Blu-ray format leads adoption of next-gen DVD players in the U.S. - analyst

Dallas (TX) – Thursday turned out to be a big news day for Sony and its Blu-ray format : Following an announcement that Target would go with the Blu-ray format, a market research firm published a report, which indicates that the high-def pendulum is swinging in Blu-ray’s direction.

HD DVD and Blu-ray players and content have been in the market for more than a year and more and more analysts are publishing estimates that provide a glimpse on how well both formats are competing in the market. The latest market report was released today by Parks Associates, which said that it expects 4.9 million Blu-ray capable players (including the Playstation 3 game console) to be sold in the U.S. this year ; by 2011, there will be more than 32 million Blu-ray players in American homes, the firm estimates.

Chris Roden, Research Analyst at Parks Associates, did not provide numbers for the HD format, but noted that Blu-ray currently has advantages in retail and through stronger Hollywood support and the inclusion in the Playstation 3. While he found that less than 10% of U.S. consumers currently believe that they are familiar with either HD DVD or Blu-ray, there is enough market activity to lead Roden to say that “we are starting to see the pendulum swing slowly in one direction.”

We were not able to reach Roden for further comments on his research results on Thursday, but will update this story as soon as additional information becomes available.