The Future of Blu-Ray

[Disky76]

Okay folks. I would like to pose a question to the forum.

What do you feel the future of Blu-Ray is?

So far, it has been healthily adopted. Everyone I know, including myself, who has Blu-Ray is blown away by the quality. The detail. The immersion into the film.

But still, despite the surge in late 2008, Blu-Ray still has an elite following (like Laserdisc) and hasn't really made it to mass-market mainstream America.

DVD seems like it still has a few more years in it. It actually could have quite a few.

So my next question is:

What do you feel needs to be done to bring Blu-Ray to the masses, and make it the format of choice for all?

I love my DVD's - and I love my Blu-Ray's. And guess what? I love my Laserdisc's too. My collection shows the evolvement of technology, and it made me think, and wonder, what might be next. So what, really, needs to be done to get Blu-Ray on that mass market appeal? Lower prices? More titles? DVD banning? (LOL, jk)

I am really interested in what you all have to say, and I really hope this thread continues!! )

[The Guilty Party]

Originally Posted by Disky76

What do you feel needs to be done to bring Blu-Ray to the masses, and make it the format of choice for all?

As more and more people buy HDTV's, blu-ray sales will also increase. While it seems silly to most of here to not yet own an HDTV, a majority of Americans have still yet to make the switch.

That said, that switch is well under way and so the question is what will make those people with high def capabilities use blu-ray... well, I think Disney took a step in the right direction by releasing "Bolt" before it came out on DVD.

Also, we need to have more special features for BD only. A huge reason people loved DVDs so much more the VHS was due to the special features. Right now, BD and DVD are seeing many of the same special features and so the studios need to either trim down the DVD options and/or put extra money in BD options.

[andyman1970]

1.) I personally believe that Blu-ray has a healthy future and with all the upcoming releases this year alone I would say it's certainly looking brighter and better then ever. As long as companies like Disney continue to put forth the effort to promote the format we will see more and more people adopting Blu-ray as their home video viewing preference.

2.) Over the past year we have seen many Blu-ray players drop in price and some being released that have all the latest firmware updates and compatible with even the newest releases. I think the thing that needs to be done now is lower prices, especially on new releases and some exclusive titles that will be available only on Blu-ray for a period of 3-6 months before a DVD release is available.

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by Disky76

Okay folks. I would like to pose a question to the forum.

What do you feel the future of Blu-Ray is?

impenetrable

What do you feel needs to be done to bring Blu-Ray to the masses, and make it the format of choice for all?

not much. the technology machine will do its thing. the older tech dvds will gradually be phased out and newer tech bluray movies/players will continue to drop in price so that more and more consumers adopt them. same thing happened with vhs --> dvd. at least that's how i feel about it

[Disky76]

I agree with you both. I think Disney has been a Blu-Ray pioneer of sorts, and I also think releasing Blu-Ray only exclusives would definitely help.

Remember back in the VHS/Laserdisc days? For years, all you could do was rent a VHS tape - but you could BUY the Laserdisc and OWN it. There was a difference there.

Unfortunately, Laserdisc never really caught on.

Blu-Ray has the potential to totally replace DVD....but Blu-Rays should be released earlier than DVD. By at least a few weeks. With more features.

If the studios want to save money, they should start stripping special features from cheap DVD releases and making them Blu-Ray exclusives. Along with a Blu-Ray early release date, that would help.

[Disky76]

Originally Posted by Sussudio

impenetrable



not much. the technology machine will run its course. dvds will gradually be phased out and bluray movies/players will continue to drop in price so that more and more consumers adopt them. same thing happened with vhs --> dvd.

You are probably right. I was just thinking how we could speed up the process. There needs to be a real feeling of exclusivity of owning a Blu-Ray - besides audio and video quality. Whether it be special features, early release dates, or whatever.

It needs to stand out over DVD (right now, DVD's are released day-and-date with Blu-Rays, and generally have the same features) and also stand out over digital HD downloading. We need to give Joe Shmo a reason to buy the Blu-Ray over streaming a hi-def movie to his TV.

[ajmrowland]

First off, I must say that many people call the aggressive approach to advertising blu-ray "shoving it down our throats". They're actually repelled by it.

Secondly, most people never cared about DVD features in the first place. The difference in quality between DVD and VHS is much more noticeable(and practical) than the difference between DVD and Blu-ray.

The economy is preventing many potential sales for HD in general. The masses just don't feel it's necessary to buy/rebuy movies in a format that costs twice as much, which is ironic because more sales amount to a lower cost.

The majority of people just haven't gotten in the groove yet. TVpredictions predicts the halfway adoption point to be reached in 2012.

[sokrman14]

3 days of early release means nothing to me. I think like 2-3 weeks would do the trick of early release. That would drive me nuts when I went to Best Buy and saw a cool movie out and realized I could only get it on bluray for 2-3 weeks. I can always wait 3 days. Im not a big user of special features, because its the movie that really counts, but I guess if they are free, throw more on there.

I think another thing they can do is dropping prices faster. I know that they can only go so low before they stop making money on them, but that elusive $100 player will sell well because it no longer gives anyone a reason to get an upconverting dvd player, because they are practically the same price.

[sokrman14]

Originally Posted by ajmrowland

First off, I must say that many people call the aggressive approach to advertising blu-ray "shoving it down our throats". They're actually repelled by it.

Secondly, most people never cared about DVD features in the first place. The difference in quality between DVD and VHS is much more noticeable(and practical) than the difference between DVD and Blu-ray.

The economy is preventing many potential sales for HD in general. The masses just don't feel it's necessary to buy/rebuy movies in a format that costs twice as much, which is ironic because more sales amount to a lower cost.

The majority of people just haven't gotten in the groove yet. TVpredictions predicts the halfway adoption point to be reached in 2012.

The problem is that people feel that they have to rebuy a movie. I don't replace any of my dvd's, why would I if I can still watch it with just 1 machine. I know the quality isnt there, but until they release catalog blurays and have $5 specials like DVD's now I don't need to replace it. Its all about the cool, new releases for me.

[Disky76]

Originally Posted by sokrman14

The problem is that people feel that they have to rebuy a movie. I don't replace any of my dvd's, why would I if I can still watch it with just 1 machine. I know the quality isnt there, but until they release catalog blurays and have $5 specials like DVD's now I don't need to replace it. Its all about the cool, new releases for me.

Hopefully Studio execs browse these forums )

[Anthony P]

What do you feel the future of Blu-Ray is?

So far, it has been healthily adopted. Everyone I know, including myself, who has Blu-Ray is blown away by the quality. The detail. The immersion into the film.

But still, despite the surge in late 2008, Blu-Ray still has an elite following (like Laserdisc) and hasn't really made it to mass-market mainstream America.

DVD seems like it still has a few more years in it. It actually could have quite a few.

I think the future is that it will be the next standard. I think the issue is that you are not realistic. BD came out mid 2006 it is not even 3 yet, why would you expect everyone to have adopted it, do you think DVD had 100% or even 50% or even more then 20% before it was 3, look at this (only thing easy to find)

at the end of 2000 (almost 4 years after DVD launched) DVD had between 8%and 30% depending on the studio (look at chart) and for the whole market it was between 22% and 23% market share (easy to compute from chart, but numbers are not precise enough to decide 22 or 23). In a bit over a year we will be able to compare the two formats but BD appears to be doing better then DVD in adoption rate and DVD was the format that got adopted the fastest.

as for "an elite following (like Laserdisc)", LD was never as main stream as BD is now.

What do you feel needs to be done to bring Blu-Ray to the masses, and make it the format of choice for all?

I guess there is always more that can be done (especialy if we get in the ridiculous), but honestly I think BD is doing well enough.

[brettallica]

Someone mentioned earlier that the difference between Blu and DVD isn't as great as it is between VHS and DVD... That is flat-out wrong. Look into some data specs when it comes to VHS reolutions vs. DVD resolution. You will see a jump from VHS to DVD, but you will see a HUGE LEAP in resolution between DVD and Blu. Just Google "VHS native reolution" (without the quotes), and you'll find all the raw data you need. I believe the difference in resolutions between VHS and DVD is only something like a few times greater, but Blu compared to DVD is over six times the resolution.

While it is true that in "real life" application, VHS can look pretty terrible, but if you play a brand new VHS tape in a high-quality VCR, you will get a picture that competes with DVD. The problem is tape degrades, which is what happens the instant the VHS tape comes off the press. DVD, being digital, will remain new and will never degrade. People don't really get that, so when they compare a VHS tape from 1985 that has seen 20+ years of tape degradation, then pop in a DVD and see a fresh new picture, of course the difference between the two is going to be huge. That's just some simple ranting based on easy data. There are others who can pick up where I left of here.

That being said, I think another big factor in seeing Blu take over DVD will be integration in home computers. Once people see how much extra storage you get with a Blu disc (and of course when price comes down enough), there will be no question which format is superior. The video and audio differences are pretty clear, but you have to think about the computer side of things as well. You could reasonably argue that it's more advantageous to have Blu for your computer instead of DVD than to have a home theater featuring Blu instead of DVD. You won't necessarily get that argument from me, but if you wanted to have a debate, I could argue on that side and have a convincing case.

I'm an absolute Blu-ray evangelist, so I need no convincing, but spreading the word can be challenging. A lot of people just don't want to switch right now, because they are content with their DVDs. I don't really get how people can have an HDTV but not feed it HD, but soon enough people will come around.