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With the profile of Blu-ray duly raised by the unprecedented sales march of blockbuster Batman sequel The Dark Knight, the somewhat sluggish appeal of Sony’s high-definition standard could soon rival that of conventional DVD following news that movie studios are lopping down the prices of sell-through discs.
Blu-ray appeal on the up as disc prices drop? Image: Blu-ray/Sony.
More pointedly, a retail report published by Blu-ray.com has revealed that the price gap seemingly preventing Blu-ray from attaining an assured footing with consumers has taken a notable downward turn.
For example, online retail leader Amazon is now offering a great many of its Blu-ray titles for between $10 USD and $20 USD, which places the high-definition digital format just a few dollars adrift of widespread DVD prices.
Some of those titles include the likes of comic book action adventure Iron Man, which is now selling for $19 USD, while the unrated version of Steve Carrell comedy vehicle The 40-Year-Old Virgin is priced at $15 USD.
Other older movies available on Sony’s format for just $10 USD include titles such as Kurt Russell sci-fi epic Stargate, Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall, and the original three Rambo movies.
Blu-ray proponents state that, since release, the spread of Sony’s format is outpacing that of DVD when viewed over the same time scale. However, while DVD’s performance advantage over VHS was obvious, doubts remain within the industry as to whether general consumers are willing to invest in a more expensive format that doesn’t immediately showcase its visual and aural benefits without an accompanying HDTV.
Despite having already put pay to Toshiba’s cheaper high-definition alternative HD DVD, Sony’s Blu-ray standard also faces the increasing popularity of digital distribution services, which stream their high-definition online content on a pay-for-view or subscription basis and (set-top receiver aside) don’t require the purchase of an expensive freestanding player.
In related news, Sony Corp. and its supporting videogame publishers are looking to push format popularity even further by creating specific Blu-ray bundles that will see cinematic Hollywood releases made available in a single package alongside their accompanying videogame tie-ins (where applicable).
The Tech Herald: Blu-ray adoption outperforming DVD across Europe
The Tech Herald: The Dark Knight certainly popular with Blu-ray fans
The Tech Herald: Toshiba slabs Blu-ray appeal with DVD upscaling technology
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