UAE demand for Blu-Ray Discs to surge post HD-DVD phase-out

Last month, Toshiba ceased production of its HD-DVD products after major studios and leading US retailers such as Warner Bros., Wal-Mart and Best Buy favoured Blu-Ray Discs as the standard for next-generation DVD formats.

"With this latest development, a sales boost of the already popular Sony PlayStation 3 - a Blu-Ray device - is likely to happen in the UAE," said Ashish Panjabi, Chief Operating Officer, Jacky's Electronics.

"We are expecting a surge of sales in the coming months, especially now that most brands including Sony, Samsung and Panasonic, have indicated their intention of introducing new Blu-Ray players during the year.

"There will also be increased demand for high definition LCD and Plasma television along with a price drop in Blu-Ray products," added Panjabi. "With the emergence of Blu-Ray, it is imperative customers have high-definition TV to enjoy the rich content benefits it delivers."

Blu-Ray, which uses high-frequency blue-violet laser technology, has the advantage over HD-DVD's red laser technology, in terms of increased capacity.

Blu-Ray disc are available in dual-layer up to 50GB content - over ten times the storage capacity of existing DVD formats, and allows richer, high definition content and graphics when it comes to applications involving watching movies, sports show and gaming.

"There is also the possibility of having quad-layer Blu-Ray discs allowing even greater capacities. Meanwhile, Samsung is shortly releasing a Blu-Ray DVD Home Theatre that will start a trend for complete home solutions centred on this recent technology," explained Panjabi.

"Many IT vendors have also informed us of their intention to include Blu-Ray drives in their laptops towards the end of this year or early 2009, which is when we expect to see mass acceptance of Blu-Ray as the successor to existing DVD formats."