Latest on Optical Discs vs. Video Downloads – Blu-ray player sales are not taking off to nearly the expected degree now that they have won the silly format battle. An analyst for Yankee Group put it this way: “Blu-ray has won one battle, but they’ve gone straight into another one that is going to be much more difficult for them to overcome – that is going to have an impact on their business, because consumers are embracing digital distribution.” In February alone, according to comScore, the number of videos viewed online topped 10 billion in the U.S. (Of course these are mostly YouTube clips, not feature films.) Consumers are having to ask themselves whether it is worth it to buy a Blu-ray player when devices such as AppleTV, Xbox 360 and the Netflix Player by Roku offer them the ability to download videos they can watch on their TV.
Nearly 3/4 of the total U.S. Internet audience views online videos now and there is an increasing willingness to accept online digital formats. More HDTV sets are adding an Ethernet port and support for WiFi networks, giving users the ability to connect to the Net and download video content directly to the TV rather than the computer. One expert observed that most people cannot easily discern the difference between a 720p HD image and a 1080p image (the latter available only from Blu-ray) unless they are a true video aficionado. For them, an upscaling display or upscaling standard DVD player are good enough. On the other hand, many with a HDTV are finding the best value in a Blu-ray player is still the Sony PS3. People have long shown a preference for physical forms of media. Another Yankee Group analyst said “They just love those shiny round disks.” Discs are versatile, easy to use, and very portable. One can take a DVD to a friend’s house and play it – you can’t do that with digital content. And some ISPs are penalizing their subscribers who use a lot of bandwidth – and it certainly takes a lot to download video, and most of all HD video – even if it is only 720p.
