Study: Blu-ray players still facing obstacles

Format penetration rising on PlayStation 3 sales

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/1/2008

AUG. 1 | The prognosis for mainstream Blu-ray Disc adoption is mixed, as consumers remain reluctant to buy into the format’s set-top players but are increasingly purchasing PlayStation 3 consoles, according to ABI Research.

In a new survey, more than half of ABI’s 1,000 consumer respondents said they have no plans to purchase a Blu-ray set-top in the near future, explaining they have other spending priorities. About one-quarter of respondents did say they are likely to buy a set-top but not until 2009. That attitude could spell trouble for the large number of new Blu-ray models launching through this year, such as the first BD Live players from Sony and Panasonic and the first Netflix-enabled player from LG.

But at the same time, ABI acknowledged that Blu-ray penetration continues to rise on the strength of the PS3.

“While you might think gamers purchase fewer movie discs than others, we didn’t see any significant evidence of that in our results,” ABI principal analyst Steve Wilson said. “PS3 console shipments will go a long way to help bring down manufacturing costs and drive down Blu-ray player prices.”

Although ABI's study reveals that most respondents agree that high-definition audio/video is superior or at least somewhat superior to DVD, they don’t yet believe that Blu-ray set-tops offer a great value proposition.

That analysis echoes past research that indicated Blu-ray set-top pricing, hovering at $399 to $499, needed to fall closer to $200 to become attractive. The requirement of first buying a high-def TV before being able to enjoy a Blu-ray player is another obstacle, said Wilson.

“Consumers were happy to embrace standard DVD when that format arrived because the improvement in quality over VHS videotapes was dramatic,” he said. “Standard DVD didn’t require the purchase of a new TV either. In contrast, while half of the respondents to our survey rated Blu-ray’s quality as ‘much better’ than standard DVD, another 40% termed it only ‘somewhat better,’ and most are very satisfied with the performance of their current DVD players.”