Whats your idea of cheap?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136181&cm_re=bluray_burner-_-27-136-181-_-Product

Oh I didn't know they were already priced so low, it's quite close to it, although in EU it will become cheap a little bit later, as usual (except in some countries with faster evolving and more competitive local markets).

I bought my first CD burner for ~96€ VAT included and my first DVD burner for around the same amount, so I guess that my next PC update could really include my first BD drive.

In my living room I still have a simple DVD - DiVX player, because with the switch to devices with digital terrestrial tuner included, DVD recorders with HDD prices stopped dropping and temporarily increased, instead (except the obsolete ones with analog tuner only, that will require an external tuner after 2012 here, with the switch to digital only).

Just checked, best price here is currently ~150€ including VAT. Considering that my last PC update is quite recent, by the time I do the next I should find a BD burner for 90€ or less, and faster than the current 10x too, good news indeed.

I just purchase one, 130$, not too bad.

The sole purpose of your post was to discredit my point. This is what made me think you were acting as an aggressor.

But I only say that to clear things up. I can tell that you're a calm and collected poster and I certainly don't want to either of us to get riled up or start having an aggressive back-and-forth. I'll be the first to admit that the things I read on the Internet can frustrate me and put me in the mood to start fights.

If there was anything that made you believe I was angry or frustrated with you, please know that those feelings are entirely non-existant. I meant my post only as a little fun.

It's always a cost/benefit ratio for general consumers, who are essentially the consumers BD has to target and appeal to in order to see continued growth past enthusiast and upmarket niches.

For BD, I'm inclined to agree that in many cases, the additional premium isn't worth it. I mean, does everyone really need to see crappy, view once and forget about it movies in 1080p? As opposed to say classic films, blockbusters, cult films, or any film that a buyer is likely to watch many times over the years. Probably not. They probably shouldn't be paying extra for them anyway. And most probably won't unless BD eventually replaces DVD as the cheap method of media distribution on physical media.

But in general, if a movie is a keeper or a favorite, an extra $5 or so really isn't a big deal considering the difference in image quality. The only problem is that how many movies actually fall into that category for the average consumer?

Rentals (brick and mortar) in general are probably not the best indicator to measure BD growth though. They are just about obsolete as business models with services like RedBox positioned to pick up what's left of the on site rental market. They support BD rentals, just like Netflix, but selection will always reflect their market, so naturally even 50% of their media isn't going to be on BD.

Why? thats exactly what DVD stands for.

You do know that HMM's data is only for the USA right? Blu-ray is much more popular in Europeon and Asian countries.

Its not a question of when or if the market will adopt Blu Ray. The real question is at what price? The price has already been eroded because of the general consumer unwillingness to pay a premium as a whole. Thats the important question as it determines how much money the format will make over its life-cycle. Unquestionably Blu Ray will be around for many years, the TV industry does not quickly move to new standards and there really isn't anything primed to replace the physical optical media format in the near future.

No it isn't.  It's Digital Versatile Disc.

If your based in the UK you have access to a great many streaming outlets.

Perhaps the most pervasive thus far is the BBC's IPlayer.

This has been aped by most other media providers such as Channel 5, ITV Net Player and 4OnDemand

Some providers such as BT and Virgin Media provide further streaming options with Music Videos, Hit Movies and TV Box sets all availalable at the press of a button. This is in addition to the TV Replay streaming services mentioned above.

A few years ago none of this existed but it has literally exploded. So much so that SKY Tv is soon to provide its own streaming On Demand service to compete.

I dont know that this model will work stateside given the poor Internet Infrastructure over there.