Blu-ray for the car is getting some interest from suppliers but the drives are expensive and the human eye may not be able to see much improvement using Blu-ray on a small 7- or 8-inch car monitor.
An automotive grade version of a Blu-ray drive could cost the supplier an additional $100 over a standard DVD drive, said vendors.
Also, Blu-ray players for the car would require an HDMI cable plus an adapter for use with existing car monitors so the expense gets even higher.
On the other hand, the high-def screens that ship in Mercedes-Benz and BMW models already embed an HDMI-like technology (called LVDS–Low Voltage Differential Signaling) so Blu-ray might be a good fit for those systems, once a large percentage of households collect a library of Blu-ray discs, said Nav-TV’s Derek Schmeidl.
Alpine says it is studying the feasibility of Blu-ray in the car. And we are told that the car companies are interested in the technology. But again, Alpine’s Mike Anderson notes, “Blu-ray is a great experience on a large screen and we’re not certain those benefits are realized on most in-vehicle screens.”
An NPD Group survey found the penetration of Blu-ray players in U.S. homes was 11 percent as of April.
Source: CEoutlook
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They said the same thing about high-end audio, 30 years ago. “Nobody would be able to hear the difference in a moving vehicle.” Guess what?
Useless in a car. Only benefit would be that the customer already has the disc.
blu ray needs to be in the car. not because the picture quality is superior. it needs to be able to be used so consumers don’t have to buy 2 copies of the same movie, one for car and one for home. if you own a blu ray player, why would you continue to buy regular dvds