re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Again I ask- Why? There were people who kept buying new movies on VHS right until they quit making those, and would probably still be buying them now if they were still being made.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

:lol:

As already mentioned, DVD is still outselling BD - so why would they abandon a product that's generating the most revenue?

There are A LOT of people who still don't own an HDTV. Forcing these people to buy a BD player and to pay extra for BD movies just to receive no noticeable benefit is a waste to them and will piss them off. Many of those people will just stop buying movies altogether. DVD is still perfectly acceptable format for many people.

VHS movies didn't generate the studios that much money, and probably cost more to make than DVDs. Plus VHS was a lot longer in the tooth by that point and the jump from VHS to DVD is a bigger upgrade than DVD to BD - so the idea was much more attractive. It was easier to stop making VHS and consumers were much more willing to jump to a new format. We may have jumped on DVD early, but to a lot of people DVD is only 5-10 years old... way too soon to upgrade for many.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

I still buy DVDs. The main reason is some movies, documentaries and TV shows are only available or released that way. Plus, if they released them on BD, many of these old TV shows that have several seasons (many discs) would increase exponentially in price and the jump in picture quality would be nothing/minimal.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Inertia.

Willful ignorance.

Never overestimate the low intelligence of people who are not as smart as Alan Smithee. ;)

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

It's because the studios know there are consumers unwilling to make the jump from DVD to Blu-ray or something else. Given how much content is available from previously released DVDs, cable and other sources, pulling the plug early on DVD would only lose them revenue.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

First they need to stop requiring player updates, that require internet access. BD drives need to become as standard in computers and laptops as DVD/CD drives. I don't know if resume play is that big a deal with people or not.
They need to solve synching issues with non HDMI receivers.
They may have to give back some inputs/outputs that have been taken away.
In a nutshell, they need to dumb down the technical aspect of BD to DVD level yet retain the quality.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

There are many people feel there's nothing wrong with it. Even in the latest Best Buy flyers in Canada there was Mission Impossible on DVD for $19.99 in bold letters with a picture. In small writing was "Blu-Ray/DVD combo $24.99".

For advertisers, the cheaper $19.99 price in bold is more of an attention-getter.

On the manufacturing end of things, Blu-ray is still relatively expensive to produce because of the licensing fees Sony charges on every disc produced.

A DVD can be pressed for $.39 whereas the equivalent Blu-ray will cost about a $1.50. It doesn't sound like that much until you times it by 150,000 units ordered.

As profit margins are concerned, the DVD is probably a better money-maker.

The Blu-ray sells for 20% more than the DVD but the Blu-ray costs almost 4X more to make than the DVD.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

That time has passed. Less and less computers/laptops are coming with any optical drives at all - especially laptops. No one burns CDs/DVDs anymore with USB keys/HDs and the cloud available for backing up... and content is being viewed via streaming/downloading.

On a notebook an optical drive just adds too much valuable size and weight to the footprint - turning something sleek, sexy and light into something clunky. Plus optical drives suck too much battery life - never mind that no one wants to lug around a bunch of discs of movies/shows.

My company has close to 200,000 employees and 99% of them have notebooks. As of 2 years ago, we no longer ordered notebooks/desktops with optical drives. Our software metering showed that a huge chunk of users were using their computers to stream media - and less than 1% of them actually used their DVD drives. The drives were a waste of money and added weight/size for no reason.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Alan, just imagine uploading all the media you own up into your own personal cloud, available for you to stream at any time and at any location. I'm sure sure you'll bring up something about servers being down, possible loss of data, etc. But that's no more likely than disc rot or tape wear or things you have to deal with now - not to mention, everything would be easier to find. I honestly think the pros outweigh the cons. But I'm sure you'll still rail against it.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Amen to that- I got a new laptop a couple months ago and they didn't have ANY that came with a BD drive built in, so I settled for plain ol' DVD. I have an external BD drive that I can hook up though, I use that to get frame grabs for reviews here. The laptop is still very slim and light with the drive built-in, I can see people not needing it but it should still be an option.

Thanks- I think I finally have a signature! :)

I don't know what that has to do with this discussion, but I have about 300 movies on Ultraviolet. Whenever I get a disc with an Ultraviolet code, I try to trade it for another movie I don't already have, but if I can't trade it by the expiration date then I go ahead and redeem it. At home the quality just doesn't match a Blu-Ray disc (admittedly it usually IS better than standard DVD, which is another sign that DVDs really are obsolete), and I've never had the need to watch a movie "on the go". Sure it's neat that I could do that if I wanted to, but movies should really be seen on the biggest screen possible with quality sound, and my Iphone certainly isn't that. (Yes, I actually have an Iphone now!)

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

I never quite understood the point of burning a lot of cds/dvds/blurays. More than a decade ago, I had one local friend who was hardcore into ripping/burning a lot of cds and dvds. (Years later I found out he hardly ever listened/watched to any of his burned cd/dvd discs).

By the time I was buying a lot of dvds/blurays in 2011, burning dvd-r discs seemed superfluous and unnecessary. It was easier to just use flash drives and/or terabyte+ sized external hard drives.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Yeah, burning stuff in this day and age is kind of pointless when you can just stick a bunch of stuff on a 128gb USB thumb drive and plug into your tv or disc player.

For music, most people either stream or have everything on an iPod/iPhone. Unless you're buying CDs or DVDs, there's really no need to make your own discs unless you really want it on a disc for some reason.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

I haven't tried putting stuff on flash drives, but seems like they cost a bit more than blank discs. I'll have to try it one of these days though. I did watch some stuff off my external hard drive which I need to get burned onto discs, it's already full and I'm not going to just keep the stuff on it and buy another one. Everything that I trade/give to people is on disc, don't see what could be easier or cheaper than that.

I've been meaning to put music onto my Iphone though I still don't have a practical way of listening to that in the car. I'm betting it'll be filled to capacity soon and I'll have to decide just what I want to keep on it. For the car I keep binders full of CD-R copies of my CDs, though sound quality in the car can usually afford to be compromised a bit.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Let's say a 128GB stick is $60 or about $.50 per GB. A single-layer DVD is 4.7 GB.

It will cost you about $2.50 for 5GB worth of space on the USB.

How much does a 4.7GB single-layer blank disc cost? Maybe thirty or forty cents?

USBs have the advantage of being erasable but for storing movies or data that you plan on keeping and archiving, DVDs are still the cheapest method.

Custom-printed discs also work well as cheap "give-aways" for corporate promos & music demos whereas a custom-printed USB can run you $3-$7 for even a 1GB stick.

The optical disc does still serve a purpose.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

And don't forget about re-writable discs. I put stuff on those to test out how it'll come out before committing it to a permanent disc. I was too lazy to look up prices but single-layer DVDs do cost just a few cents each when bought in bulk, haven't found USB sticks that cheap yet. I should also do a test of their longevity.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Like everything else; there are A-grade chips and Z-grade chips used in USB sticks.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Well if you're going to store/archive movies, you probably aren't going to use USB keys - they're mostly for more temporary stuff... stuff you can take with you on the go.
You'll be better off using a USB-HD... which is a much cheaper solution. You can get a 5TB USB-HD (not portable) for $130. That's about 13 cents per 5GB.

If you want a more portable solution that holds more than a USB-key - you can get a portable 2TB USB-HDs for $75... which is around 19 cents per 5GB.

Burning optical discs take longer than copying to a USB-HD, offers more connectivity as a lot of computers don't have optical drives but all have USB ports, plus it's much easier to carry USB keys/HDDs around than 20-100 discs.

Optical drives may still have their purposes, but it's usefulness is pretty much very niche nowadays.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

True enough but what I think concerns me is still the reliability factor. One DVD rots, you lose one movie. One hard drive dies, you lose 400 movies.

My desktop computer isn't even 8 years old and the hard drive needed to be replaced after four years. I have CDs that are 30 years old and they play and sound as well as they did when they were new.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

A desktop HD is a bit different than a USB-HD - in that it's being used a lot more and that generally increases the odds of it dying sooner. I have a couple of USB-HDs that are almost 10 years old... still working.

In any case, you could play it safe by ensuring you have a RAID setup... or just have a second USB-HD that has a duplicate of the movies. It would still be cheaper than burning DVDs and much less of a headache to manage.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Quoting for a 3rd time just in case someone's listening.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

On the other side of the coin, one could ask/speculate why computer BD-rom drives never became standard on desktop computers.

(ie. Besides the initial uncertainty of the bluray vs. hd-dvd competing formats).

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Your rpices are about 50% off. I just brought my 2nd 128GB Scandisk extreme 3.0 flashdrive for $30.

I buy Verbatim AZO dvd-r in 100 spindle. These are usually $21-$25 a spindle. But I buy them when they drop at Amazon for $15 per spindle. It does not happen often but when it does I order 4 spindles.

Yes I'm one of those idiots who still burns dvds. That's only because the people I burn for want it that way. They prefer there Korean Dramas with english subs on a damn dvd.

A month ago I gave 2 of them my WD Media players I had. Also gave them a hdmi cable & each a 16GB flash drive full of Korean Drama episodes. A month later they return it. One never took it out of the box. The other one did use the media player. Said the 720p episodes looked nice on her HD tv. But she still prefers to watch 3 episodes burned to a dvd. I just shake my hard in disbelief. The are the older generation just as I am but I will never understand them.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

Probably cost of the drive.

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

What exactly do you mean? I have an external HD that interfaces by USB and a bunch of flash drives. What's a USB-HD?

re: Blu-ray and DVD sales - #2, but we try harder
 

I was going to ask the same question. To the best of my knowledge a USB-HD is a portable hard drive that connects via USB cable but the inner workings of the hard drive are the same as an internal hard drive - moving parts. Moving parts that eventually wear out.

If your portable hard drive is still going strong after 10 years, you're lucky because I imagine it is on borrowed time.

BTW: My prices were Canadian prices which are higher than American and our dollar is worth $.71 to the US dollar. Although I'm not sure how good a 128GB USB stick for $30 would be. As I understand it, memory is like a commodity where prices tend to fluctuate.