Hi-def media has been around for a while now, and so have the players for them. However, pricing has kept them out of many peoples hands, along with fears of early adoption syndrome such as lack of available titles. That said, Sony is celebrating the performance of a particular movie available on Blu-ray, which has become the first title for the format to break 100,000 units shipped, making its progress notable above HD-DVD and DVD:
The strong performance for 'Royale' is certainly a healthy sign for the nine month old Blu-ray format. Not only has Blu-ray hit the 100,000 unit mark faster than rival format HD DVD, it hits the milestone two months faster than standard-def DVD did back in 1998 (with 'Air Force One'), when DVD was eleven months old.
With the number of titles now available for both Hi-def formats, the only real blockade now is the price of players. That is dropping, though it has a long way to go before it reaches the "Everybody can get one" stage which DVD players currently are in.