At the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy Conference yesterday, many industry representatives openly commented on the current state of Blu-ray, almost unilaterally agreeing that Blu-ray is still the future of home entertainment. Recent analysis has shown that Blu-ray sales are already up 212% this year, and the outlook is favorable to reaching 500M units by 2013.
Chris Cookson, President of Sony Pictures Technologies, pointed out that while some naysayers - like former President of BitTorrent Ashwin Navin - think Blu-ray is living on borrowed time, the fact that physical media always works, and at higher performance levels than digital downloads, will allow it to remain relevant well into the future. He went on to point out that a DVD pressed in 1997 will still work in DVD players made today, but a digital download of a film made just a few years ago may not work in today's hyper-secure environment.
Dorinda Marticorena, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and High-Definition for Warner Home Video, commented that of the 2 million Blu-ray copies of '
The Dark Knight' sold, 22% of owners utilized the included digital copy. Seen as an excellent marketing technique for Blu-ray, Marticorena commented, "In my marketing career I've never seen a redemption rate like this."
On 3-D news, Senior Group Manager for Panasonic Tony Jaskionowski revealed that the Blu-ray Disc Association was still on schedule to meet next month to begin talks inclusion of a 3-D standard into the Blu-ray spec. If all goes as planned, a standard could be formally introduced by the end of the year.