A new report from ABI Research suggests the biggest impediment to Blue-ray DVD sales isn’t Internet downloads but user eyesight.
The folks at ABI said that many people can’t tell the difference between a Blue-ray DVD and the regular one played on up converting DVD player.
This strikes me as absurd. It’s like saying that most people can’t tell the difference between color and black-and-white.
Up-converting a standard DVD does make it look better, but it doesn’t look anything like true high definition.
That said, ABI’s assertion does gel with other research. Many people apparently buy HDTVs, plug them into their cable boxes and think the low-definition programs that appear on the screen are actually high-definition.
Even the tech bloggers at the NYT seem to find it plausible that many viewers will be content with regular DVDs.
Anyone who has viewed an upconverted standard definition DVD image can attest to the fact that picture quality is far superior to that created by the now-obsolete video tape technology. Further complicating the Blu-ray buying decision is the fact that Blu-ray players are still in the $300 range, while upconverting players go for as little as $60
.
How can people who spend more than a grand on a nice television think it sane to forgo HD movies in order to save a couple hundred bucks? Are people really this blind?
More importantly, will people whose eyes actually work forever get less true high definition because many Americans are apparently blind?
