世論 What Japan Thinks

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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