What's the DVD deal!

It wasn't that long ago that lots of electronics blogs and news sites were predicting the demise of conventional DVD's with the advent of the two high definition formats HD DVD and Blu Ray. They were also predicting only one of these DVD formats would succeed and the other would fall into obscurity like Betamax back in the 80's. Neither of these predictions has come true so I've been having a look at what the deal is with normal DVD players and DVD titles are still outselling HD DVD and Blu Ray.

First off is cost which is always important to most consumers. Looking at the list of the best selling DVD players on all formats compiled using data from Amazon.co.uk on average HD DVD and Blu Ray DVD players are between 5 to 10 times more expensive than a standard DVD player. Obviously these costs will reduce over time for the high definition formats but if someone is strapped for cash the benefits of HD DVD and Blu Ray really do not warrant paying such a premium for the higher quality. The same should be said for titles too. Most movies released on DVD can now be picked up for around £6 to £10 shortly after release with titles that have been out longer being even cheaper especially now in the sales when some real bargain DVD's can be picked up. So why would the casual DVD watcher want to spend twice as much just for the same film in HD DVD or Blu Ray format? The economics of standard DVD's are and will probably remain for some time the main reason HD DVD and Blu Ray haven't taken off as well as the manufacturers would have wanted.

Secondly is accessibility. Obviously you need a HD TV for these DVD players which easily cost £1,000 for a decent 1080 model which not everyone can go out and buy. This limits the number of consumers that the high definition format players are open to. Whereas normal DVD players are accessible to 100% of TV owners HD DVD and Blu Ray remain only an option to the percentage of HD TV owners. I think this will change in the future with more and more people owning HD televisions and with the reduction in production costs will really start to open the high definition market to everyone both for television sets and HD DVD formats.

Thirdly is confusion. Now not everyone is gadget and technology minded at all, seriously one of my friends girlfriends brought them the Simpsons Movie but on Blu Ray rather than a normal DVD thinking it was a special edition or something due to it costing more. We all found this rather amusing but to be fair why would she know any different, Blu Ray means nothing to her and that is a case with the majority of the UK population. Also something that puts many people off high definition DVD formats is that the standard DVD format hasn't been around for all that long and people feel like they've just replaced there video cassette collection with DVD's and will now have to do that again, then in ten years time some other new and improved format will come along and again they will have to replace everything! This in a way goes back to the first reason of costs but is a very valid point that some manufacturers have tried to counter by advertising there HD DVD and Blu Ray players with 1080 upscaling.

The HD DVD vs Blu Ray war: Well it never came did it lol, Sony may claim more people have Blu Ray players but this is solely down to there games console the Playstation 3. With standard DVD still dominating the market I think by the time high definition really starts to take off there will be a player that has one tray that can play both formats (I know that double ones are currently on the market but they are a bit pricey). Also the production costs will drop making this more probable in the foreseeable future.

Best selling DVD players on Amazon UK:
1: Toshiba SD270E - Multi-region Capable DVD Player - With Progressive Scan
2: Philips DVP3120 - Multi-region capable DVD Player
3: Samsung DVD-HD870 - Region 2 - DVD Player With HDMI and Upscaling to 1080i
4: Philips DVP5960 - Multi-region capable DVD Player with HDMI and upscaling to 1080i
5: Toshiba HD-EP30 - HD DVD Player - With 1080P Full HD3 - Plus 7 Free HD DVD's
6: Toshiba HD-EP35 - HD DVD Player - With 1080P Full HD & 7.1 Audio Output - Plus 7 Free HD DVD's
7: Compacks DVD6972 2 Channel DVD Player
8: Alba DVD62Xi - 2 Channel Multi Region DVD Player - Silver
9: Toshiba SD370E - DVD Player With Upscaling, HDMI & DivX
10: Philips DVP5160 - Multi-region capable DVD Player With Proggresive Scan & Divx
11: Sony BDP-S300 - Blu-Ray DVD Player - 1080P Full HD
12: Samsung DVD-1080P7 - DVD Player With HDMI 1080P Upscaling
13: Sony DVP-NS36 DVD Player - Black
14: Sony DVP-NS36 DVD Player - Silver
15: PHILIPS PET707/05 Portable DVD Player
16: Philips PET716/05 - Portable DVD Player
17: Philips DVP3020Compact Multi-region Capable DVD Player
18: Sharp BD-HP20H - Blu Ray DVD Player - With 1080P Full HD
19: Toshiba HD-E1 HD DVD High Definition DVD Player - Plus 5 Free HD DVD's
20: Bush dvd2054divx DVD Player with divx

Blog by Toydestroyer