| Blu-ray vs HD DVD: just say no |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Wednesday, 05 December 2007 | |
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Firstly, the numbers are very small. Sony says there is an installed base of over 100,000 PS3s in Australia, and someone must be buying the Blu-ray players I keep seeing advertised by the major retailers. Yet only 18,000 Blu-ray discs were sold in October, according to market researcher GfK. That's significantly less than one disc for every five players, which I don't consider clear evidence of success. Why are the numbers so small? Frankly, I don't believe many people are buying PS3s as Blu-ray players, and it doesn't sound like PS3 owners are taking much advantage of that capability. Since high-def movies command a significant price premium over DVD equivalents, you'd need a good reason to buy them. Unless you're using a real HD TV (at least 1080i), you're just not going to see any real difference between DVD and HD DVD or Blu-ray. Sure, plenty of so-called HD TVs have been leaving the shops, but a lot of them - especially the cheaper models that normal people can afford - only have 768 pixels vertically. I've seen Pioneer demonstrate Blu-ray side by side with DVD on large and expensive screens, and while the difference was visible, it's very hard to say that it could be cost-justified. |
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