Amazon: Blu-ray Player Now #1 CE Product

[Woochifer]

Apparently, Blu-ray has gained quite a bit of traction over this holiday shopping season, despite all of the doomsayers in the tech press who've been calling this season Blu-ray's last gasp before downloading takes over. The evidence of this is in Amazon's sales charts where the Samsung BD-P1500 now ranks as their #1 selling electronics product. This is ahead of Amazon's own Kindle e-book reader and the Apple iPods.

Granted, this is not the best BD player on the market, but it's definitely a sign that those early Black Friday/Cyber Monday reports of Blu-ray players ranking among the most heavily searched items have begun to turn into actual sales.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/samsung120808.htm

With The Dark Knight coming out tomorrow and on track to become the first Blu-ray title to sell 1 million copies, I don't see how so many tech writers are ready to write Blu-ray's epitaph, unless they have chosen to cite wishful thinking over actual sales data as their evidence.

[kexodusc]

A few of the older women in my office are getting some for their families this Christmas. When I was listening to them talk about BluRay, the biggest thing that surprised me was their familiarity with the BluRay's advantages.

They mentioned both audio and video improvement, not just video. But made a point to mention the biggest reason they're getting BluRay is because their players will also playback DVD, so they don't feel their collections are obsolete as much as they did when VHS was ousted. This struck me as a being a bit weird because they could have just kept their VHS player and all their VHS titles and basically had the same continuity they think their getting with BluRay, but maybe this little backwards compatabilty feature makes for an easier transition?

[Rich-n-Texas]

Apparently, Blu-ray has gained quite a bit of traction over this holiday shopping season, despite all of the doomsayers in the tech press who've been calling this season Blu-ray's last gasp before downloading takes over.

Don't I recall at one time pixie was in this camp? That must mean he gets all his data from which he forms his conclusions about this & that being... DEAD... from tech writers. Although, he has become quite the Blu-ray advocate recently hasn't he? Sir T would be proud.

The evidence of this is in Amazon's sales charts where the Samsung BD-P1500 now ranks as their #1 selling electronics product. This is ahead of Amazon's own Kindle e-book reader and the Apple iPods.

Can the ordinary Joe access these charts? It would be a worthwhile bookmark for keeping a finger on the pulse of the public's spending habits, albiet just one additional resource.

BTW, thanks for letting me/us know that the Kindle is an e-book reader. I never knew what the heck that thing was.

Granted, this is not the best BD player on the market, but it's definitely a sign that those early Black Friday/Cyber Monday reports of Blu-ray players ranking among the most heavily searched items have begun to turn into actual sales.

My PS3 purchasing decision (with a lot of help from the good folks here) is looking more and more like the right decision at just about the right time.

With The Dark Knight coming out tomorrow and on track to become the first Blu-ray title to sell 1 million copies, I don't see how so many tech writers are ready to write Blu-ray's epitaph, unless they have chosen to cite wishful thinking over actual sales data as their evidence.

Count me in on the 1 million number. I'll tell ya, if the Academy completely thumbs its nose at The Dark Night come awards time, it may be the last time I bother watching the awards show.

Good info Wooch.

[Feanor]

....

http://www.tvpredictions.com/samsung120808.htm

...

Never mind TVPreducitons, I predicted Blu-Ray sales would take off once the price dipped below $200. But I'll admit I was pessimistic in thinking it might not happen in 2008.

Was it the emergence of off-brand that did it, e.g. "Insignia" at Future Shop? I though Sir TtT, sage of sages, said that won't happen. But now even the brand names are going at it, e.g. Sharp for Cdn$170, (US$135) -- who'd have thought!?!

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Never mind TVPreducitons, I predicted Blu-Ray sales would take off once the price dipped below $200. But I'll admit I was pessimistic in thinking it might not happen in 2008.

Was it the emergence of off-brand that did it, e.g. "Insignia" at Future Shop? I though Sir TtT, sage of sages, said that won't happen. But now even the brand names are going at it, e.g. Sharp for Cdn$170, (US$135) -- who'd have thought!?!

Feanor, I said the BDA was not going to liscense any Chinese OEM to make a player, but they will allow them to manufacture them for liscensed BDA members. The BDA has approved big boxes to make their own house branded players, but they have to be made by a Bluray liscensed manufacturer. Best Buys insignia brand BR player is a BDA approved player. Funai makes off brand players, and they have been a BDA member at large for two years now. I never said off brand players where not going to happen. If you were paying attention last year at this time, I said they would actually be on the market this year.

[Woochifer]

Can the ordinary Joe access these charts? It would be a worthwhile bookmark for keeping a finger on the pulse of the public's spending habits, albiet just one additional resource.

Here's the link. The sales are updated hourly, and it looks like the Kindle has retaken the #1 spot ... so much for my thread!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers...v_etk_ce_av__1

Count me in on the 1 million number. I'll tell ya, if the Academy completely thumbs its nose at The Dark Night come awards time, it may be the last time I bother watching the awards show.

Good info Wooch.

Count me in as well. I saw the Dark Knight IMAX trailer on the Batman Begins BD and that just looks incredible. Blu-ray is definitely the way to go for The Dark Knight because they use a full frame transfer (up to 1.77:1) directly from the IMAX print on those action scenes that Nolan filmed using IMAX cameras.

As far as awards go, I'm sure that Heath Ledger will get nominated. No telling if he will win, given that the Academy tends to avoid posthumous awards (they didn't give a posthumous award to Spencer Tracy, yet they awarded his living/breathing costar Katherine Hepburn). The Dark Knight will clean up on the technical awards, but I'd actually be surprised if the movie even got nominated for Best Picture (odds have gotten better due to lack of other worthy candidates emerging).

[Woochifer]

A few of the older women in my office are getting some for their families this Christmas. When I was listening to them talk about BluRay, the biggest thing that surprised me was their familiarity with the BluRay's advantages.

They mentioned both audio and video improvement, not just video. But made a point to mention the biggest reason they're getting BluRay is because their players will also playback DVD, so they don't feel their collections are obsolete as much as they did when VHS was ousted. This struck me as a being a bit weird because they could have just kept their VHS player and all their VHS titles and basically had the same continuity they think their getting with BluRay, but maybe this little backwards compatabilty feature makes for an easier transition?

Lot of advertising has gone into Blu-ray, and looks like it has begun to pay off. Plus, it doesn't hurt that just about every major store has some kind of free Blu-ray player giveaway with the purchase of a HDTV.

No way is this another SACD/DVD-A situation. The Blu-ray sections at stores like Best Buy and Target are very visible and getting bigger. At Target, I now see the new release Blu-rays displayed in the same rack as the DVDs. Just that visibility seems to have raised awareness over the last few months, and now that prices have fallen and the holidays are looming, consumers have begun pulling the trigger.

I also think that a lot of people think that if they buy a new HDTV, they also need a "better DVD player" to go with it. This is a case where the rock bottom prices on upconverting DVD players work against them, since the buying public might not know that the Blu-ray and upconverting DVD players both do the same upconverting function with standard DVDs. No matter, once those Blu-ray players get planted in people's homes, hopefully they'll see the step up that true 1080p provides. Tomorrow's BD release of The Dark Knight is yet another milestone.

[Rich-n-Texas]

FINALLY! Some upbeat and brain-stimulating (and A/V relevant) conversation.

(Read... Wooch is off diaper duty this week, and since his layoff from Sony last week there's more time for Sir T to extoll (okay, how 'bout inform on) his former employer's marketing strategies).

[Feanor]

Feanor, I said the BDA was not going to liscense any Chinese OEM to make a player, but they will allow them to manufacture them for liscensed BDA members. The BDA has approved big boxes to make their own house branded players, but they have to be made by a Bluray liscensed manufacturer. Best Buys insignia brand BR player is a BDA approved player. Funai makes off brand players, and they have been a BDA member at large for two years now. I never said off brand players where not going to happen. If you were paying attention last year at this time, I said they would actually be on the market this year.

I guess I wasn't paying sufficient attention; (How could I not do that? ) However what you say does make sense of the 'Insignia' situation.

[pixelthis]

Don't I recall at one time pixie was in this camp? That must mean he gets all his data from which he forms his conclusions about this & that being... DEAD... from tech writers. Although, he has become quite the Blu-ray advocate recently hasn't he? Sir T would be proud.


Can the ordinary Joe access these charts? It would be a worthwhile bookmark for keeping a finger on the pulse of the public's spending habits, albiet just one additional resource.

BTW, thanks for letting me/us know that the Kindle is an e-book reader. I never knew what the heck that thing was.


My PS3 purchasing decision (with a lot of help from the good folks here) is looking more and more like the right decision at just about the right time.

Count me in on the 1 million number. I'll tell ya, if the Academy completely thumbs its nose at The Dark Night come awards time, it may be the last time I bother watching the awards show.

Good info Wooch.

I am still in the downloading "camp".
I have been a Blu fanboy of late, it is an exelent format and I highly reccomend it,
but for rentals in the future DOWNLOADING is going to be it.
That is why we need to get Blu established as a viable collectors medium.
AS for one million Dark knight Blu discs being sold, that number will be passed
like its nothing, remember that this movie liked four million dollars grossing a billion
(with a B) dollars at the box office.
ONE GOOD THING about it coming out, maybe I will be able to find a copy of wanted
to rent

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

FINALLY! Some upbeat and brain-stimulating (and A/V relevant) conversation.

(Read... Wooch is off diaper duty this week, and since his layoff from Sony last week there's more time for Sir T to extoll (okay, how 'bout inform on) his former employer's marketing strategies).

I got laid off??

[Rich-n-Texas]

Yes. Your severance package is in the mail. Now pix can't accuse you of being a shill for Sony.

[GMichael]

I got laid off??

And nobody told you.

Don't laugh. I've seen that happen.

[Woochifer]

FINALLY! Some upbeat and brain-stimulating (and A/V relevant) conversation.

(Read... Wooch is off diaper duty this week, and since his layoff from Sony last week there's more time for Sir T to extoll (okay, how 'bout inform on) his former employer's marketing strategies).

I'm off diaper duty?

And someone ... other than pix ... believes that Sir T works for Sony???

[pixelthis]

Yes. Your severance package is in the mail. Now pix can't accuse you of being a shill for Sony.

He may not be a "shill" but if his nose gets any further up their butt you'll have to tie
a rope to his legs to get him out.
And you got it wrong, he didnt get laid off...just laid.
So where have you been sir t, thanksgiving vacation at your jr. highschool?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

He may not be a "shill" but if his nose gets any further up their butt you'll have to tie
a rope to his legs to get him out.
And you got it wrong, he didnt get laid off...just laid.
So where have you been sir t, thanksgiving vacation at your jr. highschool?

You really should back off the stupid pills. With only one functioning brain cell, you are likely to continue as audioreview's own air head. Kill off that last brain cell, and the only thing you'll be good for is hanging clean laundry on.

You could be a mile away from the CEO of Vizio(you know the go out of business and runaway in the night company), and you would still have your nose up his butt old beakster. .

[pixelthis]

You really should back off the stupid pills. With only one functioning brain cell, you are likely to continue as audioreview's own air head. Kill off that last brain cell, and the only thing you'll be good for is hanging clean laundry on.

You could be a mile away from the CEO of Vizio(you know the go out of business and runaway in the night company), and you would still have your nose up his butt old beakster. .

You didnt need the pills.....
AND "one" brain cell of mine is about 20 billion times smarter than any ten billion of yours,
so I AM STILL AHEAD OF THE GAME, talky

[kexodusc]

You didnt need the pills.....
AND "one" brain cell of mine is about 20 billion times smarter than any ten billion of yours,
so I AM STILL AHEAD OF THE GAME, talky

Glad to see your humility hasn't impeded your class.

[pixelthis]

Glad to see your humility hasn't impeded your class.

THANKS!