Sony's New Headache: People Can’t Tell The Difference Between Blu-Ray, DVDs They Already Own

Vasanth Sridharan | April 24, 2008 1:52 PM

300 Blu-RayThere’s a lot standing in the way of Blu-ray’s success. There's the price -- it costs $300 for a player and $30 for a movie. And there's technology -- the world is moving away from physical discs.

But Blu-ray's bigger problem may be even more basic -- people don't think the hi-def discs are better than the ones they already own. New research shows that people can’t really tell the difference between Blu-Ray discs and normal DVDs, especially people who use "upconverting" DVD players, or who don’t own the highest-end TVs.

Poor Sony (SNE). The company behind Blu-Ray barely has had time to put down the champagne from the format war victory celebration. There is a relatively easy solutions to their problems: A price drop. If the price of Blu-Ray players and discs comes close to that of their DVD counterparts -- next to nothing, for both the machines and the movies -- then people won’t care. But that won't be what Sony wants to hear.

Subscribe to SAI: RSS, email newsletter (no spam)

More:

Share:
Post to Del.icio.us


< Prev. Story
Next Story >

43 Comments

Jimmie (URL) said:
Btw, the graininess of the movie "300" makes it a horrible candidate to compare the quality of a DVD vs Blu-ray.
Makidian said:
These people must be blind then, because all of my BD movies are super crisp. I have yet to see a movie from my collection that looks better on DVD than it does on BD. I don't understand why someone would buy the same movie on DVD and BD, must have a lot of disposable income to be making those comparisons but this article sounds like complete FUD anyway.
bill scott said:
i think the people saying this more than likely do not have a HD tv. i imagine a bunch of people with CRT sets being so upset that Blu-ray is not astonishing.
BluDawn said:
Totally agree with both of you.
Vasanth Sridharan said:
Actually the research was saying that it was people with less than a 1080p but still HD TVs (720p, 1080i). It was somewhat surprising, but then again, when one of my friends got a PS3, we weren't too impressed with the resolution when we were using the component cables. We had to go pick up an HDMI cable to be really blown away.
ryan said:
Using Component vs HDMI doesn't really make a differnce. There are a bunch of articles and studies on how component is just as good as using an HDMI cable...Component is also better when running long distances where HDMI just doesn't cut it. For me, HDMI is just an easier way to plug everything in.
ryan said:
Using Component vs HDMI doesn't really make a differnce. There are a bunch of articles and studies on how component is just as good as using an HDMI cable...Component is also better when running long distances where HDMI just doesn't cut it. For me, HDMI is just an easier way to plug everything in.
Jake said:
What kind of people do you know? Do you have a 1080p HDTV? Do you have any surround sound? How many friends or people do you know? My friends have all recently been making the big switch to the HDTV with the purchase of a PS3, and you know what? They've all been buying Blu-Ray movies... yes! Over twenty-seven people that I know use Blu-Ray. They've all seen the difference. In fact, your regards sound like you've been watching your HDTV in 480i.

Get a better job. A bigger screen. Surround sound. HDMI cords. And stop being such a wuss. I can see it in the way you've written that you bought an HD-DVD player too early, and that's your fault. Take your lazy behind over to Best Buy, get your refund (they do that) and get a Blu-Ray player and stop being such a hypocrite.
Sam said:
I think the problem isn't that there is no difference between upconverted DVDs and Blueray, there is just not enough difference to justify the price.

In the short time I owned a HD-DVD player I really enjoyed the quality, but I bought it for $150. I've looked the Blueray players and they seem to start over $300 and don't have feature parity to my $79 Samsung DVD player (hey guys, I really want the instant replay button, TIVO has spoiled me). Once the price drops and the feature set matures, I'll be buying one, but I'm not in a rush.
Tom said:
Get your eyes checked, seriously.
Deez said:
New Research, what freaking new research?

"ABI’s principal analyst, Steve Wilson, says that the answer for many, is no. With standard definition DVD players often including technology that can “upconvert” regular DVDs to near-HD quality, many consumers are completely satisfied with that solution. "

That's it. That's what's in the article linked. Vasanth Sridharan, sounds like someone got burned buying a HD DVD player huh?>
lekumkee said:
This is to the user Ryan's comments. Are you smoking
crack dude?!? Component cables just as good as HDMI? Please tell you're joking. I find it very very hard to believe anyone who has gone from Component cable to HDMI would make a stupid comment like that. I would like them to do research on people that OWN a Bluray player and HDTV, and ask them if they can tell the difference. We'll see how that research goes.
orakga said:
Component cables are only comparable to HDMI up to 720p (and even then it's not an ideal substitute: I use HDMI on my 720p TV and the difference is noticable although not that easily).

But the bigger problem with this "research" is that the target audience lacked the proper display (not even a 720p TVs??) to compare the quality. And sadly even some people who do have an HD setup do not notice the difference right away. (my friend's wife claimed last year that DVDs looked better than BluRay on their 50 inch 720p TV, and that the HDMI cable was a waste. A year later, now she denies that she ever said that ^^)

Like someone else said above, the research was like having people compare VHS and DVDs on CRT screens and having them tell the difference (very hard to do, fyi, especially if the VHS tape is brand new).

If you limit the experiment to people who own HDTVs, your numbers will skew in the opposite direction. And you know what? Most people will eventually own a 720p or higher HDTV
by the end of 2009. (ALL new TVs are 720p at the minimum)

What I *will* give credit to, however, is the fact that this represents an obstacle to HDTV penetration in general. Because what this means is that people who don't already own HDTVs will not see a reason to upgrade to HDTVs soon.

But we had the same issues with cellphones ("why would I need one?"), broadband internet ("I'm perfectly happy with my 52k modem!") and... heck, PERSONAL COMPUTERS!!

At the end of the day, everybody will end up owning HDTVs, and they'll wonder how they were ever not able to tell the difference.
tarkus (URL) said:
Just a thought here but is it possible you guys are confusing composite cables with component? I have friends with a ps3 originally hooked up using compoSITE cables and were not impressed. once they made the jump to HDMI they were blown away. Now that was composite vs HDMI and I have also seen articles stating there is virtually no difference between compONENT and HDMI.
Bill Smith said:
Hey all, I hate to say this but First.
1.Samsung 52" 1080p 120HZ with HDMI
2.Sony BDP 300(DONT BUY)picked up for $100
3.PS3
4.HDMI cables and digital audio
5.I am the owner of 3 Blu-Ray sites
6.Have over 50 Blu-Ray Domain names

Okay, I have to agree with the remarks.I am not amazed by the difference of Blu-Ray as compared to Upconverting DVD.There may may be a slight difference but you REALLY have to look for it. I am able to watch movies on my t.v. through Direct t.v. at 1080I and they sometimes appear clearer than my PS3 or BDP 300.I am a die hard Blu-Ray man and we needed to advance, but for the prices we are charging it is not worth spending $500.00 for a Blu-Ray player when you can get a upconverting DVD player or just use the PS3.(I know this is odd for someone who is backing Blu-Ray) But be honest with yourselves.Seriously.Pick up a cheap upconvert player hook er up and see for yourself.Remember before you can stomp on people who say this you must see for yourself.Also just a quick note. Don't go and fall for people when they say "oh well you need to buy the silver plated gold coated $1,000,00 HDMI cables"Say you have Cable that puts out 1080I and then throw some of those $1,000,00 cables on there. How does that video source get to that cable box? Gold and silver coated RG?
Anyway like it or hate it everything progresses and so will Blu-Ray:)
cell said:
You, sir! you must be blind. What research is this?? One made by Toshiba??? one made by Microsoft???. Reality is BluRay does offer what DVD only dreams of, 7.1 sound 1080P video, full range RGB, better interactivity, and if you have a PS3, a kickass gaming machine. This article is nothing but a facade of lies and decisive, for those poor naive customers.
you are all retards said:
heres what i see here, a bunch of sonyfanboys are telling the rest of the world that they are the the people with the best jobs, the best vision, the biggest egos...jake especially comes to mind...with themaybe you should get a better job crap....does it make you feel bigger to attempt to make people feel smaller jake? if so you are a moron

you realize you are all argueing over dots on a television screen....maybe you should all get lives instead of trying to justify your purchases to others and yourself...

truth is most people dont have a hdtv set yet, some have 720's, and the rest still have 480, to most people blu ray is just another technology with an incremental improvement at best to the majority of the world...all you blurayboys can't seem to understand that the world doesn't care
Jay said:
I take it you bought an hd-dvd player when prices hit rock bottom. If you don't have anything meaning to say, don't say it at all. Don't just talk for the sake of talking.

As a quality guru, I am always impressed by blu-ray. Sure 1080p will be blown out of the water in the future, but it's the highest quality experience. Most consumers are technological morons. I remember how slow it took to completely phase out vhs. The same could be said about dvd and eventually blu-ray. (Not blueray or blue-ray)

My point is as new technology becomes available it will always be expensive. Maybe in the future there will be micro hard drives that store thousands of gigs made especially for downloadable content, but that's a long way off.
ghosh said:
you are all retards have made a point there...also agree with orakga view point. It will be slow progress.But yes ... with the sales of physical units falling...online delivery picking up...one wonders if this will actually take off .... in mass market manner
doobi said:
As "A consumer" I have to agree the the article. HD telly's look great, as long as nothing moves. Watch any "HD tech demo" and they're basically slide shows.

Why?

Easy, the second anything moves you get motion blur and all those extra pixels become utterly useless.
Rimmer said:
Hmmm, do I sense a a degree of Bitterness from some people, because their chosen messiah is failing to deliver the promissed land? Will you be issuing fatwas for people who dare criticise the glory that is Blu or just go for a good old fashioned burning at the cross?
The issue here is that the vast majority of people don't care, or don't see the improvement as sufficient to warrant the added cost. Laserdisc was superior to VHS, but that didn't make it the popular with the majority of users.
Convenience and cost will always trump quality in the mass market, and SD DVD has that covered.
HD is expensive to create content for, Bluray is still expensive to manufacture and license and the format isn't even finished yet. Studios are hardly going out of their way to produce HD content, aside from a games console there isn't a single player on the market that can use the format to its fullest and importing Bluray discs from abroad is a minefield thanks to region coding.That is hardly a recipy for world domination, regardless of how many times Sony repeat their mantra.
Oh, and Component Cable works perfectly well with 1080p. You only need to use HDMI to transfer Bitstream audio and HDCP.
bubun76 said:
Fully agree with the reasearch. I own Olevia 37" LCD TV (1080i max) with onkyo HT 5.1 setup. Never owned HD-DVD/blu-ray. Although I have seen both HD-DVD/blu-ray in demo Best Buy/CC and feel that the improvement is not "substantial" to me. I already own a Samsung upconverting DVD Player cum recorder com DivX/mp3 player which I got for $70 when I bought the TV last year. I am happy and content with my entertainment setup because a single player does everything for me taking less real estate in my entertainment setup with less wire clutter and the picture quality is really really good. Notice that I am not talking about a top of the line upoconverting player like Oppo or other Reon chip based player. I am also content with the PS2 and it's gameplay. The reason I am fully satisfied with my current setup are: I can rent movies for $1 from redbox rental from the neigboring shop n stop, I never ever buy movies (not even DVDs), So you can imagine I'd never buy a $30 hi-def movies instead I'd rent 30 movies, downloaded XVid/DivX I can burn in a DVD-R/DVD+R and and still play in my current setup. My wife hates 5.1 setup because of the wires everywhere. If I ever upgrade my surround system, I will probably buy a soundbar based system and not upgrade to 7.1 system. So the improved 7.1 is pointless to me, it will take some more time and probably a "better job" before I can afford a 65" OLED/LCD player and mini stadium sized living room to enjoy the 1080p movies from blu-ray. And you know what, Vizio was the top LCD tv seller last year, they sell mainly 37" and 42". What I have seen so far in the showrooms is that, unless you have a 50" or more 1080p really doesn't cut it. So don't you think that I am one of those average Joe and don't really care about 1080p/blu-ray in todays economy. Give me a blu ray player which has full media capability (like PS3) with video streaming through internet, and recording capability (at 720p/1080i) to blu-ray disk from ATSC/QAM within $200, I might work some extra hours to own it.
mike said:
I figure before I spend $300 on a bluray player to get better def in my movies, I'll put my glasses on.

BluRay is toast. HD-DVD is toast. It's arguing over the braiding in your buggy whip.

The early adopters who give a damn about crispness in their home theater are also going to be the early adopters to get all those damn discs onto a hard drive or into the cloud. Done.
Roadrash said:
This was always going to happen with the Blu Ray format. Sony rushed the Blu ray player to market before it was even finalized. It used a games console as a Trojan horse to falsely make up the numbers.
I will buy a Blu-ray player but only when the finalized profile 2.0 players are available & when the price of the players reaches a sensible level & I mean like $150 or less. Until then I will carry on enjoying my very cheap HD-DVD's and my upscaled and also very cheap SD DVD's.

Blah said:
Has anyone even seen HVD? (Holographic Versatile Disc) This lil bugger holds up to 3.9 Tera bytes or so. It's able to play 26.5 years of non-stop audio, and can also play 4,600-11,900 hours of video(Just over 1 year of uninterrupted video). This thing is 160x as large as a single layer Blu-Ray disc. It will also be able to perform Super High Definition which will upscale the resolution to 4320p. This 1 disc blows all the other's away... and dont even get me started on the protein DVD which will theoretically hold up to 50 Tera bytes.
John said:
Jake mate listen to yourself you sound like an absolute loser geek that clearly sits at home all day with his high quality HD screen surround sound and multiple next gens.

As for the forum, people just dont care, a dvds a dvd, blue ray is just a pricey/alternate version of HD that might be a bit better but who knows or cares, people like you just want to argue about it so they dont feel like there wrong or that they have been ripped of.

now take your hands out of ur pants and realise watching porn on blue ray STILL isnt the same as the real thing.

but you wouldnt know wud ya
Kevin said:
Why the big fuss over all this new technology. This is exactly what these corporations want us to do. It is all about making money. If none of this shit had ever come out we would all still be content with our VCR and VHS tapes.
Jeff said:
This may seem out of left field, but frankly, using a 1080p HDTV, I can't tell the difference between DVD and up-converted DVD. Definitely a HUGE difference between any form of DVD and Blueray.
ビスです said:
well ,we got this youtube video converter for youtube fans to convert.
wmv to mp4 converter can also help you put WMV files to your iPod, Zune, PSP these potable devices.
/mac dvd ripper can rip to various audio formats as well.
rf cp (URL) said:
Then a person talk with me and he is my first boss: age is also young. I hope you can make more contributions or rf cp to the trade unions. I said that I can make sure.
UserName said:
digital signage advertising display[bifeeciffejadf]
Tales Of Pirates money (URL) said:
At last the great wild man occupied the castle and the king. Tales Of Pirates money.
Entropia Universe Gold (URL) said:
In Entropia Universe Online, we can use Entropiauniverse ped to change our equipment.
Everyone in Entropia Universe online game should have Entropia Universe Gold.
If you have no Entropia Universe Money you will find no interesting in Entropia Universe Online.
I buy much more cheap Entropiauniverse ped and give some for my good friends.
If you want to buy Entropia Universe Gold you can go to the website gameim.com.
Archlord money (URL) said:
Of course, it will take an interesting feature like this for Archlord to compete in the crowded MMO pay Archlord online Gold to play genre.
Considerable amount of Archlord money content via questing. Music scored by the London Symphony Orchestra.
You have to buy Archlord gold in the game like WoW then pay a monthly fee.
In the two years I made many good friends also spend much money to buy the Archlord gold, but I do not have a little sad.
I made a foreign people who called Tom. I think he was very handsome, because I always in trouble in Archlord Online and he often helped me without any Archlord cheap.
We are sure that you cant get such an outstanding wow power leveling,service as ... Such as the Burning Crusade comes,wow power leveling, we provide a cheap wow power leveling, Spending points on the Elemental tree helps wow power leveling,to improves offensive spells and totems; WoW Gold,the Enhancement tree improves melee skills,and Restoration helps with healing.If your priority is towow power levelingyour,Shaman as quick as possiblewow gold, spend points on talents that will increase your damage. World Of Warcraft gold,Whether you prefer to kill enemies with ranged spells,World Of Warcraft gold, or up close with brutal melee World Of Warcraft gold, is entirely up to you World Of Warcraft gold, You will soon have to complete your Shaman class quests,WoW Gold, the first being the “Call of the Earth”.WoW Gold, Orcs and Trolls will be able to get WoW Gold, this quest from Canaga Earthcaller World of warcraft Power Leveling,World of warcraft Power Leveling,wow power level,wow power leveling,wow power level,ffxi gil,ffxi gil,ffxi gil,ffxi gil,final fantasy xi gil,final fantasy xi gil,final fantasy xi gil,final fantasy xi gil,guildwars gold,guildwars gold,guild wars gold,guild wars gold,lotro gold,lotro gold,lotr gold,lotr gold,maplestory mesos,maplestory mesos,maplestory mesos,maple story mesos,maplestory mesos,runescape gold,runescape money,aoc gold,age of conan gold,aoc gold, age of conan gold,aoc gold,FFXI Gil,final fantasy gil,everquest plat,eq2 plat,eq2 gold,everquest platinum,rs gold,silkroad gold,wow cd key,world of warcraft cd key,lineage2 cd key,Chinese Tea,Green Tea,China Tea,Black tea,Oolong Tea,White tea,Herbal Tea,Jasmine tea,Chinese Tea,Green Tea,Childrens Clothes,Childrens clothing,Baby Clothing,Pet products,dog bed,pet supply,pet product,Dog Collar,Dog carrier,Dog Clothes,Baby Clothes,newborn clothes,infant clothes,boys clothes,boys clothing,girls clothing,girls clothes,baby boy clothes,baby boy clothing,baby girl clothes,baby girl clothing,dog clothes,dog collars,buy warhammer gold,buy warhammer gold,buy warhammer gold,warhammer gold,warhammer gold,warhammer gold,礼品公司,商务礼品,礼品采购,礼品,
通販 said:
今日みつけたサイトは賃貸 住宅も収益物件も不動産 賃貸も賃貸マンションも新築マンションもしっかりカバーしてありすごく充実したさいとでもちろん投資を目的の方やリフォームをしたい人もすごく参考になるだう。ところで今,SEO対策などいまはやっているがホームページ制作会社にいらいしてもうまくはいかないようだ。

Join the discussion



Copyright © 2008 Silicon Alley Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.