We keep seeing proof that the trend of Blu-Ray technology is here to stay.  As the popularity grows, sales will go up and prices will go down.  This will allow the Blu-Ray technology to continue to penetrate the market.

According to High-Def Digest, 3.1 million Blu-Ray discs have sold in the UK since the start of the year…that’s about a 231 percent increase in sales!  Their DVD sales, on the other hand, only went down slightly by about 9.5 percent.

This week, Best Buy discounted a house brand Blu-Ray player, the Insignia Blu-Ray disc player with 1080p output to only $99.99.  Wal-Mart is also offering a deal under $100 with their Magnavox NB530MGX Blu-Ray player for only $98 as a permanent “rollback” from the previous $168 price.  At the same time, online retailer, Amazon, is offering a sale on Blu-Ray discs starting at $14.99 each.  According to NPD Group Inc., Blu-Ray player sales have increased  by 72 percent in the first quarter of 2009 in comparison to the first quarter of 2008.

With the growing Blu-Ray popularity and the increase in sales, we are starting to see the prices drop for Blu-Ray players and Blu-Ray discs.  As this happens, Blu-Ray is starting to become more affordable and available for most everyone.

There have been doubts about whether or not the high-quality Blu-ray format would succeed like DVDs did in the past. With the high costs of the technology and the worries of the shaky economy, many did not think that people would want to pay the price to switch over to Blu-ray.

The numbers show differently, as revealed by Adams Media Research. Blu-ray sales so far in 2009 have nearly doubled the amount of Blu-ray sales from the same time last year. Q1 sales are around 9 million in 2009, compared to 4.8 million for Q1 of 2008. To go along with that, there is an estimated total of 10.5 million Blu-ray households to date.

People know the value of the much better quality that the Blu-ray format provides, as it shows in the sales. They are willing to spend a little more for this, despite the struggling economy. Blu-ray discs need to stand out on the shelf and be differentiated from the standard DVDs. With high-quality Blu-ray cases, customers know that they are getting what they pay for–superior technology.