Surprise? Bluray Adoption Slows, Upconverting DVD Players Find Success

After the demise of HD-DVD, it was pretty much expected that Blu-ray adoption would rise since it no longer had a competitor. According to Bits, that doesn’t seem to be the case:

According to NPD, sales of Blu-ray standalone players plummeted 40 percent from January to February, then rose a scant 2 percent from February to March. The general consensus was that once Toshiba dropped its support for the HD DVD format early this year, sales would increase.
In fact, sales of Blu-ray standalone players remain so low that NPD has not yet released actual numbers, for fear that it would be easy to identify individual retailers. The research group will start to give actual figures later this year, said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD.
Emphasis mine

Somehow, I’m not surprised. Even though I was slowly buying into the hype that having one high-definition format was better for consumers in the long run, despite my reservations about the chosen format, I’ve also had the nagging feeling that simply trouncing HD-DVD wasn’t enough. Sony had to prove why average consumers needed Blu-ray. And since HD-DVD hardware was consistently hitting sub-$200 towards the end ofits lifespan, they also had to prove why their players were worth twice the price of Toshiba’s.

Having failed to do that, Sony is now the king of a small early-adopter mountain. They’re left with an average movie-going public that finds HD upscaling DVD players a much more palatable option. And why shouldn’t they? After all, there still aren’t any Blu-ray players consistently dipping below the $400 range — and why would anyone buy a standalone player at that price anyway when they can just get a PS3? They can continue to use their existing DVD library, and they don’t have to worry about rebuying films either.

Bits mentions that upscaling DVD players have seen a 5% rise in sales since the beginning of the year, compared to sales from the same time last year. They also noted a 39% decline in DVD players that don’t upscale.

I recently wrote about Toshiba’s new focus on upscaling player technology, and now it seems that decision may actually pay off for them. Given that decent upscaling DVD players can be had in the $50-$100 range, along with the fact that most consumers don’t really care if the image they’re getting is truly HD or not, it’s clear that the battle is not yet over between Sony and Toshiba.

If Toshiba transplants their excellent upscaling technology from their HD-DVD players to standalone DVD players, they’ll definitely give Sony a run for their money. Perhaps this pseudo-competition will finally force Sony to lower their ridiculous Blu-ray player prices.