Time is running out for Blu ray format

Time is running out for Blu-ray discs, the high definition (HD) format that are supposed to be replacing the DVD. Despite the launch of new Blu-ray players and talk of rising sales at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, manufacturers know they are in a race to make a real impact on the market before the new kid on the block, downloading or streaming HD films directly from the internet, consigns the format to a footnote in video history. Blu-ray discs have the same physical dimensions as a DVD, but provide better quality sound and pictures for HD movies, thanks to more expensive laser technology. They were launched nearly three years ago but only became the preferred medium after winning an HD format war a year ago. Blu-ray has just had an impressive year of growth. Consumers are looking to take advantage of the rise of HD TV programming by broadcasters before the coming switch to digital TV and in the US they are buying more HD TV sets than standard definition sets. At the Blu-ray Disc Association press conference at CES, chairman Andy Powers listed the US Blu-ray statistics: with more than 1,100 movie titles now available, 24.09 million discs were sold in 2008 compared to 5.67 million in 2007.

The Dark Knight batman movie was the standard bearer for the format, becoming the first million-plus seller on Blu-ray in America. Sales of Blu-ray players are also climbing fast, helped by huge Christmas discounts in America which saw the cost of players drop below $200. Eight per cent of US household are now estimated to have Blu-ray hardware, including Sony's Playstation 3 consoles which can play the discs. But the problem for Blu-ray is that these figures still mean that Blu-ray is a high-end niche product, bought mainly by early adopters who can afford to pay the higher prices of the discs and the players - still about three times the price of a DVD player.

Source: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article5484923.ece