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Blu-ray DVD recorder sales rising fast in Japan
Posted on 28/05/08 13:57 by Jan Willem
While the comments on this site are pretty anti Blu-ray, consumers all over the world are embracing the high definition format, according to many research reports. Today we can report that the research firm BCN claims that in Japan full high-definition picture quality has become main stream for big-screen TVs, and camcorders with higher picture quality are becoming popular too.
Where electronic retailers in the US expect that Blu-ray players will top the sales of normal DVD players in August, in Japan the sales of Blu-ray players topped that of normal DVD players in April already. While it's a third of the total amount of players sold, the more expensiveBlu-ray players top the total amount of revenue of DVD players.
Sales of Blu-ray players in Japan were nearly three times the 12.4 percent share for both formats in January, when HD DVD was still in the race.
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"While the comments on this site are pretty anti Blu-ray"
What? Where did you get that crazy idea from? We love Sony and its evil empire. I'm gonna go learn Japanese right now.
DukeNukem... speading sarcasm on CDFreaks since Christ was a pup.
"Where electronic retailers in the US expect that Blu-ray players will top the sales of normal DVD players in August,"
That statement requires some proof.By
Ogo (guest),
Wednesday 28 May 2008 16:23
\\\"Where electronic retailers in the US expect that Blu-ray players will top the sales of normal DVD players in August, in Japan the sales of Blu-ray players topped that of normal DVD players in April already.\\\"
I would assume nearly everyone in North America and Europe have a DVD player. All that are sold now are replacement players when one dies. Therefore, \\\"toping\\\" sales of DVD replacements is all this is. Hardly a feat, sounds like blu-rape propaganda.
@ Ogo
just thought the same myself. Who's to buy a DVD player these days ? Everyone has at least one, if not more. Then to sell more BD players than the not needed DVD players is not such a big deal in my opinion. Of course BRay fans wanna spread their propaganda against DVD now... Well $ony better create a working BD player for a cheap price and sell those movies for a few bucks, then sales would be better and no propaganda would be needed. 
This is the key to why we have "HD" optical. DVD sales were flattening in recent years. Everyone already had a player and or recorder. Every PC came with a DVD burner. Recorders went from 600 dollars to 40 bucks or a little more with Nero or Roxio bundled. Media was dropping in price like crazy, then dual layer was introduced without much success. There was a glut of blank media. Hard drives dropped like a stone in price. Oil wet up and caused margins to get even tighter for the optical industry.
Every company wants to see growth and they want to see it each and every quarter, in order to watch their stocks increase in value.
IF *they* would have marketed Blu-ray or HD-DVD as a successor to DVD in the arena of ehanced capacity optical storage, it would have probably done slightly better, or at least took off. hell, I never even saw a HD -DVD burner.
Unfortunately, the blue laser media is so frikkin high as is the hardware required to utilise it. So, in order to get the ball rolling, they figured they needed Hollywood and some sort of marketing "gimmick" to grab the publics attention. Enter High-Definition". The fly in this ointment though, is that Hollywood asked for even more restrictive controls. This in turn delayed the launch, started a war, then it also required massive upgrades to peoples systems to take advantage of the HD content. An upgrade that is hard to justify over DVD quality.
Result- not much interest.. except in a very niche market of "enthusiasts".
Couple that with the oil crunch and housing catastrophy in the US and England and you have a recipe for disaster.
If it were'nt for the PS3, I really think this whole fiasco would be over. But Sony is still in hock and Microsoft is on their ass with the Xbox. -Which by the way- they refuse to give in and supply a Blu-ray add on drive. Gee- I wonder why? They want to see Sony twist in the wind, that's why.This message was edited at: 28-05-2008 17:39
The original article talks about "recorders" (in Japan). Suddenly the discussion is about players...
Some quotes from the original article:
"The April sales for Blu-ray in Japan were almost three times the 12.4 percent share for both formats in January, before HD-DVD's demise, BCN's survey figures showed."
"Sales of the Blu-ray are expected to rapidly expand in coming months as makers such as Matsushita [...] are likely to cut down prices in a lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, BCN said."
Man, by year end it will surely suck to be on the anti-Blu-Ray camp. 
@ johnzap
"Man, by year end it will surely suck to be on the anti-Blu-Ray camp."
Let me tell you something, my friend. I could be in the middle of Africa, wearing tattered clothes, and eating bugs to survive and I'll STILL be happy I'm an anti-Blu-ray camp member.
DukeNukem... having the opposite of your opinion since I last shaved my back.By
moran (guest),
Wednesday 28 May 2008 23:07
I think this is the way to go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SelectaVision
You can Buy Toshiba hd dvd players that are store demos for $75.00 and used HD DVD players for x box for $20 so why should you pay 400 fora blue ray? The blank blue ray discs are severely overpriced too. Why aren't they offereng a dual disc with a standard dvd like HD DVD did? I hope it doesn't succeed and Toshiba & others can relaunch the HD DVD market. Is Toshiba still offering 5 titles free with a HD player purchase?Thanks Everybody
You can Buy Toshiba hd dvd players that are store demos for $75.00 and used HD DVD players for x box for $20 so why should you pay 400 fora blue ray? The blank blue ray discs are severely overpriced too. Why aren't they offereng a dual disc with a standard dvd like HD DVD did? I hope it doesn't succeed and Toshiba & others can relaunch the HD DVD market. Is Toshiba still offering 5 titles free with a HD player purchase?Thanks Everybody
Even though I own a HD DVD player (it was too cheap to pass), I don't think there is enough sarcasm in the world to revive the format.
Maybe the Chinese HD format will win... just like their VCD and SVCD have done. 
"consumers all over the world are embracing the high definition format, according to many research reports."
What reports?
You guys have to get better at reporting news. You can't make accusations like that without some proof like links to your sources. Anyone can make statements like that all day and not have anything to back it up but they are meaningless and don't carry any weight. It would of been better to say, "According to so and so, LINK, consumers world wide are "embracing" the format." That way, people could of at least checked your source.By
Blurayert (guest),
Thursday 29 May 2008 09:21
@shaolin007: dude check the link in the article doh 
Japan does not represent the rest of the world. People in that country embrace any new gadget like wildfire. Blu-ray on the whole is getting lukewarm support worldwide and that is a fact.
@DukeNukem:
"Let me tell you something, my friend. I could be in the middle of Africa, wearing tattered clothes, and eating bugs to survive and I'll STILL be happy I'm an anti-Blu-ray camp member."
Nah, you-re telling this to try and make yourself feel good. But, the reality is, if (when?) Blu-Ray really takes off and goes mainstream, you'll be feeling quite miserable, will you not? 
Or, put another way, you could be very proud to be a supporter of, e.g. the NBA New York Knicks, but, since they are always at the bottom, this would not make you feel very happy, would it? By
buggsy (guest),
Friday 30 May 2008 13:29
If Blu-ray really takes off and goes mainstream, I would feel no more miserable than I would if the RIAA and the MPAA suddenly got everything they were looking for in DRM...oh, wait a minute...if (when?) Blu-ray takes off and goes mainstream, that is *exactly* what will happen.
@ johnzap
I have no doubt Blu-ray will grow. All I'm saying is:
1) I'm not giving them any of my money for player/discs
2) They will NEVER get the kind of market share that DVD currently has
3) I'll build an HTPC, buy a Blu-ray drive for the PC, rent/borrow Blu-ray discs, and rip them to the HTPC.
#1 and #3 are fact. #2 is probably going to happen for numerous reasons (which I won't go into here). Keep waving the Blu-ray flag if it helps you sleep at night. Me? I'm gonna go walk among the people of the future. The ones who like to own what they buy and not be controlled or dictated to by some foreign corporation. When I buy something then I have the right to do whatever I want with it. I have the right to make a copy. I have the right to rip it to my PC/HTPC/laptop. Screw anyone who disagrees with me.
Have a nice fracking day.
DukeNukem... getting under johnzap's skin since early this month."You can Buy Toshiba hd dvd players that are store demos for $75.00 and used HD DVD players for x box for $20 so why should you pay 400 fora blue ray?"
If I could pay $5 for an 8-track player, I'd still rather pay $50 for a CD player.
"I hope it doesn't succeed and Toshiba & others can relaunch the HD DVD market."
HAAA!!!! Yeah, Toshiba is just waiting for the right moment to strike!
@ DukeNukem
Under my skin? Are you serious? Looks like it's the contrary?
Anyway, you are constantly failing to realise I'm simply trying to mess with you, the anti-Sony mob.
I could care less if Blu-Ray succeeds or not. To put it simply: I don't give a damn! Clear enough? It's only fun to watch you guys spin and spin, trying to stay afloat, given that your hated format is growing in momentum.
You say that you want to copy, etc, etc. AFAIK, you can do that with Blu-Ray; exactly the same you can do with a regular DVD. So, what gives? Is DVD not DRMed? You hate it??? Blah, just a bunch of nonsense.
HTPC? Blah, too noisy, too bulky, too etc.
I'm already a happy owner of a Popcorn Hour A-100. Swallows all these HD thingies I throw at it. Quite a nice piece of gear, I must say. Needs to improve on some areas, but is getting there. Toshiba in war with Blu-ray again with DVD extension
http://www.hdtvinfo.eu/news/hd-video-formats/toshiba-in-war-with-blu-ray-again-with-dvd-extension.html
Sounds great. Can't wait to see one in action. Thanks for the info, old3eyes.
Toshiba? Corpses moving?
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/30/toshiba-knows-no-shame-plans-to-release-super-resolution-dvd-pl/
Anyone buying Tosh HDDVD players are doing so for the great DVD upscaling and cheap media already on HDDVD.Haha!
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/06/03/us_blind_to_blu_ray/Top news
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