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Are you rushing out to buy a Blu-ray?
Posted: Mar 25, 2008 in Things to do, Movies, TV and Celebrities
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Back in December, Indy Star tech writer Erika Smith and I co-authored an article about the stalemate between the next generation of home video formats, Blu-ray vs. HD DVD. The consensus was that we were in for a long, hard slog. People who'd been putting off picking a new player would likely continue to stand on the sidelines.
Whoops.
A few weeks later, Warner Bros., the only major studio that had been offering its films in both formats, decided to drop HD DVD. Within days, the war was over and Blu-ray declared the winner.
So now the question becomes: has this development changed your mind? Are you running out to buy a Blue-ray? If not, why?
I can't say I'm running out to buy one just yet. I'm still grappling with the whole plasma, LCD tv issue and haven't upgraded to HD yet. I'm also not looking forward to replacing my DVD collection with Blue-ray. If I end up with a Blue-ray player it will most likely be part of a PS3.
I was actually considering picking up an HD-DVD player as well if the price ever drops enough to make it feasible. It plays standard DVDs as well, and if I can get one at a great bargain and have a certain number of HD-DVDs at deeply discounted prices, why not?
Of course, sooner or later I'll have to upgrade to a blu ray too.
Nope. I haven't even replaced my DVD player that broke a year ago. There will be something bigger and better in the future anyway. In my opinion there's no need to rush out and buy the newest technology.
Like dexter said why pay 499-599 for a blue ray when you can pay 399 for a PS3 that plays games and blue-ray discs. I'll wait till the technology is older and much cheaper. Stuff will be obsolete in the next decade anyways so save yourself a couple hundred bucks by waiting 3 or 5 months.
Like dexter said why pay 499-599 for a blue ray when you can pay 399 ...
Or you could just win a BluRay for free from us and then you don't have to pay to be in the BluRay/HD game.
Or you could just win a BluRay for free from us and then you don't ...
Stole my thoughts! Free is always better
There was never a stalemate. It was obvious to many of us years ago that Blu-Ray would easily win the battle. One of the main reasons DVD players ended up in every household in America was because of the Playstation 2. I'm not sure why everyone underestimated the influence the Playstation 3 would have in this battle, especially when the PS3 was selling for LESS than a stand-alone Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player when it came out.
Personally, I'll get a PS3 when the price drops to $299, which may happen this summer. I think at that point a lot of other Americans will probably jump on board as well. Then we'll see a nice jump in Blu-Ray sales and rentals. The next version of the Xbox 360 may even include a Blu-Ray player.
I think this may be the last disc format that we see, however, as this latest generation of kids are being trained not to have any sentimental attachment to physical media. Everything is downloaded these days: music, movies, TV shows, games, news, etc.
The video game companies and movie studios stand to make a lot more profit if they can convince people to pay for downloads rather than physical discs.
I keep hearing people say that downloading is the future, and I even wrote an article about it a year ago. But the main obstacle is download time. Even a high-speed connection means quite a long wait. And if you want a hi-def version, you're looking at something like seven hours to download.
In Japan, where much of our technology springs, connections speeds are much, much faster than we have in the U.S. So they can get excited about downloading because it's more feasible there.
The other thing is storage. A hi-def version of a movie is a huge freakin' file -- several gigabytes. Even a large hard drive is only going to be able to store a limited number of flicks, perhaps a couple dozen. Pile on your iTunes songs, TV shows and other files, and it's obvious you'll have to be constantly juggling what stays and what goes.
Plus, I admit I'm old-fashioned enough that I like having a physical copy of a movie that nothing short of a fire is going to destroy. Most people have experienced computer problems serious enough to require a system restore or buying an entirely new system. I had friends who had all their photos of their kids on a hard drive and it got fried and they lost literally years of memories.
Btw, in response to an earlier poster -- you can play your regular DVDs on a Blu-ray player. So you don't have to replace you entire film library.
Personally, some flicks in my collection will get upgraded to Blu-ray whenever I buy a player -- the Lord of the Rings movies are an obvious choice. But most I'll just keep on DVD.
I keep hearing people say that downloading is the future, and I even wrote an ...
I'm with you on that. Half of the joy of having a movie collection is the thrill of handling the package and putting them in the player, and of admiring the breadth of your collection sitting on shelves.
It's like in movies lately it seems like there's always someone who loves old LPs, and you see them pull the record out and gingerly handle it by the edges and they lovingly blow on the record before they slide it on to the turntable.
I'm pretty confident the future will be all about downloads and streaming video. Those who used stage6.com, which sadly shut down operations, are aware that you could watch movies that looked nearly the same as dvd's (of course this depended on the quality of the file uploaded) from start to finish with virtually no waiting time. You'd press play, wait about 10 seconds and could then watch a long movie from start to finish with very few if any pauses for buffering.
Unfortunately, now that Stage6 is gone, there are few if any streaming video sites out there with the quality and efficiency that it had using DivX video technology. Vimeo looks pretty smooth though. Check out one of their HD videos.
And there are programs like Miro that will download HD videos (for free) quite quickly. If I leave Miro running for 30 minutes, I'll often return to find several 10 minute long HD videos.
I'm aware that these options aren't as high quality as Blu-ray, but there will surely be advancements in video compression. Internet will get faster too.
I own hundreds of DVDs, but I haven't watched most of them. I'm lazy to the point that I'll download a movie I already own just so I don't have to find it in my collection, open the case, put it in the DVD player, take it out of the DVD player when I'm done, put it back in the case, and then put it back on the shelf where it goes.
If I have a movie downloaded to my networked external video hard drive, I can stream that content to any of my laptops, desktops, or even play it on my TV. Using remote login software, I can also watch that same movie from any computer in the world when I'm not at home.
I think this sort of convenience, once it no longer requires a high level of technical aptitude to set up, will trump the collectiblity factor of actually owning the disc.
I don't really notice the speed thing much when it comes to downloads...I use bit torrent to grab 30 minute TV show in mp4 format in about 5 minutes on average. If it's a show I want to see in high-def format...it might take an hour. But the way I watch shows is to always be at least a day behind anyway, that way the shows I watch today I already downloaded yesterday. Some shows I wait until I have the entire season before I start watching them. I've never been the impatient type though.
Hopefully, Internet2 will solve our speed issues. http://www.internet2.edu/
As for the issue of storing media on your PC, I think we'll see less and less of that as time goes on. People want their media to be portable, which means storing it online in a secure account somewhere. There are already services that offer media storage like this. The only reason I host my media from my home network is that these services are currently more expensive than doing it myself.
I'm also seeing a movement away from local storage in business as well. Google's version of Office is a good example of this. All your documents are stored online. The next version of Microsoft Office is supposed to move to online storage as well. It really is more convenient to let Microsoft and Google store all your documents so you can access them from any machine in the world with your password. Security will always be a concern, but I don't think it will be a big enough concern to stop progress.
I mentioned this in another post awhile back, but every time I start to do research on Blu-Ray players, I find that the general consensus from the major tech sites is to wait awhile. The next generation is supposed to have more features and capabilities, and they anticipate that a significant price drop will happen leading up to the next Christmas shopping season. In the meantime, they suggest just buying an up-converting DVD player for less than $90 that will allow you to get more enjoyment out of your standard DVD's on an HDTV.
http://www.mercurynews.com/apple/ci_8676009 http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-13817_7-6462511-5.html?tag=arw
@Dexter - If you're not dead set on hanging your TV on the wall, I can't speak highly enough for DLP. My Samsung has been running smoothly without a single problem for just over a year. It has handled anything I can throw at it flawlessly, the picture is brighter and clearer than any Plasma or LCD of that costs twice as much, and it's only about 17" deep...so it doesn't have a huge footprint.
@Rictor - I don't think Internet2's going to help...they are an Education and Research network, meaning you have to be a University, K-12, or government research entity to be a member. Assuming you could convince them that you are one of the above, the fees to join are HEFTY. And assuming you could afford it, there is no technology currently available to bring the 10 mbps connectivity to the average person's door. About the only way you would benefit would be if you are on a connected campus and living in a university dorm. Even then, most universities have strict policies against using the network to use bit torrents and other illegal sites. However, Internet2 is certainly a good blueprint for what ISP's should aim to provide in the future.
As Rictor eloquently shows, different people want different things out of home entertainment.
For him, portability and versatility is most important. A lot of people love the idea of renting a movie off iTunes and watching it on a video iPod.
There are a few times, mostly while traveling, where that has obvious appeal. But mostly, I'm all about quality. I want the best possible picture and sound on the biggest possible screen I can afford. Why would I watch a movie on my computer when there's a 56-inch screen and DTS surround in the next room?
For now and the forseeable future, my best option is a player and physical copy of the movie. But there will come a day when electronic copies look just as good and are quick and easy to download.
Man this thread is good. Great conversation.
I agree too that one day download will undoubtedly be the way to go, but, as Chris said, as of this moment, my movies are going to be on discs (with some on my iPod Touch as well). I have some movies downloaded, but it's more of a hassle for me personally to sit in my room watching them when the kids are running the house. I'd rather be in the living room watching them on the big screen.
But things are definitely going away from that. Maybe we'll have something similar to the iPod Touch/iPhone's wonderful display of music, where you have sort of a virtual jukebox. I could see that fulfilling my collection need.
Nope. I usually hold off on new technology. I like the old stuff. Plus things are always getting upgraded and going down in price soon after!
Great comments and much food for thought! With technology changing as quickly as it does, the options appear almost endless.
Personally, I think I'll wait it out a while. Maybe even pick up one of those soon-to-be obsolete DVD players at deep-discounted prices just to have around as an extra (lol).