Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Chordata

I do not see that scenario playing out at all.

I also don't see it as a "black pit".

It's just another medium.

A medium that sinks to new levels of bad. Tv episodes maybe be acceptable, but films? This generation needs educating about film me thinks!

[Al_The_Strange]

They day they tear down all cinemas and stop producing TVs more than 32" wide will be the day I start lamenting over crappy digital streaming media taking over.

[KrugStillo]

It seems like the current generation doesn't have as much appreciation for the medium of film. That really sucks. The big thing that sucks about it is trends come and go but cinema has always survived and companies are putting too many of their eggs in the download/small digital media basket. I just hope they realize that this will be a fad and it will eventually fade out when people have tumors in their eyes from staring at small screens and go back to watching movies the way they are meant to be seen, on larger screens.

[LOTR07]

Thats why i like regals new short before all its movies with it's saying "Go Big or Go Home" very effective as it shrinks from large to small and fading the audio to two small TV speakers... no not enough room on the net right now 20 years from now who knows....

[krazeyeyez]

how many of these threads have you started, just asking

Two things, internet/streaming options will only take over completely if the industry can figure out a way to make it a profitable model, which is and will be a hard thing to do, however i do see it as continuing to grow more as an alternative to cable, satellite and an option available WITH blu-ray not instead of.

The other thing, i love my xbox, but when i travel i love my DS, i don't see the tablet, laptop, smart phone thing as being any different. With the average size of cheap sets in the U.S. now i really doubt people are sitting around watching movies on their phones and leaving the tv off I wonder if someone is sitting at home with their 150" screen saying i can't believe steedeel watches his movies on his tiny 50" screen, he will be the death of media.

The real threat to quality in terms of video, audio etc... is both a lack of information among general consumers, and the plentiful amounts of misinformation that are spread. Which is nothing new to media or technology.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by krazeyeyez

how many of these threads have you started, just asking

Two things, internet/streaming options will only take over completely if the industry can figure out a way to make it a profitable model, which is and will be a hard thing to do, however i do see it as continuing to grow more as an alternative to cable, satellite and an option available WITH blu-ray not instead of.

The other thing, i love my xbox, but when i travel i love my DS, i don't see the tablet, laptop, smart phone thing as being any different. With the average size of cheap sets in the U.S. now i really doubt people are sitting around watching movies on their phones and leaving the tv off I wonder if someone is sitting at home with their 150" screen saying i can't believe steedeel watches his movies on his tiny 50" screen, he will be the death of media.

The real threat to quality in terms of video, audio etc... is both a lack of information among general consumers, and the plentiful amounts of misinformation that are spread. Which is nothing new to media or technology.

Why does that matter?

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

A medium that sinks to new levels of bad. Tv episodes maybe be acceptable, but films? This generation needs educating about film me thinks!

No, they don't. Who's to say they're "uneducated" simply because they prefer to watch it on their iPad or iPhone? One has nothing to do with the other.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Chordata

No, they don't. Who's to say they're "uneducated" simply because they prefer to watch it on their iPad or iPhone? One has nothing to do with the other.

What are they thinking watching films on a mobile phone? Why would they even want to do that?

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

What are they thinking watching films on a mobile phone? Why would they even want to do that?

Because when you're young and never home and always on the go and your mobile device has become an appendage of your body combined with the fact that "dating" has become passe for many young people, so there's no one to share the direct experience with anyway, that's what you do.

I do think they're missing out on the theatrical experience, but the theatrical experience has become pretty bad in most places. Although I did go to see "The Descendants" last evening at a nice theatre with a very large screen. Unlike most of my recent experiences, the digital projection and sound were pristine and the screen was very large. I have to admit, even though I love my 55" and sound system at home, the theatre was a far better film experience. I always thought it was until the last year or so, when I had a number of very bad experiences in a number of different Manhattan theatres.

[Steedeel]

Zoe, i just don't get it. Even when teens are out and about they are doing something. How can they focus on a film while on trains or buses? The only time i can think of phones being suitable is for long car journeys, even then it would be a strain. Tablets are a little better in that regard.

I am glad i grew up when i did because the world has changed a lot since i was a teen (im only just 29.) I don't think it has changed for the better either. Too much concentration on social networks and smartphones. It is pretty much all pressure and no play for young people now and when they get spare time, they are spending it in front of a computer, or even worse, on a smart phone. It is really tragic, and i feel for a lost generation. Even your comments about young people always being out and about is untrue. I think the opposite is happening. I think they spend way too much time at home now on the likes of Facebook. That is the saddest part of all. Oh well, back to my big screen and my plans for a 4k projector! Mixed with nice long walks in the fresh air of course!

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Zoe, i just don't get it. Even when teens are out and about they are doing something. How can they focus on a film while on trains or buses? The only time i can think of phones being suitable is for long car journeys, even then it would be a strain. Tablets are a little better in that regard.

I am glad i grew up when i did because the world has changed a lot since i was a teen (im only just 29.) I don't think it has changed for the better either. Too much concentration on social networks and smartphones. It is pretty much all pressure and no play for young people now and when they get spare time, they are spending it in front of a computer, or even worse, on a smart phone. It is really tragic, and i feel for a lost generation. Even your comments about young people always being out and about is untrue. I think the opposite is happening. I think they spend way too much time at home now on the likes of Facebook. That is the saddest part of all. Oh well, back to my big screen and my plans for a 4k projector! Mixed with nice long walks in the fresh air of course!

I'm hoping that social networks are just a fad and that their popularity fades out, just as AOL IMming was very big and faded out. The strange thing is that an IM conversaton is better than a text message, yet people have gone to text messaging anyway. And I'm also hoping that tweeting trivia ("I'm polishing my nails") also becomes a social "no-no".

It's not just teens. Even on sites like Linked-In, which is presumably for business connections, I see some of my contacts making inane postings all day long.

Over this past weekend, I viewed "Monterey Pop" and one of the wonderful things about that 1967 festival as well as the Woodstock festival in 1969 was that they were NOT sponsored events and (obviously) there were no cell phones in those days. At a similar event today (which would never happen anyway), there would be advertising everwhere and you'd see tens of thousands of smart phones being used at any one time. And when they didn't work because of all the traffic, there would be righteous indignation, anger and subsequent lawsuits. Sometimes, I miss the hippies.

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

What are they thinking watching films on a mobile phone? Why would they even want to do that?

Who cares? It's their choice, not yours. It has 0 impact on you.

The quality might be inferior to watching it on a TV (which of course is inferior to watching it on a movie screen), but that doesn't make it "dumb" and the people who do it "uneducated".

Now, if those people believe that they are watching superior quality video and hearing superior quality audio on their iPad, I'd agree with you they might be "uneducated".

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by Chordata

Who cares? It's their choice, not yours. It has 0 impact on you.

This is blatantly wrong if their choice results in Blu-Rays or other high quality media going away.

[bluearth]

Oh boy, the last thing I ever want to become is like those people you see, always hunched over looking at a smart phone 6" from their face, it's light reflecting off their face, using their thumbs to constantly stay "connected". You know its one thing to try and stay connected at your own house, but out in public with friends, in the middle of a movie at a theater? All the bloody time?

I see no reason to ever need a "smart" phone, a pay per minute tracfone has done me well and I'm completely satisfied.

Anyway, back on topic, streaming media is only being hailed as the immediate successor to discs by people who have a financial stake in it. The apples and Microsofts

Theres a big difference between a 4 MB song and a 40,000 MB blu-ray HD movie.

Downloading 8GB "HD" movies from itunes and playing them on a laptop is a waste of time, energy, and money. On a 20" screen a lossy single digit bit rate Itunes "HD" movie doesnt look much better then its standard definition counterpart.

And on a big screen the "HD" itunes movie will look even more inferior to blu-ray.

My cable provider has recently sent a letter through the mail warning that they will not be capping internet connection at 150 GBs download per month. This shows me the infrastructure for high speed internet has a long way to go (15-20 years) before everyone is downloading 20, 30 GB movies instead of buying bluray

blu-ray will be around and relevant for a long time

I must say I cant stand those who support RedBox and its crappy limited selection or limited streams from netflix. All the people I know who supported RedBox were lazy, lazy individuals. And because of them good movie rental stores like Blockbuster are being closed all the time around here.

Lets face it: People are accepting crap more and more these days. Thanks to youtube, low quality streaming is catching on even more and more. People dont care about quality anymore, they just want to see or hear it. I'm satisfied with 320x240 resolution and 36kbps sound youtube, so why do I need bluray or anything else? they say.

The world is free falling into mediocrity, spearheaded by lazy people who dont care about going outside or if they are forced to do so would like to go in their pajamas, and those who will accept anything as long as its cheap or even better, free

[Vw Driver]

Originally Posted by bluearth

Oh boy, the last thing I ever want to become is like those people you see, always hunched over looking at a smart phone 6" from their face, it's light reflecting off their face, using their thumbs to constantly stay "connected". You know its one thing to try and stay connected at your own house, but out in public with friends, in the middle of a movie at a theater? All the bloody time?

I see no reason to ever need a "smart" phone, a pay per minute tracfone has done me well and I'm completely satisfied.

Anyway, back on topic, streaming media is only being hailed as the immediate successor to discs by people who have a financial stake in it. The apples and Microsofts

Theres a big difference between a 4 MB song and a 40,000 MB blu-ray HD movie.

Downloading 8GB "HD" movies from itunes and playing them on a laptop is a waste of time, energy, and money. On a 20" screen a lossy single digit bit rate Itunes "HD" movie doesnt look much better then its standard definition counterpart.

And on a big screen the "HD" itunes movie will look even more inferior to blu-ray.

My cable provider has recently sent a letter through the mail warning that they will not be capping internet connection at 150 GBs download per month. This shows me the infrastructure for high speed internet has a long way to go (15-20 years) before everyone is downloading 20, 30 GB movies instead of buying bluray

blu-ray will be around and relevant for a long time

I must say I cant stand those who support RedBox and its crappy limited selection or limited streams from netflix. All the people I know who supported RedBox were lazy, lazy individuals. And because of them good movie rental stores like Blockbuster are being closed all the time around here.

Lets face it: People are accepting crap more and more these days. Thanks to youtube, low quality streaming is catching on even more and more. People dont care about quality anymore, they just want to see or hear it. I'm satisfied with 320x240 resolution and 36kbps sound youtube, so why do I need bluray or anything else? they say.

The world is free falling into mediocrity, spearheaded by lazy people who dont care about going outside or if they are forced to do so would like to go in their pajamas, and those who will accept anything as long as its cheap or even better, free

Well said, but clearly wrong on the smart phone debate. It enriched my life and sped all my research down from hours to minutes.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

This is blatantly wrong if their choice results in Blu-Rays or other high quality media going away.

It's true that the bad frequently pushes out the good, but that's true about everything: fast food crap pushes out hand crafted food, the shopping mall killed individually owned local stores on main street, e-commerce is killing the shopping mall, vulgar reality shows pushed out serious drama on TV, rap and hip-hop killed most soul and true r&b, popular music pretty much killed classical music, rock killed jazz, McMansions killed quality architecture in homes, etc., etc.,. etc.

That's life in a society that is constantly being dumbed down and in which price dominates, so crap dominates.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by Chordata

Who cares? It's their choice, not yours. It has 0 impact on you.

The quality might be inferior to watching it on a TV (which of course is inferior to watching it on a movie screen), but that doesn't make it "dumb" and the people who do it "uneducated".

Now, if those people believe that they are watching superior quality video and hearing superior quality audio on their iPad, I'd agree with you they might be "uneducated".

I've talked to quite a few people who have told me, and I quote:

"Surround sound is a waste. I find that it doesn't help increase the experience at all. In fact, it is extremely annoying and distracting for me. I'd rather just keep the sound coming from the TV speakers."

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by krazeyeyez

Two things, internet/streaming options will only take over completely if the industry can figure out a way to make it a profitable model,

no, you have it backwards. It is not about A but about B. Did LD exist because VHS was never profitable, did studios make copies on VHS until 2006 because DVD was not profitable until then? Joe can choose today to buy a film or rent it, is it because neither buying nor renting is profitable? Studios don’t like to leave money on the table so as long as studios said “that guy is willing to pay for LD” and LD was truly profitable they supported it, same with VHS. Eventually the question arises “will the gains in profitability in A, from the people that use B now switching to A, offset the loss of what we do now in B while not PO too many people” and if they think the answer is yes then they do it.

That is why I find the death of physical media easier to say than for it to be a reality. Some people pick physical media because they like that it is tangible, others because of the AV quality, others because it is more practical (can bring it to friends homes more easily, there are places where one might not have broadband.....), others because there are no extra costs (50$ BD player and you can watch the 1000 movie library you bought, but 1000 movies on a media server means an expensive server and a hell of a big RAID array)

And together they all add up to a large segment of the market that is also spending a lot.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

Because when you're young and never home and always on the go and your mobile device has become an appendage of your body combined with the fact that "dating" has become passe for many young people, so there's no one to share the direct experience with anyway, that's what you do.

Agree, but I think people tend to forget that it is normal, on the other hand everyone eventually grows up and there is a friend and and later a spouse and later maybe kids and you wnat to be with them and now that mobile device is useless and you want that big TV with the nice picture.

What people forget is that the cave person that hid under their moms skin skirt not going hunting and gathering and proving how independent and how great a provider they will be to the opposite sex did not meet someone else and did not have kids so we evolved where as a teen we need to be “stupidly” independent. But by that same token when that cave person was a bit older if he still acted the same way he either got cast out of the tribe, got trampled/killed/hurt by what he was hunting (or what was hunting the same thing he was) and could no longer provide for the family (which died of hunger), or ended up repulsing their spouse, so he too led to an evolutionary dead end. That is why like you said in youth it is all about pulling away from everything but once you get a bit older it is all about rebuilding.


Steel you said you are 29, I am 41, I don’t know what you did when you were a kid and yes the tech today is completely different, but when I was a youth I would much rather listen to my audio tape on my walkman through my crappy earphones then the record player connected to the hi-fi stereo in the Living room. At our high shool dances you had 5 options if you did not have a car/license: 1) walk home if you lived close enough, 2) take public bus (I had to walk a ½ mile to get the bus, change bus and then another ½ mile); 3) get an older sibling to pick you up; 4) get a lift from a friend that has a license and had the family car; make your parents stop far from the school (where they would not be seen by anyone) and wait for you. God forbid the humiliation if your parents picked you up at school. I think people mistaken a youths need for independence and peer acknowledgment for a person’s wanting of crap.

I do think they're missing out on the theatrical experience, but the theatrical experience has become pretty bad in most places. Although I did go to see "The Descendants" last evening at a nice theatre with a very large screen. Unlike most of my recent experiences, the digital projection and sound were pristine and the screen was very large. I have to admit, even though I love my 55" and sound system at home, the theatre was a far better film experience. I always thought it was until the last year or so, when I had a number of very bad experiences in a number of different Manhattan theatres.

Man you really need to look into FP then you will grasp what guys like me are talking about. That real good theatrical experience can easily and (relatively) cheaply be had at home and it tends to be better since it is at home (no sticky floors, no noises, the film starts and ends when you want, seats are more comfortable.....)

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

It's true that the bad frequently pushes out the good, but that's true about everything: fast food crap pushes out hand crafted food, the shopping mall killed individually owned local stores on main street, e-commerce is killing the shopping mall, vulgar reality shows pushed out serious drama on TV, rap and hip-hop killed most soul and true r&b, popular music pretty much killed classical music, rock killed jazz, McMansions killed quality architecture in homes, etc., etc.,. etc.
That's life in a society that is constantly being dumbed down and in which price dominates, so crap dominates.

I disagree, there are still records for the people that like them that is why they are on the market share chart (even though they are less then 1%) . There are still high class restaurants, it is not all fast food just because the masses like crap food. The opposite tends to be closer to the truth. Crap needs the masses in order to survive not the good. VHS is gone because DVD was better and the masses moved on from it. Fast food is pretending to be healthy in order to keep the masses and even with that I have seen a few MCD, Wendi’s shut down. The only Achilles heal for good is that it might not be recognized in time ( Hi-Def music, a good restaurant that goes bankrupt because no one heard of it.....)