Microsoft and Apple's digital download war

[ouiwey]

Maybe Toshiba can't back down.
Maybe Microsoft put money up for Toshiba to stay in the war so that they can get digital downloads to rise.
Apple has Apple tv.
So mabey these computer companies are backing the wars so that digital downloads take over.

While the war goes on they push digital downloads.

THAT SUCKS!

Check this artical out!

The arrival of DVD gave consumers far higher video quality in a new compact disc format with a variety of practical advantages over existing VHS tapes. There was no format war related to DVD because the two groups developing a new consumer video disc gave up their differences and worked together. Consumers didn’t have to chose a format or worry about obsolescence. So why did the world return to a format war with HD?


Blu-ray vs HD-DVD in Next Generation Game Consoles
A United Forum for DVD.
Sony and Philips worked together in the late 70s to develop the audio CD. Philip’s work on LaserDisc and Sony’s digital error correction encoding resulted in a huge leap forward for consumer audio that delivered high quality sound on a durable medium with instant playback.

In the early 90s, the two companies began collaborating on an inexpensive new video version, called the MultiMedia Compact Disc.

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/0...vs-hd-dvd-war/

[york weir]

Originally Posted by ouiwey

Mabey Toshiba can't back down.
Maybey Microsoft put money up for Toshiba to stay in the war so that they can get digital downloads to rise.
Apple has Apple tv.
So mabey these computer companies are backing the wars so that digital downloads take over.

While the war goes on they push digital downloads.

THAT SUCKS!

It will happen, Blu and DVD will be fighting downloads. It's inevitable. I'd be willing to bet digital downloads are even more profitable for studios.

BTW, it's maybe. Not mabey and not maybey.

[partridge]

If they are then it's more MS money down the pan. With netflix and best buy supporting blu-ray in the 'States and blu-ray a clear winner throughout Europe I cannot see the format war lasting much longer.

Universal and Paramount have to see sense fairly soon; they aren't big enough to reverse the decisions being made by other studios and now by retail. They will sign up to blu in the near future and that will be that. Toshiba and MS will be on their own with a dead format that no one wants or supports.

[york weir]

Originally Posted by partridge

If they are then it's more MS money down the pan. With netflix and best buy supporting blu-ray in the 'States and blu-ray a clear winner throughout Europe I cannot see the format war lasting much longer.

Universal and Paramount have to see sense fairly soon; they aren't big enough to reverse the decisions being made by other studios and now by retail. They will sign up to blu in the near future and that will be that. Toshiba and MS will be on their own with a dead format that no one wants or supports.

This is very true. You may think Netflix is on your side but they have a set-top box coming for downloads as well though.

[ouiwey]

I like to see my collection.
Buying blu ray disc and ps3 games is like my hobby.
I dont really play the games I just like collecting them.

[IfeelBlu]

Downloads are currently a far cry from blu in the terms of quality and will be so for at least 10 years. Everyone seems to ignore compression and bit rate issues. As well as how much overall load this would put on the internet. It will happen eventually but until then, blu will be the last physical media. (but not certain)

[ouiwey]

[The Don]

Holy Bible Batman!

[tommyD]

That is a great article - very concise and thorough.

[Salinger]

That was a very interesting read. Thanks for posting!

[The Don]

the title of this thread looks like someone filled out a search query..

[oetty]

I would never ever download a film even if the quality would be the same as Blu Ray (which is still a long way to go...)

I prefer to hold the film in my hands together with a nice packaging, booklet and extras.

I don't think downloads will ever completely overtake the market...

[The Don]

Originally Posted by oetty

I would never ever download a film even if the quality would be the same as Blu Ray (which is still a long way to go...)

I prefer to hold the film in my hands together with a nice packaging, booklet and extras.

I don't think downloads will ever completely overtake the market...

I would only do downloads if I could get a movie with the PQ/AQ identical to what the Blu version would like...

also, it would have to finish downloading in less than a half hour...

[ouiwey]

Downloads would take way toooooooo long and would choke up computers being on a network.

[Rovic]

Downloads won't take over for a long time. You have to consider the outcomes of having a library of movies on a hard drive, (viruses, crashes etc...) so they still have a long way to go before they can be a true contender, it might be a challenge for those who don't care about having a good home theatre with hd quality and just want to watch movies on laptops and such....

[ouiwey]

Originally Posted by Rovic

Downloads won't take over for a long time. You have to consider the outcomes of having a library of movies on a hard drive, (viruses, crashes etc...) so they still have a long way to go before they can be a true contender, it might be a challenge for those who don't care about having a good home theatre with hd quality and just want to watch movies on laptops and such....

viruses, crashes Good Point

[PeteS]

Originally Posted by IfeelBlu

Downloads are currently a far cry from blu in the terms of quality and will be so for at least 10 years. Everyone seems to ignore compression and bit rate issues. As well as how much overall load this would put on the internet. It will happen eventually but until then, blu will be the last physical media. (but not certain)

Right, downloads enable title distribution but Blu-ray still has that beat for the next 10 years or so. I think physical media has an even longer life, because even downloaded libraries will need to be stored somewhere and because the storage arena goes further than title distribution. I'm hoping for something like http://colossalstorage.net/optostor.htm - 3D holographic storage on laser sensitive crystals: very robust, no moving parts, storage in the terabytes. A Blu-ray title could just as easily reside on an Optostor crystal as a spinning disc.

For M$ to purposely sabotage the HDM market is 'without honor', as Worf would say; but that does appear to be what is happening and is certainly in keeping with their past. Michael Bay was right.

[JAGUAR1977]

Music downlaods have been up and running, with major backing, for over five years, they are quick and easy to download, and benefit from highly portable, large capacity, MP3 players.

HD movie downloads will be huge in size, you are limited to your home TV, so portability isn't a benefit, and you have to get beyond the issue of the vast majority of the population not being upto speed with downloads, nevermind having the conenction and hardware.

I'd be suprised if downloads have 25 % of the HD market 5 years from now, even then they'll work as an alternative to rentals.

[PeteS]

Originally Posted by ouiwey

viruses, crashes Good Point

As the home media server market grows, folks are going to experience bitter tears when their hard drives crash, which is not a question of 'if' but 'when'.
Solid state flash memory drives (SSD) alleviate this but won't handle the size growth of useful home media libraries (in the order of a terabyte by 2010, and 100 TB by 2015) IMHO. (today a terabyte SSD would cost around $10,000-$20,000)

Here is another link http://www.lithium.it/stampa_art.asp?code=43
(sorry not English).


So that's why I think the Star Trek esq storage makes sense; and that's why I also think Blu-ray is a valuable solution for the next decade or so, and even then change the physical media but the format can continue on.

[ouiwey]

blu