Overlooked Positive to This

[Mayor Quimby]

When music went from vinyl to cassette, a LOT of quality was lost for the sake of convenience. We see it happening today with mp3 downloads - downloads that cost the same as buying the cd and ripping it, DRM-FREE. Yet millions download them in lower quality because it's trendy, convenient etc. Well, guess what. If this war continues, look forward to highly compressed, expensive DRM'ed up the whazoo films with crummy audio. THAT is what downloadable film will be like - and not for a few years. It'll be a decade before downloads exceed BD quality. Because of Warner's decision, we can all look forward to watching literally thousands of amazing films in tremendously high quality - much better than what will be offered by iTunes in 2011 I'm willing to venture.

Any end to this war is fantastic and while I'm pro Blu I think it's the resolution of this mess that matters most.

[Esox50]

what you've posted, which is bascially that WB has secured the future of high quality packaged media, is not lost on most of us. As a long time home theater enthusiast, this is exactly why I supported BD exclusively.

I don't settle for second best. Thanks to WB for their thoughful and correct decision. It is much appreciated.

[EVERYONE LIES]

I think downloads will never take off. if you want to watch die hard on your computer more power to you but i will watch it on my tv while sitting my fat ass on the couch. Pay per view has been around for years, it is the exact same thing and no downloading is needed. If microsoft puts all their eggs in this basket they are screwed.

[Mayor Quimby]

Originally Posted by EVERYONE LIES

I think downloads will never take off. if you want to watch die hard on your computer more power to you but i will watch it on my tv while sitting my fat ass on the couch. Pay per view has been around for years, it is the exact same thing and no downloading is needed. If microsoft puts all their eggs in this basket they are screwed.

I think Microsoft is just a complete MESS right now. They are SO behind the times it's not even funny. If this new 'open architecture' X-Box 360 thing happens, it'll be such a disaster. Everything Gates is involved in just comes across as second rate and when Apple announces Blu drives in it's new laptops, it'll just help its PC market share move forward. The ship that is Microsoft is springing more and more leaks every day!

[Khaos337]

Speaking of downloadable movies, as i'm sure most of you have heard, netflix is working on creating a box with LG where you can stream HD movies directly to your TV. I wonder what the specs will be. Granted it will be no where near the quality of blu, but the vast majority of consumers aren't hardcore enthusiasts.

[Sylin]

I've been saying this for years: downloaded movies/tv shows will never take off until a service is provided that lets you download what you want, on demand, and let you xfer it to whatever device you want.

The closest thing to that is iTunes/AppleTV. It's far more robust than Xbox Live and has a much broader user base and studio support. Plus it's free... you just pay for the content you want. Unlike XBL, where you pay, and then pay some more.

Give me a device/service where I can buy lossless music, movies, sports (live!), tv shows, etc. of my own choosing. Let me download it to a central media server in my home (a la slingbox/tivo/appletv) where I can then enjoy the media in my home theater, radio, iPod, laptop, car, whatever. Oh, and I'm gonna need the bandwidth (100 Mbps+) to make it worthwhile. Don't forget to make it affordable... it's new media, buffet style!

The day THAT tech is available is the day when solid state media will be unnecessary. But that day is at LEAST a decade away.

[Mayor Quimby]

Originally Posted by ikcizokm

I've been saying this for years: downloaded movies/tv shows will never take off until a service is provided that lets you download what you want, on demand, and let you xfer it to whatever device you want.

I'm not so sure unfortunately. It's not about downloads yet, but cable HD feeds. I've watched HDNet films and they look very good. I don't think most people can tell the diff between HDNet and Blu-Ray, especially with the early BD transfers. My point in starting the thread is that as long as this format war continues, we may NEVER see so many great films in anything better than HDNet quality which means artifacts, mediocre sound quality etc. And we wouldn't be able to own those films either.