News.blog: Blu-ray player sales droop

Looks like it wasn't the HD DVD/Blu-ray battle that was keeping potential customers away from high-definition video players after all.

The NPD Group released some of its retail sales tracking data on Wednesday that showed sales of Blu-ray standalone players (not a PlayStation 3, combo player or PC with Blu-ray drive) had mostly decreased since the beginning of the year.

Standalone Blu-ray player unit sales in the US decreased 40 per cent from January to February and saw a very slight increase (2 per cent) between February and March, according to NPD.

HD DVD players fared even worse -- player unit sales dropped 13 per cent from January to February, and 65 per cent from February to March -- which was expected. Toshiba stopped production of HD DVD units in February, and the format's promotional group disbanded in March.

So what does this mean for Blu-ray player vendors? Why haven't sales experienced any sort of substantial uptick without a competitor? Prices offer one clue. Blu-ray player prices were at their peak for the year in mid-March, around $400 (£200).

But more likely is what NPD's high-def video analysts have been harping on for a while: that DVD is 'good enough' for most consumers. And that the picture offered by a Blu-ray Disc and accompanying player doesn't appear so overwhelmingly better than a standard DVD and an upconverting player that many consumers can't justify the dramatically increased cost.

To that point, sales of significantly less expensive upconverting DVD players have actually increased 5 per cent over the first quarter of 2008, compared with the same quarter a year ago. Standard DVD player sales dropped 39 per cent over the same period.

Blu-ray player prices are going to have to drop dramatically to make themselves more attractive to consumers outside of the early adopter/home cinema enthusiast crowd.