specialty.

  28.5.2008 11:00 #8

• emugamer

  Quote:Quote:Quote: Apparently that's not true for everyone though. Specialty electronics retailers like Ultimate Electronics and Crutchfield are expecting to be moving more Blu-ray players than standard DVD units before the end of 2008.Before everyone gets excited, note that the article says SPECIALTY ELECTRONICS RETAILERS. These are the high-end dealers and specialty A/V shops that cater to the serious audio and videophiles and early adopters with deep pockets.
  
  This is actually already happening at our local A/V dealer. All their new custom home theater installation orders are with BluRay players. There's a shift from high-end DVD players (like Arcam and Meridian) to BluRay hardware from Denon and Pioneer Elite.Ultimate Electronics and Crutchfield aren't "specialty"..........PERIOD. They sell great equipment but no "audiophile high end" like McIntosh, B&O, B&W, Carver.
  
  How anyone with an actively thinking mind could put the label "specialty" on Crutchfield and UE is beyond me. A Bang and Olefson store is specialty, ma and pa stores are specialty. Tweeter...........not specialty./checking mind activity - replacing indicating LED's
  
  They are specialty stores when compared to Best Buy, Target, Walmart, etc.....where a very large majority of people buy their electronics. Which is what I believe this article is pointing out. Most people who buy electronics from Walmart or Best Buy will wait until a bluray player comes down in price close to a DVD player. While you may have a good point regarding specialty stores that A/V enthusiasts shop at, Crutchfield is a bit more specialty than where the average consumer shops.
  
  /end mind activity

  28.5.2008 12:02 #9

• lynchGOP

  Quote:Quote:Quote:Quote: Apparently that's not true for everyone though. Specialty electronics retailers like Ultimate Electronics and Crutchfield are expecting to be moving more Blu-ray players than standard DVD units before the end of 2008.Before everyone gets excited, note that the article says SPECIALTY ELECTRONICS RETAILERS. These are the high-end dealers and specialty A/V shops that cater to the serious audio and videophiles and early adopters with deep pockets.
  
  This is actually already happening at our local A/V dealer. All their new custom home theater installation orders are with BluRay players. There's a shift from high-end DVD players (like Arcam and Meridian) to BluRay hardware from Denon and Pioneer Elite.Ultimate Electronics and Crutchfield aren't "specialty"..........PERIOD. They sell great equipment but no "audiophile high end" like McIntosh, B&O, B&W, Carver.
  
  How anyone with an actively thinking mind could put the label "specialty" on Crutchfield and UE is beyond me. A Bang and Olefson store is specialty, ma and pa stores are specialty. Tweeter...........not specialty./checking mind activity - replacing indicating LED's
  
  They are specialty stores when compared to Best Buy, Target, Walmart, etc.....where a very large majority of people buy their electronics. Which is what I believe this article is pointing out. Most people who buy electronics from Walmart or Best Buy will wait until a bluray player comes down in price close to a DVD player. While you may have a good point regarding specialty stores that A/V enthusiasts shop at, Crutchfield is a bit more specialty than where the average consumer shops.
  
  /end mind activityI see your point of view.........and agree. My arbitrary view of the "specialty" part.

  28.5.2008 14:20 #10

• nobrainer

  //if you want to own one you'd better compile this!
  
  #include<iostream.h> //c++ I/O
  > #include<stdlib.h> //standard function library
  > #include<conio.h> //getche()
  > #include<time.h> //time(), time_t
  >
  > bool checknum(int num, int lottery_numbers[])
  > {
  > for (int x=0; x <= 5; x++)
  > {
  > if (lottery_numbers[x] == num || lottery_numbers[x] == 0)
  > {
  > return false; //the number is invalid. it is rejected.
  > }
  > }
  > return true; //the number is valid. it is accepted
  > }
  >
  >
  > void DrawNumbers(int lottery_numbers[])
  > {
  > int num_count = 0; //counter for number of valid numbers found.
  >
  > while (num_count <=5) //i.e. while all 6 numbers have not yet been drawn.
  > {
  > //initialise random number generator
  > time_t t;
  > srand(unsigned (time(&t)));
  > int num = (rand()*49); //generate a random number between 0 and 49
  > if (checknum(num, lottery_numbers)) //use checknum() to test validity
  > {
  > lottery_numbers[num_count] = num; //set current array element to
  > validated num.
  > num_count++; // move on to next element in array to fill.
  > }
  > }
  > }
  >
  > void main(int lottery_numbers[])
  > {
  > int lottery_numbers[5];
  > DrawNumbers(); //'draw' the numbers into the array
  > for (int i = 0; i <=5; i++) // for each of the six elements of the[/color]
  array...[color=blue]
  > {
  > cout << lottery_numbers[i] << " "; //print out the contents to screen.
  > }
  > getche();
  > }

  28.5.2008 17:05 #11

• ZippyDSM

  ok so the stores that mainly sale general AV electronics think BR will be pushing more stuff in a few months... maybe since they cater to above average AV goers but seems to me BR has another 2 years to price match players as so they can even think of getting near to DVD sales....

  28.5.2008 22:52 #12

• FredBun

  I am not fooled by this one bit, beleive me bluray players and movies are not doing anywhere near as well in the all around circle. The commin consumer is not biting and will not any time soon, when the players drop to a $100 or less things will start happining, it's just that simple, and all the I got to have the new products now will definatly disagee with me well of course they will, they have to feed on thier own bull crap to to justify the stupitity.

  12.6.2008 03:19 #13

• gnovak1

  Originally posted by FredBun: I am not fooled by this one bit, beleive me bluray players and movies are not doing anywhere near as well in the all around circle. The commin consumer is not biting and will not any time soon, when the players drop to a $100 or less things will start happining, it's just that simple, and all the I got to have the new products now will definatly disagee with me well of course they will, they have to feed on thier own bull crap to to justify the stupitity.I agree 100%. My upscale Oppo drive is excellent and myu dvds look much better which makes me less excited to go to Blue Ray just yet.
  
  I will not buy unless prices drop to dvd levels. Blue Ray is nice though and i admit it looks much better than dvd but not enough to make me rush out the door and buy one.
  
  Imagine what Blue Ray sales would be like if there were no PS3. Most people with Blue Ray have it because of the PS3.

  13.6.2008 14:19 #14

• FredBun

  quote: by gnovak1, man did you hit the nail on the head (Imagine what Blue Ray sales would be like if there were no PS3. Most people with Blue Ray have it because of the PS3.)

  15.6.2008 09:51 #15

• iluvendo

  Originally posted by FredBun: Quote:I am not fooled by this one bit,
  
  
  Quote:and all the I got to have the new products now will definatly disagee with me well of course they will, they have to feed on thier own bull crap to to justify the stupitity.
  I think you said it best here.
  

  If it wasnt for bad luck, Id have no luck!
  "The flimsier the product,the higher the price"
  Ferengi 82nd rule of aquisition

  15.6.2008 17:21 #16

• FELBOY415

  Well, if they want to move the sale of BluRay they need to drop the price of the Full 1080p LCDs, becouse whats the point of buying a Bluray if you dont have the Full HD to view it, might as well buy a UPCONVERTER DVD that will do a 720p. I predict this Bluray will not move as fast as the DVD did back then, just becouse DVD did not require a HD monitor and it already work with what they got and it was just a replacement of VHS players. As for myself Im a Microsoft guy but i did not buy Xbox360 HD player due to seperate component for the HD player, instead I bought PS3 for just the BD player, when it first launch. Now I have Bluray player in my HomeTheater Pc that I used in my Vista Media Center that cost me less than that Ps3, but still I buy more DVD than Bluray, just becouse quality is not really there yet, Im still happy with my Upconverted DVDs in my MCE pc.

  23.6.2008 15:23 #17