Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[DimeMecka]

Wow this guy is a real tool!

[42041]

Originally Posted by silentblu

Streaming is still years away from being viable for many people.

And the "free lunch" era of streaming is going to come to an end eventually, so the value proposition will shift. Companies are rarely content with making less money, which is precisely what happens when more people abandon other services in favor of $8/month Netflix.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

It's alright, I get attack all the time.

I know that here in Canada prices on certain releases are becoming to be a serious issue. The prices are starting to keep me away from certain releases, Disney being the worst offender. It's pretty crazy that I can order 5 movies from Hong Kong and pay less (with the shipping) then if I were to buy 3 movies from Disney in stores here in Montreal.

I do not mind that they offer the combo pack but I wish they would also include a cheaper Blu-ray only release as well for those who have no need for the combo packs.

You get what you pay for. Certain HK discs are cheaper. SEs, done right, or relatively right, such as the upcoming Tsai Ming-liang set, will cost you a lot more.

You cannot compare Disney's products with ALL other products sold in HK.

Pro-B

[Alan A]

just another moron who doesn't get it, of course he's from foxnews
I can buy blu-ray movies at any department store that's mass acceptance
streaming sucks if you can't see that your blind.

[willard0118]

Originally Posted by Underworld54

Most people are still content with dvd and there is no way blu-ray will ever be as popular as the dvd format. Keeping mind, the jump in quality from vhs to dvd is far and away higher than the jump from dvd to blu-ray.

You obviously have a blu ray player, so I'm confused why you are saying blu ray is not a bigger jump in quality than vhs to dvd? There is no comparing watching a blu ray on a HD TV to watching a DVD on a normal DVD player with no upgrade. The jump in enormous! Vhs to DVD was more of a Format change than quality upgrade.
The other part about being popular? all you need to do is look in a best buy and you'll see that blu ray has almost the same or more floor space than dvd and growing.
The only thing holding Blu ray back is downloads. We'll just have to wait and see if that eventually takes over. I don't see it happening in my life time, so I'm not worried about it.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by Jacob6875

The reason blu ray has not caught on just yet is mostly price of the movies. I was in target today and there were many pretty recent releases on dvd for sale for like $5 and complete seasons of tv shows such as house or bones on dvd for $15-20. Even renting a movie at my local family video. It is something like $2.50 for dvd and 3.75 to rend new release blu ray for one night.

Now when you look up that stuff on amazon or go into best buy you are going to be paying $40-60 for the blu ray version of those same shows.

Even knowing how much better blu ray is, it is hard to justify spending 3-4x as much for the same thing in a better video format. Also almost every studio does the "special features" on the discs in normal dvd format. So all you are getting is the main feature in blu ray not anything else.

The same was said about DVD back in the day but it didn't stop the format from moving forward.

[Canada]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Neo

I think this guy is off of his rocker.... Blu-ray is starting to catch on and will outsell DVD within the next 2 years.

Also, did this guy forget that we have a world-wide recession?


Why Has Blu-ray Failed to Catch Hold?

By John R. Quain
FoxNews.com

My VCR is stashed in a closet, right next to a couple of CD-ROM players, a laser disc player, and other forgotten electronics. Is my Blu-ray player about to join them?

Strategy Analytics researcher Peter King recently said his analysts were surprised that DVD player sales continued to be so strong against Blu-ray players. That reminded me of what some critics have suspected: Blu-ray really hasn't caught on -- and probably never will.

"I'm surprised DVDs have continued to hang on," said King, referring to the fact that player sales of over 20 million units in the U.S. last year were pretty much evenly split between DVD and Blu-ray models. His figures show that Blu-ray player sales will surpass DVD sales by the end of this year ... but only slightly.

Blu-ray discs and players are clearly superior to DVDs, offering more features and a better picture overall. Blu-ray players connected to the Web can offer games, extra movie features, and additional bonus materials online that DVD players generally can't. And the latest Blu-ray players can handle 3D discs, something no DVD player can do.

So why haven't shoppers been impressed? It can't be the price. Walmart sells Blu-ray players for as little as $70.

Researchers suggest the reason Blu-ray has struggled is the old war with competing format HD DVD (a war Blu-ray eventually won). But more important, they say, is that consumers have just failed to understand the benefits of Blu-ray. King told me consumers don't realize that DVDs can be played on Blu-ray machines and erroneously believe they'll have to replace their entire DVD collection if they get a Blu-ray player.

Blu-ray won the format war over 3 years ago, giving it plenty of time to build momentum. And most consumers aren't worried about replacing discs; they worry that if they get a Blu-ray player and start buying expensive Blu-ray versions of new movies, the discs won't play in their friends' DVD players or in the backseat of the car. They're right. (As if to prove it, many titles are now offered in Blu-ray and DVD combo packs.)

The real reason Blu-ray players never went mainstream? Quite frankly they were never that good.

There wasn't enough of a qualitative difference between the picture offered by an upconverted DVD and that of a Blu-ray disc. Sure, analysts and reviewers can tell the difference (most of the time), but it isn't a significant enough difference to make viewers sit up and take notice. It wasn't like the jump from VCRs to DVD players or from giant tube TVs to flat screens.

And now it may be too late for Blu-ray.

Recent research by analysts at NPD has shown that 77 percent of viewers still watch movies on disc, meaning there's hope for Blu-ray. On the other hand, after years of Hollywood studios fighting the trend, the future is clear: Movies and video are moving to online streaming services. No more video stores. No more discs and late fees.

Simply rent or buy the movie online and get it via Netflix, Amazon or Vudu. It won't be as sharp a picture as that offered by a Blu-ray disc, but you don't have to get off the couch. Indeed, it's such a significant trend that the makers of Blu-ray players were forced to add the very streaming services they compete against to their own players.

Of course, few technologies disappear overnight, and Blu-ray is no exception. And it's likely that as DVD devices gradually wear out, Blu-ray players will become the majority as consumers replace older models.

Or maybe we'll all just skip the Blu-ray upgrade and move straight to streaming rentals. If that's the case, my Blu-ray player could land in the closet before the end of the year.

Follow John R. Quain on Twitter @jqontech or find more tech coverage at J-Q.com.


http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/...ay/?test=faces

I don't think "it wasn't meant to be a factual statement"

Are people blissfully unaware that you also get an audio as well as a video upgrade.

[robotosan1080]

In the store I work in they cut our commission on blu-ray players from 5 percent to 1 percent because the market share has increased so much.

The guy clearly knows not of which he speaks.

Although it is annoying that not every tv season comes out on blu ray right now. Endlessly annoying.

[Cevolution]

Originally Posted by Underworld54

Most people are still content with dvd and there is no way blu-ray will ever be as popular as the dvd format. Keeping mind, the jump in quality from vhs to dvd is far and away higher than the jump from dvd to blu-ray.

The jump from vhs to dvd really just offered a leap in convenience but didn't offer too much in the way of better PQ, yes the PQ of dvd's are better than vhs but not by all that much, it's a much bigger leap when it comes to the PQ differences between dvd's and blu-ray's, than it ever was between vhs and dvd. Also I personally don't think dvd tech deserves the credit for the whole convenience thing anyway, because the inventors of dvd tech didn't come up with the idea of discs with the physical size we enjoy today, that is all thanks to compact disc technology (and compact disc tech also provided movies and games on discs with the same physical size way before any dvd come along). All dvd tech did was copy and built on an already existing physical design, so really dvd tech can only take credit for giving us discs with larger capacity, same with blu-ray, but dvd tech in no way can take credit for the convenience of physical discs, that round of applause rightfully so goes to the creators of compact disc technology, without compact discs we might not even have discs of the same physical size we enjoy today for all our movies, music and games.

[Alpha]

Fact is, the average consumer doesn't really care about the fine details. As long as they can watch their favorite movies, they're content. Even if most have jumped onto HDTV's, the majority have done so only because of size reduction and hype. Age is also another factor.

Something else I always thought about too were things like exercise products and infomercial DVD's. You know, like Video Professor and all that. I highly doubt we'll be seeing any of that stuff on Blu-ray. And for good reason. With that type of content, quality is the least important. Plus, I would assume it's much cheaper to produce their stuff on DVD than Blu-ray.

Basically, like someone said, DVD -> Blu-ray is nothing compared to what VHS -> DVD was. Blu-ray is for all of us "nerds" that know the specs and recognize the difference. The good thing is, nowadays most people are growing up with all the "nerd" stuff (aka, tech), so there's a lot more people interested. Bad thing is, we don't quite outweigh the average consumer...yet.

[AcidRain]

i'm waiting for the "my upconverted vhs looks and sound as good as a blu-ray"

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by Underworld54

Most people are still content with dvd and there is no way blu-ray will ever be as popular as the dvd format. Keeping mind, the jump in quality from vhs to dvd is far and away higher than the jump from dvd to blu-ray.

I read comments like this all the time, then watch Blade Runner or The Godfather.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

You get what you pay for. Certain HK discs are cheaper. SEs, done right, or relatively right, such as the upcoming Tsai Ming-liang set, will cost you a lot more.

You cannot compare Disney's products with ALL other products sold in HK.

Pro-B

I can and will. Sorry but Disney is gourging. It's alright they have every right to do so but the prices set for their catalogue releases are ridiculous in my opinion. It's stuff that they had release before on different format as well, so it's not like they never made money out of it.

And please, quality....there is just not the quality of the picture but of the story. A Blu-ray of a sequel like Tinker Bell is a high quality story? So they have to sell it at $33? Come on!

[Blu-ray Neo]

I think the writer of the Fox News article forgot about the PS3 and the home penetration numbers. I seem to remember seeing at article that said the PS3 sold almost 15 million units last year or something like that.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I can and will. Sorry but Disney is gourging. It's alright they have every right to do so but the prices set for their catalogue releases are ridiculous in my opinion. It's stuff that they had release before on different format as well, so it's not like they never made money out of it.

And please, quality....there is just not the quality of the picture but of the story. A Blu-ray of a sequel like Tinker Bell is a high quality story? So they have to sell it at $33? Come on!

I've never paid more than $20 for any Disney BD.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Rob71

I've never paid more than $20 for any Disney BD.

Don't come to Canada, you will not be buying a lot of them

[Jacob6875]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

The same was said about DVD back in the day but it didn't stop the format from moving forward.

The thing is though DVD took over because it was in every way better than VHS was. Better picture, more durable, cheaper (think about trying to buy a tv show season like 13 VHS tapes) and even more portable.


Now blu-ray offers no advantages except better picture and having a coating that is supposed to prevent scratches. It is more expensive than DVD (usually a lot more), requires a better TV to see any advantage, and can't be played in any portable player. I am going on on a trip this weekend for easter...... and since portable blu-ray players don't exist I am forced to take DVDs.

Until blu-rays can do everything a DVD can just as well for the same price a lot of people are simply not going to upgrade to it.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by Jacob6875

The thing is though DVD took over because it was in every way better than VHS was. Better picture, more durable, cheaper (think about trying to buy a tv show season like 13 VHS tapes) and even more portable.


Now blu-ray offers no advantages except better picture and having a coating that is supposed to prevent scratches. It is more expensive than DVD (usually a lot more), requires a better TV to see any advantage, and can't be played in any portable player. I am going on on a trip this weekend for easter...... and since portable blu-ray players don't exist I am forced to take DVDs.

Until blu-rays can do everything a DVD can just as well for the same price a lot of people are simply not going to upgrade to it.

There are portable BD players. I know Panasonic makes one, I almost bought it.

[Cevolution]

Originally Posted by Jacob6875

The thing is though DVD took over because it was in every way better than VHS was. Better picture, more durable, cheaper (think about trying to buy a tv show season like 13 VHS tapes) and even more portable.


Now blu-ray offers no advantages except better picture and having a coating that is supposed to prevent scratches. It is more expensive than DVD (usually a lot more), requires a better TV to see any advantage, and can't be played in any portable player. I am going on on a trip this weekend for easter...... and since portable blu-ray players don't exist I am forced to take DVDs.

Until blu-rays can do everything a DVD can just as well for the same price a lot of people are simply not going to upgrade to it.

What did u expect the next format that followed dvd tech to be like, did u expect the physical size of blu-ray discs to be the same size as gamecube discs just so they could continue the trend of being even more convenient. In that circumstance blu-ray players most likely wouldn't be backwards compatible with dvd's because their disc trays would be smaller, and in all honesty, that would just give whingers and haters even more to complain about.

Also dvd's are not more durable than vhs tapes at all, dvd's are weak and fragile, they can be scratched very easily, and can be damaged much easier than a vhs tape. I don't know what country u live in, but here in Australia blu-ray prices are pretty much on par with dvd's, there's about a $3-$5 difference between most releases, for example, the new Harry potter comes with 4 discs on blu-ray (2 blu-ray discs and 2 dvd discs, with both the blu-ray and dvd versions of the film), the dvd costs $19 and the blu-ray costs $22, wow whole extra $3, what it costs for a cup of coffee everyday, if anyone is going to complain about a measly $3 then they must be cheap or poor.

[Blu-ray Neo]

You guys should check out the comments on the Fox News story.

The stupidity of people is astounding.....


http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/...u-ray/#content