nah man im not lol sorry about the double post... i put up this thread from my blackberry and i guess it takes awhile to update from a blackberry or depending on how strong the signal is but im serious about the blu ray question cuz i was pumped up until this afternoon when i read an article saying that the end is near for the format ...

well the thing about that is when dvd came into the picture we did not need to purchase a 1080p hdtv at the time to take advantage of the format.

dvd offered so much more along with what we already had

thanks... i did not want to start a conversation on the ps3 when i asked about blu-ray




thats how i feel ...

I think the main reason why people are skeptical is that when DVD started to become popular, just about everybody knew that it was only a matter of time before DVD would replace VHS. Especially with Tivo/DVR making the recording feature of the VCR pretty much useless, it was a no brainer.

With Blu-ray, there is doubt as to whether it will totally replace DVD or it will co-exist with DVD. And if it co-existed with DVD, people worry if Blu-ray will get enough support to co-exist with DVD. At least in the short run, I don't think you need to worry about Blu-ray going away. The support is only growing stronger right now, and there is no sign that the support will slow down anytime soon.

Heres a report from yesterday on DVD and Blu-ray sales

"Disc Sales Dive
Blu-ray's rise can't save homevideo industry from '08 fail.
by Brian Linder
January 6, 2009 - The final sales figures aren't all in, but 2008 looks to have been a bum year for the homevideo industry, with DVD slowing and the Blu-ray format unable to pick up the slack.

DVD sales, Variety reports, appear to have dropped 5%-6% from their 2007 levels. And while Blu-ray titles moved at a rate four times higher than the prior year, that still wasn't enough to make up the difference. Overall, disc sales reportedly dipped 3%-4% below 2007's $15.38 billion total.

"As far as I'm concerned, down is the new flat and flat is the new up," one executive told Variety. And he's right. It's not a huge surprise, given the significant economic downturn, that consumers spent less on homevideo entertainment last year. But total industry sales were still over $20 billion (it was $22.9 billion in '07) -- things aren't exactly bleak.

The year's biggest DVD sellers were The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and I Am Legend.

Meanwhile, Blu-ray discs haven't been selling quite as hotly as the industry would like. While early predictions put 2008 sales targets at around $1 billion, the format had only rung up around $800 million by November. Holiday sales were strong however, with Iron Man and The Dark Knight especially strong.

Homevideo executives predict that it'll take another couple of years before Blu-ray can offset DVD's decline. One industry insider tells Variety, "Privately, they're all concerned."

ofcourse it doesnt mention blu-ray dieing but it does make me take a few more days to think about getting the ps3

I really can't see yet another high def dvd format getting foisted on us to replace Blu-Ray, so I'll assume it's here for awhile.

The whole streaming video concept will no doubt eventually become "the thing" at some point, but for now I'm certain we will have DVD and Blu-Ray for some time.

But you never know. I did buy into HD-DVD, after all....

Yes.

Sales are increasing. Why would you think otherwise if sales are going UP?

My only concern is catalog titles. They still don't seem to be selling that well.

The thing with that is, is there going to be hardware that can handle it properly?

In a perfect world, no one waits for a download. But in reality, trying to stream HD content over a standard network with teenagers doing other thing in the meantime, there are going to be problems. I can almost guarantee that will frustrate the on the fence/non-technical crowd.

However, I am not saying that it can't work...I actually think it is a great idea, but does the general public 25 and up think so? Today's generation of kids I can see them buying into it, but what about us oldies (I am 26...)? Physical media is here to stay, maybe not in the mass quantities we are used to.

yeah im with you even though im 22 i'd rather have the packaged version instead of a downloaded one ...

I think this sums up a lot of products right now in this economy.

That's my main concern - as it was with HD DVD. Catalog titles typically sell poorly unless they are big hits (Godfather, Spider-Man etc.). The main issue as the high prices...I don't think these studios get it yet. Sony MSPRing Ghostbusters for $40? C'mon.

Geez I hadn't even seen the list for Ghostbusters. I surely hope that will be a 2-pack of both films. I can't imagine what else could be in there that would warrant a $10 increase in list price from a typical catalog.

Well I took the plunge and bought a blu ray before I had the player. Tomorrow ill be going to get a PS3 and ill stop by walmart and get the mel gibson double blu ray pack. The first blu ray I bought was the avengers collection I thought 17.99 was a good deal.

Thanks to everyone for ur replys.

Blu-ray is reaching into a lot of homes, and there are no other contenders, and no new contenders can take its place in the realm of physical media. Blu-ray is sticking around. I can't believe we have to have threads like this constantly.

Homevideo executives predict that it'll take another couple of years before Blu-ray can offset DVD's decline. One industry insider tells Variety, "Privately, they're all concerned."

Now that would be amazing. Two years would be damn good, in my opinion.

I agree with this.
I think in part, it may be that more and more catalog titles are coming out with high MSRPs. I'll bet quite a few folks, (myself included) won't pay 20-35 dollars for a title they see in Wal-Mart's $5.00 DVD bin.

That being said, I own about 160 BDs so I feel like I'm doing my part for the format.

At the same time, alot of catalog titles to me could be considered more impulsive purchases - movies I really like and want, but I've either bought them once, maybe twice already, or currently own them on DVD.

To upgrade some of them may be a bit too frivolous.
-- (this coming from a guy who happily shelled out $100 bucks for the Special editions of Alien, Aliens, The Abyss & Young Frankenstein AND $250 for the Definitive Star Wars Collection on LD)

Anyway, even if I don't own them already, high prices keep me away from several older titles I would more than likely buy at a lower price. ($10-$15)

I guess I'm just waiting them out, hoping that as the format picks up steam, prices will fall.

Seriously, not even Fox charges 40 bucks MSRP for their catalogs anymore. I'm not getting it unless I find it for less than 20 regardless of how bad I want it.

You are comparing apples to oranges here. DVD was a huge leap over VHS and you could tell. At times it can be difficult for the "normal" person to tell the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray. Now I can, but most have no idea what to look for.

TheKobra ,

It's not apples to oranges.

Need I mention once again, we had avid Hi-Fi Enthusiasts who said VHS was still better than DVD, years AFTER DVD was catching on with the typical consumer. There is no difference. VHS to DVD. DVD to Blu-ray. No difference as far as overall market behavior. We see the same behaviors and criticisms going on now as we did back in the mid-90's.

Of course DVD has an edge. It's been around for more than 10 fucking years. But repeated exposure to Blu-ray will eventually pick up momentum. It did with DVD, and it even did with VHS if you go back far enough.

Typical households once thought "owning" a movie was outrageous. It was because of the equipment requirements. Then the equipment began to shrink. Soon, we had a consumer sector develop exponentially when VHS recorders/players became one unit and could sit on top of a small table.

Eventually, we'll get past the Will Blu-ray Survive posts. Blu-ray is still young. But this doesn't mean it's losing speed or momentum. I can already see the momentum beginning. Come back in two years, and we'll have $100 Blu-ray players, just we did VHS players, and years later we'll even have $50 Blu-ray players.

Bt, Vizio has announced their VBR100 for $200, which will probably sell for much less online and on sale in stores. Now, how long ago was it when we had the Sony BDP-S1 or the Samsung BDP-1000. Maybe three years ago? Remember CES 2006? And how much were they selling for.

Well put

The big difference, in my opinion, is the reluctance of studios to lower the prices on Blu-ray titles. DVDs always had bargains to be found, even in it's early days, if you knew where to look.

The bargains that existed in the early days of DVD had nothing to do with studios setting bargain prices on their products. It was all due to retailers (mostly online) jockeying for market share. DVD had the good fortune to come on the scene at the same time that the Internet was just beginning to realize its potential as a commercial venue.

The problem is, almost all of the companies that were providing such DVD bargains back in the day are now defunct (and most of them because of those "bargains").

We will have catalog price drops in Q1. Also, there's talk they may start a "dvd trade-in" process this year. They need to do something like that for catalog titles. I think they're having a hard time convincing people to buy a $20 version of The Truman Show or Dumb & Dumber, when the dvd counterpart is less than $10.

Unless it's a major catalog release that I really like, I've set my catalog pricing limit to $15. If I can't get that price, then I'll happily wait until I do.

I'm noticing a change in general about pricing complaints. Before, we were complaining about player pricing. Now that we have made the important jump to $200 or less, the focus has moved to software. But we should see some movement on that this year.

this is how i feel about Blu-ray too...

i'll lay out what i mean

Better Picture *but you need a 1080p HDtv to take advantage of this... and an HDMI cable*

Better Sound *buy you need a good surround sound set up to take advantage of this*

Blu-Ray exclusive Features *but you gotta make sure your BD player is compatable with these features*

when dvd dropped it was like ... okay heres this the thing that you can enjoy with what you already have ... anything extra is optional ...

With Blu-ray everything is a must ... lol

Another thing was like you pop in a VHS movie then you put on the dvd version of the movie and there was a huge difference between the two.

some BD's look the same as the dvd version...

even after all of this ... i said screw it what else am i gonna use a Circuit City $400 for ??? and i have to spend it fast before CC goes under ....

i think the reason so many are posted (including mine) is because of the economy ... lets face it when dvd came in to the picture things were 180 degrees different then now ... im sure that people had the "will dvd survive" conversations but it was because of the high prices at the time were people had money to burn but were not sure if dvd was worth it ... yes Blu-ray is expensive but the difference is its an expensive product in an economy thats having alot of problems and people not having the money to buy a $25-$30 movie where the dvd version is $10-$15.

If you don't already have the TV and the surround sound, bring that $17.99 disc back and skip the PS3. I completely disagree with everything you said above.

1) Video. DVD barely looked better than VHS on "most" people's shitty 19" TVs. And the same goes for BD on "most" people's shitty 42" LCDs. You needed a TV upgrade for DVD, as well.

2) Audio. So, you're saying DVDs don't have surround sound? You should've spent the last 10 years getting a real TV and a real audio setup if you want them. I had my first surround system at 18 living in my parents' basement a decade before DVD appeared.

3) Features. Have you forgotten "progressive scan"? It took years before there were progressive scan players, and the first ones were absolute crap. Did you know Pioneer's first "affordable" progressive scan DVDp actually looked worse than the interlaced output?

4) Player. You did need to buy a DVD player, you know. Shoving the disc into your VCR didn't work so well. And prices have fallen faster for BD than DVD did.

Wait, you're telling me that to enjoy six times the picture resolution of previous formats, greatly improved color fidelity, lossless audio and less severe image compression, I have to SHELL OUT EIGHT BUCKS FOR A NEW CABLE?!

Ok, forget it. Blu-ray is dead to me.