Far be it from the personality of Blu-ray (or the BDA, we should say) to reach for notoriety in any way possible, but Blu-ray has just gained one more modicum of staying power over in the UK. For the first time, the existing high-def movie format has been placed gently between the likes of fruit and kitty litter in the theoretical consumer "basket," which supposedly looks to best reflect UK consumer spending habits. We're also told that Freeview set-top-boxes have joined the fray, right along with DVD rentals and portable media players. Maybe that 396 percent surge in UK-based BD sales had a little something to do with it?

Make no mistake, the crew at Digital Playground has been busy. Real busy. Since going Blu-ray exclusive last June, the famed adult film studio has pushed out a staggering amount of titles on the high-def format. A full 100 of 'em, in fact. The company's Bad Girls will be its 100th Blu-ray release, a 100-minute feature (fitting, no?) that is slated to ship on March 31st. 'Course, you'll be paying a $30 premium for the BD edition over the $29 DVD, but how else will you truly be able to appreciate that RED ONE footage?

[Via I4U News]

We figured it would happen sooner or later, but quite honestly, we never imagined we'd see a public library stocking Blu-ray Discs this soon. A vigilant tipster has pointed out that the Washington Centerville Public Library in Ohio now has BDs for patrons to check out, though his own observances have revealed that the general public is still having a hard time understanding that these discs cannot be played back on standard DVD players. And yes, that's despite the dozen signs informing them of that little fact. In order to make them easily identifiable, all BDs in the library are kept in their iconic blue cases, and as the collection grows, guests are allowed to check out a limit of two at a time. Has your library jumped on the Blu-ray bandwagon? Give it a call and find out.

[Thanks, Ryan]

You think it's tough pulling the trigger on a few new Blu-ray Discs each Tuesday on a "middle-class" budget? Try being a millionaire. In a recent interview with The National Post, when asked about transitioning his massive DVD collection to Blu-ray, the recently traded Shawn Marion of the NBA had this to say: "Hell, no! Blu-ray [Discs] cost too much. They cost like 35, 40 bucks apiece. I'm going to stick with the $19.99s. $14.99, $19.99, widescreen, I'm good." He then followed that up with a quip that "high-definition" was "all that he needed," further suggesting that an HD DVR and an upscaling DVD player was good enough for even the most wealthy among us. We know this guy isn't representative of the masses, but seriously, you studios should take a listen.

[Image courtesy of NikeBasketball]

The CEA had expected that sales of Blu-ray decks would reach around 5.7 million units this year, and while some may quickly assume that this whole economic crisis may sideline that forecast, many analysts are saying that it could actually help matters. On one hand, it's easy to assume that potential BD buyers will opt to simply hold tight to their funds, but on the other, many may justify the purchase of higher-end in-home electronics given that they'll be spending less time out on the town. Tim Alessi, LG Electronics product development director, confessed that he was "still in agreement with the CEA's estimates that Blu-ray decks have the potential to double this year to roughly 5.7 million units. Jonathan Zupnik, Sears audio/video/TV DMM, stated the following: "As we are hearing the opening price point is already flashing $149 - it needs to be $99 to really get things going. Even with that, as long as the movies are over $20 that will continue to keep things at a relatively slow pace. The consumer is used to [disc prices of] $13.99 at launch and picking through bins at $3.99." We totally hear you, Mr. Zupnik.

You, the BDA, whomever, can spin it however you wish, but the fact is that Blu-ray has not had a momentous year. Has it been profitable? Sure. Has adoption grown? No doubt. But consumers at large are showing with their purchasing habits that DVD is still a-okay in their lives. Paul Sweeting over at ContentAgenda surmises that a huge strategy shift is needed for BD to ever seriously steal away market share from DVD. First off, the aptly coined PlayStation 3 "Trojan Horse" strategy has to go. The PS3 is clearly lagging behind the other two consoles in terms of sales, and now that BD deck prices are far lower than the console's MSRP, yet another advantage to owning one has slipped away. The point we most agree with is the one that's likely the most controversial: Blu-ray backers need to get honest here and realize that the format offers only "incremental improvement over standard DVD."

Just think about it -- the move from VHS to DVD was almost entirely unlike the transition from DVD to Blu-ray. In the former example, the quality improvement was incredible. Rewinding became a thing of the past. Full blown surround sound was introduced. Special features and tasty extras were able to fit. Interactive menus were born. Discs were able to be played on desktops and laptops. Compare that to the shift from DVD to Blu-ray. The disc size has remained the same (physically). Audio has only marginally improved, mostly at a level that only audiophiles can appreciate. Visually, there is noticeable improvement only for those with enough cash to snag an HDTV. BD-Live interactivity isn't nearly as captivating as it sounds on paper. Oh, and Blu-ray Discs are markedly more expensive than DVDs.

The reality is that there is far less motivation to switch from DVD to Blu-ray than there was years ago when consumers were tempted to leave VHS behind and enter the DVD arena. Yet, for whatever reason, Blu-ray movies are priced in opposition to that fact. The way we see it, BD will continue to be a niche product so long as it's priced like a niche product, and if it holds out too long, we won't be shocked to see the increasingly ubiquitous HD streaming snag away at least a small bucket of potential customers.

At the front end of this year, we made ten bold (and mostly not serious) predictions for the format war in 2008. Comically enough, a few of 'em actually came true. Most notable was the fall of HD DVD and the rise of Blu-ray, and while it has only been a matter of months since Blu became the lone high-def physical format, quite a lot has happened. Prices of players went higher, then lower, while digital downloads have emerged as a real threat to the format in the long-term. The question that's burning on our mind here at the tail end of '08 is this: did you go Blu-ray this year? If you didn't, what are you waiting for? Prices to fall? More movies to appear? Are you opting for a digital download service instead? Spill your tale in comments below.

[Image courtesy of SonyInsider]

Before you get all shocked and awed, may we remind you that Blu-ray has been performing well across the pond pretty much all year. We know, this beacon of shining, happy news from Futuresource is quite the contrast from what we've been hearing lately about the industry overall, but it's far from surprising. The numbers show that British consumers purchased around 462,500 Blu-ray Discs in November, which is an increase of 165% from October. 'Course, a little film called The Dark Knight probably helped out, but we digress. The figures are looking mighty good for the future as well, with Blu-ray's share in the optical disc market expected to double to 6% in France next year. Who knows -- maybe Europeans are so sick and tired of waiting for a decent HD channel lineup that they're using BD to get their high-resolution fix.

Just like it did to the one day Blu-ray sales record, The Dark Knight Blu-ray disc jumped even Warner's projections for its first week, selling 1.7 million copies worldwide, topping Iron Man's 500,000. Apparently undeterred by any claims of issues fans jumped on the release, with DVDs added it moved a total of 13.5 million on both formats. No word yet whether there's still space to chat with director Chris Nolan on the 18th, but Warner's also claiming 300,000 digital copies activated, and the number on spot on iTunes. Not enough celebratory back slapping for you? Check the press release after the break while we try to figure out what movie has a chance of breaking the #1 sales figure next.

The numbers are in, and they're big. Just as predicted, Warner Brothers' The Dark Knight was a huge day-one success, with consumers in the US, Canada and UK snapping up three million copies during the first 24 hours (give or take a few) that it was on sale. More germane to our conversation, however, is this 600,000 figure, which tells exactly how many Blu-ray Discs were sold. We already know that around one-sixth of those were moved in the UK, leaving us to determine that North America did some serious shopping. The studio has now projected it to sell one million BDs by Saturday, and curiously enough, current sales have been "especially strong at grocery stores, indicating that the format is broadening beyond early adopters to more mainstream buyers, notably women." Needless to say, this title took down Iron Man's record of moving 250,000 BDs on day one, which just ratchets up the bar for the next big one to take down.

[Thanks, Geoff]

As the year 2008 draws to a close, we're seeing report after report talking about Blu-ray sales and / or adoption. The latest to focus on the former comes from Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield, who has reportedly stated that new DVD release sales are down "almost double digits," even despite respectable performance in the first half of the year. Said figure may help explain why the rental business is doing so well, but we digress. Greenfield also notes that DVDs are slowly but surely losing floor space to BDs, and given that not nearly as many folks are buying the high-def format just yet, it's not exactly helping the DVD cause. Beyond all that, he notes that Blu-ray trends are "encouraging," with titles that appeal to gamers (and thus, PS3 owners) doing particularly well. Then again, it's easy to look good during the holidays, but how will things look when everyone's third home equity loan is dried up in March?

[Image courtesy of BusinessWeek]

Black Friday sales overall may have been weak this year, but high-def sales were something special. HDTVs were up, and judging by the latest DisplaySearch numbers, so were Blu-ray players. Not including Sony's PlayStation 3, Blu-ray Disc player revenue during the week of Thanksgiving in the US and Black Friday "more than tripled from a year earlier after Sony and Samsung dropped their prices of entry-level machines below $200." Over $30 million was generated on sales of 147,000 Blu-ray decks, and overall prices averaged $200 compared to nearly $400 just a year ago. Of course, we can't say that the momentum will carry now that prices are hovering back up, but at least the BDA will have one particularly bright spot to brag over when it looks back at 2008.

Okay, so having half of the DVD recorders in Japan be of the Blu-ray variety is pretty impressive in and of itself, but considering that this same statistic sat at 30% in late October (with players included), we can't help but be floored. Going back to October 2007, BD recorders made up just 10% of the market, and perpetually falling prices are thanked for the rapid increase over the past year and change. Additionally, new research has found that "Blu-ray Disc recorders are replacing DVD recorders 1.5 times faster than DVD recorders replaced VHS recorders," and not surprisingly, the availability of low-cost HDTVs is credited with helping to speed the transition. Just imagine these figures post-Christmas.

No one really blinked when Netflix announced that it would begin implementing a $1 per month fee for the right to rent Blu-ray Discs, but quite a few folks took notice when it said it hoped to have half a million of these very customers before 2009. Here we are just weeks from next year, and Netflix has already surpassed its goal. The outfit's CFO stated today that the rate at which it was signing up new BD subscribers was actually quicker than anticipated, and chief content officer Ted Sarandos confessed that it would begin "promoting Blu-ray inside its mailing envelopes next year." No surprises here, really -- the first thing we'd do after coming home with a $128 Blu-ray player and no overpriced films would be to fire up a new account to get the rentals flowing.