Sony bullish on Blu-ray dominance
Sales to bloom?
Sony wants to own 50 per cent of the Blu-ray Disc hardware market by the end of the year, according to a company executive.
Ryoji Chubachi, President and electronics CEO at Sony, made the bold statement during a recent press conference in Taipei, according to a DigiTimes report.
Chubachi claimed that Sony already has 20 per cent of the market. But he aims to boost Sony’s share by 30 per cent through the introduction of more Blu-ray enabled products, such as HD TVs with integrated BD recorders.
The executive also said Sony will extend its focus from Blu-ray players and recorders and the PlayStation 3 out to unnamed IT devices - though the company already offers Vaio PCs with built-in BD drives.
Given the recent death of HD DVD, it’s no surprise that Sony’s predicting such a sharp upturn in consumer interest for Blu-ray. One analyst firm has already forecast that 29.4m homes around the world will own a BD player by the end of 2008, with the vast majority expected to be PS3s.
If Sony wants to beef up sales of standalone Blu-ray players then it still has some way to go. A recent study found that although 56 per cent of Brits, aged between 18 and 54, are aware of the HD format - only nine per cent have actually already bought a Blu-ray player.
COMMENTS
BD
i still use 2 crt TVs.i but a 100 pack of DVDs for $20.00.Untill BDs are the same price Sony can stick it where the sun don't shine.The other problem is the cost of HD TVs.Until they come down to something i can afford they're out too.
AC
Now_that_ is a _much_ better point you make, _despite_ the slightly _off_putting_ underscores....
But it isn't the point you made originally. What you did was just stick the knife in the PS3 and the owners and used the BR release figures over a short period to do so without the commentary you have since added only after someone pointed out a few holes in the way you represented the figures.
Your follow up comment is totally true and a very good set of points, but still gives no actual weight to your "jokes on you" shitty comments about the PS3. I'm no hippy don't get me wrong and love a good slanging match, but I felt your comment was... well.... _bollocks_. If you've got a PS3 for movie watching you will be sitting pretty as the format expands.
I raked up VHS because at the same point in the format change over and shelf life of DVD as BR is at now, DVD titles were almost as thin on the ground in the high street and release schedules, and it was only Amazon that had the big range. But DVD went BOOM eventually. There are parallels with BR as it stands at the moment from this historical point of view. That was my point if you'd read it a few times.
Your quoting of pending release figures and the ever so slight way you twisted them to suit the argument was wrong. You did a Bush and Rumsfeld and ignored some other key facts behind it all. Those facts and parallels with the previous format change over are what I pointed out.
What I DO completely agree with you about is that the speed of take up of HD is going to be a much, much slower process and that indeed, Sony will likely have 50% of not much for quite some time. But in terms of watching BR discs, there are plenty about if you look about (as you had to with DVD at first), there are plenty slated for release with dates set and the cheapest and most practical way to watch them is going to be on a PS3.
@Monkey
You might want to read what I wrote (including the link to the Amazon figures).
I was simply pointing out that the BluRay fanboys who claim that there's loads of material on Bluray are talking through their rear ends. The history of the changeover from VHS to DVD is irrelevant to the point that I was making, which is that _today_, and for the foreseeable future, anyone who enjoys watching films at home will be watching far more DVDs than BluRay discs. And for the next 2 to 3 years the ratio won't be 2 to 1, it'll be 10 to 1.
Sony are welcome to their 50% share of a pretty paltry market. The consumer could see the advantage of upgrading from VHS to DVD. It's not at all clear that the consumer will see the benefits of BlueRay over upscaled DVD, when Bluray costs twice as much. Most of the fanboys have already spent their money, the only question now is whether there are enough people who can be confused by the advertising to grow the market.
(If I wanted to argue about the VHS to DVD changeover, I'd have pointed out that very few people _replaced_ their VHS gear with DVD, because VHS was still needed for recording TV. People started to add DVD players to their setup only when there was enough content available _for rental_, and it was obvious that DVD was better than VHS for that purpose. BluRay doesn't have the same degree of improvement).
re:re:I won't be buying...
No, I buy my groceries from Morissons, but I would never buy a television from there.
All supermarket TV's are shit. Sorry, that's fact.
Most LCD's are pretty shit too. With only the top end sets coming anywhere near a plasma, so you may as well just get a plasma, and not suffer the motion blur, dead pixel issues, view angle headaches.
Bollocks as usual
As is so common people spouting what their mate Dave told them in the pub as fact...
LCD not good technology, TV's from Lidl being poor, non region free BR players, poor upscaling from the PS3, never buying discs until they're under $10...
Do none of you read other sites, or do any research? You've been able to get region free Sony BR players for around 6 months if you look in the right places, they may not be as cheap as the normal ones and are presently only Profile 1.0 (sufficient for me in all honesty) but gets round the region coding issues.... Plasma TV's do offer great pictures and probably do just pip LCD in some areas, but they're not for everyone... a decent LCD can give a performance on a par with a decent Plasma, usually for significantly less cash too.... try using your Plasma TV in a room with loads of natural light, being able to see the picture is the first advantage of a good quality picture. Sony, Samsung and Panasonic are making LCD's now that only really lose out to the real high end Plasma panels from the likes of Pioneer, even the black levels and motion handling are nearly as good.
Discs for less than $10, guess you'll be waiting a while, there is a cost involved with production, the hugely complex menu system for BD Java, high pressing costs (no longer subsidised by Sony) etc.... you're clearly not a "huge film fan" if you're not prepared to spend more than the average joe on something you love... i bet you're the kind of guy who whinged like a baby when HD went under as you were robbed, screwed over etc?
Presently if you want a decent BR player for sensible money buy a PS3 or a Panasonic BD30... if you've got more cash to burn look at Marantz or Denon... if you're patient wait for the Panasonic BD50 or the Sony S550. All depends on if you want/need HD audio (you're mad not to but a £500 surround sound system from Currys isn't going to portray the subtle nuances of lossless audio) and how you can get it to your system... downmixed from a PS3 via optical is enough for most, but if you can use HDMI to a proper amp then great, you may even need 5.1 analogue outputs.... do some research before whinging on here for christs sake!!!
