A “large majority” of people who buy a 4K Ultra HD TV at Los Angeles-based Video & Audio Center (VAC) are purchasing an Ultra HD Blu-ray player to go with it, spokesman Tom Campbell told TWICE.
“We didn’t expect this type of attachment,” he said of Samsung’s $399 4K Blu-ray player, available at VAC since Feb. 5 and demoed on the sales floor. “The attachment rate has been unprecedented. The consumer is hungry for uncompressed HDR content.”
The 4K Blu-ray version of “The Martian” “looked better than it did in the movie theater,” he added.
The four-store retailer also sells 4K discs to go with the players, pricing most discs at $24.99 for disc packages containing a 4K disc and a 1080p disc.
Campbell called player sales “beyond expectations.” Sales have also exceeded Samsung’s expectations, and the company last week said it is ramping up production so that it can meet demand in six to eight weeks.
VAC, the first retailer to launch 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players, has also reported a synergistic effect on TV sales. The retailer is selling more 4K HDR TVs from Samsung, Sony and LG since it began carrying the Samsung player, he said.
For its part, Best Buy said this about attachment rates: “Customers have been excited to bring Samsung’s 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player home to pair with their 4K TVs, giving them the first chance to watch native 4K content from a disc”
The player is available at BestBuy.com and is in stock in an unspecified number of Best Buy stores, the retailer said.
