Blu-ray slowly dying
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Shog9 wrote:
Near as i can tell, YouTube. Oh, the irony...
YouTube doesn't look that great on a 70" HDTV. :-)
"When you reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more." -- John McCain in 2000, on his vote against lowering the top tax rate from 39% to Bush's proposed 35%.
Al Beback wrote:
YouTube doesn't look that great on a 70" HDTV.
It looks even worse on the smaller-but-higher-resolution laptop screen. And yet...
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You're right. These facts that you've laid out totally contradict the wild ramblings that I pulled off the back of cornflakes packets.
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According to http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=365[^] Blue-ray is slowly dying And so is its DRM with it! ps: i don't know what went wrong with the original post?
Yeah, what blu-ray advocates don't seem to understand is that while yes, the picture is nicer than DVD or upsampling DVD players, I still contend that DVD is good enough and that's why people aren't eager to switch. What contends with blu-ray? The NEXT generation of video formats and players. I contend that blu-ray will see anemic adoption and be quickly replaced by the next thing - whether that's video over the internet, or some next-gen hi-def format not massively crippled by DRM and that offers some OTHER compelling feature besides a nicer picture - a huge improvement in user experience. "Yeah but it's so beautiful!" is not a selling point to 95% of consumers. Price versus features is; user experience is. A nicer picture offers absolutely zero in terms of increased value over a regular DVD, when DVD's picture is considered "good enough." And the PS3 itself is barely keeping up. Doing well enough probably to be described as "selling well", but still way, way below the XBox and Wii numbers, precisely because the XBox and Wii offer a superior user experience - XBox with XBox Live, and the Wii with the Wiimote. Sony has earned itself a reputation for overpriced crap and unfortunately I suspect that's influencing how well blu-ray does as well. Sony's insistence that it be marked as "SONY Blu-ray" is working against it because these days, it seems almost cool to say you're NOT using a Sony product. I have no intention of ever buying a blu-ray player or disc, unless Sony wants to replace my DVD collection for free. I'll not be duped into incredibly irresponsible consumerism just for "the next big thing." And I suspect most consumers are equally savvy, believe it or not.
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harold aptroot wrote:
Blue-ray is slowly dying
as others have said... according to one blog? Nobody bothered to explain this to you: "There are three types of lies - lies, damn lies, and statistics." One of the terrible things about statistics over sales is you can read anything into it you want. BluRay is doing as good as HD was when it came out. HD overall is still gaining. BluRay has not taken over yet, but it is still growing. And HD-DVD is not dezombifying.
El Corazon wrote:
And HD-DVD is not dezombifying.
Sorry if I'm being dense, but what does that mean? I wouldn't bet the farm on the company that sponsored the Beta format, which was also technologically superior to VHS; until they get the pricing right it's going to be an uphill battle.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
modified on Sunday, November 9, 2008 10:31 AM
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BLOGS do not equal the NEWS. If you can't figure that out then I am not going to bother trying to have a discussion about it. I can just come back later and say I was right.
Blog link to be reinstated at a later date.
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Last year we got an HDTV and a $400 upsampling DVD player. The picture was absolute crap. We replaced the $400 DVD player with a $400 PS3 and WOW, what a difference! The PS3 upsamples SD DVDs amazingly well but they pale in comparison to a Blu-Ray movie. I have to whole-heartedly disagree with the "article". Saying upsampling DVD players will kill Blu-Ray is like saying Daewoo is going to kill Chevrolet.
My mind is like an aluminum trap. Some things get caught in the trap, and some things bend the trap and get away.
FyreWyrm wrote:
s like saying Daewoo is going to kill Chevrolet
Chevy doesn't need any help killing itself ;) Half the Chevys on the road here are re-badged Daewoos.
cheers, Paul M. Watson.
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THANK YOU! Our first BR was a PS3; we got the 1st generation (20 GB) that is backwards compatible. That is one reason I said that Blu Ray would win-- you had serious gamers who now had a BR player and a free movie. They did the same thing in Europe (a free movie) when released there. People have to also realize they have to calibrate their higher end TVs to make it look the best possible. All I saw in the "article" is that he feels the entire process is too expensive. I live in the middle of nowhere, USA, and two of the three Wal-Marts have special Blu-Ray section. When major movies are released (like Iron Man) they actually move them to the front of the store.
Blog link to be reinstated at a later date.
The thing is that there are very few movies where I'd feel I'd really benefit from BluRay over upsampling. Some sci-fi blockbusters like IronMan or Star Wars or something that got major award for cinematography. But for everything else, I just don't see the point. I am not going to pay double the price for a movie unless I get some real benefits. And as the spec-savers ad over here says there is no point getting an HD TV unless you have HD eyes. I'm sure there are some people that will pay for the benefits that BluRay gives them, but I don't feel I'm one of them. I'm just sticking with the dominant format because that's where the competition to supply is and I'll get a better deal there.
Recent blog posts: *Method hiding Vs. overriding *Microsoft Surface *SQL Server / Visual Studio install order My Blog
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Yeah, what blu-ray advocates don't seem to understand is that while yes, the picture is nicer than DVD or upsampling DVD players, I still contend that DVD is good enough and that's why people aren't eager to switch. What contends with blu-ray? The NEXT generation of video formats and players. I contend that blu-ray will see anemic adoption and be quickly replaced by the next thing - whether that's video over the internet, or some next-gen hi-def format not massively crippled by DRM and that offers some OTHER compelling feature besides a nicer picture - a huge improvement in user experience. "Yeah but it's so beautiful!" is not a selling point to 95% of consumers. Price versus features is; user experience is. A nicer picture offers absolutely zero in terms of increased value over a regular DVD, when DVD's picture is considered "good enough." And the PS3 itself is barely keeping up. Doing well enough probably to be described as "selling well", but still way, way below the XBox and Wii numbers, precisely because the XBox and Wii offer a superior user experience - XBox with XBox Live, and the Wii with the Wiimote. Sony has earned itself a reputation for overpriced crap and unfortunately I suspect that's influencing how well blu-ray does as well. Sony's insistence that it be marked as "SONY Blu-ray" is working against it because these days, it seems almost cool to say you're NOT using a Sony product. I have no intention of ever buying a blu-ray player or disc, unless Sony wants to replace my DVD collection for free. I'll not be duped into incredibly irresponsible consumerism just for "the next big thing." And I suspect most consumers are equally savvy, believe it or not.
Patrick Etc. wrote:
"Yeah but it's so beautiful!" is not a selling point to 95% of consumers. Price versus features is; user experience is. A nicer picture offers absolutely zero in terms of increased value over a regular DVD, when DVD's picture is considered "good enough."
Yup. Remember LaserDiscs? Hung around for years, but never managed to put a serious dent in the VHS market. And frankly, LD probably had more advantages over VHS than BluRay has over DVD.
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You're right. These facts that you've laid out totally contradict the wild ramblings that I pulled off the back of cornflakes packets.
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Patrick Etc. wrote:
"Yeah but it's so beautiful!" is not a selling point to 95% of consumers. Price versus features is; user experience is. A nicer picture offers absolutely zero in terms of increased value over a regular DVD, when DVD's picture is considered "good enough."
Yup. Remember LaserDiscs? Hung around for years, but never managed to put a serious dent in the VHS market. And frankly, LD probably had more advantages over VHS than BluRay has over DVD.
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You're right. These facts that you've laid out totally contradict the wild ramblings that I pulled off the back of cornflakes packets.
Shog9 wrote:
Remember LaserDiscs?
I loved LaserDisks! I still have a box of, maybe, 50 disks up in the attic along with my old Sony LD player. I wore one player out, I used it so much. I just ran up to riffle through my collection and found a whole bunch of movies that I haven't seen in years. I've been looking for one of them on DVD for a long time - Linda Ronstadt and Nelson Riddle - and doubt if it will ever be re-released, but it's one of my favorites. It's a hoot to drag the old player out once in a while just to see if it still works, and watch some old disks on it. The disks are just hilarious! Bigger than an old vinyl LP album and two or three times as thick. Just looking at one makes me chuckle :laugh: Double-sided, and only one hour per side. At the time, these were state of the art. Now they are just absurd! Thanks for bringing back all those great memories, Shog9
QRZ? de WAØTTN
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FyreWyrm wrote:
s like saying Daewoo is going to kill Chevrolet
Chevy doesn't need any help killing itself ;) Half the Chevys on the road here are re-badged Daewoos.
cheers, Paul M. Watson.
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I wouldn't know, I'm a Ford guy. Having said that though, I'm pretty sure our next car will be a Nissan.
My mind is like an aluminum trap. Some things get caught in the trap, and some things bend the trap and get away.
350Z or GT-R? ;)
cheers, Paul M. Watson.
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350Z or GT-R? ;)
cheers, Paul M. Watson.
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Shog9 wrote:
Remember LaserDiscs?
I loved LaserDisks! I still have a box of, maybe, 50 disks up in the attic along with my old Sony LD player. I wore one player out, I used it so much. I just ran up to riffle through my collection and found a whole bunch of movies that I haven't seen in years. I've been looking for one of them on DVD for a long time - Linda Ronstadt and Nelson Riddle - and doubt if it will ever be re-released, but it's one of my favorites. It's a hoot to drag the old player out once in a while just to see if it still works, and watch some old disks on it. The disks are just hilarious! Bigger than an old vinyl LP album and two or three times as thick. Just looking at one makes me chuckle :laugh: Double-sided, and only one hour per side. At the time, these were state of the art. Now they are just absurd! Thanks for bringing back all those great memories, Shog9
QRZ? de WAØTTN
NetDave wrote:
At the time, these were state of the art. Now they are just absurd!
I remember being at the house of a friend of the family back in the early '90s, and watching "Dances With Wolves" played from a LD. With a big-screen TV and solid sound system, it was quite the experience.
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You're right. These facts that you've laid out totally contradict the wild ramblings that I pulled off the back of cornflakes packets.
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Newly released DVD: $15 Newly released Blue-ray: $30
Todd Smith
I'd like to know where you're buying your DVDs. :) Most places around here (Pacific Northwest, USA), the cost is $19.95 for a new DVD single disc edition, $24.99 for the two-disc "special edition" and $25.99 - $29.99 for the Blu-Ray edition with the same features as the two-disc DVD (sometimes even with a second disc, but usually on a dual layer single disc). If I'm going to get the two-disc edition anyway, I'd rather buy the Blu-Ray edition for a few dollars more. As for upconverting players, standard DVDs can still look crappy on an HDTV even with the upconverter. Things like compression artifacts, fuzzy and blurry picture, and dull colors compared to a true HD signal. Especially with animation, but it also happens with live action. I think Blu-Ray will do just fine. Whether it dominates traditional DVDs or not, who can say? Although I tend to think it will eventually overtake DVD sales. People complaining about the DRM on Blu-Ray? What about digital downloads where there is no standardized format. Have you ever tried transferring the license from one device to another? What about reselling the movie to another person? And forget about transferring something from your Creative Zen to your iPhone without illegally (in the US) breaking the DRM and format shifting. Assuming you can do that in the first place. Not to mention what happens to your files if the online store closes and shuts down their activation servers... At least with the Blu-Ray disc, you can play them in any BD player. Granted some early players are not able to get firmware updates, but the basic movie-watching experience is the same across all BD players. Not to mention that pretty much all of the BD players on the market having some decent upscaling abilities for standard DVDs. :) Flynn
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Yeah, what blu-ray advocates don't seem to understand is that while yes, the picture is nicer than DVD or upsampling DVD players, I still contend that DVD is good enough and that's why people aren't eager to switch. What contends with blu-ray? The NEXT generation of video formats and players. I contend that blu-ray will see anemic adoption and be quickly replaced by the next thing - whether that's video over the internet, or some next-gen hi-def format not massively crippled by DRM and that offers some OTHER compelling feature besides a nicer picture - a huge improvement in user experience. "Yeah but it's so beautiful!" is not a selling point to 95% of consumers. Price versus features is; user experience is. A nicer picture offers absolutely zero in terms of increased value over a regular DVD, when DVD's picture is considered "good enough." And the PS3 itself is barely keeping up. Doing well enough probably to be described as "selling well", but still way, way below the XBox and Wii numbers, precisely because the XBox and Wii offer a superior user experience - XBox with XBox Live, and the Wii with the Wiimote. Sony has earned itself a reputation for overpriced crap and unfortunately I suspect that's influencing how well blu-ray does as well. Sony's insistence that it be marked as "SONY Blu-ray" is working against it because these days, it seems almost cool to say you're NOT using a Sony product. I have no intention of ever buying a blu-ray player or disc, unless Sony wants to replace my DVD collection for free. I'll not be duped into incredibly irresponsible consumerism just for "the next big thing." And I suspect most consumers are equally savvy, believe it or not.
Oddly enough, the only time I've ever seen Sony and Blu-Ray on the same disc is if the disc came from Sony itself. I have plenty of movies from WB and Miramax (among others) that don't say Sony anywhere on the disc. Not to mention my PS3 games... :) Sony is one of many proponents of the Blu-Ray brand. They are not the sole owners of the technology any more than Toshiba was the sole owner of HD-DVD. The Blu-Ray logo doesn't mention Sony anywhere. Why should Sony replace your DVD library if you decide to buy Blu-Ray? They aren't forcing you to replace your collection. Every BD player on the market (only some of which are manufactured by Sony) has an upscale DVD player built in. I don't get your point here. DVD is good enough for most people, and I don't think it will ever completely go away. But I also think that BD will continue to survive and grow simply because the market for HD will continue to grow. Will it overtake DVD? I think so eventually. But I could be wrong. I like Blu-Ray (you think? lol), but I'm not going to suggest that everyone needs to adopt it. If the format goes belly-up, I can still play the movies I own. Can't say the same if iTunes goes belly up... Flynn
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Patrick Etc. wrote:
"Yeah but it's so beautiful!" is not a selling point to 95% of consumers. Price versus features is; user experience is. A nicer picture offers absolutely zero in terms of increased value over a regular DVD, when DVD's picture is considered "good enough."
Yup. Remember LaserDiscs? Hung around for years, but never managed to put a serious dent in the VHS market. And frankly, LD probably had more advantages over VHS than BluRay has over DVD.
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You're right. These facts that you've laid out totally contradict the wild ramblings that I pulled off the back of cornflakes packets.
I always wanted one of those. Star Wars was pretty incredible on LD. So was Tron. :) Flynn
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I'd like to know where you're buying your DVDs. :) Most places around here (Pacific Northwest, USA), the cost is $19.95 for a new DVD single disc edition, $24.99 for the two-disc "special edition" and $25.99 - $29.99 for the Blu-Ray edition with the same features as the two-disc DVD (sometimes even with a second disc, but usually on a dual layer single disc). If I'm going to get the two-disc edition anyway, I'd rather buy the Blu-Ray edition for a few dollars more. As for upconverting players, standard DVDs can still look crappy on an HDTV even with the upconverter. Things like compression artifacts, fuzzy and blurry picture, and dull colors compared to a true HD signal. Especially with animation, but it also happens with live action. I think Blu-Ray will do just fine. Whether it dominates traditional DVDs or not, who can say? Although I tend to think it will eventually overtake DVD sales. People complaining about the DRM on Blu-Ray? What about digital downloads where there is no standardized format. Have you ever tried transferring the license from one device to another? What about reselling the movie to another person? And forget about transferring something from your Creative Zen to your iPhone without illegally (in the US) breaking the DRM and format shifting. Assuming you can do that in the first place. Not to mention what happens to your files if the online store closes and shuts down their activation servers... At least with the Blu-Ray disc, you can play them in any BD player. Granted some early players are not able to get firmware updates, but the basic movie-watching experience is the same across all BD players. Not to mention that pretty much all of the BD players on the market having some decent upscaling abilities for standard DVDs. :) Flynn
Fry's electronics has new DVDs on sale for cheap Tue-Thurs the week of release. After that it goes up to your usual $19.
Todd Smith