Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

If this was true then why does a downscale BD to SD only on available BW look better then DVD?

Originally Posted by KarstenSch

Simple. The target environment was changed from DVD to BD. DVD was always targeted to a 50/60Hz CRT

DVDs (SD) were optimized for interlaced displays so vertical resolution was filtered to prevent 30Hz flickering of sharp lines. 480i not 480p

Originally Posted by KarstenSch

But you have the problem that most people don't have rooms where you can place a 2k or 4k display.

HDTVs are 2K

1920 ~

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by octagon

... a case can be made that the jump from DVD to BD doesn't always have a wow factor I wasn't comparing a DVD played on a 21" CRT to a BD played on a 55" HDTV.

A lot of people are buying HD sets but not buying BD players and a lot of people with BD players are reluctant to upgrade titles they currently own on DVD and one of the reasons for that is DVDs can look awfully good on an HDTV..

FWIW that wasn’t my own experience at all. I saw my first DVDs in 2004 on a 13” 4:3 CRT and went Blah. Looks like VHS-on-a-disc! Then in early ’06 I bought a 26” 16:9 480p/1080i CRT, fired up the Superbit DVD of Charlie’s Angels (in prog-scan 480p via component video cables) and again said Blah. I remember this day distinctly, how disappointing it was seeing the Superbit DVD on the new set and thinking “That’s it???” But HD cable (movies and sports in 1080i on this same TV) just blew DVD away.

For me there was never any “wow factor” to DVD whatever on any TV. It was ho-hum start to finish. All the wows were with hi-def, first CATV, now Blu-ray.

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by Bk_Tan

Blu-Ray cannot hope to achieve DVD-like sales because DVD is/was the catalogue king.

Define "DVD-like sales".

DVD wins on catalog titles like you say, but people are so convinced that Blu-Ray is failing or will fail that they ignore the fact that the Iron Man got to 1 million Blu-Rays faster than the Matrix got to 1 million DVDs..._and_ Warner placed external pressure on the market to make the Matrix DVD succeed(by not releasing a VHS at all for months).

DVD is the king of total percentage, but there are a lot of ways to make the claim that Blu-Ray has been more successful. More players and (some) faster milestones in spite of having a much more serious competitor than DVD ever did.

Blu-ray will most likely be the last physical format. It is still several years, but through the digital streaming media, it has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years to replace - both in quantity and quality...

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by yuanyelss

Blu-ray will most likely be the last physical format. It is still several years, but through the digital streaming media, it has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years to replace - both in quantity and quality...

Streaming??? Quality???

[frogmort]

Ultimately, no. But it's by far the best thing going right now!

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by frogmort

Ultimately, no. But it's by far the best thing going right now!

If pixelization is your thing then yeah, sure.

[Dustin770]

If Blu-ray eventually disapears I hope it's only replaced with something better that comes on a disc or whatever tangible object is being used in the future. Unless digital downloads drastically improve their quality I'll never buy into it. Ive only bought 3 albums from iTunes and a couple of HD movies all of them I ended up buying the cd/blu cause the sound was that much different to me. Granted in my headphones at the gym the (music) sounded fine but put that into a decent sound system at home and youll be wishin you had a disc!Compare the two side by side. Why can't we download files from iTunes or wherever as a losless or even wav file! instead it's always 256kbps if I pay the same price either way Id rather have all the uncompressed info that comes on the disc. This same thinking applies to Blu.Unless all the information that comes on the blu is included in the download then you are paying more for less. Also I have a limmited bandwidth per day on my internet service and would end up using my whole days alotment for half of one movie (10gb per day, yes my internet service blows but no other provider in area) also 50gb Downloads would take a while and if you have a collection of a few hundred high def movies in a few years and continue to add to it your gonna need a serious hard drive to store it all!

[Zoodles95]

Originally Posted by Dustin770

If Blu-ray eventually disapears I hope it's only replaced with something better that comes on a disc or whatever tangible object is being used in the future. Unless digital downloads drastically improve their quality I'll never buy into it. Ive only bought 3 albums from iTunes and a couple of HD movies all of them I ended up buying the cd/blu cause the sound was that much different to me. Granted in my headphones at the gym the (music) sounded fine but put that into a decent sound system at home and youll be wishin you had a disc!Compare the two side by side. Why can't we download files from iTunes or wherever as a losless or even wav file! instead it's always 256kbps if I pay the same price either way Id rather have all the uncompressed info that comes on the disc. This same thinking applies to Blu.Unless all the information that comes on the blu is included in the download then you are paying more for less. Also I have a limmited bandwidth per day on my internet service and would end up using my whole days alotment for half of one movie (10gb per day, yes my internet service blows but no other provider in area) also 50gb Downloads would take a while and if you have a collection of a few hundred high def movies in a few years and continue to add to it your gonna need a serious hard drive to store it all!

I am hopeful for a 10-15 year lifespan for Blu. I have owned 8-Tracks, Cassettes, LPs, CDs, DAT, MP3s, Beta, VHS, LD, DVD, and now Blu-Ray. I do have DLC (Downloaded Content) on my PS3 but I still prefer to physically own my data and content.

Ideally a future physical standard would be 4k or higher with lossless video. At this point maybe front projectors will be more commonplace or people will be using 70" or higher flat screens in their homes. Who knows... At any rate the coming generations seem more comfortable and happy with downloaded/downsampled content than my 40 year old mind.

I have no idea if BD can replicate or come close to the success of DVD. One thing is for sure though; BD is not "niche" and already is much more successful than LD was.

[frogmort]

Originally Posted by Rob71

If pixelization is your thing then yeah, sure.

I don't download/stream movies. I am very much into blu-ray. I used to like DVDs back in the day, but I never obsessed over my A/V setup, or even checked out reviews of DVD transfer quality like I do with blu-ray. I absolutely love blu-ray! I was just saying that eventually, something better will come along, in the next century or so. Maybe a holographic crystal?

[tilallr1]

Originally Posted by Zoodles95

I have no idea if BD can replicate or come close to the success of DVD. One thing is for sure though; BD is not "niche" and already is much more successful than LD was.

Exactly. Anyone who says BD is "niche" and is anything like LASERDISC certainly didn't live during the LD era. That was a mighty expensive hoppy. BD collecting is NOT. Plus the title selection already for BD kills LD in its entirety.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Zoodles95

I am hopeful for a 10-15 year lifespan for Blu.

The format will be around for much longer than that.

Pro-B

[danielsan4610]

I'm 31 years old and I truly believe that the Blu-ray format will be the final piece of physical media I see in my lifetime.

I'm very old school when it comes to my media. I like a physical product. I want something tangible to look at, hold and have for display. Digital media doesn't excite me and I really don't just don't like the idea of the media I own being hosted on a server somewhere instead of in my possession.

That said, I know we are a dying breed. The majority of consumers don't care about having a physical product and are happy just paying their $1 at Redbox and dropping it off the next night.

So with the ending being nigh, should we stock up on Blu-ray? I have to say that it's really concerning to go into a Best Buy and see only 2 small rows for CDs, 3 for Blu-ray and maybe another 2 or 3 for DVD.

Sure digital technology will get better and broadband speeds will increase but again, I just can't get over having my media streamed to me and me not owning it.

So to end the rant, does anyone else feel this way? I think my goal now is to own every single movie I have ever enjoyed even slightly as a permanant archive on Blu-ray. It may be our last chance.

[AKORIS]

anythings possible-- my brother-in-law is a bigshot in a computer company and he says that blu-ray is it-- and streaming will only get better and better in the future--

I obviously have a big collection (as I had in other formats in the past)-- if I see a day when physical media starts to die, I'll buy about 3 more players and enjoy my collection as long as I have something that plays them--

I don't think this can/will happen for at least another decade however...

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by danielsan4610

So to end the rant, does anyone else feel this way? I think my goal now is to own every single movie I have ever enjoyed even slightly as a permanant archive on Blu-ray. It may be our last chance.

Short answer, no. Physical media isn't going away anytime soon but digital copies will continue to complement the physical media.

Originally Posted by danielsan4610

So with the ending being nigh, should we stock up on Blu-ray? I have to say that it's really concerning to go into a Best Buy and see only 2 small rows for CDs, 3 for Blu-ray and maybe another 2 or 3 for DVD.

Where do you live ... it must be your BB location because all of the BBs I've been in around various parts of the country have had much more than a few small rows.

[mywhitenoise]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

Short answer, no. Physical media isn't going away anytime soon but digital copies will continue to complement the physical media.

By the end of this decade, it will be gone.

I loved my physical media, but you have to admit...it's pretty cool owning a digital library on one hard drive/device. It's similar to having your entire music library on your iPod.

After buying over 150 blu-rays, I think I'm going to stop (unless it's a must own movie) and just start running everything through a Media Hub.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

By the end of this decade, it will be gone

Do you have a source? The infrastructure that would be required to be in place to support the entire US is no where near where it would need to be. Let's not forget there are still a lot of countries which don't and won't have the infrastructure in place thus they'll still need to have physical copies available. The end of this decade isn't very far away.

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

I loved my physical media, but you have to admit...it's pretty cool owning a digital library on one hard drive/device. It's similar to having your entire music library on your iPod.

I use both physical and digital media but still prefer to have physical copies. Having a capability like Kaleidescape is a cool idea but it's still way to expensive for the average person although this type of capability may become more standard and less costly as time goes on. Yes, I'd admit having your physical copies stored digitally is nice and convenient but I do think there is still a place for physical copies atleast for decades to come.

[un4gvn94538]

i dont own any prortable devices. i love physical media and will always buy it over a digital copy.

[ManUtd]

I also prefer physical media. As of now I don't see the urgency to stock up on BDs. I have not yet seen any titles that I'd want to own that are OOP.

[Johnny Vinyl]

I think there will always be physical media...maybe digital will become the majority, but physical formats will never go away.