According to latest figures from GfK Retail and Technology, market share of Blu-ray disc recorders surpassed 50% in Japan on the first week of November. This indicates that demand towards DVD recorders is now lower compared to more expensive Blu-ray due to the fact that the latter offers higher quality.

DVD recorders exceeded 10% market share in the fifth week of April 2002 and continued to grow steadily, eventually surpassing 50% after 82 weeks in the fourth week of November 2003.  In comparison, Blu-ray disc (BD) recorders exceeded 10% market share in the fifth week of October 2007 and after 53 weeks, in the first week of November 2008, surpassed 50%. According to GfK, Blu-ray disc recorders are replacing DVD recorders 1.5 times faster than DVD recorders replaced VHS recorders.

One of the principal reasons for this quicker rate of change is the rise in sales of flat panel high-definition TVs, enabling viewers to experience digital HD broadcasting. BD recorders can record digital high-definition programs or TV-shows without any drop in quality, in up to 1920x1080 resolution, which has assisted the accelerated demand for this product. By contrast, DVD recorders either cannot record in high-definition resolution, or have to reduce the resolution and bitrate, which lowers quality considerably.

The average sales price of BD recorders began to come down in mid-2008 in the country of the rising sun. In the first week of June 2008, the average sales price of Blu-ray disc recorders was between ¥110 and ¥120 thousand ($1187 - $1295), but by the third week of October, it dropped to between ¥100 and ¥110 thousand ($1080 - $1187).

GfK Retail and Technology estimates that the price of BD recorders will continue to be reduced in the build-up to Christmas and the product may become ‘one-to-watch’ during the winter sales.

Tags: Blu-ray