According to Asia Pacific VP Tim Meade for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE), market reports in the US show that the worldwide sales ratio of Blu-ray movies to DVDs will reach an estimated 40:60 in 2010. Furthermore he says this indicates sales volume of Blu-ray movies may surpass DVD by 2011.
Meade is basing this on rise of Blu-ray’s market share among all formats from 9% at the end of 2007 to 25% by the end of this year. Meade noted the sales volume of Blu-ray players in the US and Europe increased on year by four times and six times respectively, during the first half of 2008.
It’s great to see Blu-ray’s market share increase so drastically in such a short period of time. Looks like Sony’s marketing strategies are working nicely.
DISH Network announced today they’ll begin offering 1080p Video-On-Demand in addition to 114 national HD channels beginning in August. The most interesting part of the announcement is that DISH says 1080p VOD service will be ‘the same as Blu-ray quality’. More about that in a minute. To celebrate ‘this new era in the high definition viewing experience’, DISH Network will begin offering I Am Legend in 1080p as a pay-per-view offering.
Now, DISH Network’s claim that their 1080p VOD will be the ’same as Blu-ray quality’ must be clarified. Satellite companies such DISH Network and DirecTV, who will also add 1080p programming this year, need to conserve broadcast space. Therefore, 1080p broadcasts will have a video bitrate that’s less than half of what a typical Blu-ray title requires for perfect video reproduction, resulting in pixelation during scenes with a lot of movement. On the audio side, while Blu-ray titles offer PCM, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio while satellite broadcasts only use 5.1 Dolby Digital for audio soundtracks.
Fact is that satellite broadcasts can not compare to the true high-def experience of Blu-ray. DISH Network is trying to use Blu-ray’s name for their own benefit that will undoubtedly cause further confusion for consumers. DishNetwork has not responded to requests for clarification on their statement.
Taiwanese distributor, Deltamac, has sold over 25,000 Blu-ray movies in Taiwan from their 120 available titles. With additional titles available and the expected price drops of Blu-ray players, sales volume may reach 100,000 Blu-ray discs in 2009, Deltamac pointed out. Asia Pacific vice president Tim Meade for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment pointed out that 5.64 million Blu-ray movies have been sold worldwide in 2008, adding up to 11 million sold since the format’s inception.
LG Electronics and Netflix have announced the first Blu-ray player that allows Netflix members to stream more than 12,000 standard definition movies and television shows. The price of the BD300 will be “well under $500″ when it’s released this September.
Netflix members will not be charged any additional fees, apart from their monthly paid subscription. Members will add movies to their individual instant queues through the Netflix website. When selected from the TV, movies will then begin playing in as little as 30 seconds. Using the BD300’s remote control, users can browse, make selections, read synopses, rate movies, and fast-forward / rewind video streams. The BD300 will support BD Live and LG’s SimpLink technology to integrate with LG TVs and AV products.
This new Sony Vaio ad, created by 180 in Los Angeles, shows an HDTV open up swallow a Blu-ray player. It’s meant to show the Sony Vaio as a combination of an HDTV and Blu-ray player. Either way it’s a pretty awesome clip, enjoy.
Amazon is currently offering a Blu-ray sale on 72 Disney and Buena Vista Home Entertainment titles. The savings on range from 30-40% from the list price making for a good deal for those looking to build up their Blu-ray library. The prices range from $16.95 to $20.95 and includes such titles as Cars, No Country For Old Men, Ratatouille, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, National Treasure 2 and Signs.
BIG Home Entertainment has announced they’ve signed an exclusive deal with Warner Home Video to distribute titles from Warner Brothers’ film catalog in India, Sri Lanka,and Bangladesh. As part of the agreement BIG will market and distribute VCD, DVD and Blu Ray products from Warner Brothers, including sub-studios like HBO, Castle Rock, and New Line.
BIG will also try to control the abundance of piracy that exists in these parts of the world with new anti-piracy measures. Shweta Agnohotri, Chief Operating Office of BMHE said, “While piracy has to some extent been curbed in India, it is still a big menace in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh where pirated home video products account for 99 percent of the market.”
Good to see Blu-ray legally expanding into other parts of the world. No doubt this will help sales and keep spreading the format.
Firmware 2.42 has just been made available on PSN for all you PS3 owners out there. Although there are no Blu-ray upgrades to speak of, the official word is that “This update improves the playback quality of some PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation format software.” Hopefully this update should go along without a hitch this time.
Not to be outdone by Buffalo’s pair of 8x Blu-ray burners, I-O has announced their own 8x Blu-ray burner. The BRD-SP8 will be available in either black or white, and is a SATA internal drive that will burn BD-R discs at a brisk 8x speed. As we mentioned before, 8x BD-R discs are yet to be made available but good competition never hurt anyone.
The BRD-SP8 will be available in Japan for approximately $358. An exact release date has not yet been announced.
The first quarter of Sony’s fiscal year shows a profit in its games division with strong sales of the PS3 leading the way. Sony’s game unit helped the company with $51 million in operating income. 1.56 million PS3s were sold worldwide this quarter, good for an increase of 860,000 units over last years first quarter. Overall however, Sony Corp posted a decrease in earnings over last years fiscal first quarter. Severe film declines brought a 47.4% drop in income, good for $330 million in net income.
It’s good to see strong PS3 sales keeping Sony’s game unit profits up. This can only mean that Sony will continue its effort to keep Blu-ray in its forefront, in much the same way they did to win the format war.
