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Walt Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger said to several analysts that he still believes in the HD format and thinks that the format's current household penetration is "modest". Currently we see that more and more Blu-ray players enter the market and that new releases have an extremely high price. Iger thinks the retail price should be around $300 if the industry wants to see a significant increase of revenue.
According to Iger current Blu-ray movie prices are $5 higher than their standard DVD counterparts. At Home Media Magazine they said Iger believes this boded well in short term. Besides showing his true belief in Sony's format, Iger said he expected DVD and Video on Demand releases to roll out over the next five years. Warner Bros already decided to release a majority of its DVDs on the same day as the VoD-release. Currently Walt Disney is still in a research phase and they think that the tests are "neither negative, nor positive".
Of course Iger's belief in Blu-ray is very good news for the HD format, but many are not that sure if Video on Demand has a real future for successful studios. Many parents want to buy a DVD, or maybe Blu-ray in the future, to make sure their children can watch the movie a few times.
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Imagine you want to get someone a movie as a gift. Will you offer it as a VOD???
The same with kids movies. Usually they watch it over and over. They actually enjoy the extras, etc. Very much doubt that VOD is the answer here.
VOD is not hidef. It is good enough but it is just not hidef. Once you see AND hear hidef from blu-ray or hddvd, you will never want to see dvd for good movies. Yap I still watch dvd for so-so movies but I would find blu-ray version if possible for box office. Ofcourse if you only have small screen and no hidef sound, it wont matter. The bigger your screen is and the better your sound system, you will see major improvements between VOD and blu-ray. Especially Disney delivers DTS-HD Master Audio in most their titles.
My kids know the difference between dvd and blu-ray.
