Avatar: Are we ready for a new dimension in television?

Published on Wednesday 28 April 2010 10:38

The all conquering Avatar is driving record sales of Blu-ray discs and encouraging more of us to ditch our DVD players. But, asks Dan Bloom, is it wise to join the rush?

THE bright blue creatures of the planet Pandora have already changed our movie-going landscape. Not only did James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar break all box office records, it opened our eyes to the cinematic possibilities of 3D.

Now the fantasy flick may be about to create the same seismic shift in our film-watching habits at home.

Since its launch on Monday, Blu-ray copies of Avatar have been flying off the shelves. It looks set to smash all sales records for the new format, as it did in the US, where it sold a phenomenal 2.7 million copies in just four days.

Its release comes as some retailers, including HMV, are seeing Blu-ray sales outstrip DVDs for the first time.

Industry watchers are already predicting we may have reached a "tipping point" which will see the new technology really take off in Britain, and comparisons are being made with the launch of The Matrix in 1999, which sold three million copies on DVD and significantly boosted sales of DVD players.

Is Blu-ray ready to have its day, or is it just another play by an industry frantic to keep us handing over our cash? Is it a truly revolutionary format, or just the MiniDisc of movies?

There is no denying that Blu-ray offers a huge change in viewing quality from DVD, getting into the realms of feeling that you are in the same room as the characters you are watching – as long as you have an HD television.

As Blu-ray is currently the only format to carry films in high definition, you need a player to get the most out of your new TV, and vice versa.

Jonathan Melville, the Evening News' film critic and editor of the film website reeledinburgh.com, is among its fans.

"Blu-rays are fantastic," he says. "I have been watching a few Fritz Lang films from the 1920s and it adds that bit of extra depth to them. It makes it a bit clearer and the sound is better. But there are a lot of films you can't get on Blu-ray yet. I'm still happy to buy DVDs, especially as they cost next to nothing."

Quality alone has not been enough to persuade really large numbers of us to consign our DVD players to the technological junkyard just yet however.

At 8.3 million copies a year, Blu-ray sales in the UK are currently relatively low, little more than one thirtieth of those for DVDs. But DVD sales fell by 10 per cent last year, amid growing competition from internet downloads, both legal and illegal.

The industry certainly hopes that Blu-ray will step in and save the day in terms of sales, and, with 55 per cent of British households now owing an HD television, there is growing reason to think they might be right.

Simon Heller, consultant at the British Video Association, said the boost from Avatar was likely to be followed by a surge in sales ahead of the World Cup. "This is good news for Blu-ray," he says. "TVs are a big purchase, so people buy the HD TV first then want a machine which will give them HD films."

Competition for HD films once came from Toshiba's HD-DVD, which hit the shelves months before Sony's Blu-ray.

Hard-bitten Sony, so often losers in the past, see above, won hands-down.

Recent history tells us that other rival formats are likely to come along sooner rather than later. There is indeed one on the horizon already, downloading films from the internet.

The big advantage that Blu-ray holds – at least for the moment – is again linked to high definition, which takes an inordinate amount of time to transfer over the net. Downloading an HD film can literally take all night.

The cost of making the switch to HD is also falling, with Blu-ray players getting cheaper almost by the day.

Roger Laidlaw, manager of the Armchair Theatre electronics shop in Cadzow Place, Meadowbank, says he sells the machines for less than half the 350 they once cost.

"Blu-ray will overtake DVDs, without a doubt," he says. "All TV will be broadcast in HD and everyone will use Blu-ray: it's just a matter of time."

But he admits that the low cost of DVD players, now as little as 25, means they may take quite some time to budge. "They're very cheap, and it draws people away from Blu-ray." he says. "Even though there's a vast difference with the new technology, it's still only really the film buffs who are buying it."

One ironic part of Avatar's role in popularising Blu-ray may be that it knocks back the advent of that other lurking innovation, 3D television.

That particular advance may have to wait to hitch itself on to another blockbuster bandwagon before it becomes a fixture in our sitting rooms.