Can "The Dark Knight" save Blu-ray?
- Thread starter Casual Fan
- Start date
I didn't know Blu-ray needed saving. Seems to be doing well to me. :idunno:
I'll more than likely buy The Dark Night on Blu-ray when it comes out. It was a good movie and freakin' awesome in IMAX.
I'll more than likely buy The Dark Night on Blu-ray when it comes out. It was a good movie and freakin' awesome in IMAX.
Blue Ray players need to come down in price before people jump in.
I'm now seeing a few for $249.99 and that is a little better but at a time when a lot of people are cutting back, upgrading to Blue Ray is low on the priority list, even for somebody who wants it as badly as I do.
I'm now seeing a few for $249.99 and that is a little better but at a time when a lot of people are cutting back, upgrading to Blue Ray is low on the priority list, even for somebody who wants it as badly as I do.
Well maybe crap to some, but once you actually sit down in the privacy of your living room and enjoy a blu-ray movie on your big screen HD television you might think differently. I totally love my blu-ray setup. I can barely watch anything of lessor quality anymore.
I have an HD DVD player and a plethora of HD DVDs and I've seen Blu-Ray in a HT many times. They're no different in picture or audio quality as they both used the same codecs (except that HD DVD was less expensive and had more features in terms of "movie experience" using IME and HDi). But it's a dead format now, and I just don't see Blu-Ray reducing their prices anytime soon (especially their movies which are selling at around $30 a pop).
Not according the consumer electronics industry. Market penetration is too slow (Sony predicted 50% by the end of the year, it's around 8% now), so streaming video is going to overtake it before it becomes established. Why would I bother buying discs and players when Netflix and Amazon and who know's who else will be sending me HD movies direct to my TV for a flat monthly fee? Even Sony is pimping MovieLink, built into their new Bravia TVs.
This Christmas was Blu-ray's last chance to avoid becoming the new LaserDisc, but Milton Friedman killed Santa Claus.
I honestly don't think they are going to have much choice. I notice in places like Sam's and Walmart for even some new releases I've seen them down as low as $22.99. The market is going to force them to drop prices or else they will be gone.
There is little doubt that many people don't care to own movies, they prefer to just rent them and watch them. Apple now has the HD movies you can rent via their Apple TV device. Plus as you said Netflix and Amazon are already ahead of the crowd in this regard.
The only saving grace for Blu-Ray will be a drop in price not only for players, but the Blu-Ray disc themselves. I think the market is already driving that now. I've seen a few adds for $189 players and as I stated above disc as cheap as $22.99 for new releases. I've seen older movies on Blu-Ray for as cheap as $9.99. Will this be enough to save them? I guess we'll know soon enough.
I still enjoy my Blu-Ray player and the Blu Ray Disc that I have purchased I will be able to watch for many years to come. But clearly the new model will be renting, that certainly appears to be winning out right now.
I would have to argue the whole streaming thing.
I agree that eventually that will be how it's done...but.
Internet speeds are going to need to get faster and those faster speeds are going to have to get cheaper and more widespread. Also, people are going to have to know about streaming. I bet most people I talk to wouldn't even know that they could buy an Apple TV for example and stream movies. However, many more would know what BluRay is.
Also storage is going to have to get cheaper and bigger. Downloadable movies may eventually take over, but some people have absolutely gigantic movie libraries and they're going to need a lot of space.
Blu Ray has its share of issues, but I think they'll be resolved well before streaming takes over.
I agree that eventually that will be how it's done...but.
Internet speeds are going to need to get faster and those faster speeds are going to have to get cheaper and more widespread. Also, people are going to have to know about streaming. I bet most people I talk to wouldn't even know that they could buy an Apple TV for example and stream movies. However, many more would know what BluRay is.
Also storage is going to have to get cheaper and bigger. Downloadable movies may eventually take over, but some people have absolutely gigantic movie libraries and they're going to need a lot of space.
Blu Ray has its share of issues, but I think they'll be resolved well before streaming takes over.
And lest we forget, people like Comcast are imposing bandwidth upload/download caps now. While this is still the exception to the rule, it may become the rule unless companies update their infrastructure to accommodate more subscribers.
Recent studies say that everyone who wants broadband has it or has access to it now. The people on dial-up or without any internet connectivity have chosen not to get broadband. And those people aren't going to be buying any HD content delivery system.
People with cable know they can get movies on demand. People with TiVo know they can get Netflix & Amazon movies streamed through their TiVo. People with Xbox know about the Video Store. That's a lot of people, more than the number of Blu-ray owners, who can already stream video.
First, people won't store movies locally with services like Amazon and Netflix. Once you've subscribed, you get access to their library whenever you want it.
Second, if you really want to keep the bits at home (and have permission to do so
), Blu-ray will still be available for storing them.That's not what the trade magazines are saying.
That was the great thing about HD DVD. All the studios had to do was add some minor modifications to their existing DVD replication plants.
For the Xbox 360 users, if you have a Netflix account you can stream their available HD content. The new Xbox 360 operating system with the Netflix support comes out on Nov. 19th
What studies, those bitches didn't come to Rural La, Tex or Miss, where Broadband access isn't even available through standard means and has never been. I have to call BS on this one! Big Time! I know many families that would love to get Broadband, but can't afford the initial cost of Hughes, which limit bandwidth so much so that trying to view movies over the net would hardly be allowed unless you were forced to pay for commerical access which is over a hundred bucks a month.
Trade magazines also said HD-DVD would eventually win out too and it did not! So I take anything those magazines say with a huge grain of salt.
OK, one of the studies was the Pew report on "Home Broadband Adoption 2008" (link). It says that "62% of dial-up users say they are not interested in giving up their current connection
for broadband". That's not all of them, but it's significant because it's by far the biggest reason. Only 10% of non-internet users say they are interested in becoming internet users. 14% of dial-up users say they would switch if broadband was available.
None of these dial-up or non-internet populations are large enough to support Blu-ray.