Changeover blues

Sony India launched its first Blu-ray product,a BD-enabled PlayStation-III,in 2007. The PS-III now costs around Rs 24,000 while their standalone players are available from Rs 24,990 onwards. On the other hand,a single Bollywood movie disc will cost at least Rs 999 and that of a Hollywood movie around Rs 300 more.
“There is still a lot of time before BD becomes mass stuff,” says Howard Pears,music and home video merchandiser at book and video chain Landmark. He adds that it is the rich and hardcore movie buffs who are going Blu-ray at the moment.
“Our sales are through PS-III and not standalone BD players. People prefer its advantage of being a game console which also doubles up as a BD player,” says a sales executive with Sony World. But a beginning has been made. “Sony’s ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ offer created awareness among filmbuffs about BDs and pushed up sales,” says Pears.

GO SOUTH
While big cities in the rest of India are yet to wake up to the magic,the BD phenomenon has made inroads down south. “BD titles are selling very well down south,especially in Chennai and Bangalore. Initially sales was slow here too,but things changed with the release of The Dark Knight on Blu-ray,” says Pears,adding that the format is popular among IT professionals,most of whom are gadgets geeks. “Some even get BD players from abroad,” says Pears.
“But it is the (poor) response from Mumbai that I fail to understand. People there are not known to hesitate in spending money,but sales are not encouraging,” he says.

MISSING CONTENT
There is another major obstacle in India. “Even if you buy a Blu-ray player,what will you play on it? There is not enough content available,especially in Hindi. Once content is available,the market will look up,” says the MoserBaer representative. In fact, his company,which pioneered the cheap DVD/VCD revolution in India,is seriously planning to convert some of the latest titles and existing ones into BD format.

THE FUTURE
“The clarity and sound output is mind-blowing. In some discs you can even choose the viewing angle. It’s definitely the next big thing,” says Aadil Bhatia,a graphic designer,who has been a Blu-ray user for some time.
“It has even revolutionised filmmaking as many Hollywood studios are now shooting films with high definition equipment. For instance,a part of The Dark Knight was shot with advanced I-Max camera,” adds Rahul Mansharamani,CEO of Moviemart,an online movie rental which recently added over 200 Blu-ray titles to its catalogue.

Pears says people are slowly shifting to Blu-ray from DVDs,just the way they once shifted from VCDs to DVDs for their ‘comfort’ factor. “VCDs might move out totally,” he adds.
The awareness about BD products is also increasing. An indicator is the fact the number of Indian visitors to the blu-ray.com website has increased significantly—from zero to six per cent,in recent times.

“As years go by,Blu-ray will outstrip current recording formats and capacities. In India,Sony believes that the overwhelming support from all relevant industries,including movie studios and hardware service providers,will only strengthen and accelerate the adoption of Blu-ray,” says Tomonori Moroda,division head,Home Audio Video,Sony India.

A BLU-RAY OF HOPE
“We believe the Indian market is ready for Blu-ray products,” says the executive of MoserBaer which plans to launch the cheapest BD player in the next quarter.
“We will do it in India. We have the factory,material and even rights to produce Blu-ray movie discs,” he says,adding that the price of the MoserBaer BD player will be Rs 10,000 cheaper than that of the existing players. The company,he says,may also release at least six Hindi film titles. “Then people will start converting to the Blu-ray format,” he says.
Mansharamani,meanwhile,says it is imperative to have an affordable player. “If prices don’t come down,people may take the piracy route,and that will kill the market,” he says.