Will Blu-ray Prove Red-Hot?

[HenryTo]

Following article is courtesy of the Motley Fool. Just one more incentive for the consumers to keep on spending and for companies to begin ramping up capital spending (along with the fact that Vista will be released early next year):
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Will Blu-ray Prove Red-Hot?
Thursday June 29, 10:03 am ET
By Rick Aristotle Munarriz

Just in case you aren't the type to browse through your Sunday newspaper retailer circulars, Blu-ray is here. Both Best Buy (NYSE: BBY - News) and Circuit City (NYSE: CC - News) are now selling the first Blu-ray players to hit the market. Squeezing 50 gigs of storage onto a single optical disc, the capacity is superior to HD-DVD's 30 gigabytes, and carries 10 times the data of conventional DVDs. In theory, that means a crisper picture, sterling sound, and more room for bonus features.

A lot is riding on the migration to high-definition DVD, but early adopters will need to open their billfolds wide. After a series of delays, Best Buy and Circuit City are pricing the first wave of players at $999.

The high-def home video niche is just starting to feel its way through the birthing process. Don't drop your Best Buy circular into the recycle bin without noting how the $999 player itself was labeled as a "Blue-ray" player instead of Blu-ray. That sort of typographical blunder will be telltale if the format flops, or hilarious if it's a runaway hit.

Sony (NYSE: SNE - News) led the consortium of major companies championing the Blu-ray platform. Yes, Sony also introduced the Betamax format, which lost badly to VHS videocassettes, but it has friends in high places this time around. Blu-ray and Toshiba's rival HD-DVD format have both garnered healthy movie-studio support, but Blu-ray was also quick to get PC makers like Dell (Nasdaq: DELL - News) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ - News) on its side.

Because Sony is also the maker of the popular PlayStation video game console, it's including Blu-ray playback functionality in its next-generation system. That may be reason alone to delay forking over a grand or more for a Blu-ray player today, since you can get a PlayStation 3 for an estimated $600 in the fall. Even if consumers scoff at the high prices for stand-alone Blu-ray players, the PlayStation's popularity in the video game space assures Sony an installed base of millions of Blu-ray capable homes over the holidays.

As expected, the first Blu-ray films to hit the market this month are priced $5 to $10 higher than the same titles on DVD. Blu-ray's capacity allows lots of extra features, but at this point, it's more likely that studios are just trying to recoup their investment from the format's currently limited audience.

So keep watching. Just rethink your priorities before you pay up for a player that will likely drop precipitously in price, the way high-def television sets have in recent years.

Best Buy and Dell are active Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz probably overpaid for his traditional DVD player. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. Dell is also an Inside Value pick. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.

[rffrydr]

What if they gave a format war and nobody came? Hollywood may have been bailed out by this best of all possible depressions as people were drawn to a shared social extirpation. Now, they're kicking into action, by hook or by crook, and abandoning the dream merchants:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d41b0266-aae8-11e0-b4d8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1RiVE5gQE


“The retail model that has been so successful with DVD is not going to replicate itself digitally,” said Dan Cryan, the author of the report. “What we’re seeing in the US and internationally is a huge surge in digital retail to start off with but then it flattens out quite quickly.”

[diesel]

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/02/19/xbox-360-blu

Microsoft to make blu-ray player for xbox360.

[HenryTo]

Yes, HD-DVD is definitely dead now. The rumor is that Toshiba is now seriously thinking of dropping the format it developed and pushed:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10704

[rffrydr]

BFD: what is it, 300,000 of both units sold. We're on to iTV, baby.

If they'd had this out four years ago--far less than a zero sum game.
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[diesel]

Wal-Mart drops HD-DVD.

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20080215&id=8200337

Looks like its all over for HDDVD...

[HenryTo]

I stand corrected:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10637

[HenryTo]

My guess is that it is all over for Sony Blu-Ray by the end of next year:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=9519

Sure, they have a deal with Blockbuster, but seriously, who goes to Blockbuster anymore? The number of subscribers on the Blockbuster online service is now outnumbered by Netflix by more than 2-to-1:

http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2007/11/01/blockbuster-loss-widens-online-subs-down-after-changes

Finally, VHS won the war with Betamax mainly because of the support of the porn industry, and it now looks like the porn industry is fully backing HD-DVD over Blu-Ray (source: Microtrends)

[HenryTo]

Price war between Blu-Ray and HD DVD heats up:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7325

[TRS]

Henry
Funny you mention Blu-ray. Sigma has that market big time. They are in bed with Sony, Panasonic and the telcos for other chips. Sigma has declined because of the options expensing fallout. It is only speculation that they will get the call from the SEC. Huge short position also.
I do not have a position.

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/public/index.html