In a bid to boost sales of the Blu-ray format, Warner Bros. are setting up an exchange scheme allowing US consumers to swap DVD versions of Warner Bros. published films for high-def Blu-ray copies.

The DVD2Blu website states "Upgrade your Warner Bros. DVD titles for new industry-leading Blu-ray discs and unleash the power of your HDTV through the WBshop.com DVD2Blu program."

It isn't a free service however. Each DVD mailed off to be upgraded costs $7.95, plus an additional $4.95 in shipping fees. The total cost when totalled together is not far off the regular retail price of a Blu-Ray disc. However, bulk orders over $25 are sent out for free, which goes some way to making the service worthwhile.

So far there is no UK or European equivalent service announced by Warner Bros. , but expect similar services to reach our shores as the film studios push to boost the popularity of the Blu-ray format in these credit-crunching times.

You can try the service for yourself at http://www.dvd2blu.com/ .

Netflix, the US online movie rental service, has finally given the HD DVD format the push after announcing in February that it would phase out Toshiba's high definition disc format.

Though the company has been cautious over Blu-ray, it seems there's definitely no room for the other high definition disc format any more, not even archives.

From 15th December, users with HD DVD titles in the queue will get standard definition DVDs instead.

Given that there weren't a huge number of HD DVDs produced, I'd have thought stocking some of each title might generate some revenue, particularly as it costs no more to ship a box containing an HD DVD than a Blu-ray Disc. It does put another nail in the coffin, though, as if one was needed.

(Via Afterdawn)

The big statistic is that US consumers have bought over 200 million TV shows from Apple's iTunes store since it started offering them.

The HD-relevant statistic is that one-million of those have been of high definition programmes, which started selling in the US last month.

It seems that the extra dollar, plus increased download bandwidth that could eventually incur the wrath of broadband providers, is a small price to pay for these HD-esque programmes.

While (as usual) we're not blessed with such a huge array of available programmes in the UK, Apple's continued dealmaking with TV studios will hopefully see more offerings, including HD versions, here.

(Via TV Week)

The CFO of Netflix, Barry McCarthy, has gone on record to suggest that Blu-ray will make very little impact on its core business this year, due to slow consumer adoption of the format.

He did say that his outlook might be different after the holiday season, when sales of consumer electronics goods tend to peak.

He predicted that the average price of Blu-ray players would fall from $399 this year to $299 next year, and $199 thereafter.

Netflix currently only rents Blu-ray movies to a few percent of its customers.

(Via Home Media Magazine)

For those interested in the market share of consumer electronics companies, here's news that Samsung has now attained nearly one-fifth of the North American LCD TV market -- 18.3% for April to June, to be more precise.

That's up nearly five percentage points, and pushes them way out in front of Sony, which now sits at around 11.7%.

LG trailed in third, at 7.8%, also down slightly in market share. Figures are according to research by DisplaySearch.

So what does this mean? Well, people in America are buying more Samsung LCD tellies than those of other manufacturers, so the company is either doing something better with its technology than the likes of Sony and LG, or consumers are responding to Samsung's marketing.

Samsung and Sony could soon be fighting over OLED market share, too, though that's going to be a much smaller piece of the pie for some time to come.

(Via Reuters)

The FCC, on behalf of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), is looking into remotely blocking consumers from recording broadcast high definition movies to their PVRs, in a bid to protect revenue from disc and download sales.

The film studios say that they'd like to be able to broadcast new releases earlier than they currently do, possibly before the high definition disc is available, but need a guarantee that consumers can't record, and so potentially copy, them.

Selectable Output Control (SOC) technology could be used to implement this, though its use is currently restricted.

Though HD broadcasts are not, technically, of such a high quality as that encoded on a high definition disc, the studios' worry is that the quality is good enough to tempt some to copy and redistribute the content.

(Via Digital Media Wire)

Research from Home Media Magazine suggests that US sales of Blu-ray movies have jumped 351% in the first three months of 2008, fuelled by increased awareness of the format, and Toshiba's decision to pull HD DVD.

This has led to the first rise in consumer spending (by one percent) on home video in two years, compared to near-half a percentage point drop in spending in 2006 and 2007.

Home Media writes that I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, was the number one selling title. Enchanted was second, followed by American Gangster, Bee Movie and 3:10 to Yuma.

New analysis suggests that the popularity of Blu-ray could surge over the next three years, with the number of US households having a player rising from under one per cent (now) to around 25% by 2011. This includes the PS3.

Bernstein Research analyst Michael Nathanson believes that this growth will be fuelled by a drop in the average price of a Blu-ray disc from $28.50 this year to $24.43 in 2011. Blu-ray revenue will jump from $260 million this year to $4.24 billion in 2011.

Having said that, he believes that most Blu-ray owners will only buy between six and 10 titles.

"We have a hard time understanding why consumers will rush out to Best Buy to pick up the Blu-ray version of Caddyshack or Sleepless in Seattle," he said.

Nathanson expects sub-$200 Blu-ray players to be available next year, also boosting the rate of uptake.

(Via TV Predictions)

HD DVD might be dead, but sales of Microsoft's add-on drive for the Xbox 360 continue to swell, at least in the US and on the Amazon Marketplace.

Mind you, it's available for under $40, so if you're not one of the sellers waiting to get rid of the device, it's a steal.

Meanwhile Microsoft, who discontinued production of the drive back in February, issued what is likely to be the last firmware upgrade for the drive. Internet-connected users will be prompted to install the upgrade the next time they use it.

(Via AVRev and PunchJump)

One of the US's largest retailers, Best Buy, is offering a $50 gift voucher to anyone who bought an HD DVD player from them before 23rd February this year. This will amount to over $10m.

The company will mail out the cards to anyone it can identify as having bought a player from their stores. Anyone who doesn't receive the card by 1st May but has proof of purchase can contact Best Buy for the voucher.

From this Friday, customers can also visit Best Buy's online trade-in centre, where they can get instant estimates of the value of their equipment and discs, regardless of where they bought their player. Quite what happens after that, though, isn't clear.

$50 won't get you far towards a new Blu-ray player, but it's a nice gesture even though you do need to purchase something at Best Buy.

(Via Trading Markets)

A recent survey -- conducted during the period of speculation and then confirmation that Toshiba was pulling the plug on HD DVD -- suggests that an increasing number of consumers are ready to buy Blu-ray players.

For week end 20th February, just over one in ten survey respondents said that they'd purchase a Blu-ray player within the next six months. Extrapolating the data, NPD Group estimates that two million players could be sold in that half year.

Based on the survey, consumers' "intent to buy" score was the highest since Blu-ray launched in Spring 2006.

"This (increased interest) happened during a quiet part of the year after the Super Bowl, and there was bad weather for shopping," a NPD spokesman said.

(VIa TV Predictions)

Two more US companies have decided that HD DVD's days are numbered, and have started pushing the Blu-ray format.

Netflix, the online movie rental service, has announced to its customers that it will gradually phase out HD DVD over the coming months. An email sent to current users states that "in order to provide the best selection of high-definition titles for our members, we have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray" and that "while we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements."

At the end of this month, HD DVD discs that users have in their Saved Queue will be replaced with standard definition DVDs.

Meanwhile, Best Buy has made it very clear that Blu-ray is its preferred high definition disc format. Though it won't be immediately dropping HD DVDs, it has stated it will "recommend Blu-Ray as the preferred format".

In other words, stores will continue to sell HD DVD products, but will allocate much more space and sales patter to Blu-ray hardware and discs.

Things really don't look at all good for HD DVD now, as these two companies are not insignificant entities.

(Via Rope of Silicon and Barron's)

Some of the latest US research, undertaken by The Diffusion Group, suggests that the next wave of high definition TV and DVD purchasers will significantly impact the balance of high definition discs.

Labelled as early mainstream consumers, or HDTV "Intenders" — wedged somewhere between the last of the early adopters and mass market adoption — the survey found that these consumers, who don't yet own a high definition TV but are planning to buy one within the next six months, are much more driven by price.

Part of this appears to be because of the typical demographic of the group, which is younger singles with a lower disposable income than early adopters.

This is reflected in their preference for a high definition disc format: 43% said that they preferred HD DVD, while 27% plumped for Blu-ray. However, 30% said they were undecided.

Michael Greeson, president and principal analyst with The Diffusion Group, concluded, "Today's high-def DVD owner is likely an early adopter with a knack for power gaming; most certainly tech-sophisticates not at all mainstream in temperament. The next wave of buyers is comprised of early mass-market consumers, a much larger segment with a focus on practical considerations such as price. It is TDG's opinion that the format which can best address the needs of mainstream consumers will emerge as the winner of this format war."

While there are likely to be many issues which determine what equipment consumers pick, TDG believes that the companies that offer the best value for this sizeable group of price-sensitive buyers will win significant market share.

TDG surveyed two groups: In October 2007 a survey of 1,500 US adult Internet users, and in November 2007, a survey of 2,000 US adult broadband users.

According to a new study by the Leichtman Research Group, 40 per cent of those who own a high definition TV aren't watching any high definition content on it.

The problem gets worse when you discover that 20 per cent of users believe that they're already watching high definition content when they aren't.

Additionally, 40 percent think that they already have an high definition DVD player, when the actual sales figures point to a number much closer to just five percent.

That's a lot of confused consumers out there, and so, while 25% of US households now have at least one HD-capable TV, many aren't making full use of it.

Another reason why HD discs aren't penetrating the mainstream market.

(Via TV Predictions)

High definition flat screen TVs beat a host of other hi-tech gadgetry to claim the "most wanted" Christmas gift in a recent US survey.

The 1,200 strong survey conducted by Solutions Research Group found that 37% of men, and 33% of women (35% combined) rated a flat screen HDTV as the number one must have item for Christmas 2007.

Interestingly, Blu-ray and HD DVD players came way down in tenth place, with just 6% of the combined vote, despite the reality that they are currently the best way of accessing full HD quality content.

(Via The Guardian)

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Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA), A US trade association specialising in custom installation has announced that it will be promoting Blu-ray as its high-definition format of choice.

The group, which is made up of 62 custom installers from across the country, claims that 92% of the players sold by its members are Blu-ray models.

“Based on our member research and observations in the field, it is clear that HTSA customers have made Blu-ray their preferred HD format for movies and other packaged video content,” said executive director, Richard Glikes.

And Jay Vandenbree, Sony’s president of US sales, has voiced his support, “At a time when ever-changing technology tests just how much one can know about everything, the HTSA has chosen Blu-Ray Disc as the format they support. I think it speaks volumes when support comes from those who specialize in home theater, and are closest to the consumer.”

Via
AV Zombie

A recent consumer study in the US has found that 73% of respondents who owned a HDTV were satisfied with the quality of images from their DVD player and felt no need to replace it with a high-definition player.

The study by The NPD group, also found that 52% of HDTV owners were aware of Blu-ray and HD-DVD but only 11% expressed a desire to buy a player in the near future.
And, about 62% said they would wait for a price reduction before making a change, if at all.

Analysts believe it’s the failure by studios and retailers to educate the consumer would result in failure for both sides of the format war.

US consumers prefer a 46in Full HD LCD to a 50in Full HD plasma, according to a survey carried out by Displaybank.

After questioning 673 website visitors on their preference between the two different sized screens featuring rival technologies, around two thirds (65.8%) nominated the 46in LCD.

While us snobby Europeans tend to stick to well known brands from the likes of Sony and Panasonic, the US TV market is becoming dominated by low cost screens from small name brands.

Recent research from Display Search has surprisingly identified Vizio as the number one brand for selling televisions through US stores in Q2. That’s not bad for the Taiwanese company that’s only three years old, especially as it’s knocked Samsung and Sony down to second and third position respectively. And, to emphasise the changing US market, lesser known brands have also taken the fourth and fifth positions.

Time Warner Cable and Cisco ® are teaming up to offer consumers some much needed education on how to buy and enjoy high-definition TV.

The two companies are launching Time Warner’s HD Clear and Simple website, which is designed to clear up common misconceptions about HDTVs and the services needed to receive HD broadcasts in the States.