Has Blu-Ray failed?

[Amaris]

I still want physical media. A disc, a box, and something I can have sitting on my shelf to admire.

Sure you do, and so do I. We, however, will be slowly phased out. Look at the younger generation. They're already used to streaming everything on their PC, their TV, their cell phones. In time, that little cell phone will represent all the tactile contact they'll need to enjoy their media and have that same sense of ownership.

 

[RoJoHen]

I still want physical media. A disc, a box, and something I can have sitting on my shelf to admire.

Sure you do, and so do I. We, however, will be slowly phased out. Look at the younger generation. They're already used to streaming everything on their PC, their TV, their cell phones. In time, that little cell phone will represent all the tactile contact they'll need to enjoy their media and have that same sense of ownership.

But shelves of DVD box sets are so much prettier.

 

[Amaris]

I still want physical media. A disc, a box, and something I can have sitting on my shelf to admire.

Sure you do, and so do I. We, however, will be slowly phased out. Look at the younger generation. They're already used to streaming everything on their PC, their TV, their cell phones. In time, that little cell phone will represent all the tactile contact they'll need to enjoy their media and have that same sense of ownership.

But shelves of DVD box sets are so much prettier.

I agree.

 

[Deckerd]

And I don't think it's really going to be worth until the companies decide to dedicate themselves to Blu-Ray. At some point, they will need to stop making standard DVDs in favor of the new format.

I'm not so sure. The uptake of machines hasn't been as huge as the changeover from vhs to dvd. The vast majority of the media buying public are luddites when it comes to television technology. Look at the problems both the UK and USA are having persuading people to switch to digital. Plus the high definition tellys are bloody expensive. Then you have to buy a fancy new player. Then you realise how much more the new-fangled dvds cost per unit. We won't be buying one any time soon and I'm not alone.

 

[cultcross]

I reckon if conditions elsewhere are like the UK, Blu-Ray is going to have to put up with being the 'luxury DVD', not the total replacement for it. The jump between DVD and Blu-Ray is very expensive if you have to get an HD tele and a player, and just for some added picture quality which I'm informed is hard to even notice if you don't have 20/20 vision, this isn't a 'revolutionary' format change like VHS->DVD was. I wouldn't be surprised if the next big format change appears before Blu-Ray has managed to usurp the DVD. Certainly it won't get there until the prices on them come way down.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I reckon if conditions elsewhere are like the UK, Blu-Ray is going to have to put up with being the 'luxury DVD', not the total replacement for it. The jump between DVD and Blu-Ray is very expensive if you have to get an HD tele and a player, and just for some added picture quality which I'm informed is hard to even notice if you don't have 20/20 vision, this isn't a 'revolutionary' format change like VHS->DVD was. I wouldn't be surprised if the next big format change appears before Blu-Ray has managed to usurp the DVD. Certainly it won't get there until the prices on them come way down.

That's not really true any more. HDTVs can be had for cheap enough, Blu-ray players are as cheap as £70 or less now, and blu-ray discs can be had cheap enough, £6 or so.
Picture quality really depends on the the original source and even the style of the production, cinematography, filters used etc. There is a noticeable difference but other than sharper, clearer, there's not much you can do to quantify it without seeing it for yourself then switching back to SD content and seeing the difference.

I don't think Blu-Ray will take off to the same extent as DVD did for home purchase TV and movies because of Netflix/lovefilm and other ways of being able to watch but I don't see it being a failure.

 

[cultcross]

That's not really true any more. HDTVs can be had for cheap enough, Blu-ray players are as cheap as £70 or less now,

£70 to get slightly improved quality on some discs doesn't rate as cheap in my book. And that's still twice the price of an equivalently cheapo DVD player.

Picture quality really depends on the the original source and even the style of the production, cinematography, filters used etc. There is a noticeable difference but other than sharper, clearer, there's not much you can do to quantify it without seeing it for yourself then switching back to SD content and seeing the difference.

I see the difference, I have DVD and BD drives in my pc so i can literally play the same movie in two formats next to each other were I so inclined. But my gf who wears glasses says she can see no difference - I've heard similar from people with less-than-perfect vision. It's hardly a scientific conclusion, but I think it's fair to say that the jury is still out on whether it is that noticeable. And I would definitely say the difference is less significant than the difference caused by other factors determined, as you say, at the source. Take, say, Friends on DVD vs. LotR on DVD for extreme examples. And the difference there didn't cost me £70+!

I don't think Blu-Ray will take off to the same extent as DVD did for home purchase TV and movies because of Netflix/lovefilm and other ways of being able to watch but I don't see it being a failure.

I wouldn't be surprised if downloading becomes the standard before Blu-Ray has a chance to take over completely. The only real advantage to Blu-Ray as I see it compared to any other system they could have come up with to repalc eDVDs is that the players still play DVDs, so there isn't an issue with your current collection becoming obsolete as there was with VHS.

 

[RoJoHen]

And I don't think it's really going to be worth until the companies decide to dedicate themselves to Blu-Ray. At some point, they will need to stop making standard DVDs in favor of the new format.

I'm not so sure. The uptake of machines hasn't been as huge as the changeover from vhs to dvd. The vast majority of the media buying public are luddites when it comes to television technology. Look at the problems both the UK and USA are having persuading people to switch to digital. Plus the high definition tellys are bloody expensive. Then you have to buy a fancy new player. Then you realise how much more the new-fangled dvds cost per unit. We won't be buying one any time soon and I'm not alone.

Well, that was kind of my point. Blu-Ray isn't going to really take off until it's the only option available. As long as standard DVDs and DVD players are still being made, a lot of people are going to stick with them.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

That's not really true any more. HDTVs can be had for cheap enough, Blu-ray players are as cheap as £70 or less now,

£70 to get slightly improved quality on some discs doesn't rate as cheap in my book. And that's still twice the price of an equivalently cheapo DVD player.

Picture quality really depends on the the original source and even the style of the production, cinematography, filters used etc. There is a noticeable difference but other than sharper, clearer, there's not much you can do to quantify it without seeing it for yourself then switching back to SD content and seeing the difference.

I see the difference, I have DVD and BD drives in my pc so i can literally play the same movie in two formats next to each other were I so inclined. But my gf who wears glasses says she can see no difference - I've heard similar from people with less-than-perfect vision. It's hardly a scientific conclusion, but I think it's fair to say that the jury is still out on whether it is that noticeable. And I would definitely say the difference is less significant than the difference caused by other factors determined, as you say, at the source. Take, say, Friends on DVD vs. LotR on DVD for extreme examples. And the difference there didn't cost me £70+!

I don't think Blu-Ray will take off to the same extent as DVD did for home purchase TV and movies because of Netflix/lovefilm and other ways of being able to watch but I don't see it being a failure.

I wouldn't be surprised if downloading becomes the standard before Blu-Ray has a chance to take over completely. The only real advantage to Blu-Ray as I see it compared to any other system they could have come up with to repalc eDVDs is that the players still play DVDs, so there isn't an issue with your current collection becoming obsolete as there was with VHS.

My point was last year a blu-ray player was £199 now it's down to under £70, 42" HDTVs can be had for around £350 whereas not long ago it was double that. Basically 10 years ago you could have made the exact same price arguments for DVD. I need to get a widescreen TV and an expensive DVD player, when I can just continue to use my video player on my old TV. etc.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I still want physical media. A disc, a box, and something I can have sitting on my shelf to admire.

Sure you do, and so do I. We, however, will be slowly phased out. Look at the younger generation. They're already used to streaming everything on their PC, their TV, their cell phones. In time, that little cell phone will represent all the tactile contact they'll need to enjoy their media and have that same sense of ownership.

"Younger generation"? You're fucking 30, dude! You're not that old.

Hell, I am a year younger than you and I have pretty much embraced digital everything. I don't care so much about having a physical copy as I do having an easy way to replace the electronic copy should something ever happen to it.

I buy games on Steam, for instance, and should they ever go under I know of several tools that can be used to crack Steam archives and free them of the DRM. As long as there are other channels I can use should the primary ones go away, it's not paramount for me to have a physical copy.

That said, I do like my big (physical) collection of PC games.

 

[Deckerd]

I see the difference, I have DVD and BD drives in my pc so i can literally play the same movie in two formats next to each other were I so inclined. But my gf who wears glasses says she can see no difference - I've heard similar from people with less-than-perfect vision.

Just a point: corrected vision is perfect unless you've been lazy about keeping your prescription up to date or you have another condition as well as or instead of myopia/hypermetropia and/or astigmatism.

 

[Servo]

I wear glasses, and I have no problem seeing the difference between Blu-Ray and standard DVD's.

I can see why some people might be a bit intimidated by the change over. When DVD came out, you didn't have to have a specific TV, as your new DVD player would play through the same SDTV your video player ran through. With Blu-Ray, you obviously need a HDTV to appreciate the difference, and some would even argue that you need a decent sound system as well to fully take advantage of the whole HD experience. Factor into that the emergence of 3D technology, and I can definitely see how it could all be a bit much for your average consumer.

In all honesty, I'm not sure I'd have been in a rush to convert to Blu-Ray if I had to buy a player off my own back. However, since I already had a HDTV, and my PS3 has a built-in Blu-Ray player, I've been slowly replacing my DVDs with Blu-Ray discs.

 

[UssGlenn]

I had been considering getting a blu-ray drive for my computer, my monitor is big enough to make it worth it. The problem is they've made it so difficult to take screen captures (which I do all the time on my DVDs) that I just said screw it. I'd love to be able to take advantage of the increased resolution when using the screen-caps as reference material but it's too much trouble right now. I'll wait until somebody figures out how to do it easily before I make the conversion. Just another example of how their paranoia over piracy is driving away paying customers. I have a moral objection to piracy so I just have to do without.

 

[Starbreaker]

There's a difference between DVD and Blu-Ray even on smaller TVs. I only have a 32", but the Avatar BD and DVD are like night and day.

 

[Mooch]

I love my HDTV and I love Blu-rays. However, DVDs don't look bad on my HDTV and I haven't bothered replacing the movies I already have, with a few exceptions. New things I get on Blu-ray if available.

and some would even argue that you need a decent sound system as well to fully take advantage of the whole HD experience.

Some would argue that you need a decent sound system to fully take advantage of DVDs.

 

[Warp Coil]

While I certainly notice and appreciate the clarity and depth of blu-ray and HD, I haven't had a reason to upgrade. My 9-year-old DVD player is chugging along just fine. I'm happy to save money buy purchasing standard-definition DVDs instead of forking out more money for the blu-ray version. I think prices need to come down a bit more.

 

[Candlelight]

I have a DVD Recorder that upscales everything to 1080 anyway (although my 37" tv has only 768 lines of resolution). The quality is pretty good so I don't see the need to upgrade.

It also comes down to extras as well. Some Blu-Ray movies I've seen for sale only put the movie on the disc, and no extras appear to be listed. That alone doesn't urge me to buy it.

Now something like the upcoming Alien Anthology set on the other hand is over flowing with extras, so that does make me wanna upgrade. In saying that, those kinds of movies are more expensive, so it makes it hard to justify the expense, especially as the Alien Quadriligy DVD has about 95% of the extras that the BD set has.

Bah! I'm torn!!

 

[Lord Garth]

I don't believe Blu-Ray has failed. DVD was introduced in 1997 but it didn't overtake VHS until 2003. VHS itself didn't become defunct until 2006.

Blu-Ray was introduced in 2007. By the standards of the last switchover, I never expected Blu-Ray to overtake DVD before 2013. The economy doesn't help either.

 

[Aragorn]

My local Best Buy has one massive row of Blu-rays that stretches down a large section of their store while the DVDs are tucked away in a nearby corner.

 

[RoJoHen]

I still want physical media. A disc, a box, and something I can have sitting on my shelf to admire.

Sure you do, and so do I. We, however, will be slowly phased out. Look at the younger generation. They're already used to streaming everything on their PC, their TV, their cell phones. In time, that little cell phone will represent all the tactile contact they'll need to enjoy their media and have that same sense of ownership.

"Younger generation"? You're fucking 30, dude! You're not that old.

In this day and age, there is a huge difference between people who are 30 and people who are in their teens, especially when it comes to technology. There are probably high schoolers who have never even used a VHS.