Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[Lincoln6Echo]

Originally Posted by KRW1

It's because we're a few years ahead in terms of internet, I've always thought.

Netflix and Skybox sets or whatever they are, have totally destroyed the DVD/BD rental markets. I don't think it's possible here to actually go and rent a movie anymore. I read about Redbox and imagine something out of the ark. Like paying to borrow a disc? I can buy a second hand disc for pennies or a few pounds for a bluray and just keep it or give it away.

We don't have massive entertainment stores like Best Buy or JB Hi Fi anymore either. Best Buy crashed and burned when it tried to open here. There was one near me, but I'm not gong to actually go there when I can get a disc delivered from Amazon on the same day. I think HMV is still bravely pushing forward but I've not been in one for years.

That might be the case with regards to the Internet speed and quality there. I just switched to DISH Net a few months ago, and it sucks. Relatively slow speeds at only 5-9 Mbps, but the biggest problem is limited bandwidth per month. Only 10 GB per month. I burn thru that in about 10-14 days, just with average YouTube video watching let alone trying to download streaming content at 2 GB at a pop. What gets me is that DISH has On Demand services on their Satellite TV service but their own Internet service can't handle it in terms of speed nor bandwidth. I would have never switched to DishNet if I knew about their limited bandwidth per month.

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by Lincoln6Echo

That might be the case with regards to the Internet speed and quality there. I just switched to DISH Net a few months ago, and it sucks. Relatively slow speeds at only 5-9 Mbps, but the biggest problem is limited bandwidth per month. Only 10 GB per month. I burn thru that in about 10-14 days, just with average YouTube video watching let alone trying to download streaming content at 2 GB at a pop. What gets me is that DISH has On Demand services on their Satellite TV service but their own Internet service can't handle it in terms of speed nor bandwidth. I would have never switched to DishNet if I knew about their limited bandwidth per month.

We're a lot smaller too, don't forget. Even rural places manage decent internet here, I am told. (though my Dad still uses dial up when he can be bothered).

I think actually DVD started the death of the rental market here. Why pay £4 to rent a movie when you could wait a while and buy it cheaper in a 3 for £10 deal?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Lincoln6Echo

Just $9 Million for TNG, huh? That's actually not that bad. Considering how much studios spend on movies these days, $9 Mill would only get you food costs. Maybe if we can get Donald Trump elected, he could send over a few dozen million to CBS and get DS9 and VOY remastered.

That's not factoring Blu-ray production costs and the several hundred million they spent making the show. Remember these costs (which might not include the in-house work) don't guarantee a return, TNG was a financial success as they sold it for syndication, but it sort of tanked on Blu-ray. Voyager would be a slot filler, Deep Space Nine slightly less so. So whilst you can turn around a movie in quick time, mastering 172 episodes is going to book your facilities for a year or more.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Stinky-Dinkins

Reported.

Stinky, long time no hear?

I see you’re still wearing dem goggles. If they always represented a homemade solution to interobserver variability with regards to WCG….. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...21975/abstract , then perhaps from thee outset, you were always ahead of the game.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by dubious

BDs aren't dying, people are just getting dumber and more content with sub-par media delivery formats. Do I really need to convince the friends I just made switch to BD from DVD, to now go to UHD, when they look at me crazy for wanting to calibrate their TV. The general population would just assume watch cat videos on youtube all day.

Tell me about it! Every time I go to a friends house I always offer to do a quick calibration to maximize their video quality. Immediately afterwards they are amazed when I show them a Blu-ray in action. Then, usually a week or two later I almost always get a message stating that their image is suddenly "really crappy." When I ask them what they were watching the answer is always either DVD or streaming service content. I tell them to put in a Blu-ray and then get back to me. The response after that is usually "Oh. Wow. Why doesn't everything look as good as Blu-ray? Aren't they just the same as DVDs?" And this is after me spending half an hour calibrating their sets while explaining to them, in lamens terms, the differences in resolution and information transfer speeds of each format.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by dubious

BDs aren't dying, people are just getting dumber and more content with sub-par media delivery formats. Do I really need to convince the friends I just made switch to BD from DVD, to now go to UHD, when they look at me crazy for wanting to calibrate their TV. The general population would just assume watch cat videos on youtube all day.

Then it is "dying" if by dying, you mean "in decline" for the very reasons you state: "people are more content with sub-par media delivery formats."

Originally Posted by GenPion

Short answer: No.
It's still growing. A lot of catalog titles are still coming out on the format.

I don't know how you define "growing", but I define it as an increase in revenue, units or market share. BD is declining in all three categories.

As compared with last year at this time, Blu is down 15.28% in revenue and 13.68% in units. It has only a 31% physical market revenue share and a 21% physical market unit share. I don't have current figures for "digital", but digital revenue in 2015 will greatly exceed physical revenue. (All figures for U.S.)

In a typical week, only the five best-selling BDs sell more on BD than on DVD. For the week ending August 2nd, only two titles sold more on BD than on DVD. The 20th best-selling Blu-ray sold only 26.25% of the units on Blu (73.85% on DVD). Now just imagine how poorly the 21st bestselling title and beyond sold on Blu.

Blu is a great format and I love it as much as anyone, but that doesn't mean I live in denial. As Dubious points out above, most people are content with crap and so don't care about the quality aspects of Blu.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

The response after that is usually "Oh. Wow. Why doesn't everything look as good as Blu-ray? Aren't they just the same as DVDs?" And this is after me spending half an hour calibrating their sets while explaining to them, in lamens terms, the differences in resolution and information transfer speeds of each format.

IMO, the industry has failed to sell consumers on the benefits of Blu-ray and that's why it's done so poorly. Even the NY Times considers a Blu-ray to be "DVD". I realize it's hard to sell consumers on high quality technology when so few people understand even a modicum of physics, but they could have done better. How about a simple marketing tag like, "It looks and sounds better on Blu". Or a marketing campaign with famous directors saying things like, "If you want to see and hear it like I intended you to, watch it on Blu." But it's too late for all that.

In a few years, we'll get some revisionists claiming how VHS was truly the best medium all along because the low-res picture made it "gritty and real".

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

IMO, the industry has failed to sell consumers on the benefits of Blu-ray and that's why it's done so poorly. Even the NY Times considers a Blu-ray to be "DVD". I realize it's hard to sell consumers on high quality technology when so few people understand even a modicum of physics, but they could have done better. How about a simple marketing tag like, "It looks and sounds better on Blu". Or a marketing campaign with famous directors saying things like, "If you want to see and hear it like I intended you to, watch it on Blu." But it's too late for all that.

In a few years, we'll get some revisionists claiming how VHS was truly the best medium all along because the low-res picture made it "gritty and real".

We got all that, though, as I recall. We had people like Disney saying BD-Live would revolutionise home entertainment and some directors saying bluray was the only way to watch their stuff at home. I can't remember who but I think I remember Steve Soderburgh and, er, Micheal Bay banging on about it. I don't think it helped and certainly wouldn't now. We're sold, us lot but a lot of people, an awful lot of people, don't even realise films have directors and if they do, they certainly don't care about their opinions. I remember an old girlfriend who just couldn't get it into her head that Tom Cruise did write, direct and star in all his films. It started with an innocent remark along the lines of "I don't understand why some Tom Cruise films are good and some bad".

I think what really stopped the casual crowd from jumping on board was the format war. Hell, I even lost interest for a while, it was so toxic. On the shelves, you had confusion with three different formats, (inc DVD) and on the internet it was WAR. A lot of people ignored, carried on buying DVDs and still do. HD is something Netlix comes in.

Despite all that, it's still performed better than I'd ever have hoped. When I eventually jumped on board, I expected it to fizzle out after a few waves of Hollywood blockbusters and classics. I never dreamed it would end up the movie buffs format it did end up, with obscure, classic and cult titles dominating the release schedules in 2015. Suits me down to the ground but who could have predicted Nekromantik 2 would have a relase before Bad Boys 2?

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by KRW1

Despite all that, it's still performed better than I'd ever have hoped.

It is surprising that Blu has sold as well as it has, especially with the price premium. There is no doubt in my mind that 4x3, SD TV's would still dominate the market if they were still available and substantially cheaper.

In the early days I thought Blu would only appeal to us front projector owners but it has penetrated well beyond that market segment.

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by KRW1

Despite all that, it's still performed better than I'd ever have hoped. When I eventually jumped on board, I expected it to fizzle out after a few waves of Hollywood blockbusters and classics. I never dreamed it would end up the movie buffs format it did end up, with obscure, classic and cult titles dominating the release schedules in 2015. Suits me down to the ground but who could have predicted Nekromantik 2 would have a relase before Bad Boys 2?

Even laserdisc had that. I believe around 20000 titles were released on the format. And while that format was also "successful", it was still niche.

It's important to separate personal expectations from those in the industry who have the power to make stuff happen. Blu-ray was definitely intended to replace DVD and was marketed to the mainstream. It had good momentum early on (which coincided with the recession), but then growth fizzled out rather quickly.

Certainly no expected to see DVD still hanging around in 2015 with a massive 68 percent revenue share in disc sales. That's the real eyebrow raiser. Sure Blu-ray is doing "just fine", but much more was expected from the industry than a peak 32 percent share. Fortunately for them DVD is still picking up Blu-ray's slack, and the legacy format is actually now declining at a slow rate than Blu-ray, which is a another shocker.

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

It's important to separate personal expectations from those in the industry who have the power to make stuff happen. .

I have zero personal expectations anymore. Everything I, and a lot of other people, predicted about bluray was wrong which is why I don't make or take seriously anyone making predictions about UHD today.

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

It is surprising that Blu has sold as well as it has, especially with the price premium. There is no doubt in my mind that 4x3, SD TV's would still dominate the market if they were still available and substantially cheaper.

In the early days I thought Blu would only appeal to us front projector owners but it has penetrated well beyond that market segment.

It was Blu that pushed me into that market segment, I suspect I'm not alone - I never saw the point for DVD as it always looked pretty weak projected. Blu looks like cinema to me, when done properly. Happy if it stays as it is, happy to see what UHD brings.

[sonicyogurt]

Originally Posted by KRW1

I never saw the point for DVD as it always looked pretty weak projected.

Out of curiosity, what did you watch projected prior to Blu-ray? HD content was pretty limited throughout much of DVD's pre-Blu lifespan (and was non-existent when the format launched). When I bought into DVD in 1999, for instance, my other options for watching movies at home were standard definition PPV, standard definition cable/broadcast TV, or VHS. HD cable/satellite did not exist. In 2003 when I bought my first HDTV, I had something like 8 channels to choose from (not all of my locals had gone HD yet), with only two around-the-clock HD channels while the rest showed more SD content than HD. From my experience, HD cable/satellite tends to look pretty lousy projected as well.

DVD was a godsend for many years and eclipsed the quality of the alternatives. I can't even relate to the idea of someone saying "I never saw the point for DVD".

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by sonicyogurt

Out of curiosity, what did you watch projected prior to Blu-ray? HD content was pretty limited throughout much of DVD's pre-Blu lifespan (and was non-existent when the format launched). When I bought into DVD in 1999, for instance, my other options for watching movies at home were standard definition PPV, standard definition cable/broadcast TV, or VHS. HD cable/satellite did not exist. In 2003 when I bought my first HDTV, I had something like 8 channels to choose from (not all of my locals had gone HD yet), with only two around-the-clock HD channels while the rest showed more SD content than HD. From my experience, HD cable/satellite tends to look pretty lousy projected as well.

DVD was a godsend for many years and eclipsed the quality of the alternatives. I can't even relate to the idea of someone saying "I never saw the point for DVD".

Setting a projector up involved too much outlay for the benefit of DVD for me. I was quite happy watching on a smaller screen.

I don't understand your point, tbh, DVD was great, and in a lot of ways still is, but I didn't see the point buying into a projection system for it. BD seems made for it. I'll play the odd DVD now, and grit my teeth through it, but if DVD was all we had, I'd be happy with a 50-60" set.

[sonicyogurt]

Originally Posted by KRW1

I don't understand your point, tbh

Sorry, I think that's on me. I was reading your post in isolation rather than solely in the context of front projection. I thought you were saying that because DVD didn't look great projected, the format never served any purpose.

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by sonicyogurt

Sorry, I think that's on me. I was reading your post in isolation rather than solely in the context of front projection. I thought you were saying that because DVD didn't look great projected, the format never served any purpose.

No worries, but oh, no, I loved DVD to death.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by KRW1

I was quite happy watching on a smaller screen.

Its been a big screen for me for many years, starting with a Kloss Novabeam Model 1A in early 1985 along with a Pioneer LaserDisc player and Sony βeta Hi-Fi. In general, DVD was a big improvement in PQ over LaserDisc. Pretty much halted DVD purchase when D-VHS D-Theater came along.

[mredman]

ZoetMB You do know there is more to the world than just USA right ?? and most other places aroiund the world Blu-Ray is going strong. Take a look at the latest numbers for Germany for instance where it INCREASED from last years numbers

Blu-ray Disc sales continued growth in the first half 2015 :

http://www.areadvd.de/news/blu-ray-d...halbjahr-2015/

[RodChester]

I came across this article on Flavorwire tonight and thought it was very well done and interesting. It goes pretty in depth about the current state of physical media and all the niche/cult home video companies that are releasing catalog titles. Well worth a read.

http://flavorwire.com/535883/the-pre...eping-it-alive

[OrlandoEastwood]

As someone who is running their own film studio. I am personally excited about the prospect of doing BD releases for my work as well as licensing out movies from other studios. I think the thing with the niche studios is that the main Hollywood studios have too many items on their plate as it is. Back in the day, the only mainstream niche studio was Goodtimes who licensed out Universal titles, like Halloween II and Jaws: the Revenge.

[xander]

It's notable that the guy who is a fanatic film collector still hasn't upgraded to Blu yet.