The bias against Blu-ray has turned into bias against HDM...

[S2K1]

I personally don't see discs going away anytime soon. Hard drives fail, bandwidth not enough, and backups are put on another hard drive that could fail. But here is MSN Money's take on the format war.

"The Blu-ray and HD-DVD folks can bicker all they want about whose next-generation format is going to win. Comcast and other companies are laying plans now that could make that battle irrelevant.

Comcast today announced "Project Infinity," a grandiose name for a plan to make 1,000 high-def movies and TV shows available each month by the end of this year. By 2009, Comcast wants to offer 6,000 movies on demand -- half in HD.

Comcast will also begin rolling out ultra-high-speed Internet that allegedly allows you to download a high-def copy of a movie like "Batman Begins" in four minutes. I say "allegedly" because downloads in real life never seem to happen as fast as promised.

Comcast has much to do before Project Infinity materializes. The company only has 300 videos in its current on-demand service and hasn't even begun approaching TV networks or movie studios about its new plans. But the company is smartly getting the technology in place first.

Netflix is also lining up on-demand offerings, and announced a deal with LG to develop a set-top box that will stream movies over the Internet to high-def TVs. Although the last thing we need is yet another set-top box, this idea has potential and could end the DVD-by-mail system that Netflix pioneered.

Microsoft has lined up with the HD-DVD camp, but Bill Gates recently said he thinks digital downloads are going to eclipse the Blu-ray/HD-DVD war. "I think the real competitor in the long run is digital download," he told Reuters. "Just like in music, it's going to be the biggest of the three."

The company is quickly expanding its library of high-definition video on demand through its Xbox Live online service.

Consumer electronics experts think that next-generation DVD is a "temporary format" anyway, according to the WSJ, that will only last until a superior technology takes root. They agree that online movie distribution will dominate in the future.

So the Blu-ray and HD-DVD camps can go ahead and shell out hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the allegiance of movie studios. Many consumers are wisely sitting out this war, waiting for the dust to settle before buying a high-def player. And in the end, they may find both formats unnecessary."

[Jeff®]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=30537

[Neo65]

Nothing lasts forever. Even life itself is a temporary condition.

[Corrupteddragon]

Eventually things will go the way of downloads because people are stupid. I prefer to have physical media in my hand, but Joe Schmoe wants ease and convenience.

[cartier]

Sucks if you pay for it then ditch your content provider in favor of a different one. I don't think Comcast would let you take the movies you paid for to Verizon FiOS and vice versa.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by Corrupteddragon

Eventually things will go the way of downloads because people are stupid. I prefer to have physical media in my hand, but Joe Schmoe wants ease and convenience.

This is typical of MSN, since M$ is pushing downloads. It is funny how DD are now in the limelight, just after Blu-ray is considered a unanimous winner.

[jq71586]

I do believe they said they would have a certain number of channels broadcasting in HD by the end of 2007.

Guess what? They fell short.

[bryaaaant]

Yeah, from MSN Money. Propaganda anyone?

In my opinion, there are two types of movie consumers. One who rents and one who buys to collect. Which one do you think will conform to downloads?

[quaylie]

Originally Posted by Corrupteddragon

Eventually things will go the way of downloads because people are stupid. I prefer to have physical media in my hand, but Joe Schmoe wants ease and convenience.

I don't think downloads will win..i am the same way..when i pay for something..i like to feel it.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by quaylie

I don't think downloads will win..i am the same way..when i pay for something..i like to feel it.

........... . .. ... ...

[Knight-Errant]

I remember Mark Hamill saying once that as a collector he likes to actually see his stuff on the shelf.

I think it's part of the point for people to feel like they own an actual copy.

[#1 Rush fan]

Until majority of people have FIBER OPTIC coming into their homes, I seriously doubt the infamous Bill Gates or the CEO of Seagate.... I've been a computer geek/programmer and support technician for years, having used computers since about 1981 or so. And not JUST Microsoft(R) IBM clones. We have a situation today where people will wait and download music - it is much smaller in size and quicker to download.. I find it hard to imagine "joe sixpack" dealing with downloading movies and maintaining his computers correctly....heck...I have relatives who don't even have computers!!! To me, the computer does NOT belong in the living room or family room..YOU read it RIGHT....I'm a geek but will NOT have a computer acting as my television...nor do I think it should... I agree that people ARE collectors and like looking at a shelf full of DVD's and eventually Blu-ray discs... It's doubtful to me that the internet in it's current architecture can support hundreds of millions of people downloading movies, let alone HD ones...!!! The CEO of Seagate can go play with his hard drives...I'm going to load my shelves with Blu-ray....

[WriteSimply]

Downloads may become the norm one day. Whenever that is.

The KEY to downloads is
1) EVERYONE has one
2) The price for a minimum speed (100mbps?) is so low that it's crazy not to get one.
3) EVERYONE has a RAID server.

Here's a simple analogy of how it MUST work. You want to play MGS5 on your PS3 but it exists only as a download. So you download it provided that you have space on the PS3. Two things about that: you STILL have to wait for the download (MGS5 is not a small game) and if the future is download, you'd need a RAID server. But if MGS5 exists on disc, you just pop in the disc. Done.

Why a RAID server? Back up and redundancy. One HDD fails, it still is backed up. The problem with a RAID server is power. Even when you're not using 90% of the contents of it, you're still powering it up. As in, you can only watch ONE movie in one location of the house. Even if you have three HDTVs on the LAN, that's three movies. RAID servers is not GREEN - ie it is not good for the environment if everyone has it. With HDM, it's just there on the shelf and no energy is spent on storing it.


fuad

[littlejohn726]

i think retailers would fight digital downloads as much as they can. What happens to BB when people stop coming every tuesday like me to buy new movies and maybe something else.

[oldmike]

rember what the MS in MSN stands for and see this for what it is FUD

[PLASMA-1080P-FULLHD]

Originally Posted by oldmike

rember what the MS in MSN stands for and see this for what it is FUD

+1 They just want download..lol

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by oldmike

rember what the MS in MSN stands for and see this for what it is FUD

+1

[ehaser]

Sorry, but your ISP not MS is going to control this market. Just think about it. What's going to happen when you and all of your neighbors start downloading 50GB movies every night. Your ISP is either going to triple your $20-$30 internet bill every month or they're going to flat out stop giving you service.

[L or S of Perfect?]

Originally Posted by oldmike

rember what the MS in MSN stands for and see this for what it is FUD

lol....

that's the first thought that popped in my head.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by L or S of Perfect?

lol....

that's the first thought that popped in my head.

the 1st thought in my head was

"wow...this should be good"..