Amazon and Best Buy ramp it up at retail; TDK fanboys still salivating but Hulk makes them green with envy; Ebert deems "Baraka" reason enough to get a Blu-ray player; Netflix and Samsung partner on BD player; and Blu-ray's a hit with the ladies!
A flood of news regarding player pricing and package deals hit the web with Amazon and Best Buy both offering incredible deals on either discount stand alone players or package deals that bring player prices well below the $200 level. At Best Buy, you can pick up a player for sub-$200 and get a coupon pack for $100 titles while over at Amazon you get two free movies with the purchase of any player. This all comes more than a month before "Black Friday" where undoubtedly some poor soul will get trampled during the opening rush to get their hands on the best player deal!
These announcements were also met with a flurry of stories regarding the global financial crisis, and how hard it will hit Blu-ray, and that downloads are still a major factor in consumers making their decision to purchase. I think Andy Parsons summed it up best stating that Blu-ray's window of opportunity will be open for several years, and then compared predictions of an all-digital video market to predictions that offices would one day become paperless. HOW TRUE - slow and steady wins the race!
Hulk finally unseated The Dark Knight as #1 on Amazon's list with Iron Man still hanging in at #3. These superheroes all have a fan base that not only loves the treatment they are getting by Hollywood but also the way they look (or will look) on Blu-ray. As the title line-up rolls out for the Holidays, expect the unexpected as more and more quality releases make it onto BD. An unexpected triumph was the Blu-ray release of the movie "Baraka" by MPI Media Group. With its stunning 8K transfer, critics are claiming this title as the de facto reference / wow-onlookers disc.
Netflix came forward with a second partnership announcement...this time with Samsung. The Samsung/Netflix player will allow you to view Blu-ray discs in stunning quality (thanks to its HQV processor inside) as well as stream movies from your existing Netflix account cue. Netflix also released early numbers on the number of subscribers taking advantage of the Blu-ray option on their account and expect to surpass 500,000 BD subscribers by the end of the year. These are great numbers and I echo the "slow and steady" comments uttered above.
And, finally, our partner's at Video Business ran a story about Blu-ray making inroads with women, mainly because they're more susceptible to in-store sales pitches. This is according to analyst company NPD who said that 12 percent of the women surveyed who bought Blu-ray players were influenced by the recommendations of salespeople, which was roughly twice the percentage of men who said the same. This shows that former misconceptions with regard to gender and technology related purchases are being tossed out the window. I wonder how this statistic trends tracks with the launch of DVD back in the late 90's...I bet they didn't even track this back then! As a man who was raised by a single mom and 4 older sisters, it's safe to say that we are definitely in the 21st century - YOU GO GIRL!
