Blu Ray, Not Doing Well, Go Figure

It seems that plasma is on it’s last leg and Blu-Ray my be there soon as well. With Blu-Ray movies costing a good penny more none of my first by them, even thought they have Playstation consoles and nice HDTVs. It isn’t surprising to me that this media my take a bow in the future to cheaper, maybe not so high quality competitors. An inside expert says “If PS3 sales go up, with people choosing to stay in rather than go out in our failing economy, it may be the life preserver Blu-Ray needs. Of course, dropping the strangle hold of a markup on Blu Ray media wouldn’t hurt either.”

-audioreview

NEW YORK — As the economic storm clouds grow darker, consumer electronics manufacturers are looking at a handful of growth categories — including Blu-ray Disc players — to hedge the industry’s bets, but one major retailer told TWICE that he fears the category is still not the slam-dunk some perceive it to be.Some manufacturers believe the economy could actually have a positive impact on the fledgling Blu-ray category this year. As consumers hunker down in their homes and avoid expensive nights out, they can become more willing to spend to upgrade their entertainment experience at home.

“We’re still in agreement with CEA’s estimates that Blu-ray decks have the potential to double this year to roughly 5.7 million units,” said Tim Alessi, LG Electronics product development director, who said he sees the cocooning encouraging that adoption. “Also, a new category of Blu-ray-based home theater has begun to emerge which will also add to the installed base. We believe that providing home-entertainment options will be a key to growth.”

Similar to the CEA, market research firm FutureSource Consulting is predicting U.S. stand-alone Blu-ray Disc player sales at 6 million in 2009, up from 2.5 million in 2008. At the same time, sales of Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation3 consoles are forecast to rise from 3 million in 2008 to 5 million in 2009. By 2012, the research firm sees the PS3 in more than 50 percent of U.S. homes and stand-alone BD players in 20 percent.

read the rest here…

source: twice.com

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