lizard

Hardly surprising the numbers were down with such a weak slate of releases. Sex and the City 2 wasn't exactly a huge success and isn't targeted at the Blu-ray Disc demographic anyway (as is shown by the 18% BD share). The Back to Future and Alien sets may have a subset of DVDTalkers hyperventilating but they are older—and very expensive—catalog titles that most fans probably have on DVD already (the Alien set didn't even crack the top 20 in BD sales).

Given the slate of new releases, I'd have been shocked if it had been a good week for BD (and DVD) sales.

Josh-da-man

I've been in two Wal-Marts, both with strong blu-ray presences, and neither carried the Alien Anthology. I was in one Super Target, and didn't see the Alien release for sale, either.

Not having shelf space at Wal-Mart and Target is going to cut into sales big-time. The only options for the typical consumers are online or Best Buy (the one I went to apparently sold out, as I couldn't find any copies in the store).

The Ultimate Electronics I visited had about a dozen on sale for $79.99... and wrapped up in spiders. Though I don't believe UE has anywhere near the market penetration of Best Buy.

Gizmo

Walmart is not counted in the above numbers, simply estimated. Target carries it as I saw 3 copies today. Best Buy is the #1 Blu-Ray seller followed by Amazon. So unless you live in the middle of no here, there were options to buy it.

davidh777

Just read through the thread and agree with the main points: Not enough incentive for people to upgrade, confusion over the format (need a good TV, need to upgrade firmware to play the movies), too many other things to do and other ways to watch, people saturated on their collections. I just bought Kick-Ass last week because it was 12.99. I bought Toy Story for the kids and the fact that I could stack it with Beauty and the Beast and save like $18 more. I just don't need to buy like I used to.

I'll offer one more point about BD and home media. One big factor in DVD growth was the TV on DVD market. BD hasn't been able to pick up on that for some of the same reasons already discussed here but also because of the price difference. Even if people watch their shows in HD, they don't need to pay extra to rewatch them. How much better will Two and a Half Men be on BD? Plus the scripted market has already been losing ground to reality/real-life shows, and no one will buy those. Even the top ratings of Survivor couldn't translate to DVD sales during the format's peak. Shows that translate best to BD like Lost are probably the most expensive to produce.

orangerunner

I've always been surprised at the sales success of TV shows on DVD/Blu-ray. Traditionally people hated watching re-runs on network TV when it was free and yet many will run out and buy a whole season's worth of re-runs for $30.

Shows like Seinfeld, That 70's Show, Friends etc. literally play every day in syndication. Personally I've never had the impulse to get up and pop in a certain episode of an old TV show.

I think this is where Netflix is especially handy where you can get endless amounts of TV shows, commercial-free for $7.99/month.

Don't get me wrong, old shows can be fun to watch but I would rather channel surf and come upon them accidently and have that element of surprise as to which episode it is.

As for Blu-ray, yeah, I can't see too many people paying $30/season to upgrade 10 seasons of Friends to Blu-ray.

Trying to recapture the theatrical experience with HD films is one thing, but HD versions of TV shows that you originally saw on standard-def is somewhat pointless.

tonyc3742

I like TV on DVD, but I also primarily buy shows that aren't in wide syndication anymore, if they ever were [notable exception: the Simpsons]. But yes, I also don't see the purpose in buying Friends, Seinfeld, etc, but I also was never a huge fan of those shows in the first place.

Backlog.

Upgrade - I haven't upgraded yet, and now due to financial it'll be a while before I do.

Content - relatively few gotta-have titles for me

Other media - Netflix streaming or on disk rental is great

Rewatching - I don't rewatch much, so I have to take that into account.

Pricing - Most of the cheap titles I want, I've gotten, or I'll catch them on a sale. I actually said something the other day that previously didn't make sense: "Let's to the theater [to see Toy Story 3], it's cheaper than buying the DVD [BD]." [Although we ended up seeing Despicable Me].
Upgrade - with all the disks I have, many purchased cheaply, viewable pretty much anyway, I personally would only upgrade a very select few titles to BD, if/when I got BD.

I'm coming more and more around to streaming. I would never pay full price to "own" a streamed title, but when it comes buffet style like Netflix or Hulu, or even couple bucks VOD through a cable box, it's a valid option. I also agree that I don't really see the purpose in things like original Twilight Zone in HD. I'll admit I haven't seen it yet, but when I think HD, I think visually or aurally impressive titles.

BuckNaked2k

Week ending 11/7:

Gizmo

Yay for $8 coupons and including every possible media format in New Releases!

Coral

And it still only takes 20% of the market after all that.

Alan Smithee

Every possible media format? You mean I can get new releases on CED videodisc now?

lizard

I guess we can call the gains for the week of 11/7 the "Toy Story 3 effect". In BD sales the next highest selling title was The Pacific at 8% of TS3 sales:

Top 20 Sellers for the Week Ended 11/07/10

BuckNaked2k

Week ending 11/14:

Gizmo

Oh vey!

Alan Smithee

Couldn't POSSIBLY be because of those Eco-Cases, could it? Nah, it's cuz nobody wants to buy media anymore. Let's discontinue everything and just sell movies on iTunes from now on.

lizard

Week ended 11/21/10:



Top 20 Selling Blu-ray Discs for the Week Ended 11/14/10 [Toy Story 3]

Top 20 Selling Blu-ray Discs for the Week Ended 11/21/10 [Avatar: EE]


I'll be interested to see the chart for Black Friday week. The word is that BD/DVD sales were up, albeit at very low prices:
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/tho...ld/disc-deluge

BuckNaked2k

Week ending 11/28/10:

lizard

Top 20 Selling Blu-ray Discs for the Week Ended 11/28/10 [The Expendables]

Gizmo

BD hardware has grown 100%+ since last year and software only jumped 20% (or about $16 Million).

As a whole, OD is down $60 million from last BF. Blu-ray is not making up the losses, which was the whole point of BD (and HD DVD).

Stores gave away BD discs essentially at $5, $8 and $10, and they only jumped 20% from last year.

BuckNaked2k

No, Blu-ray is not making up the losses in the overall packaged media market. It remains heavily release-driven with impressive spikes around certain HD-friendly titles, and I fully expect Inception to continue this trend.

One thing I will say, it seems the "new norm" has become 15%-20% per week, while the "old norm" was 10%-15% per week.

dvd-4-life

I think consumers(including me) learned their lesson years ago when everyone was buying dvds for the sake of buying dvds. People aren't doing that with blu-rays and have become more selective. The time element also comes into play. Where do people find time to watch a new system when they don't have the time too watch the old system(consumers are still happy w/dvds)? I watch one new blu-ray per week and in the dvd hay-day ,I was watching 4-5 new discs each week.

Gizmo

At $18 for a BD/DVD/DC set, yeah, it'll do well. The DVD people only have to spend a dollar or two more and they get so much more value.

lizard

This is my view also.

I wonder about that. Those well-priced combo titles aren't doing as well as I would have expected. I don't think consumers are as rational (or educated) as you seem to think. They have to realize that a Blu-ray/DVD offers more value and is more "future-proof" than just a DVD. That doesn't seem to be the case thus far. Perhaps that will change over time.

Josh-da-man

I'm in the same boat.

I remember buying a shitload of DVDs back in the late 90s and early 00s when companies were burning through investment capital and practically giving them away. (Remember Reel.com and 800.com?)

I also went through a period where I was collecting things like Hammer Horror films, Eurohorror (Argento, Fulci, etc.), and "arthouse films" but now that I've bought everything in those genres that I want, I have no desire to upgrade any of them to blu-ray. And, to be blunt, a lot of this stuff doesn't have a lot of replay value. I'll watch horror movies with my finger on the FF button, and I don't know that I'll ever feel the need to watch The Opposite of Sex, Welcome to the Dollhouse, or Sex Lies and Videotape again in my lifetime.

There are only three kinds of movies I buy on blu-ray:

1. New releases, and those are few and far between.

2. Upgrades of classic movies and personal favorites.

3. The things I never got around to picking up on DVD.

And even then, I usually wait until I can pick these up at bargain prices.

BuckNaked2k

Week ending 12/05/10:

lizard

^Interesting that sales were up substantially from the week last year.

Top 20 Selling Blu-ray Discs for the Week Ended 12/5/10 [Eclipse]


Top 20 Selling Blu-ray Discs for the Week Ended 12/6/09 [Terminator: Salvation]