75% of Surveyed Say They'll Go Blu by 2009

A consumer survey from ABI Research on consumer adoption of Blu-ray Disc players found an overwhelming majority plan on buying a Blu-ray player this year or next.

Half of the 1,000 respondents said they plan on buying a Blu-ray player this year, and another quarter said they would hold off until 2009.

Half of the respondents to the survey also said they consider the quality of Blu-ray players to be much better than DVD, while 40% said it is “somewhat better.”

The survey also found that Sony’s Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation 3 game console is rapidly becoming a favorite for hardcore gamers, “and so the installed base of sockets for Blu-ray discs continues to climb.”

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

Standalone Blu-ray player prices were found to be the chief impediment to even faster consumer adoption, according to the ABI study, along with the need to purchase a high-definition TV set.

“We expect that player prices will remain above $300 for tier-one models for the remainder of this year,” Wilson said. “Look for disc bundling to become the buyers’ incentive.”

ABI Research is a New York-based market research firm focused on the impact of emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?article_id=13272

This is good news and a major plus for the BDA. IMO the PS3 is still the best option for BD playback, and new game releases in 2008 thru 2009 make the PS3 an even better choice.

I sold my PS3 and bought a Samsung BD-UP5000, and found that as good as the PS3 is, Blu-ray playback is MUCH better on the Samsung, and SD DVD upconversion blows the PS3 away. Having used both a PS3 and an XBOX 360, I still prefer the XBOX 360 for gaming. I don't miss the PS3 at all.

EDIT: I must admit I miss not being able to play the upcoming Little Big Planet, but beyond that, nothing PS3 exclusive excites me enough to rebuy a PS3. I was concerned about MSG4, but that's going to be released on XBOX, so I don't care.

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[Post edited by Kilgore on Aug 10, 2008 - CDT 3:24 PM]

Quote:
“PS3 console shipments will go a long way to help bring down manufacturing costs and drive down Blu-ray player prices.”

Unfortunately, this isn't going to happen soon enough. Amazon has a lot of great sales on Blu-rays, but until I see an affordable quality SA player, there's no reason for me to buy any at this time. The time will come (I hope) when SA players with better capabilities will be available at a lower price than a PS3. And that will be the time when I will join the dark side

The only "problem" with the Samsung BD-UP5000 is that it isn't Profile 2.0 compatible, and possibly may never be. Then again, all the Blu-ray supporters have been saying for the last 2 years that web-based features are a gimmick and irrelevant, so I shouldn't mind too much

Quote:
Blu-ray playback is MUCH better on the Samsung,

"In YOUR opinion". I have yet to hear any "professional" reviewers say this. Infact most, if not all, still say PS3 #1 for Blu-ray playback AT THIS TIME. With the Panny Bd50, being the best standalone choice, once again, AT THIS TIME.

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[Post edited by bladerunner1 on Aug 10, 2008 - CDT 4:04 PM]

You have to remember that these professional reviews were when the player first came out. There have been a few firmware updates since then, so they aren't exactly reliable. I can only judge by what I see, and though the PS3 is a great player, the Samsung looks sharper and better on Blu-ray, and for SD upconversion, the Sammy is DECIDEDLY better.

I'm not saying the PS3 sucks, it most certainly does not. It's just that to my eyes, I see an improvement in PQ/AQ with the Sammy.

No. the reviews are rather current. Like this months issue of Home Theater Mag. I AM IN NO WAY DISSING YOUR PLAYER, for i have not seen your player hooked up to MY set. But i will agree with you on the upconversion part, because the "experts" say so, and that is all we really have to go on. They also commended the "speed" in which your Sammy handles things(load times, etc), comparing it to PS3, the current champ in that regard. But they did not say that it has better picture quality.

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[Post edited by bladerunner1 on Aug 10, 2008 - CDT 4:59 PM]

Well, here's a quote from the Home Theater Mag's Jan 08 review conclusion from their website:

"The Samsung BD-UP5000 is in many ways a superb high definition disc player—with arguably the best picture quality I've yet seen from high definition discs."

EDIT: of course, by now, the new Panny may probably have eclipsed the Sammy in PQ/AQ, but obviously from this review, they obviously hold the image quality pf the Sammy pretty high.

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[Post edited by Kilgore on Aug 10, 2008 - CDT 5:40 PM]

Quote:
I was concerned about MSG4, but that's going to be released on XBOX, so I don't care.

Proof? I'm pretty up to date on my gaming news, I haven't seen this on any major website or any forums.