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While the sales of DVD's are flattening, its not the fault of digital downloads. A new report by NPD shows that Americans still spend most of their movie budget on buying and renting DVDs. According to the report, consumers spent 81% on DVD purchases or rentals with only 0.5% going toward TV shows or movies downloaded from the web.
DVDs are still the most popular format when it comes to how U.S. consumers choose to purchase movies and other video content. On average, U.S. consumers spend $8 out of every $10 of their budgets buying or renting DVDs, according to information presented today by The NPD Group’s Senior Industry Analyst for entertainment, Russ Crupnick, at the DisplaySearch HDTV 2008 Conference in Hollywood, Calif. Less-than one percent of Americans’ movie budget is currently spent downloading movies and TV shows from the Web.
“Everyone is guessing when video on demand and digital downloads will spell the end for packaged media” Crupnick said. “At this point, though, digital video is still an extremely small part of overall consumer entertainment spending.”
According to information from NPD’s recent “Entertainment Trends in America” report, 41 percent of dollars budgeted for movies and video was spent on DVD movie purchases, 11 percent for purchases of TV programs on DVD, and 29 percent on DVD rentals (including Netflix and other video-subscription services). In addition, 18 percent is spent on movie tickets, but just 0.5 percent is currently spent on renting or purchasing TV shows or movies in digital format from the Web.
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At a recent press conference, Pioneer introduced its first hard drive equipped Blu-ray Disc recorders. Along with support for BonusView, the 1TB BDR-WD900 and 500GB BDR-WD700 offer 1080/24p output, dual digital tuners and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream output via HDMI. The recorders also support MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression technology, which allows them to store nearly 11 hours of HD video onto a 25GB Blu-ray Disc or, in the case of the BDR-WD900, about 450 hours on its built in hard drive.
Pioneer Corporation announced today the introduction of the BDR-WD900, a Blu-ray Disc (BD) Recorder equipped with a 1-TB hard drive, and the BDR-WD700, a BD Recorder equipped with a 500-GB hard drive, for the Japanese market.
With digital terrestrial broadcasts becoming increasingly common, requirements of TV viewers are undergoing a change. Whereas previously viewers wanted to record as much high-definition content as possible, and as easily possible, they now want to record content in the highest quality possible. Thus, the market for BD recorders is rapidly expanding. Pioneer aims to meet this demand by launching its first HDD/BD recorders that can record two digital high-definition programs simultaneously for longer hours in the HD picture quality.
The Pioneer BD recorders BDR-WD900 and BDR-WD700 will be available in Japan in the early of October, 2008 (with no retail price suggested).
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LG announced this week that the BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player will be available through national retailers this fall. Along with the ability to instantly stream movies directly from Netflix, the BD300 supports Blu-ray technologies like BD Live and the decoding of advanced audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Advanced Digital.
LG Electronics today announced the nationwide availability of the BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player, featuring unparalleled access to disc-based and networked home video entertainment. The BD300 is the world’s first Blu-ray disc player that instantly streams movies and TV episodes from Netflix (subscription required and sold separately).
Available next month, the LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player will be offered at national retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City, and specialty retailers nationwide at a suggested retail price of $399.95.
“At LG we considered what, when and how consumers want to watch movies and television episodes. The result is the ultimate convergence of home theater entertainment and functionality,” said Allan Jason, vice president of sales and marketing for Digital Media/New Products Division at LG Electronics USA. “With intelligent features and access to an ever-growing library of movie and television titles, the BD300 is the next step in a truly personalized entertainment experience.”
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Pioneer Electronics has announced its new flagship Blu-ray Disc player, the Elite BDP-09FD. Along with support for BD-Live, the BDP-09FD features a newly-engineered 16-bit video engine to provide best-in-class decoding, scaling and adjustments of HD and SD content. The player also supports full decoding and bit-stream output for high-resolution audio formats including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today introduces its Elite® BDP-09FD flagship Blu-ray Disc™ player featuring BD-Live™. With the industry’s most advanced internal components including a Pioneer®/Renesas® jointly developed core processor chipset and complex internal and external composition, the new flagship model illuminates Pioneer’s uncompromised design and engineering philosophies to deliver the truest picture and sound performance.
“For more than 30 years, we’ve led optical disc innovation with product introductions that featured numerous industry firsts, ranging from the highest grade internal components to improved build constructions, all in the pursuit of developing first class products for consumers. It’s with this mindset that our engineers were given the freedom to hand select every piece of hardware and wiring for the BDP-09FD to develop a true, reference-quality player,” said Chris Walker, senior manager of marketing and product planning for Blu-ray Disc at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “The result is a flagship BD player that provides unparalleled picture and sound performance not just for Blu-ray Discs, but also for CD and DVD content.”
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On the low end, you have Sony's new T-Series. The BDZ-T55 and BDZ-T75 feature a built in 320GB hard drive, a digital tuner, 24p True Cinema and, in the case of the later, support for DNLA. The BDZ-T55 and BDZ-T75 will be available on October 10th and are priced at $1,000 and $1,300, respectively.
For the mid-range, Sony has introduced its new L-Series. The BDZ-L55 and BDZ-L95 share the same features as the L-Series, but add an HDV/DV input as well as two USB ports. The BDZ-L95 ups the ante even further with a 500GB hard drive, memory card reader, DLNA and support for “One-touch” and Handycam dubbing. The BDZ-L55 and BDZ-L95 will go on sale on September 29th and are priced at $1,200 and $1550, respectively.
Last but not least, you have Sony's Z-Series. The BDZ-X95 and BDZ-X100 include most of the features found on the T and L-Series as well as larger hard drives, dual tuners, Sony's Cross Media bar GUI and the new Digital Reality Creation - Multi Function version 3 (DRC-MFv3) chip. On top of that, they can transcode and transfer video to the PSP, Walkman and mobile phones. Like the L-Series, the BDZ-X95 and BDZ-X100 will hit stores on September 29th and are priced at $1,800 and $2,500, respectively.
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With DivX Certification, Funai’s new Blu-ray player, the B1-M110, is capable of seamlessly playing back high-quality DivX® video. DivX technology enables a premium visual experience in digital video while considerably reducing its file size. The B1-M110 will allow consumers to play back DivX video that has been burned to DVDs and CDs. Funai’s newest Blu-ray player expands the DivX ecosystem within the Blu-ray device category and joins over 100 million other DivX Certified® devices shipped by DivX licensees into the market including digital televisions, mobile phones, digital cameras, personal media players and set-top boxes.
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DivX, Inc. (NASDAQ: DIVX), a digital media company, and LG Electronics, Inc. today announced the DivX Certification™ of a new DVD player from LG capable of playing high-definition DivX® video.Add a comment
Incorporating a stylish and sleek design capable of being mounted on a wall, LG’s new DivX Certified® DVD player, the DVS450H, allows consumers to play their personal libraries of high-definition digital content. With this device, consumers can enjoy high-definition DivX videos burned to DVD’s or stored on USB flash drives. Typical HD video requires a considerable amount of digital storage space, but DivX HD video provides a superior media experience by maintaining the highest visual quality while significantly reducing the digital file size of the video. Using DivX technology, a full-length high-definition movie is able to fit onto a standard DVD.
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Samsung Electronics, a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, introduces its most advanced Blu-ray player to date with the BD-P2500. Building upon key features and design elements from past Samsung Blu-ray players, the BD-P2500 is compatible out-of-the-box with the latest Blu-ray interactive features available including BD Live™. The BD-P2500 also offers breakthrough enhancements such as Hollywood Quality Video™ (HQV™) processing and 7.1-Channel analog audio outputs creating a powerful HD audio-visual experience.
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Sony has put all its expertise in video and audio processing into the BDP-S5000ES, making it the best player yet. The combination of the HD Reality Enhancer and Super Bit Mapping takes the picture quality way beyond what has previously been available from Bu-ray Disc, ensuring a stunning image whether you use a BRAVIA™ LCD TV or a home cinema projector from Sony.
The HD Reality Enhancer continually analyses the image coming from the disc, sharpening edges while not over-emphasising other elements of the picture, reducing the effect of grain on the original filmstock, and increasing the colour depth from the 8 bits on the disc to the equivalent of 14 bits. Meanwhile Super Bit Mapping, which uses unique processing based on human visual sensitivity, enables the player to deliver the best possible quality over HDMI™, with smoother colour tones.
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For those that can't give up their video tapes quite yet, Panasonic also plans to introduce a Blu-ray recorder with a built in VHS player. While lacking support for BD-Live, the DMR-BR630V sports a 320GB hard drive and can be used to transfer VHS tapes onto BD-R.
