Digital Home Thoughts: Why Are Blu-ray Sales Suffering?

"Blu-ray U.S. disc sales have tripled in the past year, according to The Digital Entertainment Group, but there's a slight problem--Blu-ray sales are still lower than where film studios would like them to be, and there's no indication that Blu-ray sales will top DVD sales anytime soon. The studios blame Blu-ray's performance on the economy, and claim that if we were enjoying better economic times, the format's sales would be higher. But there's one person, Bill Mechanic, a film producer and former Fox Filmed Entertainment chief, who believes there's more to this story."

It seems as if HD-DVD isn't Blu-ray's greatest challenge. The venerable DVD is still putting up a fight against Sony's fledgling format. While Blu-ray has been around for years now, its sales are not meeting expectations. I have to agree with Bill Mechanic's idea that DVDs are hurting Blu-ray sales more than the economy. While Blu-ray definately provides more features and a sharp HDTV signal, it seems that most people aren't willing to pay a high premium for the extra content and clarity. Having an HDTV myself, I can certainly appreciate 720p and 1080p video, but DVDs fit in that category of "good enough" for me to watch most things. In fact, when shopping, I find myself thinking that Blu-ray is only worth it for certain videos, like documentaries, or movies that provide a lot of visuals. The rest, I look for in the bargain DVD bin! Am I the only one here? Is everyone else busy replacing their DVD collection with Blu-ray discs?