Has Blu-Ray failed?

[doubleohfive]

I actually miss it because I was a teenager then and loved taking things apart, hell I still do. Taking the VCR apart was fun and I even took it apart once to repair it. Taking the tape apart to fix it when the tape broke off the spool, fund days.

Stupid DVD players and their non user serviceable parts!

Oh, it definitely sounds like your user needs to be serviced.

My place or yours?

Treker, I'm not gay. Besides, even if I were, I'd like to think I could do a little better than you.

 

[Amaris]

I'm not understanding people complaining that blu-rays are too expensive to purchase ...

i suppose they forget that the MSRP of cassette tapes, VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs was also relatively high within the first few years on the market.

I distinctly remember VHS tapes being $50+.
I remember the Star Trek ads on some of my much older VHS tapes advertising great blockbuster values at $29.95 per videocassette.

 

[Sparky]

I'm not understanding people complaining that blu-rays are too expensive to purchase ...

i suppose they forget that the MSRP of cassette tapes, VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs was also relatively high within the first few years on the market.

I distinctly remember VHS tapes being $50+.
I remember the Star Trek ads on some of my much older VHS tapes advertising great blockbuster values at $29.95 per videocassette.

I remember when movies on VHS were priced in the $100 to $120 range.

 

[Aragorn]

VHS movies originally didn't go straight to retail. They'd go to rental stores first, and then after a while you could buy them at your local store for under $20. You could buy them the same time Blockbuster got them, but you'd have to pay $100.

 

[doubleohfive]

^I think that's how I got my first copy of Star Trek VI actually.

 

[Trekker4747]

Oh, it definitely sounds like your user needs to be serviced.

My place or yours?

Treker, I'm not gay. Besides, even if I were, I'd like to think I could do a little better than you.

You cut me deep there, man.

 

[777]

In my country, Blu-Ray movies are generally sold at double the price of DVD movies.

Reading this thread, seems we are being royally screwed with the price

 

[BigFoot]

^ Yeah prices over here are absolutely crazy as well. Which is why I get all of my Blu-rays from the UK.

 

[hamudm]

I'm not understanding people complaining that blu-rays are too expensive to purchase ...

i suppose they forget that the MSRP of cassette tapes, VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs was also relatively high within the first few years on the market.

Insanely high actually compared to blu-rays. VHS tapes were upwards of $100 well into its lifecycle.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Oh, it definitely sounds like your user needs to be serviced.

My place or yours?

Treker, I'm not gay. Besides, even if I were, I'd like to think I could do a little better than you.

Scorch!

 

[Trekker4747]

I'm not understanding people complaining that blu-rays are too expensive to purchase ...

i suppose they forget that the MSRP of cassette tapes, VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs was also relatively high within the first few years on the market.

Insanely high actually compared to blu-rays. VHS tapes were upwards of $100 well into its lifecycle.

FWIW? That wasn't for the consumer market. It's not like there were $100 tapes of the latest releases sitting on store shelves; that's what rental places paid for the tapes, eventually the prices of the tape would come down and they'd hit the consumer market. Also, it's not that the cost of the tape itself was $100 (when a pack of six blank tapes could be bought for orders of magnitude less) but the cost of all the studio "getting ours" bullshit caused the price to go up.

So saying it cost $100 to buy a new release during "much of VHS' lifecycle" is a bit dishonest.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

So saying it cost $100 to buy a new release during "much of VHS' lifecycle" is a bit dishonest.

Except maybe the cost Paramount charged for Trek movies & TOS episodes...

Here’s how much it would cost to get JUST Season 1 in most of the previous releases: Original VHS Release (1 ep per tape, $20.00 each) – $580.00
Laserdisc release (2 eps per disc, $60.00 each) – $900.00

-this guy [comment 5]
http://trekmovie.com/2009/07/09/sta...e-trek-home-video-announcements-at-comic-con/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120804/

 

[cultcross]

So they charged $20 a VHS, not $100 at all.

 

[Trekker4747]

So they charged $20 a VHS, not $100 at all.

And also on-par of what a new-release movie cost during VHS' run, around $20. (Granted, though, that was for a 2+ hour movie, so $20 for a <1 hour episode is a bit steep, but still not $100.)

 

[137th Gebirg]

Never been a bid fan of Blu-Ray. I'm especially dismayed that many BR discs I get have some bizarre disclaimer about (paraphrasing) "Because Blu-Ray is still an experimental format, some menu features may not function on some players, necessitating a firmware upgrade" or some such crap. It should say "Because Blu-Ray is still some half-baked hair-brained idea from Sony, we would advise you simply give this disc to your dog as a chew-toy, because you won't even be able to navigate to the Episode Index from the main menu". I've had many problems with all kinds of different discs, some working fine, others never being able to even get beyond the initial load, and varying degrees in between. I despise BR and I knew we were in trouble when it was finally "accepted" as the industry standard.

I've never liked ANYTHING Sony. Everything I've ever bought from them broke sooner than any other brand of consumer electronics in similar classes. And I'm not the only one who seems to feel this way either: From The Onion.

HD-DVD seemed to have less in the way of interactive features but, IIRC, allocated that space on the disc for higher-quality video compression and more robust menu systems. After all, if the thing doesn't work, what's the bloody point?

Blu-Ray...pfft!

 

[Trekker4747]

"and being god-damned ass-backward as fuck."

I love that bit.

 

[BillJ]

I've had many problems with all kinds of different discs, some working fine, others never being able to even get beyond the initial load, and varying degrees in between. I despise BR and I knew we were in trouble when it was finally "accepted" as the industry standard.

Blu-Ray...pfft!

Why are you people having so much trouble with this format? I've got two players (one has never had a firmware update), around one hundred discs, receive two to four a week from Netflix and have NEVER had an issue getting a movie to play.

You do know that the artwork is suppose to be facing up when inserting the disc?

 

[Amaris]

I've had many problems with all kinds of different discs, some working fine, others never being able to even get beyond the initial load, and varying degrees in between. I despise BR and I knew we were in trouble when it was finally "accepted" as the industry standard.

Blu-Ray...pfft!

Why are you people having so much trouble with this format? I've got two players (one has never had a firmware update), around one hundred discs, receive two to four a week from Netflix and have NEVER had an issue getting a movie to play.

You do know that the artwork is suppose to be facing up when inserting the disc?

Same here. Two players, lots of discs played, not a single firmware update, not a single problem.

 

[BillJ]

I've had many problems with all kinds of different discs, some working fine, others never being able to even get beyond the initial load, and varying degrees in between. I despise BR and I knew we were in trouble when it was finally "accepted" as the industry standard.

Blu-Ray...pfft!

Why are you people having so much trouble with this format? I've got two players (one has never had a firmware update), around one hundred discs, receive two to four a week from Netflix and have NEVER had an issue getting a movie to play.

You do know that the artwork is suppose to be facing up when inserting the disc?

Same here. Two players, lots of discs played, not a single firmware update, not a single problem.

I think some people are still having problems deciphering exactly what their particular player is capable of. Currently I have two players, one is Profile 1.1 and the other is Profile 2.0. There are also Profile 1.0 players, which I believe are no longer being produced.

Profile 1.0 will play the movie and any audio commentary tracks that come on the discs. Essentially these players are high-definition movie players and nothing more. These are the players that seem to be the most problematic. Most are older and I'm not even sure if the manufacturers' are continuing to make upgraded firmware available.

Profile 1.1 will play the movie, any audio commentary tracks and any off-line interactive features (picture in picture commentaries).

Profile 2.0 carries over everything from the 1.1 players plus adds on-line interactivity.

The Magnavox I own (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Magnavox-Blu-Ray-Player/10825995) is the Profile 1.1 player. It is hooked up in the living room to a 40" 1080p set and a Surround Sound system. It has no ethernet port and Funai has yet to release a firmware outside of the one already installed on the player. This is our 'family movie night' player and plays everything we've ever attempted to play on it with no issues (but it is slow as molasses).

My Profile 2.0 player is a Playstation 3 which is in our bedroom and is hooked to a 32" 720p set. While it has done numerous firmware updates (via wi-fi) over the time I have had it, very little has had to due with playing Blu-Ray movies themselves. I have also never had a problem getting a movie to play on this player.

Both are hooked up via HDMI (video) and Optical (audio) cables.

I also own an HD-DVD player that isn't currently hooked up but thought that the limited disc size was going to begin creating issues, because you were going to have a problem getting the same amount on content on an HD-DVD as a Blu-Ray disc.

Blu-Ray technology has come a long way since its inception. I think people are wrong to hold 'bugs' early in a technologies life-cycle against it for the entirety of said techs life-cycle. YMMV.

 

[Tulin]

Never been a bid fan of Blu-Ray. I'm especially dismayed that many BR discs I get have some bizarre disclaimer about (paraphrasing) "Because Blu-Ray is still an experimental format, some menu features may not function on some players, necessitating a firmware upgrade" or some such crap. It should say "Because Blu-Ray is still some half-baked hair-brained idea from Sony, we would advise you simply give this disc to your dog as a chew-toy, because you won't even be able to navigate to the Episode Index from the main menu".

Thank you for my new sig!