Blu-ray Disc versus HD DVD in Japan
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Earlier this year, the Japan Recording-Media Industries Association announced that last year’s sales were below predicted numbers, and they think it will be 2010 before the market flourishes. One reason for this is the confusion between the standards, Blu-ray Disc versus HD DVD, with consumers delaying their purchases to avoid being stuck with another Betamax. To learn what people thought of the situation, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into next-generation DVD.
Demographics
On the 26th of November 2007 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor group employed in either the public or private sector successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 82.1% of the sample was male, 8.5% in their twenties, 40.3% in their thirties, 33.6% in their forties, 14.2% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties.
Another reason is perhaps the lack of clear user benefits from upgrading from DVD; on a good system, the higher quality of the next generation is really obvious, but for those with lower-end television the desire to upgrade just their media player is not present. However, this aspect was not addressed in the survey below. Also missing from the report below is details on how many of the owners have stand-alone players versus PS3, Xbox or computer drive owners.
Personally, I’ve no plans to buy either format, not that I watch many DVDs anyway.
Research results
First, of the initial sample of 330 people, 279 knew about both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. They were asked the following questions.
Q1: Which type of next-generation DVD player have you purchased? (Sample size=279)
Blu-ray Disc 4.7% HD DVD 8.2% Neither (to SQ) 87.1% Q1SQ: Which next-generation DVD format do you plan to buy? (Sample size=243)
Blu-ray Disc 23.5% HD DVD 4.5% Neither 9.1% Don’t know 62.9% Q2: Which next-generation DVD format do you think will win? (Sample size=279)
Blu-ray Disc 28.3% HD DVD 8.6% Don’t know 60.2% Other 2.9% Q3: When choosing which type of next-generation DVD player to purchase, on what basis will you make your selection? (Sample size=221, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage Price 154 69.7% Features 106 48.0% Title selection 89 40.3% Hardware selection 78 35.3% Leading consortium 62 28.1% Contents provider lineup 45 20.4% Design 34 15.4% Same maker as television 31 14.0% Don’t know 6 6.3% Other 11 5.0%
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