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Watching movies and other video content on DVD and Blu-ray Disc accounts for 88 per cent of home entertainment spending – even although newer digital methods are beginning to gain a foothold in the consumer market.
The average US home video consumer reported spending an average of USD $25 per month on all types of home video purchases and rentals, according to NPD Group.
Posts Tagged: discs
FutureSource Consulting has produced an interesting chart that highlights the gulf between HDTV ownership and the penetration of Blu-ray disc players in Europe.
It shows that there are 69 million HD-ready TV sets but just 8 million Blu-ray players,including PS3 consoles – prompting the title: "61 million TVs starved of HD content".
The world’s first Blu-ray-VHS dual player is to go on sale in the US from next month.
Made by Panasonic, the DMP-BD70V has a multi-format playback that allows users to play VHS, CD, DVD and 1080p high definition Blu-ray Discs.
Sales of Blu-ray discs have climbed to such an extent in Europe that the high-def format is now officially "mainstream".
At least that’s according to the cross-industry trade body, Digital Entertainment Group Europe(DEGE).
Sony is planning on creating a hybrid Blu-ray – with a game and movie on the same disc.
The move is being viewed as a way to boost the appeal of the Playstation 3 in the face of falling prices for Blu-ray players and the increasing popularity of games consoles such as Wii and XBOX 360.
Sony is turning its sights on the growing high-def market in China with the opening of a Blu-ray manufacturing plant in Shanghai.
The new plant will produce 500,000 of the high-def discs per month specifically for the domestic market.
Netflix has reached its target of 500,000 Blu-ray subscribers ahead of schedule.
The retailer’s chief financial officer Barry McCarthy said subscribers had added the option of paying an extra USD $1 to receive Blu-ray Disc titles at a quicker rate than Netflix forecast in October.
Blu-ray players bucked generally weak Black Friday sales in the US – helped considerable by average prices dropping to USD $200, according to DisplaySearch.
Stripping out sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3, the researchers report that US Blu-ray Disc player revenue "more than tripled from a year earlier" during the week of Thanksgiving and Black Friday .
Blu-Ray discs will go on sale in China for the first time today – officially that is.
While it’s been possible to buy dubious pirated version of the high-def format for some time, today marks the start of what is expected to be a major push by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment into the vast Chinese market.
The latest survey from SmithGeiger shows that HDTV owners would rather watch movies on Blu-ray Disc than stream content directly to their TV.
Well, hardly any surprise there. There’s never been any doubt about the phenomenal quality of Blu-ray images – but that still doesn’t seem to be translating into sales.
Even with price drops in the US of between USD $200 and $300, the HD players aren’t rushing off the shelves.