Blu-ray’s Fuzzy Future

[Celt16]

Originally Posted by gstarr

The amount of bandwidth required to broadcast 1080p/24 with the multiple channels of DTS-MasterHD and Dolby TrueHD are mammoth.

Greg

Agreed, but it wasn't so long ago that dial-up baud rates of 14K and 28K were the best you could hope for ... and people are now doing things with Broadband and DSL they would not have dreamed of doing with dial-up at ANY speed. A compression scheme would mitigate massive storage requirements, and prevent re-renting fees. More interestingly however, it would significantly reduce NetFlix's expenses to deliver a product to you. those technical points aside, overall I agree with your points.

I passed on buying BlueRay until I'm convinced it isn't yet another SACD move by Sony - of which I am far from certain at this point. Was SACD a leap forward? I thoughtso, but it still failed.

And call me a Luddite, but I'm still buying CDs - they aren't dead in my book. A media-server doesn't hold enough allure for me until I can hold a back-up copy of everything I paid for "in the cloud" somewhere. Server drives fail with regularity - I don't want to lose a whole music collection because of hard-drive failure - RAID storage arrays notwithstanding. And forget dishing out $15K for one of the high-end audio and video storage and replay devices (Sonos and the other one - forget it's name) - not on my toy budget.

[gstarr]

I think Blu Ray will be around for quite some time. Heck, vinyl LP's are still with us.

I also know quite a few people that are not into the time and effort of downloading. Not to forget that there are still plenty of techno-phobes. I can still recall all the VCR's with 12 o'clock flashing on the LCD screen because the owners thought it was too complex to set.

I do expect Blu Ray disc prices to come down to a more reasonable level, although it certainly will remain higher than standard dvd's.

The day downloading is reasonably fast and has all the bandwidth required I will be close to first in line. But I am not holding my breath for that to happen soon and in the meanwhile, my Blu Ray discs will always be viable to play whenever I want.

I rarely buy Blu Ray discs in brick and mortar stores. I save a good bit of money buying online from either Amazon or a few others. Today, Amazon has a buy 2 Blu Ray discs and get one for free. That ain't bad!

Greg

[deacongreg]

Listen, Blu-Ray is here to stay. What we need to remember is, we are a year removed from the ugly format war. People are still recovering from buying all those discounted Toshiba HD DVD players on Black Friday last year, that now are obsolete.


These people are not audio/videophiles. They are not happy. When they are really sure that there will be no more snares, they will jump on the bandwagon and buy. Just be patient, and eventually we will see it. I have neighbors, despite their kids grumbling, that have new flat screens, but have not pulled the trigger on a new Blu-Ray unit, to replace their HD DVD unit. Go figure, but we can not deny that reality is prevalent in the marketplace. Add the economy now, it is what it is!!

[timbre4]

Such a rush to post opinions, knowledgeable or otherwise. That is the gift of internet forums and Happy New Year.

In no particular order, the comparison between Blu-Ray to SACD market penetration is humorously out of scope. Ask 100 people what Blu Ray is and 75-90 people will know. Ask what SACD is and only 3-5 people would know. 72% of all statistics are made up on the spot....

Blu Ray is here to stay, happening and expanding as we speak. I'm not a format fanboy just watching how much I see ads on TV and how much ad space retailers are giving it this year. It's fairly obvious.

There are plenty of hit films being released on Blu Ray day and date with std DVD versions; don't confuse this with catalog blockbuster films, those are coming. You can't buy them all at once and in case you've forgotten, think about how long it took Star Wars to ever appear on DVD (much less the re-purchase opportunities we since gained).

Downloads? Please the bandwidth availability puts that notion into stark relief very quickly. Media reporting has to have an angle and downloads are the easiest doom and gloom aspect to rain on the parade. Lazy tech journalists and nearly all mainstream reporting (infotainment masquerading as news) use it constantly.

As many people in this forum and and into Blu Ray know how to consistently buy Blu Ray new releases around $20 and only $10-$15 for most catalog titles. Put the complaint energies into shopping harder so that you can enjoy the good stuff.

[wes]

Originally Posted by timbre4

As many people in this forum and and into Blu Ray know how to consistently buy Blu Ray new releases around $20 and only $10-$15 for most catalog titles.

I wished most new releases are still $27 on Amazon and $20 for catalog titles.. I agree Blu Ray will be around for a while

[garymey]

I find it interesting that nobody seems to be discussing Disney's model of including a regular DVD in the box with a Blu-Ray movie. It proves they "get" one of the problems with a new technology like Blu-Ray in getting consumer buy-in.
Once we decide which Blu-Ray player to buy, we also must figure out which room and TV to hook it up to. But what if I want to watch a film in a different room? I'd have to have a BR there too.

So Disney must be thinking....SLEEPING BEAUTY is going to look great on Blu-Ray but the kids won;t care about the picture quality and when I want to watch DARK KNIGHT and send them off to another room to watch the animated classic for the umpteenth time, I need a regular DVD to do that.

I wonder what the public is thinking because they'd haven't effectively marketed this concept. Some people probably think "I'd rather pay $10 less and not get the DVD.)