Blu-ray is dead

By Roadrunna
in Home Theatre Discussion

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Grand Master

+Audioboxer Subscriber²

Posted
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Posted
On a serious note: Why do Sony/Panasonic insist of 'demonstrating' HD on SD channels? Yes, that looks great. But it's still SD. Essentially, unless the program makers change, and add all the particles and 'slow motion close ups' that there TV makers insist on advertising HD with, you're getting the same crap, but 6x more of it.

Seriously?

How about to promote HD to people using SD. SD customers are the potential future HD customers.

Not hard to understand, basic marketing.

you're getting the same crap, but 6x more of it.

And that's bad?

My GF gives me sex, I wouldn't complain about getting it 6x more :laugh:

Grand Master

TruckWEB

Posted
Posted

From VHS to DVD :

1) Much better picture quality (from 330x480 to 720x480) and sound.

2) Smaller format (bulky tape to small disc).

3) No need to rewind the tape

4) No degradation of the quality over time, but don't scratch the disc!

5) Can jump forward/backward to scene

6) Super clean PAUSE, slow-motion, ...

7) More language on the same disc

8) Subtitle

9) From Stereo to Digital Sound, 5.1 or more, DTS.

10) Extra stuff.

11) Storage space limited to 9Gb

12) And probably more...

From DVD to Blu-Ray:

1) Better picture quality since more resolution (1920x1080)

2) Better sound from Dolby TruHD or DTS-HD, PCM uncompressed sound.

3) More storage space than DVD, limited to 50Gb

4) Some movie now have much better/nicer "Menu" handling, BD-Live for Extra stuff.

5) Some movies now come with digital download.

6) And probably more...?

I guess it's clear that DVD was a revolution for movies. They did cost more than VHS movies (in the beginning, when both where available), but offered ALLOT more, not just a better picture.

Blu-Ray is an evolution, to follow up with the advent of HDTV.

Grand Master

SuperJediMedia

Posted
Posted
From VHS to DVD :

1) Much better picture quality (from 330x480 to 720x480) and sound.

2) Smaller format (bulky tape to small disc).

3) No need to rewind the tape

4) No degradation of the quality over time, but don't scratch the disc!

5) Can jump forward/backward to scene

6) Super clean PAUSE, slow-motion, ...

7) More language on the same disc

8) Subtitle

9) From Stereo to Digital Sound, 5.1 or more, DTS.

10) Extra stuff.

11) Storage space limited to 9Gb

12) And probably more...

From DVD to Blu-Ray:

1) Better picture quality since more resolution (1920x1080)

2) Better sound from Dolby TruHD or DTS-HD, PCM uncompressed sound.

3) More storage space than DVD, limited to 50Gb

4) Some movie now have much better/nicer "Menu" handling, BD-Live for Extra stuff.

5) Some movies now come with digital download.

6) And probably more...?

I guess it's clear that DVD was a revolution for movies. They did cost more than VHS movies (in the beginning, when both where available), but offered ALLOT more, not just a better picture.

Blu-Ray is an evolution, to follow up with the advent of HDTV.

Maybe the difference between DVD and VHS is Bigger, BUT Blu-ray/HD CAN be 6X Better than DVD and offers many new Technologies over SD DVD too.

Let me put it this way -

VHS You see a VERY VERY VERY Unclear picture

DVD You see a Much better picture, but still Blurry you can clearly tell it's not real

HD You see a MUCH Sharper, Crisp image that is almost like seeing the Real thing!

So, to the Most Hardcore Movie freaks like myself, those new features ARE VERY IMPORTANT too!!!

Grand Master

TruckWEB

Posted
Posted
Maybe the difference between DVD and VHS is Bigger, BUT Blu-ray/HD CAN be 6X Better than DVD and offers many new Technologies over SD DVD too.

Let me put it this way -

VHS You see a VERY VERY VERY Unclear picture

DVD You see a Much better picture, but still Blurry

HD You see a MUCH Sharper, Crisp image that is almost like seeing the Real thing!

So, to the Most Hardcore Movie freaks like myself, those new features ARE VERY IMPORTANT too!!!

I do understand, but it's still only about 6X better picture. People don't care about MPEG2 or VC1 or Profile 1.x/2.x or whatever better technologies behind Blu-Ray.

Blu-Ray are NOT more convenient than DVD. They don't offer anything "more" except maybe for BD-Live. Since most people don't even take the time to watch the extra stuff on DVD, I wonder if BD-Live will be a huge seller.

Again, all this is from the perspective of casual/normal consumers (and they are the majority).

Mentor

Kronir

Posted
Posted
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Have they looked at the release schedules? back catalogue titles are comign in thick and fast, as well as nearly every new dvd release has a BD release the same day.

Fail article

Just because it not biting DVD much, doesn't mean its gonna fail. for the first few years, VHS outsold DVD. Just history repeating itself.

Exactly. And I don't see streaming movies over the Internet hurting Blu-Ray much either; there's still plenty of us who like having a *disk* so you can watch it whenever and wherever you wish, and not be dependent on an Internet connection.

Mentor

draklin

Posted
Posted
2-3 hours. Some could download that much even in less time. If you could stream it as well, then it would be smooth to watch right away. So why not.

I hate streaming video of any kind. Nothing annoys me more than watching something only to have it stop and rebuild the buffer because there was a slowdown somewhere and the video caught up. But that is me and my opinion.

Grand Master

Lqv2015

Posted
Posted
I don't see Blu-Ray getting beat by HD downloads any time soon in the UK. Our broadband speeds are mediocre compared to the rest of the world and our ISP's seems to be enforcing strict bandwidth caps.

Then there's the inevitable mish mash of service providers. If I got my HD downloaded movie download from service A, what happens when I move to service B? Can I keep my purchase? Will it contain DRM, or be in a format unique to each service? What happens if my hard disk dies, can I download my library again? How many times? Can I watch my movies around a friends?

With a physical BD disc I know it will work in any BD player. I know when I'm done with it I can sell it or lend it to friends or family. I know I can pick up a movie while I'm doing my shopping, then come home and watch it immediately. With a digital download I'd be waiting a while

But more importantly than any of this, which one willl look awesome on my book case? :p

The the same reason why I don't think physical media will be taken over by digital download.

Grand Master

Lqv2015

Posted
Posted
Why are you telling me stuff I KNOW?

I KNOW that, that's why there ARE actually some $10-$15 Blu-rays ALL the time! The same movie on SD is not expensive like $15 either. So it's ALL related!

BUT are customer complaining about those or those $25+ ones?

My MAIN point is, if you want to see a movie (For example: Iron Man) on Blu-ray for $17.99, then the SD version should drop Under $10 FIRST!

Now why the hell would the movie studios do that. Jedi, don't you understand the studios are trying to make their $ back in it's first release week? $10 for a DVD copy of Hulk won't do that.

Experienced

MistaT40

Posted
Posted

People say - I don't see the point of getting BRD when DVD does the job pretty well. VHS did the job pretty well too but DVD is better......just like BRD is better than DVD. The difference is quite noticeable with a HDTV of course.

I spent $6000 on my 61" LCD 4 years ago........everyone was like why do you need spend so much for a TV that size when a 50" could the same job for less? All my friends that watched my 61" once, had a tought time going back to their smaller TV.

I guess the point I'm making is that, of course you pay a premium for anything better but you will enjoy it so much more. I can't go back to DVDs after watching BRD - it's like going to VHS from DVD. If you can afford it go for it - it's money well spent if you consider it an investment. An analogy is saying BRD is a Ferrari and DVD is a GTR. Sure you can modify a GTR to get it close to Ferrari performance- just like you can upconvert DVD - but really is it going to be as good as a Ferrari in reality?

Veteran

DaDude

Posted
Posted
People say - I don't see the point of getting BRD when DVD does the job pretty well. VHS did the job pretty well too but DVD is better......just like BRD is better than DVD. The difference is quite noticeable with a HDTV of course.

I spent $6000 on my 61" LCD 4 years ago........everyone was like why do you need spend so much for a TV that size when a 50" could the same job for less? All my friends that watched my 61" once, had a tought time going back to their smaller TV.

I guess the point I'm making is that, of course you pay a premium for anything better but you will enjoy it so much more. I can't go back to DVDs after watching BRD - it's like going to VHS from DVD. If you can afford it go for it - it's money well spent if you consider it an investment. An analogy is saying BRD is a Ferrari and DVD is a GTR. Sure you can modify a GTR to get it close to Ferrari performance- just like you can upconvert DVD - but really is it going to be as good as a Ferrari in reality?

I think the main reason why people think that Blu-ray might be dead is because people aren?t jumping at Blu-ray the same way they did with DVDs. And I think the problem is price. DVD prices went down really fast. Prices of DVD players and DVDs fell dramatically after a few years DVDs came out. It?s now a few years since Blu-ray came out and the prices of Blu-ray players and BDs are still quite high. Put that together with the financial crisis we?re having, it?s going to take a while for everyone to switch to Blu-ray. But like I said, once prices do eventually fall and more people buy HDTVs, Blu-ray will become a HUGE success, but it will just take time.

Mentor

wst50

Posted
Posted
Seriously?

How about to promote HD to people using SD. SD customers are the potential future HD customers.

Not hard to understand, basic marketing.

And that's bad?

My GF gives me sex, I wouldn't complain about getting it 6x more :laugh:

What I mean is, why do they try to demonstrate? It just proves SD is pretty decent if you had decent stuff to put on it.

And are you saying your gf is bad at sex?

Grand Master

+Audioboxer Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted
What I mean is, why do they try to demonstrate? It just proves SD is pretty decent if you had decent stuff to put on it.

Common sense, they're trying as best they can to promote that HD gives you better picture quality than SD, while broadcasting in SD.

So they do high focus, zoomed in images, over vibrant colours, slow motion and all the other tricks to bring out as much detail as they can in SD.

And are you saying your gf is bad at sex?

No, I'm saying I wouldn't turn down sex 6 more times if she offered it.

It light humor anyway, thanks for taking it seriously.

Grand Master

Emn1ty

Posted
Posted

In my opinion we need an alternative to both discs and digital downloads. People like having what they own, and today a purchase is becoming more and more a lease rather than an actual buy (especially with DRM and proprietary players/codecs in downloads). I will say this again and truly believe it to be true: Flash and/or SD is where we should head. Even those UMD disks that Sony put out were better than Blu-Ray because they did what is needed more than storage space: take up less space and create a more durable media. Compression methods are getting better and better alongside the ability to pack more and more information into smaller packages. Flash and SD cards are expensive, but a much safer and more compact way to store this stuff.

How many of you would buy more movies and games if they took little more space than your thumb? Add in peripherals such as cases which allow you to not only store but play the media directly from the case and you have a gold mine. Start this off and soon making them manufacturable would cut their prices significantly. You could also cut down the size of players and put them in all TV's as a standard.

As great as it sounds, these cards today for the equivalent space of a single layer DVD are probably 30x the price, so this is still a bit of a distant solution. At least we would solve both the problem of space, quality, and the need to have something tangible. Not to mention you could count on your SD/Flash cards to keep working and not get scratched and stained to death.

Aside from that, the only other possibility is digital downloads. So far the only thing close to the correct concept of online media that I have seen is Steam and X-Box Live. One of the best things about the way Microsoft does things on the XB is through the gamertag's ability to recover content on any console. So if you, say, lose a hard drive, then you can simply recover your account on another system or after that system is fixed and get all the stuff you payed for again with the only cost being some download time. Steam also does this.

One of the things that does annoy me tough about both is their restrictions. XBL Arcade games revert back to their demo versions when not signed into XBL, and Steam won't even let you run the game if you aren't hooked up to an internet connection.

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