Sony in India has big plans for Blu-ray technology

Sony in India has big plans for Blu-ray technology marketing and promotion. At the launch of Sony's new Blu-ray disc player in New Delhi, Masaru Tamagawa, managing director, Sony India, announced marketing investment of Rs 10 crore in FY2010. Sony's new Blu-ray player, BDP-S370, will be available at a starting price of Rs 9,990 with a promotional offer that includes free Blu-ray discs of 'Legion' and Michael Jackson's 'This Is It'. Sony, the provider of Blu-ray hardware has tied up with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for software and content.




Sony's Vaio and Play Station 3 are some of the existing Blu-ray enabled products in the market.





There are many Hollywood titles released in Blu-ray format but Bollywood saw just one release, 'Sawariya' shared Keith Ribeiro, managing director, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.



“Blu-ray is paramount in delivering the best picture and sound quality and is a perfect complement for HDTV, the fastest growing category in consumer electronics,” he explained. The company plans to double the number of software titles to 500 by FY2010.



Yamagawa justifies, “The growth in the LCD market is tremendous and will drive the market of Blu-ray players. In 2010, the LCD market is expected to grow to 3 million units, last year it was 1.6 million and year before when it was launched, it was around 1 million. So, the existing HDTV market is around 6 million. And even if we consider 5 per cent of it for Blu-ray, it will be 300, 000 units, which is a good number.”



“Today the market is around 20,000 units- we plan to capture nearly 60 per cent market in FY10, FY11 and FY12. Sony is poised to take over the market as the new benchmark for next generation of audio-visual entertainment,” said Tamagawa.



Blu-ray products are influenced by software enhancements like Blu-ray disc (BD) Live, enhanced bonus views and interactive features, such as video-on-demand. Users can also watch Internet video content like Youtube, etc. on their televisions through BD players.



Blu-ray discs carry a very high level of encryption, so it is very difficult to copy it. Although it's not fool-proof, shares Ribeiro. “Piracy is promoted due to the cost factor. The technology uses high levels of encryption which cannot be pirated at low cost. We plan to offer a competitive price and will improve on this, to avoid pirated copies.”



"As 3-D is gearing up, we plan to have 3-D soon in Blu-ray. However, the current BD player does not have 3-D hardware or software capability,” shares Tamagawa.



The Blu-ray format can work on high definition (HD) TV only and also requires the content in Blu-ray format. So, be ready to spend not just on BD player (approx. Rs 9,990) or Blu-ray discs (approx Rs 900 to 1,300) but on HDTVs to enjoy better picture, better sound and better entertainment.



About Blu-ray Technology



Blu-ray is the next generation optical disc storage format that is gaining popularity. It was released after the standard DVD format which had superseded the VCD format. Blu-ray technology offers five times greater resolution than standard DVD and offers full HD 1080p picture. It is widely accepted in Japan, US and Europe. Blu-ray disc players are backward compatible, i.e. they are capable of reading DVD and VCD.



Blu-ray faced tough competition from high definition DVD (HD DVD) when it was first launched as HD DVD started off really well. HD DVD primarily promoted by Toshiba, faced a downturn in 2008, when most of the studios and distributors shifted to Blu-ray. In February 2008, Toshiba officially announced the discontinuation of manufacturing and development of HD DVD products.



"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, president and CEO, Toshiba Corporation, in a statement.