Blu-ray Vs Streaming/downloading

[ibprofane]

I have several issues when it comes to the idea that streaming will eventually replace physical media. First and foremost, the infrastructure for American internet isn't nearly fast enough for the average user to rely solely on streaming media. As we've seen over the last few years, internet speeds may have slightly increased but data usage has become more punitive. I pay $59.99 a month for 15mbps internet with a 250gb cap and routinely have problems with both bandwidth for streaming and occasionally go over my cap downloading media. As Sony & Microsoft transition away from physical games with downloads in the 25-50gb range along with a video content in 1080p with HD audio clocking in anywhere from 15-50gb, that infrastructure will have to improve drastically for the average consumer to make that marketplace viable.

Also, it's clear that many people, myself included don't like the idea of the content that we own being stored on a cloud service. The concept of having no physical control over the media I purchase is frightening. I like the service that companies like VUDU provide, but I would be horrified to own 1000+ titles on their servers knowing that my library lies in the success of a company. If that company goes under, it would likely be bought out but anything could happen.

I just don't see physical media going away, at least for another 10 years. I'm 31, but I've noticed that younger generations tend to be less tangible. At the point that my generation are no longer heavily targeted consumers, that will probably spell the end of physical media all together.

[WyldeMF]

All good points. There simply isn't enough bandwidth out there for everyone to suddenly be streaming everything. The day that happens the unlimited data gravy train will be over. I for one am not ready for the idea of streaming everything. I have a hard time picturing not just turning on the TV and seeing what's on. Or simply going with the flow of whatever a station is showing that day. I'm all set with having to scroll through menus to find something else to just have something going in the background on the TV.

Sent from my Tricorder

[chip75]

My brother (in the UK) has just upgraded his internet connection to 30mbps but if he watches more than an hour of HD with LoveFilm or Netflix he gets throttled back 40%. So he can watch a HD TV show for 45 minutes then wait another 15 before starting another show otherwise he'll lose another 40%.

So it would be like us watching a BD for an hour before changing it to a DVD for the last hour. So he could watch The Hobbit on-line but to not lose his connection speed he'd have to go from Blu-ray to DVD to VHS quality while watching it!

Ha-Ha!

[Patienceofkaori]

Im 21 i love the physical media i fully admitted on this website already that i torrent on what i want to watch if i like it i buy it if i don't then i delete it yes my hard drive still has movies on it but thats because im waiting for a good deal on it. I 100% agree with u i am frightened as well that it just disappears or it gets to the point that there might be an expiration date later even after u purchased it for a certain time to watch it before u have to buy it again.

The only reason i condone torrenting files is believe that im not doing anything wrong I believe if im buying then they deserve my money i won't buy something that i don't think they deserve to have. Also if im not sure of it im not gonna give them $14 for a watch in the theaters.

If i buy something off of amazon or something its practically the same thing the only reason corporations hate it is because the fact they ain't making a profit of it. Think of it this way if i buy it on amazon they already got the money that the product was already received. If u think about its kinda like yeah they got the money from amazon as a business deal to sell it and then also profit from the consumer because they bought it but if u buy it used then they got it once and then the one im buying only goes to the company that i bought it from.

My also laughter on all of this they kinda made it easy for piracy more than before. By giving digital copies. Now all u have to do is enter a code say like for itunes and then grab the file and upload it to the pirate bay or whatever. Before u had to have a dvd drive and a program to crack into the disk and break through the copy right protection thats in it and give the full everything.


I do believe companies deserve on what they put into them if we like it then we buy it when we get the chance. we are considered criminals automatically because of the fact we are giving a test run out on something they think we should shed $22 just because they made it. I understand its a choice and i also understand on renting it as well. But now the fact also that places like gamestop is now getting closed to bankrupt because the gaming community also is getting screwed because they are putting a one time purchase and it can only be used by the people that bought it so lets shed $70 on a game now because we also don't know if its gonna be good or not because we couldn't also test it out. Piracy has been proven as well to encourage people to buy their product corporations have used it for years and say it was considered leaked. But they are the ones that put it out. They need to know if its gonna sell if people are gonna like it, yes there are beta testers and all of that but thats a few in a dozen to get that. We are the criminals to them even though they are the ones are producing the crime, to their opinion. i don't consider it a crime for testing out something before u buy it. now game companies start it off like getting rid of the used game thing and it'll get to the point that the same system the idea will be the same on movies eventually it might get to the point that theaters will not do these screenings because of piracy they so called and the only way u can watch something is that u bought it no rentals no nothing. Then they win and we have to fork out alot of money just to watch it, and when the point of the matter have to find copies that are OOP. Then we are gonna get screwed because we can't find it anymore. Because they think by locking it to one person is the best move just to counter us people that wants to watch a simple film or play a simple game and wants the money now and can't wait for when deals go down on price because they are greedy.

Thats why i believe i am not doing anything wrong i believe if i like it i'll buy it if not they can keep their shotty product


Sorry that i went very long on this but its my personal beliefs.

[Templar]

Streaming in HD is fine in theory but not in practice - like many other members here my speeds are just not up to scratch, so to stream a show is just not worth it. Also to download Game Of Thrones off iTunes is taking me 1 1/2 to 3 hours per episode I am also not a fan of buying something and not being able to play it on any device i choose, whenever i want.
With bluray i can put my favourite show on and watch it immediately, in HD, no lagging speeds, on whatever player i choose wherever i choose.
I also like the packaging that is with the physical media - booklets, digibooks, steelbooks, art cards etc.

[Tim34]

Hi
When You say you Replace your DVDs with blu ray what do you Mean by that? Do you Still keep your DVD Movies or do you Sell them? Thank you

[WyldeMF]

Originally Posted by Tim34

Hi
When You say you Replace your DVDs with blu ray what do you Mean by that? Do you Still keep your DVD Movies or do you Sell them? Thank you

I actually keep them and in some cases make my own custom combo packs by putting them in with the blu ray. Used DVDs are so cheap they're not even worth selling IMO. I'd rather keep them and have more than one way to play them if needed.

Sent from my Tricorder

[seregloth]

I don't see ditching physical copies entirely, but I have trimmed down from almost 500 blurays 7 months ago to 250 some with a VUDU library of almost 700.

There were a lot of movies I owned to potentially watch once every year or so, and a lot of movies I was vaguely interested in watching, but weren't making the tops of any to watch lists around the house so any blind buys are mostly code only. So I've gone from 100's of VHS tapes to 100's of DVD's to ?? HD-DVDs, to Blurays, to bluray collector sets + digital.

But that being said, I buy like 3 copies or so of a lot of the titles I like (though I sell of spare bits and pieces to make my whatever super-copy I was after).

[ibprofane]

Originally Posted by Patienceofkaori

[Show spoiler]Im 21 i love the physical media i fully admitted on this website already that i torrent on what i want to watch if i like it i buy it if i don't then i delete it yes my hard drive still has movies on it but thats because im waiting for a good deal on it. I 100% agree with u i am frightened as well that it just disappears or it gets to the point that there might be an expiration date later even after u purchased it for a certain time to watch it before u have to buy it again.

The only reason i condone torrenting files is believe that im not doing anything wrong I believe if im buying then they deserve my money i won't buy something that i don't think they deserve to have. Also if im not sure of it im not gonna give them $14 for a watch in the theaters.

If i buy something off of amazon or something its practically the same thing the only reason corporations hate it is because the fact they ain't making a profit of it. Think of it this way if i buy it on amazon they already got the money that the product was already received. If u think about its kinda like yeah they got the money from amazon as a business deal to sell it and then also profit from the consumer because they bought it but if u buy it used then they got it once and then the one im buying only goes to the company that i bought it from.

My also laughter on all of this they kinda made it easy for piracy more than before. By giving digital copies. Now all u have to do is enter a code say like for itunes and then grab the file and upload it to the pirate bay or whatever. Before u had to have a dvd drive and a program to crack into the disk and break through the copy right protection thats in it and give the full everything.


I do believe companies deserve on what they put into them if we like it then we buy it when we get the chance. we are considered criminals automatically because of the fact we are giving a test run out on something they think we should shed $22 just because they made it. I understand its a choice and i also understand on renting it as well. But now the fact also that places like gamestop is now getting closed to bankrupt because the gaming community also is getting screwed because they are putting a one time purchase and it can only be used by the people that bought it so lets shed $70 on a game now because we also don't know if its gonna be good or not because we couldn't also test it out. Piracy has been proven as well to encourage people to buy their product corporations have used it for years and say it was considered leaked. But they are the ones that put it out. They need to know if its gonna sell if people are gonna like it, yes there are beta testers and all of that but thats a few in a dozen to get that. We are the criminals to them even though they are the ones are producing the crime, to their opinion. i don't consider it a crime for testing out something before u buy it. now game companies start it off like getting rid of the used game thing and it'll get to the point that the same system the idea will be the same on movies eventually it might get to the point that theaters will not do these screenings because of piracy they so called and the only way u can watch something is that u bought it no rentals no nothing. Then they win and we have to fork out alot of money just to watch it, and when the point of the matter have to find copies that are OOP. Then we are gonna get screwed because we can't find it anymore. Because they think by locking it to one person is the best move just to counter us people that wants to watch a simple film or play a simple game and wants the money now and can't wait for when deals go down on price because they are greedy.

Thats why i believe i am not doing anything wrong i believe if i like it i'll buy it if not they can keep their shotty product


Sorry that i went very long on this but its my personal beliefs.

You make a lot of good points, especially regarding torrenting movies to "rent" before you purchase them. I used to own a media store and I had no problem with people doing that for music or movies and then buying a physical copy if they enjoyed it. I have actually discovered numerous musical artists in that same fashion and then ended up purchasing 2-3 of their albums + going to concerts. This was long before Pandora or streaming music services and I would have never known about them, let alone supported them without being able to download their music for free. I think it's a two way street and it can simultaneously hurt and help media conglomerates despite what they perceive.

[Raul4510]

This is a tough one because although I have been enjoying Blu Ray and DVD I also like the convenience of streaming services and with more and more digital purchasing options becoming available it's really nice to have the best of both worlds so to speak. Streaming will inevitably catch up to Blu Ray in both video/audio. Faster internet speeds are only going to get even better. I would say in no more than five years, probably sooner, streaming will be just as good quality wise. It's not really as much of a stretch as some people think for streaming to become the dominant format. Studios are obviously throwing a lot of their support into it because it provides direct to the consumer content without the added expense of physical media/packaging. Plus as many have pointed out it gives them easier content control which isn't exactly a positive for buyers, but gives them more incentives than discs.

[Jar Jar Stinks]

I don't have data caps on my Internet service - so 95% of my viewing is via streaming. Unfortunately, the cable/telephone industrial complex wants you to subscribe to a television service, so they'll continue charge extra to those who surpass their meager data limit due to streaming. For that reason, streaming will grow slower than it should.

For now, BDs have the advantage of alternative audio tracks, lossless sound, and extras. Unfortunately, once it moves to an all streaming model (which it will), there will be no real incentive for the studios to create documentaries or other bonus content (apart from crappy EPKs).

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by gabbott

Laserdiscs had a 20 year run even though it was more of a niche format because it never gained mass appeal. But from 1979 to about 1998 movies were released in that format. Both DVD and bluray are so much more popular, I don't see the formats going away for quite some time.

Movies were released on Laserdisc until 2000 for the USA, and until 2001 for Japan.

[bigshot]

I have a 1080p projection system, and I also have Roku Netflix and Warner Archive with Verizon fast internet. The streaming stuff looks and sounds just as good as my blu-ray disks. I like owning physical media, but the streaming stuff matches it in quality.

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

For now, BDs have the advantage of alternative audio tracks, lossless sound, and extras.

You are missing the obvious one - picture quality and compression.

[bigshot]

That depends on the speed of your internet connection.

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by bigshot

That depends on the speed of your internet connection.

I doubt even the very best HD downloads on the fastest internet connection could match Blu-Ray for picture stability/compression, especially more so on larger screens.

[billzfan]

Blu ray destroys streaming in terms of quality. I didn't but a home theater system to play inferior vids

[figrin_dan]

I recently read an article about Netflix and how they remove from, as well as add to, their database. Which isn't so good when you just have one episode to go.

Also my internet connection is pretty fast - but unreliable - so any testing shows it should be fine, but it isn't.

[blu-razor]

Quality isn't the same and lack of bonus content. blu ray wins!

[SwaggerJagger]

I don't like streaming, I have Netflix, but I would never buy something to stream, my internet sucks. It doesn't always work 100%, it sucks at loading videos and whatnot. I think the highest I've gotten Netflix in was 720p.