[QUOTE=tmc8080;2548006]A $50 blu ray player is NOT to be had this year unless it was a refurbished extreme limited quantity deal! So, there is alot more resistence to lowering the price of hardware and media than there was with dvd in comparison. That if anything will push other alternatives such as online storage/streaming and purchases of hard drives for long term storage solutions.
2tb hard drive $100
Blue ray burner $110, plus the cost of media.
Life expectancy of each product 3-5 years data integrity with lite use. So, until blue ray becomes a better value… it isn’t a serious data archival solution. We also know the greed bandied about in the “fromat war” and DRM put a sour taste in the consumer’s mouth. That cost the indsutry 1+ years of consumer avoidance of the blu ray technology.[/QUOTE]
Mechanical HDD’s are anything but permanent.
For previous technology iterations, a $50US player meant a $100 player here in Oz.
$100 bluray (cheap/basic chinese model) players can be had at one of the major/nationwide Entertainment chains here in Oz … walk-in price … no limited quantity special … although it is time-limited.
However, I cashed in and bought a second $100 BD player for myself (bedroom TV), and a neighbour 5 months ago when one of the semi-major retailers had a special …
Hardware prices are dropping significantly faster than DVD ever did - penetration of Bluray into stores is significantly quicker than DVD ever was.
The USA isn’t feeling the love because the US dollar is dropping like a feather in a vacuum.
The UK pound also isn’t feeling the love, but at least it seems to have some buoyancy, so they’ll be feeling the High definition loving soon.
Europe is still struggling, but is hanging in there with a few pinky fingers … they’ll probably beat the UK.
Japan’s also not feeling love, but that’s ok, because all their manufacturing is in China anyway, and China is keeping it’s currency artificially low (not for friendly reasons I’m sure) … but Japan was feeling High Definition Goodness before the rest of us anyway.
So bluray IS taking off …
The USA just makes up the most vocal share of the internet, and the USA used to be the loosest with their money & tech,… but now doesn’t have the $$$ to feel the love anymore.
Off-Topic
I guess that whole out-sourcing to countries with cheaper labour thing isn’t working out so well, eh?
/end Off-Topic
Bluray players don’t appear to be suffering too much from DRM limitations on bluray … the format is being adapted much faster than DVD, now that sales people now understand what the heck bluray is … and that they shouldn’t be hooking up Bluray & HDTV’s using composite cables anymore … and customers are no longer being told that upscaling DVD players are better than bluray.
Yes … many sales managers really are that stupid that they hook up HDTV’s using composite cables andd wonder why their sales have plummetted … natural selection is a biatch … but sooooo necessary 
Case in Point: I’m still arguing with shop planners why they should be spending an extra $20K to use Bluray + HDMI instead of (heavily pixellated, standard definition sources stretched to interlaced HD) Free-To-Air broadcast TV … keeping in mind that the average TV is $2k … and 1080p will sell TV’s … while blurry pixellated TV’s will drive customers to another retail chain …
Each store = a new idiot manager to convince … FFS … I don’t get paid enough.
