Microsoft: Blu-ray is Going to be Passed by as a Format

WBurchnall said:
So who needs blu-ray? ...Those who don't want to pay each time they want to watch a movie via streaming and might prefer to watch the same move a few times. Buy a blu-ray disc, watch it unlimited times(within reason due to disc wear and tear). Buy a stream of a movie in 1080p? Watch it ...unlimited times within 24 hours or once depending on how the streaming service is setup but never will it be watch it unlimited times whenver you want.
Click to expand...
^^^^ This!
People seem to forgot that streaming is for a limited time for use. Look at comcast (cable TV)... The movie expires after a length in time has elapsed. Blu-Ray will be around for a long time! When movies are now getting cheaper to buy when they come out. Players are now around or under $100.00 for basic ones. So who ever thinks Blu Ray is dying needs a reality check. Hell, every blockbuster has about a 80/20 ratio of Blu Ray to DVD... So the trend is starting to shift toward the new medium for the masses.
 
obs said:
Guess what, you're wrong. True or false, internet speeds have been growing over the last decade?
Click to expand...

Uh... true, but you sort of missed the point entirely. True or false: unlimited/uncapped data plans are going the way of the dodo.
 
Forgot to mention, When you can stream true 1080P with the full DolbyHD or DTS HD... Then get back to me. Having sub par audio is not saying you stream Blu Ray quality movies...
 
3DChipset said:
So who ever thinks Blu Ray is dying needs a reality check. Hell, every blockbuster has about a 80/20 ratio of Blu Ray to DVD... So the trend is starting to shift toward the new medium for the masses.
Click to expand...

Blockbuster has filed for bankruptcy, so I don't think they are a good example.
 
I'll take my HARD COPY bluray disk over any streaming crap.. i've watched movies online, over netflix, over comcast cable, they are all compressed and all have quality issues. For me, nothing surpasses bluray quality AND convenience, you may be able to have a digital download but who the hell wants to wait for a 30-50gb file to d/l
 
CannibalTrout said:
So Mr. Gates. When do you plan on stopping by my neighborhood and getting me some sort of decent internet connection to support streaming HD without it looking like crap.
Click to expand...

Since Mr. Gates had nothing to do with the quote, what do you want? The guy who made the comment was discussing why the xbox doesn't have a blu ray player, he works in the UK where they typically have faster internet speeds and tend to lack such restrictive download caps.

I think 99% of the posters here didn't actually RTFA
 
obs said:
Guess what, you're wrong. True or false, internet speeds have been growing over the last decade?
Click to expand...

True.

And how does speed affect low monthly caps on how much data I pull down?

Answer, it doesn't, other than that I'll hit my cap sooner in the month rather than later.

Low caps are what will severely limit a completely digital download market.
 
Again, a lot of you are talking out of your ass. On usenet I can download UNCOMPRESSED bluerays in about an hour to an hour and a half (40GB files), with no ads, trailers, or copy protection.

Explain to me how physical bluray is better?
Click to expand...
I can't. A 40GB blu-ray at my typical connection speed would take about 20 hours. If I'm lucky. And if I'm not using the internet at all during that time. Besides which I would be stuck with dial-up speed for the rest of the month, since I only have a total monthly data cap of 30GB. On the other hand I can walk down to the store and buy a Blu-ray for $10, or rent one for a week for $1. We spend $90 a month for those 30GB of bandwidth.

Explain to me how downloaded bluray is better?
 
ccmfreak2 said:
. I, for one, don't own a Bluray player, and have NO plans of getting one. I would never utilize it enough to justify the cost.
Click to expand...

Good upscaling DVD player: $70
Good upscaling DVD player that plays BluRays as well because it's a BluRay player: $80-90

Quality difference: immense, audio and video.
 
TechLarry said:
I never thought I'd say it but...

I hope so.

BluRay is a disaster for the Consumer. Screw Sony.

Maybe we can get HDDVD back since it's already developed and working perfectly :)
Click to expand...

This type of ignorance is hilarious. Flashback on patent ownership

HD-DVD = Toshiba, Microsoft (gee, I wonder why they don't like BD), and one or two others

Blu-Ray = Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Philips / Matsushita, et al (pretty much the majors in the consumer electronics industry)

Toshiba, because they wanted to continue their dominance in the DVD Forum, rushed out a different standard to help them maintain it. Unfortunately for them, they replayed Betamax vs VHS taking the part of Sony.

I stayed out of the war until HD-DVD was dead. I still get a laugh at people that are like "$ony is ebil!" Guess what? It was a patent war and To$hiba didn't care about anyone either, they just wanted to maintain their control.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
in the UK where they typically have faster internet speeds and tend to lack such restrictive download caps.
Click to expand...

:confused::confused::confused: My unlimited 20mbit/s (it does 700kb/s with a wired connection. Though once it went to 1.4mb/s I even screencapped it! It was that magical). the UK interwebs is probably worse than onlive in alaska.
 
I would really like to ask Microsoft why their selection of HD content in the Zune Marketplace on the 360 is so pathetic. I'm pretty sure it was a bad decision to limit each category to like 10 movies. Um, hello! Anybody in Redmond listening? I really would like to give you some money!
 
Bluray costs too much still. If the bdr's were cheaper it would be more than popular than what it is now.
 
Conker said:
Bluray costs too much still. If the bdr's were cheaper it would be more than popular than what it is now.
Click to expand...

Stop buying them at Kmart and Best Buy. They're usually $10-13 at Walmart and usually cheaper on Amazon.
 
TheResidentEvil said:
blu-ray dark knight is 8.99 on amazon. cost too much???
Click to expand...

Ya seriously. Some people are just idiots who go to bestbuy and pay $30 for the same thing....

Not to mention, on amazon, with each blu-ray, they give you a free $4 credit for amazon-on-demand.....
 
timta2 said:
I would really like to ask Microsoft why their selection of HD content in the Zune Marketplace on the 360 is so pathetic. I'm pretty sure it was a bad decision to limit each category to like 10 movies. Um, hello! Anybody in Redmond listening? I really would like to give you some money!
Click to expand...

+1. Zune is too good of a service otherwise but I'm hoping with Windows 7 Phones they take care of this.
 
txfeinbergs said:
Uh... true, but you sort of missed the point entirely. True or false: unlimited/uncapped data plans are going the way of the dodo.
Click to expand...

They've already been capped in everywhere but the US for a long time. However, the caps are increasing, not decreasing. So the assertion that the caps will get lower and lower is just as absurd as claiming speeds will get slower and slower. Yes, caps will happen, mainly to limit those huge outliers in the top 1-2% of internet users but they will continue to expand.
 
TheResidentEvil said:
Bluray sales are constantly on the up. To say its going to be gone soon is completely against the data.
Click to expand...

Remember how many technologies were on the rise, and then it turns it really wasn't?

Hey guys, Firewire is constantly on the up! What's that? Fewer devices are coming with firewire ports? That is completely against the data, that I pulled out of my ass.
 
Ashbringer said:
Remember how many technologies were on the rise, and then it turns it really wasn't?

Hey guys, Firewire is constantly on the up! What's that? Fewer devices are coming with firewire ports? That is completely against the data, that I pulled out of my ass.
Click to expand...

There's a tremendous difference between the success of Blu-ray and the success of Firewire.
 
Azhar said:
There's a tremendous difference between the success of Blu-ray and the success of Firewire.
Click to expand...

Yes, there is. Firewire made it out the door and was somewhat successful, but only among professional artists. If you have a camcorder, good chance it has a firewire port on it. Then USB2.0 came along and people are like, "Firewire who?".

Blu-Ray is claiming to be a success, but the reality is that the HD-DVD format commit suicide, so that companies don't end up destroying both formats in their format war. So Blu-Ray becomes the winner through an act of suicide, or has it?

The reason Blu-Ray died is the same reason why music CDs died. In fact, I just put in a BOSS stereo in my car that doesn't take CDs, but it does take in USB memory sticks and SD flash cards, along with an AUX port. The reason is, I haven't used CDs in over 10 years. The last time I saw a music CD, is when I used my Sega CD to play them.

I learned the convenience of MP3's, long before Apple made their first iPod. You have to agree, it's much more convenient to have a mp3 collection, then it is to have a CD collection. Not to forget, it's skip free.

Even before Blu-Ray came out it was doomed. People were already enjoying the benefits of playing movies off the computer. It's cheap, it's quick, there's no need to wait for 20 coming attractions, and the quality is adequate.

People aren't going to buy movies because it's on Blu-Ray, but because they like the movie. If they like the movie enough, they'll get it on Blu-Ray. How many movies in the past 10 years you think drove people to go that far? Most movies are only good enough to watch once, and after that I'll never wanna see it again.

Which is why down-loadable or steaming videos are adequate. Cause, until you have new movies with the cinema impact like "Back to the Future", "Star Wars", and "Terminator 2" then people won't care if the quality is so clear that they can see the molecules of the actors face. The nearest movie that got that kind of a cult following was "Lord of the Rings", and that's old already too.

Just like how the iPod killed the CD star, so will HTPCs to Blu-Ray. The reason why HTPCs will be the future is because people will always choose convenience over quality. Sure Blu-Ray have better quality then movies stored in a computer Hard Drive, but I can play them with a click of a button, to all the movies I have. As opposed to the guy who bought a Blu-Ray player to watch movies. Which he has to find the movie, stick it in, wait 20 minutes of trailers, then logos, and then can finally watch the movie. Not to forget to mention that a serious movie collection can take up a hole room in a house, as opposed to a 2TB hard drive.

With services like Netflix, it gets even more convenient. Like Firewire, Blu-Ray will fade away, as down-loadable or steaming services pop up. They'll be cheaper and more convenient, and the keyword here is "convenient.
 
H-street said:
i completely agree, i put a bluray in mylaptop, signed up for bluray on netflix got in 5 or 6 blurays and took it off, it just wasn't that impressive (and yes i do have a native 1080p display). Maybe for the hardcore theatre enthusiast, but for the masses i just don't think so. (Bluray will probably be the same as laser disk, around but just not many people use it)

the digital streaming is just too convientent and the quality is actually really good. Add on that were devices like the Wii and Xbox360 (and win7 media player) support it and its hard to argue that its the way of the future.
Click to expand...

what size screen are you judging bluray on? my god son... BIG SCREEN... sure the detail is there but it doesn't make much of a difference as dvd quality is just fine for that size screen... i love fullhd... i try to make sure i watch everything on fullhd or 720p for tv shows..
 
I don't mind digital distribution for games, as it can takes whatever amount of time it needs to install and I only start playing after its done.

But there's no way I can stream a full quality 1080p movie with my broadband here. Even with youtube's 1080p, I have to let it buffer for several minutes at least, and I'm sure we all agree that youtube's 1080p is nowhere near as good a true 1080p movie.

Not everyone is prepare to stream HD movies online
 
Ashbringer said:
Yes, there is. Firewire made it out the door and was somewhat successful, but only among professional artists. If you have a camcorder, good chance it has a firewire port on it. Then USB2.0 came along and people are like, "Firewire who?".

Blu-Ray is claiming to be a success, but the reality is that the HD-DVD format commit suicide, so that companies don't end up destroying both formats in their format war. So Blu-Ray becomes the winner through an act of suicide, or has it?

The reason Blu-Ray died is the same reason why music CDs died. In fact, I just put in a BOSS stereo in my car that doesn't take CDs, but it does take in USB memory sticks and SD flash cards, along with an AUX port. The reason is, I haven't used CDs in over 10 years. The last time I saw a music CD, is when I used my Sega CD to play them.

I learned the convenience of MP3's, long before Apple made their first iPod. You have to agree, it's much more convenient to have a mp3 collection, then it is to have a CD collection. Not to forget, it's skip free.

Even before Blu-Ray came out it was doomed. People were already enjoying the benefits of playing movies off the computer. It's cheap, it's quick, there's no need to wait for 20 coming attractions, and the quality is adequate.

People aren't going to buy movies because it's on Blu-Ray, but because they like the movie. If they like the movie enough, they'll get it on Blu-Ray. How many movies in the past 10 years you think drove people to go that far? Most movies are only good enough to watch once, and after that I'll never wanna see it again.

Which is why down-loadable or steaming videos are adequate. Cause, until you have new movies with the cinema impact like "Back to the Future", "Star Wars", and "Terminator 2" then people won't care if the quality is so clear that they can see the molecules of the actors face. The nearest movie that got that kind of a cult following was "Lord of the Rings", and that's old already too.

Just like how the iPod killed the CD star, so will HTPCs to Blu-Ray. The reason why HTPCs will be the future is because people will always choose convenience over quality. Sure Blu-Ray have better quality then movies stored in a computer Hard Drive, but I can play them with a click of a button, to all the movies I have. As opposed to the guy who bought a Blu-Ray player to watch movies. Which he has to find the movie, stick it in, wait 20 minutes of trailers, then logos, and then can finally watch the movie. Not to forget to mention that a serious movie collection can take up a hole room in a house, as opposed to a 2TB hard drive.

With services like Netflix, it gets even more convenient. Like Firewire, Blu-Ray will fade away, as down-loadable or steaming services pop up. They'll be cheaper and more convenient, and the keyword here is "convenient.
Click to expand...

Dude, what? Blu-ray is alive and well as is music CD. Just because YOU don't use something doesn't mean anyone else isn't. Go to any movie stores and record stores (during the day, not late at night) and watch the crowd and lines.

Even my backwards girlfriend get DVDs from Netflix because she doesn't know the first thing about streaming, let alone have the internet or strong enough computer to do so. Yes, I know I said DVD in this example, but you used music CD, so my point is physical media (disc, not SD and thumb drive) is here to stay for quite some time.

Not everyone has brand spanking new cars with USB ports and SD slots either. This is a fairly recent standard feature.
 
In Canada yesterday, I've been waiting for this for a long time. Trying it out last night, Couldn't be more disappointed. The supposed HD quality streaming movies I previewed looked terrible.DVD quality at best.

I'll be sticking to Bluray thanks.
 
Ashbringer said:
Yes, there is. Firewire made it out the door and was somewhat successful, but only among professional artists. If you have a camcorder, good chance it has a firewire port on it. Then USB2.0 came along and people are like, "Firewire who?".
Click to expand...

Somewhat successful? IEEE 1394 was a HUGE success.
a.) It is the prevailing connection standard for external hard drives on the Mac.
b.) It is still the primary transfer mechanism for DV. Getting video from tape *without* generation loss was a HUGE revolution for video professionals.
c.) It regularly outperforms USB2 external storage, requiring less CPU resources.

The only reason that it wasn't as pervasive as USB2 is because Apple owned it (and demanded pretty stout licensing for Firewire devices compared to USB2) But if it weren't for 1394/Firewire doing first, the USB2 peripheral market wouldn't exist.
 
It's a no brainer that digital formats are the future. Being able to freely use your media on multiple devices from anywhere you want is the future.
 
SilverSliver said:
It's a no brainer that digital formats are the future. Being able to freely use your media on multiple devices from anywhere you want is the future.
Click to expand...

This. And until a DRM method is made freely available to manufacturers and unanimously adopted across disc and download, there is a tremendous pressure NOT to buy movies and TV shows. Why would I buy it today if I don't think I'll be able to watch it tomorrow? Do they think I'll buy it on DVD, then BluRay, then iPod, then for my gaming console? Oh, wait. They really are that insane.
 
IRSmurf said:
This. And until a DRM method is made freely available to manufacturers and unanimously adopted across disc and download, there is a tremendous pressure NOT to buy movies and TV shows. Why would I buy it today if I don't think I'll be able to watch it tomorrow? Do they think I'll buy it on DVD, then BluRay, then iPod, then for my gaming console? Oh, wait. They really are that insane.
Click to expand...

I should mention that I bought over $300 on television shows on XBOX Live Marketplace... and I deeply regret those purchases now. I want to be able to watch on my desktop at home, desktop at work, laptop, Zune, cell phone (Android), and soon a tablet (Android)... but even after paying for the shows, these companies believe they should be able to tell me what devices I am allowed to view their content on.

Fine. Be that way. I won't pay a penny for your products until you see the light. Pirates offer for free what you won't even allow me to pay for!
 
Does anyone have stats on what's the adoption rate for BRD compared to what it was for DVDs when that format was introduced? I have a feeling that DVDs caught on much more quickly than BRDs are.
 
beowulf7 said:
Does anyone have stats on what's the adoption rate for BRD compared to what it was for DVDs when that format was introduced? I have a feeling that DVDs caught on much more quickly than BRDs are.
Click to expand...

Thats pretty much a given when you consider that to really benefit from a BR player you have to also have an HDTV. That fact alone slowed the adoption among a lot of people early on. BR players were already expensive, and then toss the cost of a new TV on top of it? It was too much for most to justify other than die hard HD people.

There are a couple of places to keep an eye on the sales of BR versus DVD copies of movies that are up to date, but a lot of the "adoption rate" data I could find was back from 2009. The thing is, they count PS3's in almost every single instance, which some people would say isn't legit, since it's not a plain old BR player and got sales for being a video game machine as well. I don't believe there was a comparible console with DVD as a format when DVD's came out.

Notice the tiny sliver in this chart for HDTV.....

cesbda-0008.jpg


I tend to follow this Hi-Def Digest thread to see how movies are selling, and they graph BR against DVD so it's easy to see which movies sell more in either format. Sadly they don't break it down by month or year, though if you wanted to find out, the data is there.

http://forums.highdefdigest.com/high-definition-smackdown/98036-2010-blu-ray-sales-metrics-stats-nielsen-videoscan-hmm-charts-ratios-bestsellers-etc.html

Right now the economy is so screwed that sales of any format are going to be affected. The question is, by how much?

I don't see caps going up, since there's no money to be made by VZ or Comcast. They'll lower them just enough to convince you to upgrade to a higher package with a slightly higher cap, or bill you extra for running over your low cap. It's not in their best interest to raise caps at all.
 
Sorry Microsoft, no one is going to stream full HD 40+ gigs sized files, unless they mean the compressed version with even more compressed audio soundtracks. No TY
 
IRSmurf said:
Why would I buy it today if I don't think I'll be able to watch it tomorrow? Do they think I'll buy it on DVD, then BluRay, then iPod, then for my gaming console?
Click to expand...

That's exactly why I prefer the physical discs, so I can rip them once and play them on any platform at any time. If you streamed a movie in SD DVD format 3 years ago, you'd have to rent it again for your HD TV 2 years ago, rent it again for your iPod last year, rent it again for your gaming console, etc. That is, if all you care to watch is big blockbusters in English with no subtitle, no extra, with poor audio and video, and only when you are attached to an Internet connection, which seems to preclude most of iPod mobile usage.

Not to mention that a stream designed for a full HD TV would be a complete waste of resources for an iPod, or the aberration that watching a movie on an iPod is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top