Blu-ray struggling to find traction in PC market

by Stevie Smith - Aug 27 2009, 15:30

If you’re armed with a capable high-definition screen (read: 1080p) then there’s little doubting the performance boost experienced when watching a movie on Sony’s industry standard Blu-ray disc format. Yet, despite the coupled digital advantages, it would appear Blu-ray isn’t quite ready to lead from the front – at least in the PC market.

Moreover, new research provided by the industry analysts at iSuppli suggests Blu-ray will not stand even a remote chance of deposing DVD as the format of choice for personal computers until at least 2013.

Citing heightened costs when compared to DVD, a general lack of available Blu-ray content, and the growing popularity of downloadable entertainment, iSuppli offers that a mere 3.6 percent of PC systems were shipped in 2009 with Blu-ray drives fitted as standard.

“They [Blu-ray drives] eventually will find success, but during the next five years, that success will be limited in the PC segment,” outlined iSuppli senior analyst Michael Yang in the report.

“It’s undeniable that Blu-ray delivers a higher-definition picture, better sound quality and larger storage space for home entertainment,” he added. “However, these benefits may have little or no value when viewing the content on a smaller desktop or laptop PC screen and using poor speakers.”

Yet, despite iSuppli’s apparently positive outlook for Blu-ray, its projected figures for 2013 still only indicate a PC reach of around 16.3 percent, while it also claims more and more PC hardware manufacturers will opt for completely abandoning physical drive formats altogether in favour of cheaper, more reliable, and more expansive solid-state drive (SSD) solutions.

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