The number of Blu-ray players shipped annually will reach 105 million in 2015, according to the latest forecast from In-Stat.
While the high-density optical recording and playback technology faced a potential format war from its HD-DVD rival — threatening a repeat of the VHS-Betamax wars of early days of the home VCR — the Blu-ray format emerged triumphant and has gained broad acceptance by consumers. So much acceptance, that it will "essentially phase out DVD recorders" by 2015, in the words of Norm Bogen, In-Stat VP Digital Entertainment.
"Blu-ray recorders will replace DVD recorders, and many consumers of recorders will even drop the physical disk media option altogether and instead opt for a player with a large hard drive or a DMS in which to store DLNA-certified and other digital video content," he said.
According to new research from In-Stat, "Global Blu-ray and DVD Players and Recorders," Blu-ray Disc players shipped to North America in 2010 represented 38 percent of the total Blu-ray player and recorder market. Japan accounted for the majority of Blu-ray recorders, and Europe is the main market for DVD recorders, the research revealed.
The research also found that at the end of last year, more than 15 percent of Netflix subscribers opted for Blu-ray subscriptions.
