Posted by Ian on May 28th, 2008 at 10:50 AM CST

While Blu-ray player sales in the US have been down since January, sales in Japan have risen by nearly threefold. Much of this is due to the popularity of Blu-ray recorders, which topped DVD recorders in sales for the first time last month.

Sales of high definition Blu-ray DVD recorders are zooming up in Japan as consumers take to the new generation of home movie entertainment after the end of a bitter format war.

Last month the more expensive Blu-ray recorders topped the old generation recorders in the value of sales for the first time, with around a third of machines sold now carrying the new format, research firm BCN Ltd said in a statement.

"Full high-definition picture quality has become a main stream for big-screen TVs, and camcorders with higher picture quality are getting popular, too," said BCN chief analyst Shigehiro Tanaka.

Blu-ray sales are expected to rise even further as manufacturers cut prices in preparation for the Beijing Olympics. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here.