Blu-ray player prices continue to slide

[ack_bak]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6703722.html

PHYSICAL: Brand-name models below $200; possibility of $49 units on Black Friday
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 10/23/2009

OCT. 23 | PHYSICAL: Blu-ray Disc set-top player sales are dropping at lightning speed, with a number of retailers hoping they’ll help drive the overall electronics holiday business.

Stores have been surprised that even the brand-name models that offer all the bells and whistles, such as Web interactivity and Netflix streaming, are sinking to less than $200. During last year’s fourth quarter, the biggest Blu-ray player deals featured mostly off-brand, non-Web-enabled models, such as Meijer’s $149 Sylvania player.

This year’s low price points on advanced Blu-ray models should keep the product competitive with other consumer electronics on families’ holiday wishlists, such as the $259 Kindle or $199 Wii, say analysts and stores.

“We are doing better than we initially expected, which is due to the price drops,” Abt Electronics owner Jon Abt said. “The price drops were expected, but we didn’t think it would be this deep this quickly. BD Live players [most of which offer streaming movie services] are now available in sub-$200 models.”

Year-to-date, Chicago-based Abt Electronics is running 50% ahead in Blu-ray set-top unit sales over the same 2008 frame.

NPD Group notes that between January and August 2009, 65% of all Blu-ray set-top purchases were of models priced between $200 and $299. For the same 2008 frame, the vast majority of all such purchases, at 75%, were for Blu-ray set-tops marked between $300 and $399.

Also through August, 14% of Blu-ray unit sales were for sub-$200 set-tops. During the same period last year, NPD recorded no players sold at that level.

Examples of players now tagged at $199 at most retailers include the Panasonic DMP-BD60, which streams Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube and Bloomberg news; the Samsung BD-P1600, which offers Netflix, Roxio CinemaNow and Web music service Pandora; and the LG BD370, with Netflix and Roxio CinemaNow.

“We’ve seen very strong growth in Blu-ray players this year. It has been a bright spot in a very gloomy industry landscape,” said Ross Rubin, NPD director of industry analysis. “Nearly all other electronics device categories have been down, such as digital cameras and MP3 players.”

Rubin added that currently, Blu-ray unit sales make up 15% of overall U.S. high-definition/standard-definition home video player purchases. Yet he expects that will hike to 50% of unit sales in 2010 if current demand and pricing trends hold.

“The streaming products have been popular where they’ve accounted for a greater portion of the Blu-ray player units sold,” added Rubin.

With mass pricing already dipping to below $200 on brand-name models, Rubin doesn’t think it is out of the question to see $49 Blu-ray player offers around Black Friday.

“It’s conceivable we could see a $49 Blu-ray player on Black Friday, but I think we’ll see more $99 deals,” said Rubin. “Anything is possible.”

Texas-based retailer Bjorn’s hasn’t enjoyed the same high growth levels with its Blu-ray player sales, blaming mostly a tough economy. Its own Blu-ray unit sales are running about flat with last year. But the store does believe that price drops have helped ramp up awareness for the product, which will come in handy when consumers return to normal spending habits.

“I think Blu-ray players have gotten more mainstream acceptance,” said Doug Bravin, Bjorn’s chief operating officer. “People know this is the future.”

$99 brand name Blu-Ray players and $49 lesser brand would generate tons of sales and interest in Blu-Ray I suspect Would love to see those price points at some major retailers this holiday season.

I think Blu-Ray pricing is really starting to hit it's stride. It will really come down to consumer confidence in opening their wallets. I do think the big push by some retailers to lower prices on popular new releases and catalog titles this quarter will help push player sales as well.

[comixguru]

$49 Blu-ray Players and lots of $9.99 movies this holiday could make things explode for the format.

[ack_bak]

I thought it was interesting that Funai (Magnavox, Philips, Insignia, etc) just added streaming to some of their players. I think this will help push sales even more as people want to get more and more out of their CE gear. I suspect we will see other cheaper brands offer streaming, and it will most likely just become standard for the majority of BD players out there.

[zerosaiyaman]

Yay, all those manufacturing breakthroughs in the spring finally reached us. Pfft, by the sound of it, some of these high end players are more like media centers than anything. I guess that's the trend in technology now though, to integrate everything into one central device.

[Kosty]

[Kosty]

Originally Posted by ack_bak

I thought it was interesting that Funai (Magnavox, Philips, Insignia, etc) just added streaming to some of their players. I think this will help push sales even more as people want to get more and more out of their CE gear. I suspect we will see other cheaper brands offer streaming, and it will most likely just become standard for the majority of BD players out there.

Its because its basically free to include from a bill of material standpoint as its being included in the available SoC designs. So if its not costing a manufacturer much to turn on the feature its going to show up more.

[ack_bak]

This should also help fuel Blu-Ray player and software sales as prices drop:
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/hdt...gger-tvs-17378

NPD: Consumers Want Bigger TVs


By : Erik Gruenwedel | Posted: 21 Oct 2009
egruenwedel@questex.com


Screen size ranks among the top reasons (along with picture resolution) cited by consumers looking to upgrade their televisions, according to a new report.

The NPD Group said 77% of respondents in a recent poll would only consider screen sizes of at least 40 inches, while 25% said would opt for a TV with a screen size of at least 50 inches. About 71% of respondents said higher resolution was equally important.

Indeed, screen size continues to be a strong driver for consumers despite the economic recession. The average price of 40- and 42-inch flat-panels for the first nine months of 2009 (January – September) was $838, down nearly 28% from $1,150 the same time last year, according to NPD’s retail tracking service. The average price of 50- and 52-inch flat-panel TVs also dropped 28% from $1,941 during the first nine months of 2008 to $1,409 during the same time this year.

“Demand for digital television remains strong months after the end of analog broadcasting,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis with the Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm.

With prices continuing to decline for larger screen, higher resolution televisions, it seems like a marriage made in heaven for Blu-Ray players and software

[mikemorel]

Originally Posted by Kosty

Its because its basically free to include from a bill of material standpoint as its being included in the available SoC designs. So if its not costing a manufacturer much to turn on the feature its going to show up more.

And it's a major selling point. even Sony included Netflix because Samsung players that had streaming were outselling Sony players that did not.

Blu-ray supporters supporting digital distribution because it helps sell more blu-ray players. Interesting.

Speaking of interesting, a quote from that article...

Texas-based retailer Bjorn’s hasn’t enjoyed the same high growth levels with its Blu-ray player sales, blaming mostly a tough economy. Its own Blu-ray unit sales are running about flat with last year.

flat? FLAT???

[Sbert]

Originally Posted by mikemorel

And it's a major selling point. even Sony included Netflix because Samsung players that had streaming were outselling Sony players that did not.

Blu-ray supporters supporting digital distribution because it helps sell more blu-ray players. Interesting.

Speaking of interesting, a quote from that article...

flat? FLAT???

Complimentary services Mike...eventually BD will go by the wayside like dvd. Right now in regards to speed and availability, streaming / dl > sd dvd. However, HD at 1080p with good transfer is kinda hard to stream and dl easily for the majority of the population.


Anyways, I think it's a good complimentary service to blu-ray.

[ack_bak]

Originally Posted by mikemorel

And it's a major selling point. even Sony included Netflix because Samsung players that had streaming were outselling Sony players that did not.

That and the fact that Samsung players are typically cheaper than Sony. Price is typically a bigger factor than features for most people.

Blu-ray supporters supporting digital distribution because it helps sell more blu-ray players. Interesting.

Not really. The reason why so many of us on these forums bought PS3's were because they offered the best bang for the buck. I have always been an advocate of getting a streaming player over a non-streaming one if price was not the biggest factor. If you have a Netflix account you might as well use the streaming as Netflix bundles it in.

Speaking of interesting, a quote from that article...

flat? FLAT???

Go look at their "clearance sale" from September. Their BD players are significantly more than many other stores and these are not even the newest models.

You also missed the quote from ABT in the same thread (shocker). Seems like their BD player sales are up:

“We are doing better than we initially expected, which is due to the price drops,” Abt Electronics owner Jon Abt said. “The price drops were expected, but we didn’t think it would be this deep this quickly. BD Live players [most of which offer streaming movie services] are now available in sub-$200 models.”

Year-to-date, Chicago-based Abt Electronics is running 50% ahead in Blu-ray set-top unit sales over the same 2008 frame.

[ack_bak]

Had to go to Walmart tonight to buy several new humidifiers (Utah is super dry) and stopped by the BD player section. Transformers 2 BD was sold out on the new release endcap (plenty of DVD's) and they had about 10 stocked on the shelf behind the glass case. Surprisingly, the BD players were just about cleaned out. As you can tell from the picture the cheaper players were all but gone except for a few Phillips players. The Magnavox and Vizio players were sold out. They had one Sony S360, and a couple of Samsung players. The Panasonic BD60 was sold out as well (it was $158). A few weeks ago they had an endcap full of Magnavox players for $148, and the endcap was sold out as well. My guess is that Transformers 2 must have helped move some players.

I cannot imagine how well these players will sell as we get closer to the holidays and the prices drop even more.

Here is the picture:

[h0mi]

I think its more than that. A Samsung player that does netflix and pandora can be expected to support more services as they roll out and consumers probably don't like 1 box for this 1 box for that, 1 box for that. They want 1 box for it all not 3 different pieces of hardware, and given that downloads are being hyped, there's no reason not to support it even if they won't use it much

Let me add.. I have to decide whether to buy the logitech harmony remote adapter for my ps3 (between $40 and $60), or spring for a standalone player. I'm leaning towards the samsung 1600 series but I'm waiting for prices to crack $100 and I think if I find a good samsung for $50, I'm buying one for a friend and my sister.

[Kosty]

Just came back from my local 24 hour Wal-Mart Supercenter. They have had an isle devoted to Blu-ray models for many months now and have had over two dozen units on the shelves below the display available for consumer purchase.

As ack_back saw, its the same at my local store as well, they just sold through Blu-ray player inventory they had that had been steady but still available. They were in the process of reloading the shelves as the mid week reorders had just arrived as sales for Blu-ray hardware surged this week. They said there was a very noticeable increase in Blu-ray player sales this week and their inventory system confirmed a large surge.

Its the time of year for that to start happening but its probably no just a coincidence for the Snow White and Transformers 2 releases just occurred either.

Obviously our observations are anecdotal but that seems to be a good sign.

[mikemorel]

Originally Posted by ack_bak

You also missed the quote from ABT in the same thread (shocker). Seems like their BD player sales are up:

50% ahead of what? There are no numbers there. A 50% YoY rise in player sales when you only have 6% of the market in discs means nothing.

It is easy to do better than your initial expections when you don't expect much. Just fluff meant to get people like you all lathered up.

Originally Posted by Sbert

Complimentary services Mike...eventually BD will go by the wayside like dvd. Right now in regards to speed and availability, streaming / dl > sd dvd. However, HD at 1080p with good transfer is kinda hard to stream and dl easily for the majority of the population.


Anyways, I think it's a good complimentary service to blu-ray.

Blu-ray was meant to replace DVD and dominate the home video landscape. Digital distribution was "impossible", it wouldn't amount to anything for years. It would "crash the internet".

Now blu-ray and digital distribution are "complimentary".

One year ago, LG introduced the 1st streaming blu-ray player. Now blu-ray players include streaming as if it were part of the blu-ray spec.

A lot has happened with digital distribution in 2009, with much more to come in 2010. Maybe managed copy players, discs and memory cards will come to save the day in 2010. That could be interesting...

[ack_bak]

Mike, just a reminder that Blu-Ray is growing faster than digital distribution. As much as you want Blu-Ray (actually optical media) to fail and digital distro to suddenly come in and save the day, it is not happening. The numbers prove it. Optical media still make up the lions share of revenue for the studios. Digital distro is a very small piece of the pie that is growing, but growing slower than Blu-Ray.