Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

On top of that I am praying TV sets will still be around or the bluray thing is irrelevant lol.

Physical media’s got enough beans left to have conferences at the upcoming NAB about it – http://www.mtaconference.com/

And Dolby will be promoting their vision for future TV sets at their booth.

[mredman]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

I disagree, streaming is here, has been here and will remain here for sometime. IMO, streaming is not a competitor for physical media. Regardless of what Hastings says, streaming (notably SVOD, i.e., Netflix, Amazon, Redbox Instant, etc.) is a direct competitor to the MCVP’s. If you want to watch any content with any real value then you must purchase or rent (physical or electronic) that content. The electronic content seems to be working fairly well for Apple (65% market share?) but all the rest has to divide up the remaining 35%.

The fact that Blu-ray is down YoY for 2014 is easy, very few titles released this year that anyone wants to purchase.

A recent survey showed that 55% had no interest in UHD unless it was available via their pay TV provider and the other 45% had no interest in UHD unless it was available via physical disc.

IMO, the content owners has devalued their product to the point that they need to adjust the price of their Blu-ray titles. The days of large volume of 20 to 30 dollar title sales are gone and never to return.

Agree blu ray is strong and not going anywhere. Streaming is Nice but it will never compete with how good blu ray is on all accounts

[Midnight Rambler]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

It's looking inevitable that streaming is next.

Actually, it's looking quite the opposite, at least in the U.S., with ISP's implementing data caps, throttling speeds, etc.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

I disagree, streaming is here, has been here and will remain here for sometime. IMO, streaming is not a competitor for physical media. Regardless of what Hastings says, streaming (notably SVOD, i.e., Netflix, Amazon, Redbox Instant, etc.) is a direct competitor to the MCVP’s. If you want to watch any content with any real value then you must purchase or rent (physical or electronic) that content. The electronic content seems to be working fairly well for Apple (65% market share?) but all the rest has to divide up the remaining 35%.

The fact that Blu-ray is down YoY for 2014 is easy, very few titles released this year that anyone wants to purchase.

A recent survey showed that 55% had no interest in UHD unless it was available via their pay TV provider and the other 45% had no interest in UHD unless it was available via physical disc.

IMO, the content owners has devalued their product to the point that they need to adjust the price of their Blu-ray titles. The days of large volume of 20 to 30 dollar title sales are gone and never to return.

Streaming, Digital HD, itunes downloads, all the same to me

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by punkguy03

As has been stated already we still have cds! Blu-ray isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Time will tell, but I'm not putting any stock in the article. Heck I have a stand alone gps too and I like it a lot more than my gps on my galaxy s3. It just works better to me.

It's all about personal preference.

CDs? I still buy all my new music on vinyl.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Folks need to remember that DVD sales had started declining before most folks had even heard the term “streaming”. If they had not started to decline then HD media may well have been delayed in coming to market. There is a limited amount of desirable content available, once the market saturates then sales will decline.

I know my list of desired BD titles has become fairly short. If the titles available from the Sony 4K Unlimited are an indicator of things to come then my UHD BD title repurchase list will be much shorter than my BD title repurchase list was. Please note, I have not seen any of the Sony 4K titles but others that I trust have.

[Tok]

Well said.

There's a paradigm shift. Younger people don't necessarily want to stream their content they just don't value movies and television shows like their parents did.

The communal experience is being lost on the tablet smartphone generation.

[Packerfan75]

Until I see devices capable of not only quickly downloading but saving an entire library of bluray quality movies, (we're still far from that) I wouldn't worry about blurays going anywhere.
A couple things to factor in as well:
-Studios know we like physical media which is why we get slipcovers, steelbooks and re-releases with custom packaging.
-Bluray itself is still kind of niche and DVD is still going strong which says it's risky to bet on new and expensive technology to persuade enough people to buy into a new format. 3D and 4K being good examples of slow adoption.
-Steaming is still inferior to blurays so there isn't even another choice in terms of quality. Streaming isn't owning either.
-The memory it would take to hold a library of bluray quality movies has yet to be invented so we exchange our library for what?
-Bluray offers a significant leap in quality compared to the previous dvd format. The next format offers what?
Yeah, eventually blurays will be replaced but I don't see it happening for a long time. Bluray is good for studios and consumers.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Tok

Well said.

There's a paradigm shift. Younger people don't necessarily want to stream their content they just don't value movies and television shows like their parents did.

The communal experience is being lost on the tablet smartphone generation.

If that's true film will die with our generation pretty much. 40 years or so.

[Tok]

Well some of it can also be linked to the overall economy of the last 6 years.

DVD sales were already sliding in 2008 but the economic crisis further impacted it and it slowed the growth of the BD market as well.

But films seem to be a dying medium. Sure we still have big blockbusters occasionally but most film fans now wait for a title to hit other distribution windows.

I didn't see one best picture nominee this year. Part of that is due to being a busy parent and some of it is related to the fact that few interested me enough to get me to the the theater.

I'm sure I'll eventually get to them but it will be a while.

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

If that's true film will die with our generation pretty much. 40 years or so.

I'm not sure they don't value the cinematic experience as much as for them, cinema is just another fast consumption product. They were born into a generation of film making where CGI basically can imitate reality to such a point that their imagination, the awe we all felt on our first Ray Harryhausen movie is non-existent. If we wanted to see said movie we'd hope it would get a 2nd run.

Now most movies have a 2-3 week run unless it's a major, and we get the BD in like 3 months. Gone is the "glory" of cinema and that spells a definite change in what we will soon witness as entertainment. And we can't really expect that generation to "get" what we're debating, it's a non-issue to them.

But as long as our "PCs" still use optical media, we should be fine. But I see what M$ is doing with the XBone as a 1st step in unifying all of our media toys in 1. And please, I'm not even debating if it's a good or bad thing, just saying, in the end it's what makes most sens and as long as hard media exists you should have easy access to it also. I see competition as a good thing and believe the "ophiles" of the world will always be catered to, as long as the added value and revenue is worth it. But not much more than 2 years ago Hi-Rez was an extremely niche concept, in music at least, and is now getting mainstream notice which I believe is a tremendous positive sign for the future of HT. 4K is highly debated but if in the end we get better color space, HDR etc for the same price we now get a better than average 1080p set, I say bring it on, even if that means the very early adopters get shafted as I frankly believe that if they adopt early they either have way too much $ or are willing to get the benefits now, even if it really isn't half-baked.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Tok

Well some of it can also be linked to the overall economy of the last 6 years.

DVD sales were already sliding in 2008 but the economic crisis further impacted it and it slowed the growth of the BD market as well.

But films seem to be a dying medium. Sure we still have big blockbusters occasionally but most film fans now wait for a title to hit other distribution windows.

I didn't see one best picture nominee this year. Part of that is due to being a busy parent and some of it is related to the fact that few interested me enough to get me to the the theater.

I'm sure I'll eventually get to them but it will be a while.

That's a big shout Tok. If I was saying that I would be slaughtered. Film a dying medium?

[Tok]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

If that's true film will die with our generation pretty much. 40 years or so.

Also did you hear Spielberg and Lucas speculating that the days of the blockbuster are coming to an end. If several studios take a huge bath on failed projects then Lucas suggested a day where seeing a big event movie might cost $50/ticket. I don't see how that model would ever fly and keep the movie industry afloat. More likely we we see the continuing consolidation down to fewer and fewer studios. Eventually it will just be the studio. Hope everyone likes mouse ears.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Tok

Also did you hear Spielberg and Lucas speculating that the days of the blockbuster are coming to an end. If several studios take a huge bath on failed projects then Lucas suggested a day where seeing a big event movie might cost $50/ticket. I don't see how that model would ever fly and keep the movie industry afloat. More likely we we see the continuing consolidation down to fewer and fewer studios. Eventually it will just be the studio. Hope everyone likes mouse ears.

Amazon and Netflix will become their own studio.

[Tok]

Amazon will put money into something that has a guaranteed high rate of return. TV and film is anything but that. More failures than successes.

[alphadec]

Originally Posted by Taat

It will just go to downloadable content in about ten years

bullshit

[NetSpiker]

What will happen after Blu-ray? I'm still waiting for every movie and TV show worth watching to be released on Blu-ray. DVDs and Blu-rays are currently the only way to get deleted scenes, so I won't be abandoning them any time soon. I wish deleted scenes were available for download. I'm also hoping for a type of physical media that can fit 4 or 5 movies on a single disc.

[Goremeister100]

There are always people around to over-hype the newest technology. I'm perfectly happy with blu-ray and I'm in no hurry to change. I'm more interested in enjoying what I have instead of obsessing over a little more resolution. Besides, I won't be brainwashed into buying a tv that's too big for my living room. As long as blu-ray is around, I'll keep buying. That's even if a new disc format arrives on shelves. BD will be to me what DVD is to a lot of people now because obviously a lot of people are still happy with dvds.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by facepalmmonkey

I recently converted to a Mac and have been relying on Netflix and iTunes for entertainment. Since I am busy with college work, I haven't bought a single Blu-Ray this year. I don't know anyone who actually buys DVDs or Blu-Rays. It bums me out because I want to have that option in the future.

Do you see Blu-Rays sticking around for a while?

Yes. Some of us AREN'T in college and have money.
(And we have more of it, since we're not buying everything on iTunes.)

Originally Posted by KRW1

Wait, what, they still released porn on disc?

I think this emphasizes the key difference:
Porn works better in digital, because it's something you DON'T want to keep around on your shelf...

And for those curious enough to look back, the thread started back in 2007, with "Oh noes, is HDDVD going to win the war?"
Sometimes, one thinks we're just happier worrying.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by facepalmmonkey

I recently converted to a Mac and have been relying on Netflix and iTunes for entertainment. Since I am busy with college work, I haven't bought a single Blu-Ray this year. I don't know anyone who actually buys DVDs or Blu-Rays. It bums me out because I want to have that option in the future.

Do you see Blu-Rays sticking around for a while?

GAME OVER MAN! IT'S GAME OVER!