I have a blu ray player but rarely buy. Netflix FTW.

The biggest problem for Blu-ray or HD in general is:

Going from vhs to dvd only meant a new player and showed a clear quality difference.

Going HD asks for a new mediaset, but the general public doesn't see much improvement versus DVD.

@NJ5

"Shipment costs and potential customs fees/taxes would eliminate or greatly reduce the savings."

An assumtion would lead to believe, but no, you are wrong. I am an Aussie living in Japan. BD here is really taking off, too. Although, DVD & BD's are very expensive; 4000 yen each, ($35/$40 U.S).

In Australia, just like in Europe, BD's are expensive, too just like DVD's were when it started up. About $40, (20 pounds). So, if I order 5 BD's at $12 each from Amazon, + $12 post, that works out they cost me U.S $14.4 each, (Aussie $17, Japan 1300 yen). Still very cheap, no?

"Besides, I thought most BR discs were region locked?"

It's BD, and NO! %99 Are region free. I have heard of an occasional locking, but my friends, father and myself who are all videophiles/collectors are yet to recieve a single one. And, I have well over 300 BD's, not to mention!

Correct, while there are technically 3 regions (A,B,C) for Blu-ray very few companies even use it & even then these same companies are starting to release region free releases anyway. It will say on the box for example Region B but can be played in any region.

It might help it but most Blu-ray players are cheaper than it.

I have ordered stuff from USA before and ended up paying not just the shipping but also customs toll... you're lucky if you're not paying that in Japan.

Blu-ray is already mainstream for me....lol, it's all I buy.  But I think it might help the ps3 a little, but more importantly, it'll help Sony.  And if you help Sony, you're helping the ps3.  Especially since the ps3 will be "responsible" for allowing blu-ray to survive and beat out HD-DVD.

Until the proce for a blu-ray disc comes down to the price of a dvd I see it staying in the niche market. Most people don't see a big enough difference in picture quality to justify spending the extra money for a movie they will watch once or twice.

Damn. Sony Domination? I see the 360 lead evaporating by late 2010 early 2011 and it will beat it out for late 2011 for the launch of the Playstation Quad

Once the price of the blu ray players and the blu rays themselves go down then they will go mainstream. I don't think that will happen next year though.....