Mexico and Blu-Ray: FACTS

BluRay movies launched about two years and a half years ago. Providing visual and audio quality that matches and even surpasses theaters sometimes, many movie enthusiasts were quick to make the jump from DVD and SDTVs to Blu-Ray and HDTVs. How's the situation here in Mexico?

1.- The cheapest Blu-Ray you can buy is around $400.00 M.X.P... and that's buying in Mercado Libre (the Mexican alternative to eBay). The same Blu-Ray can be adquired in Best Buy for $100.00 less.

2.- If you want to buy your Blu-Ray player the safe way (in a big retail such as Walmart or Costco), expect to pay another $50.00.

3.- BluRay movies prices oscilate around $30.0-$35.0... depending on how old they are. Catalogs are extremely limited, and you'll only find big releases such as Spiderman 3, Superman, Heroes... etc. It takes from one to three months for Blu-Ray releases to launch here.

4.- Most Blockbusters don't carry Blu-Rays yet... although the biggest ones do. Their collection is somewhat limited but it is quickly increasing... and there is only one copy of each movie. Among the pics you can find are: Casino Royale, 300, 1000 B.C., Spiderman 3, Harry Potter (1-5), etc.

5.- Blu-Ray penetration is around 4% in the US (as of April of this year). There are no official figures, but they must be around 0.1%... I only know one person who bought a Blu-Ray player and an HDTV set. Most of the people I know has either a PS3 or a HDTV, but most of the times they don't have both / aren't interested in Blu-Ray. As a background fact, HD movie downloads are far from being well known here, but iTunes holds most of that market.