Blu-ray Enthusiasts Alone Can't Save the Format

Death of Blu-Ray

Is coming by way of the security. I recently bought(6 months ago) a blu-ray drive. It worked as advertised. I watched a few movies and the picture was very nice indeed.

Moving ahead too today I discover that my rented blu-ray movies will no longer play on this drive or the software does not support the format.. Doesn't really matter. I decided okay maybe running blu-ray from the pc is too new and a waste of money (since it didn't last long and or the technical hurdles are too much that I was not able to get much out of my investment), I read on the side of the box of a samsung blu-ray and right there, I stopped. Samsung in writing says it cannot be certain that this player will support future blu-ray content etc... That for me was the death of Blu-Ray... I will not buy another blu-ray player of any type until it can be certain that a blu ray disc will always work in a blu-ray player even if the player has a way to get updates would possibly make it palatable till so long Blu-Ray ..........

Bart Williams of AK @ May 03, 2009 02:21:23 AM

Upscaled looks like rubbish compared with blue.

Seriously.

I have a 14.1 inch laptop screen which I watch 1080i HDTV on.

In New Zealand, we have a free HDTV service called freeview with H.264 video and 2 aac audio or 5.1 ac3, and a high bandwidth of over 10meg/s, and when they screen upscaled movies, it looks better than standard definition, but nowhere near as good as native definition.

David @ Nov 17, 2008 05:49:42 AM

it is very true that you really need a good hdtv and 5.1 surround set-up to take advantage of Blu-Ray.

However, as more and more people get hdtvs they will want to see how good their expensive new investment can look, and that's when they'll find out how amazing Blu-ray can look.

all these so called "experts" who preach how blu-ray will fail because of dvd fail to take into account that the studios will be slowly phasing out dvd over the next few years.

Digital downloads will have their place in the market, but blu-ray will co-exist just fine for years to come.

The studios STILL control which content gets offered in all the various formats--something else the so called "experts" conveniently seem to forget.

The studios will NEVER allow downloads to trump Blu-ray simply because there is way more money to be made from getting many people hooked on "dvd 2" as it were.

Also, many people will always prefer the exceptional quality of Blu-Rays over downloads or streaming.

Arkadin of AL @ Nov 16, 2008 17:14:37 PM

Digital downloads have a long way to go before they can hold a candle to Blu-Ray

Many people like having the physical disc, or are not willing to sacrifice quality for the convenience of downloading. I for one will not buy the compressed, even-worse-than-CD-quality music downloads that services like iTunes foist on the public. Likewise, until digital downloads are not just blurry compressed 720P wannabes, they are not very interesting. I am eager to see an internet connection that can deliver Blu-Ray quality. It would require streaming 6 MB/sec. That is about 8 times the theoretical speed of cable internet providers, and about 12 times what my service gives.

As for price, Blu-Rays are about 20 bucks on Amazon. Does anyone actually buy them from the rip-off stores that charge $30-40? I got all 5 Harry Potter Blu-Rays on Ebay (new) for about $80. That is $16 apiece. I am using a 1920x1200 (better than 1080P) 24" computer monitor that only cost $400. Blu-Rays look AMAZING on it. Of course, that is more for use at a desk than a living room. And I use a $15 HDMI cable from Fry's.

Brent of CA @ Nov 15, 2008 17:51:30 PM

There IS a choke point on all of this

The ISP's limiting their bandwidth for previously 'unlimited' users (ie the normal home user) will put a serious crimp on the internet streaming market unless the FCC steps in and requires caps be placed at a level that allows HD streaming of movies without incurring a usage penalty.

We need some serious regulation before the cable companies will allow the nascent technology of streaming HD movies to become 'commonplace'.

Beyond that, in these economic times, there will be even fewer people buying high-end HDTV's or Blu-ray players. The point of fact is that these are really luxury items at the prices they want for them. Sure, a blu-ray player can be had for $200.00, but you can't buy an HDTV of any size for that, and when CRT-based tv's were sold, you could get a 27 incher for under a hundred bucks. They tended to last longer (the picture remained brighter over a longer period of time) and technology can be adapted to make them work with anything today.

The bottom line IS the bottom line. People don't want expensive HDTV's if they have to choose between them and putting food on the table. In an economic downturn, people start eyeballing every expense to decide how badly they need it. And, frankly, given those choices, the whole idea of HDTV demand is ludicrous. It's not NEEDED and is a relic of the consumerism and advertising that drove technology (Faster, bigger, better, stronger, clearer). It filled a market for which demand has always been lukewarm and because of the economy, a lack of credit and other factors, has grown cold.

What was true before the markets collapsed is still true: I don't NEED an HDTV. I have DVD's, a reliable 27 inch TV and a DVD player - all bought for less than the price of any Blu-ray player on the market today. My entertainment is adequate. My opinion is the norm for most consumers, I'd think. HDTV is not in our immediate or even near future. Until the economy turns around, or the price of these items drops significantly (on the order of 50%-80%), I don't expect it will ever be in our near future, and maybe not even then. Economic hardships tend to forge habits of austerity and thrift and HDTV's are neither austere nor thrifty.

The economy's first casualty are luxury goods, and though marketed to the masses, HDTV's have always been priced as a luxury beyond the relatively easy reach of most consumers. With the downturn, I expect manufacturers to either cut prices or stop making them. People are not going to buy what they can't afford and they are even less able to afford them now than even a year ago.

I'm NOT opposed to new technology. I just don't see the NEED for this one being acute enough or more advantageous enough to spur people to part with their increasingly hard to get money in order to own one.

Fatesrider of CA @ Nov 15, 2008 14:31:48 PM

people will always want better things

from radio to TV, from black & white to color, VHS to DVD, SD to HD...etc

The only thing preventing people from getting better things is price. Price does fall eventually.

So far the best thing out there is blu ray. It only a matter of time that most people will own a HDTV and blu-ray.

frank of CA @ Nov 15, 2008 13:41:19 PM

Too many expensive extras needed

Blu-rays big problem is that the 2 big things it offers over DVD - picture quality and audio quality - are not going to happen in enough places.

Far too many people see an impressive 60" HD display in a shop (often showing a cartoon like Cars or Ratatouille) and wonder how come it looks so poor on the 37" HD TV they might actaully have brought home.

Sadly you need a very expensive & huge HD TV, at normal viewing distances, to make the most of 1080p HD.

You also need a very expensive high-end audio set-up (receiver & speakers) to even hear the high quality audio it can offer.

None of that is ever going to happen in the mass-market.

That's why DVD upscaled on a 'normal' HD TV looks great.

That's why Dolby Digital (for the minority of homes with even that) is good enough.

That's why HD TV services (HD ON your HD TV all the time, how could it not attract custom?) with a nive DVR offering Video on Demand is so obviously the big thing this time around.

Digital downloading will follow quickly enough as the 'mp3' of the movie world.

When the video libraries are up, running, convenient & priced to attract people will forget all about physical discs.

Most HD TVs are relatively small (32" - 42") and in fact figures to sept show they are still 'only' 720p sets.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/lower_res_tv_sales_outpace_1080p_hurting_blu_ray

We also now know HD TVs only make up 34% of the total US TV installed market

http://www.leichtmanresearch.com/press/111208release.html

I reckon Blu-ray will be a short-lived minority niche in an already heavily splintered market.

DaveBG of CA @ Nov 15, 2008 10:39:37 AM