Posted on 02/27/2008 10:53:52 AM PST by Paleo Conservative
Blu-ray Disc may have beaten out HD DVD as the high-definition optical disc format to replace DVDs, but it now faces a new test against Internet downloads, market researchers Gartner and iSuppli said.
The two high-definition disc formats had battled for the past few years until Toshiba last week handed victory to Blu-ray Disc by announcing an end to its support of HD DVD. The company's decision came after a major Hollywood film studio and several retailers, including Wal-Mart, said they would back Blu-ray Disc exclusively.
But the victory for Blu-ray Disc may be short-lived if consumers choose to download high-definition content from the Internet, market researchers say.
"After years of a standards war, the major question for Sony and the Blu-ray camp is whether a physical format for high-definition still has any relevance to consumers in this era of Internet-delivered movies and video on demand," said David Carnevale, vice president of multimedia content and services at iSuppli, in a report.
Online movie download services from iTunes, Amazon, and others have gained traction in recent years and increased their movie, TV, and other video content offerings. The Internet gives consumers a choice of building a library of HD movies bought over the Internet instead of buying a Blu-ray Disc player and building a new library of movies-on-disc, said Carnevale.
"Physical media distribution could become a thing of the past," he said.
Blu-ray Disc could be further harmed unless prices come down quickly and more manufacturers start making players, according to Gartner. The market researcher said that most manufacturers will probably hold off on announcing new Blu-ray Disc equipment until the first quarter of 2009. In addition, consumers may also put off buying Blu-ray Disc players because DVD players that up-convert existing DVDs is already seen by some as a good alternative to making a big investment in high-definition discs.
"Most manufacturers are still trying to persuade consumers that high-definition optical discs are worth investing in, as many consumers and industry pundits see video-on-demand services and Internet downloads as viable alternatives," said Paul O'Donovan and Hiroyuki Shimizu in a report.
Blu-ray Disc faces fight against downloads
Victory for Blu-ray Disc over HD DVD may be short-lived if consumers choose to download high-definition content from the Internet
Call me old-fashioned and crazazy but I still want a ‘hard copy’ of my favorite films and music. LOL! ;)
I’ve been too busy scarfing up great closeout deals on HD DVD media to notice or care.
And do you have any recent films among your favorites? We don’t, because they aren’t producing anything worthwhile saving.
Yeah, I'd rather watch my movie on my 65-inch HDTV than my 17-inch computer monitor. So I still need to get my movie onto a DVD to watch it.
Well a 35mm print is several thousand dollars.
I have a couple new ones....but I buy a lot of the older film collections on amazon. Studios are coming out with several films in one package for a great price. I have a large frock drama (Masterpiece Theatre/BBC) collection as well. LOL!
No you don't. You could connect your computer or network to the cable box or tuner that controls you large video screen.
Well.....then there’s always THAT point...hahaha!
Very Nice, I am in the process of building a Entertainment center Comp and can’t wait to try it out with Netflix instant View on the Home Entertainment system.
Not planning on wasting $400 to buy their latest planned obsolete product.
Not really. You can network your HDTV to your computer. Apple's "Apple TV" box does it wirelessly.
SONY: continuing the tradition of snatching DEFEAT from the JAWS OF VICTORY.
Physical media also tends to stick around. Many XBOX 360 owners are dismayed that they send their unit in for service ... and when it comes back, it has completely forgotten about the games/etc. that the owner “bought”. Other “buy and download” forms make it hard (or at least non-trivial) to move your entire downloaded media library from one machine to another ... and usually requires that the original box still function (which may be the issue WHY you’re trying to do the transfer) to keep the collection. Backups rarely work the way one expects, with much software refusing to function on the new machine - if it made it to the backup media at all.
...but with a DVD, CD, or other physical media, the loss of the core computer does not mean losing all the content. (Having something capable of reading it, as I stare at my 5.25”, Zip, and MD disks, however, may be a problem. At least I can transfer content to new media before the whole format disappears.)
So called HD downloads are far from HD. They aren’t even 480p. BluRay is is 1080p. Play a download on your bigscreen HDTV and look at the crappy picture. They only look decent on a PC monitor of about 19-22in.
Well, my computer is in my study and my tv is in the living room. I don’t have cable (and won’t until there is an ala carte offering so that I can opt out of CNN, MTV, and about half of the other CRAP that you have to take with basic cable, and Ted Turner doesn’t get even a fraction of a cent from my cable bill).
You can also get receivers and some TVs with a USB input. Plug in or network your movies that you store on a $100 500 GB hard drive.
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