Is Blu-ray starting to become popular?

[DaDude]

Whenever I go to stores now and browse through the Blu-ray section, there's quite a bit of people now. Before, the Blu-ray section used to be almost empty. Now, it seems like more people are there. In fact, there are times when it's a bit crowded and annoying. Does this mean Blu-ray is becoming popular now? I keep hearing rumors that Blu-ray will most likely become the next laserdisc.

[jerzdawg]

Whenever I go to stores now and browse through the Blu-ray section, there's quite a bit of people now. Before, the Blu-ray section used to be almost empty. Now, it seems like more people are there. In fact, there are times when it's a bit crowded and annoying. Does this mean Blu-ray is becoming popular now? I keep hearing rumors that Blu-ray will most likely become the next laserdisc.

UGH.. why am I not surprised that you were the topic starter... yes.. its popular.. and no one can know if its going to be the next laserdisc... chances of it being so are slim...

Here is some info from the release of Watchmen

As we reported on our previous post, a full 36 percent of disc sales of Warner's 'Watchmen' have been on Blu-ray. This is a record-breaking figure, even for action movies. For example, back in September 2008, 'Iron Man' got "only" 17% of its sales from Blu-ray. The previous BD percentage record was for 'Quantum of Solace', released March 24, 2009, which got 28%.

This feat is all the more remarkable if we consider that the DVD had both one- and two-disc editions, and that an Ultimate Collector's Edition Blu- ray has been announced for later this year.

Edit #2 - some laserdisc info... in its 17 year life span by 1998 there were only 16.8 million player in homes worldwide... I think we already passed that in blu-ray players (including ps3)

According to Swicker & Associates, Blu-ray Disc software sales in the United States and Canada were 1.2 million in 2006, 19.2 million in 2007, and 82.4 million in 2008

Edit - Is there a reason you are so negative..? Didn't you just buy a blu-ray player recently?

Edited August 7, 2009 by jerzdawg

[halcyoncmdr]

Blu-ray is the next step after DVD, bar none. I think up until recently the players were too expensive for most people to decide to purchase one, either that or they didn't have an HDTV to use it on, so there wasn't a need yet. The player may only be $200, but the TV they want may be $800, TV comes before the player in those cases because the TV or the DVD player will upscale until then at least. Now that the prices on HDTVs and Blu-Ray players are falling we're going to see a lot more usage of the BD format.

[Gotenks98]

I dont see it being more popular until the price of the ps3 goes down alot or someone sales a blu-ray player for under $50.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

It was always going to get more popular as player prices come down and more HDTVs get bought - As for how popular quite frankly who gives a ****, if I and others interested get day 1 releases of HD (Blu Rays) with the DVD and the market booms enough to finance itself its just a case of buy what copy you want and enjoy the movie.

Both formats can co-exist easily, wanting to only see one or the other makes no sense.

[coresx]

Hasn't interested me yet, I just wait for films on TV or buy them on DVD which is cheaper. I can see the difference but it doesn't really do enough for me to upgrade. I'm just not bothered about HD movies.

[Dysphoria]

Nope, it's not going to be popular as long as BluRay player prices are so high....

One of the things that scares Sony is the advance of USB disk drives. They are getting cheaper and faster and soon will get USB 3.0.

I dont think that it will be too long before we start seeing HD movies on USB sticks. Most of the new TVs come with USB ports anyway, and it's just a matter of time before they include a video and audio encoder to play those HD movies....

IMHO DVD/BluRay players are things of the past.

HD streaming and Portable Media Drives such as USB stick drives are the future..

Cheers

[DaDude]

UGH.. why am I not surprised that you were the topic starter... yes.. its popular.. and no one can know if its going to be the next laserdisc... chances of it being so are slim...

...

Edit - Is there a reason you are so negative..? Didn't you just buy a blu-ray player recently?

Oh, sorry. I didn't know I was breaking any rules. I'm surprised the moderators didn't tell me anything. Oh well. I won't start any new topic here anymore. There are many other forums out there where they allow me to ask any question I like. I'll just ask them over there from now on. Sorry for the trouble. The moderators may close this topic, if they want.

Yes, I got my Blu-ray player a little over two months ago.

Edited August 7, 2009 by xraffle

[deletedxyz]

I have seen a few Blu Ray movies selling for ~$15.

According to Swicker & Associates, Blu-ray Disc software sales in the United States and Canada were 1.2 million in 2006, 19.2 million in 2007, and 82.4 million in 2008

Those are some impressive figures.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Nope, it's not going to be popular as long as BluRay player prices are so high....

One of the things that scares Sony is the advance of USB disk drives. They are getting cheaper and faster and soon will get USB 3.0.

I dont think that it will be too long before we start seeing HD movies on USB sticks. Most of the new TVs come with USB ports anyway, and it's just a matter of time before they include a video and audio encoder to play those HD movies....

IMHO DVD/BluRay players are things of the past.

HD streaming and Portable Media Drives such as USB stick drives are the future..

Cheers

Yes I totally can't wait to own 40 USB sticks instead of 40 nicely printed discs in cases.

I'll give you streaming getting popular, it really will as broadband connections improve and we get systems delivering HD quality that isn't compressed out the ass, but USB sticks has to be one of the worst predictions I've heard in a long time.

[Boz]

it won't become a new laserdisc, but it won't be DVD IMO.

They expect that Blu-ray marketshare will be up to 15% of the market by next year. By 2013 it is kind of optimistically estimated that it might account for about 50%.

The problem is that optical media as means of delivering content is declining and Blu-ray is not able to compensate for the downfall and we have streaming/VOD growing at a rapid pace with it being integrated in TVs, players and consoles it only adds to uncertainty.

Edited August 7, 2009 by Boz

[coresx]

Nope, it's not going to be popular as long as BluRay player prices are so high....

One of the things that scares Sony is the advance of USB disk drives. They are getting cheaper and faster and soon will get USB 3.0.

I dont think that it will be too long before we start seeing HD movies on USB sticks. Most of the new TVs come with USB ports anyway, and it's just a matter of time before they include a video and audio encoder to play those HD movies....

IMHO DVD/BluRay players are things of the past.

HD streaming and Portable Media Drives such as USB stick drives are the future..

Cheers

That's a direction I always thought media would go but held back with per disc/drive cost. If they overcome that, hard to hold it back but I don't know if the cost of USB sticks will ever be low enough to hand out willy nilly like discs. I imagined walking into a store with your own usb stick and copying over whatever movie, game, music you want from kiosks then copying to whatever devices at home you have. That way retail survives along with digital distribution but both pushing technology and services forward.

[Dysphoria]

Yes I totally can't wait to own 40 USB sticks instead of 40 nicely printed discs in cases.

I'll give you streaming getting popular, it really will as broadband connections improve and we get systems delivering HD quality that isn't compressed out the ass, but USB sticks has to be one of the worst predictions I've heard in a long time.

Thanks for the meaningful comment kiddo.

You should be able to buy the HD movie just like buying Itunes music.

It is up to you about how you want to store it.

AS prices go down you should be able to get 128GB+ USB drives that will hold around 30+ HD movies.

why would I want to keep a selection of discs that might get damaged when I can have my whole movie collection backed up on two chips. I should be able to take it with me when I go anywhere, traveling for pleasure or work.

Plus streaming movies will be the next big thing. It's already becoming popular. ABC, HULU, NEtflix, NBC are all switching to streaming media. It's a matter of time before we start getting HD streaming. Demand eventually will increase and that will drive AT&T and UUNET to upgrade their backbone with Optical Multiplexers capable of OC-192 and more bandwidth.

The cables are already laid out, they only need to upgrade the backbone.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Thanks for the meaningful comment kiddo.

You should be able to buy the HD movie just like buying Itunes music.

It is up to you about how you want to store it.

AS prices go down you should be able to get 128GB+ USB drives that will hold around 30+ HD movies.

why would I want to keep a selection of discs that might get damaged when I can have my whole movie collection backed up on two chips. I should be able to take it with me when I go anywhere, traveling for pleasure or work.

Plus steaming movies will be the next big thing. It's already becoming popular. ABC, HULU, NEtflix, NBC are all switching to streaming media. It's a matter of time before we start getting HD streaming. Demand eventually will increase and that will drive AT&T and UUNET to upgrade their backbone to Optical Multiplexers capable of OC-192 and more bandwidth.

The cables are already laid out, they only need to upgrade the backbone.

Maybe where you live, but definitely not in the UK.

As for wanting your 30 movies on one USB stick, good luck with that an DRM, all the set top boxes that stream HD content right now are proprietary, look at the 360 and PS3, if you buy a movie on either of them you must play it back through the 360 or PS3. I'd never buy a movie through either my PS3 or 360 in it's current state.

DRM is something that needs to change for movies and digital, because right now if you own a disc you can rip it to your own DRM free file and/or just take the disc to a mates.

Why would I buy a DRM infested digital copy when I can buy a physical copy and make my own digital copy meaning I own both in the end for the price of one? I admit I would prefer a digital library it's much easier but until these companies allow you to buy something digitally and do whatever you want with it it's early days.

[jerzdawg]

Oh, sorry. I didn't know I was breaking any rules. I'm surprised the moderators didn't tell me anything. Oh well. I won't start any new topic here anymore. There are many other forums out there where they allow me to ask any question I like. I'll just ask them over there from now on. Sorry for the trouble. The moderators may close this topic, if they want.

Yes, I got my Blu-ray player a little over two months ago.

Not what I meant... I just didnt understand why you are so negative about a format that you are now invested in? You held off on switching to HD, you seem happy you made the switch, you picked up a blu-ray player fairly quickly and I think you have been impressed with some of the movies.. so I just didnt know why you would even entertain the idea of a rumor that is basically complete nonsense..

[DaDude]

If digital copy isn't successful, how on earth is HD movies on USB sticks going to be any better?

[Dysphoria]

Maybe where you live, but definitely not in the UK.

........

Why would I buy a DRM infested digital copy when I can buy a physical copy and make my own digital copy meaning I own both in the end for the price of one? I admit I would prefer a digital library it's much easier but until these companies allow you to buy something digitally and do whatever you want with it it's early days.

Well I was referring to the backbone in the United States. I am not familiar with U.K. although I dont see reason not to switch if there is profit to be made.

About the DRM... it will change.. anyhow it's been only in the last few years that started playing such an important role in digital media but they'll have to flex and adjust to match the media and technology at stake.

They might add an encrypted signature key that will match the encryption key of your TV or other media player like laptop or PC registered to the same user, so you can not Pirate or redistribute movies illegally.

There are many options.... try to think out of the box.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Well I was referring to the backbone in the United States. I am not familiar with U.K. although I dont see reason not to switch if there is profit to be made.

About the DRM... it will change.. anyhow it's been only in the last few years that started playing such an important role in digital media but they'll have to flex and adjust to match the media and technology at stake.

They might add an encrypted signature key that will match the encryption key of your TV or other media player like laptop or PC registered to the same user, so you can not Pirate or redistribute movies illegally.

There are many options.... try to think out of the box.

That's the thing, there isn't.

BT aren't going to pay out their backsides to replace the 'whole' UK network, our Governments pushed so hard for the LLU switch over here allowing ISPs to run things their own ways marginalising BTs profits, therefore it's just not in BT's best interests to be going and upgrading our current networks to super fast speeds.

The ISPs can offer us cheap broadband through LLU, but they are limited to the network infrastructure BT has in place. So yeah in London you might get 24/50MBps, but the majority of the UK is probably on 2-4mbps.

As for DRM options, the only one I'll accept is what I have right now, I buy a movie on a disc and I can play it anywhere, on the PC, on my player, on my friends player. Until I can do that with a digital copy the restrictions aren't worth it because I can rip my own disc to a file I can play anywhere right now.

[Boz]

If digital copy isn't successful, how on earth is HD movies on USB sticks going to be any better?

I think you are missing the point.. physical delivery is going away.. that model is on decline and requires additional costs of production and what not..

I certainly won't keep my movies on USB, but on hard drives or NAS devices or whatever.. just like you do with music. There's absolutely no difference except size which is really not a problem anymore either.

The future is in downloads/streaming/VOD.. there's no doubt about that, the only question is how long optical media will stay on the market. It might be very much a while, but the efforts from studios and content providers will definitely lean digital downloads/streaming/VOD way.

Every single CE manufacturer now offers streaming in their devices. Panasonic just added Amazon VOD to their TVs and Blu-ray players, LG just added Vudu to their TVs, Samsung uses Netflix and so on.. most of these (Vudu, Amazon VOD, Netflix, Xbox 360, PS3) will, or already do, offer full 1080p instant-on in the next couple of months too so the quality is also rapidly increasing. Only last year we didn't even have 1080p HD streams, now we do. As speeds of broadband increase at people's homes (which they do actually at a decent pace as well) your quality is automatically upgraded with streaming/downloads/VOD. RIght now 1080p Instant-On might not be as good as Blu-ray but next year or year after that it might be, the thing is that most people are very satisifed with even 720p HD from XBL and on smaller sets the resolution thing becomes less relevant. Only a small amount of people actually appreciate Blu-ray, which was always the case with niche formats and those who demand the highest quality. To come really close to Blu-ray quality with new technology streams need be around 10mbps. So you'll probably need 20mbs cable connection and I don't think it will be a problem in a short while.

What I've noticed is that a lot of studios like RedBox too. And a lot of people asked themselves why? But it becomes pretty obvious when you realize that people don't own discs as much as they used to and actually prefer renting. If that's the case, then streaming/subscription services along with RedBox model is definitely where it's going.

It's all about renting and optical media can't survive if people just rent. That's why there's a decline.

Ask how many people on this forum, own a PS3 or Blu-ray and they barely ever buy Blu-rays but only rent. I can tell you from the people I see around me that have Blu-ray, most of them actually rent and only buy certain movies and that REALLY has to be a good movie to warrant a high price of Blu-ray purchase for example.

Edited August 7, 2009 by Boz

[Dysphoria]

....

^+1 Nice post +boz, absolutely agree with you.

[Symbiotic Hat]

Remember MiniDisc. Yeah ... It's an upgrade where an upgrade wasn't needed. Save your money.

[TogaForComfort]

I'm seeing more and more shop space dedicated to blu ray, it appears to be increasing in popularity.

I'm not convinced the way forward is digital delivery, people like something in their hands to justify their money. Until this changes I don't think boxed media will dissapear.

[QuantumTrickery]

I know several retailers are bumping up their retail floor space for Blu Ray. Best Buy is going to be bumping up to somewhere around 30% - 35% of their total movie space just for it company wide. Walmart has also been expanding space.

[DaDude]

Physical media isn't selling as well as it used to because people are downloading illegally. When I'm at work, they're about 3 people I know that admit to me that they do it. I tell them to buy or rent a certain movie because it's good. They're reply is: "Ah! That's a waste of money. I can just download it for free."

That's right. People are "illegally" downloading movies now, which is why physical media is declining in sales. The same happened with music. You don't honestly think that EVERYONE with Ipods have songs on them that are all legally copied. Very few people download their music and pay for them. The same will happen with movies. Why people would pick a ****ty DivX video over a nice, beautiful looking Blu-ray video in HD is beyond me.

Trust me. If storage will overtake Blu-ray, or even DVDs for that matter, they would've done that with music. Everyone listens to music on their Ipod or computer using memory. But they still refuse to ditch CDs despite its HUGE decline in sales. Apparently, no matter how successful memory-based media becomes, they will always try to have one physical media out there available as an option.

Edited August 7, 2009 by xraffle

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Physical media isn't selling as well as it used to because people are downloading illegally. When I'm at work, they're about 3 people I know that admit to me that they do it. I tell them to buy or rent a certain movie because it's good. They're reply is: "Ah! That's a waste of money. I can just download it for free."

That's right. People are "illegally" downloading movies now, which is why physical media is declining in sales. The same happened with music. You don't honestly think that EVERYONE with Ipods have songs on them that are all legally copied. Very few people download their music and pay for them. The same will happen with movies. Why people would pick a ****ty DivX video over a nice, beautiful looking Blu-ray video in HD is beyond me.

Uhh I'm pretty sure those people are picking a nice 1080p DTS supported MKV rip, not a DivX encode... just saying, you know, Blu Rays do get pirated.

Where digital distribution can curve piracy from the digitally inclined is by offering high quality access at any time DRM free encodes (im not talking streaming 1080p, I'm talking maximum quality 1080p encode to download whenever you need it). Some people just need a little encouragement to buy something, they don't necessarily want to pirate everything.

I don't want to own discs any more for films, like I don't want cds for music, but I ain't touching digital until the DRM is gone and encodes offer me completely transparent video and audio quality. Why? Well as I've explained if you buy a Blu Ray movie on disc you can rip it yourself to those standards. May mean the film ends up on your hard drive and the Blu Ray on a shelf, but that's fine with me till digital distribution sorts it's act out. I'd rather own two copies of my movie and go through the hassle of ripping the movie to my hard drive than own some "contracted" digital film I only have a license to watch and can't watch on anything else other than my PS3/360/set top box.

Edited August 7, 2009 by Audioboxer