Blu-ray Disc Players Will Eclipse DVD Players By 2015

Blu-ray Players, it is predicted, will ship out 105 million units in 2015. This is according to a report done by In-Stat. Which has over 30 years of experience studying and analyzing the Mobile Internet and Digital Entertainment ecosystem. In-Stat goes on to state that Blu-ray shipped in 2011 to North America represented thirty-eight percent of the total blu-ray market. Japan still remains the majority market for Blu-ray recorders, while Europe is still big on DVD recorders.

Given blu-ray's tough beginnings in 2006, this is surely good news for the Blu-ray Disc Association and early backers of the HD format. In October 2000, we saw our first prototype discs. Followed, in 2003, by our first prototype player in Japan. The Blu-ray format continued to develop but faced many hardships and obstacles on the way. Including a fierce battle with HD-DVD, that it finally one back in 2008. It still faces competition from DVDs, which remains a popular. And the 105 million predicted units is lower than in the heyday of DVD players which saw 141 million DVD units shipped in 2006.

However, according to Norm Bogen, who is the vice president of digital entertainment at In-Stat, this will change in the near future. Even the mighty DVD, which is regarded as one of the industries quickest and greatest successes will be eclipsed in sales by Blu-ray. He states that DVD players and recorders will see a steady decrease over the next 5 years in most parts of the world. By 2015, DVD recorder shipments will basically be non existence, only in various parts of Japan.

Of course there is a trend moving away from physical media and towards digital online content. Manufactures of blu-rays, instead of fighting this trend have embraced it and equipped most of their players with online streaming and social media services, hard drives for storing digital media and DLNA support. In-Stat says over 15% of Netflix users selected the Blu-ray subscriptions at the end on 2010.

But like so much of Blu-ray's short history, the news is not all good. In-Stat also states that the Chinese market is stalled when it comes to Blu-ray sales. Mainly because of the cheaper priced China Blue High-Definition (CBHD) format has become the standard high-definition choice.

Even if Blu-ray is not taking hold in China, there is no denying the fact Blu-ray is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. While it does not have the numbers DVD had in the of it's height of popularity. DVDs didn't not have any real competition. So if you factor in all the competition that faces the Blu-ray format; suddenly that 105 million units in 2015 becomes a very significant.

In-Stat new research states the following about Blu-ray:

- In 2010, 38% of all Blu-ray player and recorder market is located in North America.
- Japan has the majority of Blu-ray recorder market, and will still have a market for DVD recorders in 2015. Even though the DVD recorder shipments will be mostly non-existence elsewhere.
-  Over 15% of users preferred Blu-ray subscriptions by the end of 2010
- China Blue High-Definition (CBHD) format has become the standard, stalling the Blu-ray market in that country.