I have thought about finding one of my blus that have it and see what happens.

No one title (or group of titles) was responsible for DVDs success.

What sold the format was the huge quality/convenience/durability improvement it had over VHS. Sure, if there were no titles available for it - no one would buy into the format... but it didn't need any particular title to sell it - as long as movies were being released in the format, it's success was guaranteed.

We see that now with Blu-Ray. It didn't need a "killer app" (and there were some monster movies available for it) for it to succeed - it needed to offer the average person a big enough advantage over the previous format to succeed... and it didn't have that.

The jump in quality/convenience from VHS to DVD was huge.
The jump in quality from DVD to BD was respectable - but not earth-shattering to most people
The jump in quality from BD to UHD will be virtually non-existent to most people.

Now factor in that we're in a time when streaming has become huge, and UHD feels very inconvenient and unnecessary to most people.

While I don't disagree with you that The Matrix was a very important early title for DVD, it was a 1999 film released on video in October of that year, almost two and a half years after the format launch. In the current market, UHD is going to need a "killer app" much sooner than that.

It was two and a half years in, after VHS/Beta had been around for many years, and it convinced a lot of people to get a DVD player or, as I said, upgrade their older players. But I don't see why UHD makes The Matrix an invalid example. The question was "What was DVD's killer app?", not "What was DVD's killer app that will be a direct comparison to give UHD the same sort of boost?" Because that probably doesn't exist.

Those who've actually watched UHD discs, do they have to "load" at all like many Blu-Rays do? That's gotta be one of the most annoying things about the format; at least recently it seems they've cut back on having to do that unless the content you're accessing actually NEEDS it (ie some discs load it when you click on the extras that use it; if you just want to watch the damn movie it doesn't make you wait through that.)

No, they load very fast. Around 15-20 seconds from close tray to initial screen.

Partly because the player itself loads very fast. It's the fastest player on the market for loading Blu-rays as well.

It also doesn't hurt that they didn't include trailers in the initial wave so after the usual warning messages you go straight to the menu.

Is Dolby 5.1 Surround the standard audio mix for both DVDs and BDs?

DTS-HD Master Audio is the Blu-ray standard (occasionally PCM and infrequently Dolby TrueHD).

Ah, OK. What will be the standard audio mix for 4K BDs?

One thing I’d like to mention with DVD is, in many ways that was the first time consumers could see a movie in its original format* (OAR, uncut). For me, going to DVD from pan-and-scan VHS and TV recordings of movies made it feel like I was seeing the movie for the first time. I remember watching the Star Wars trilogy on DVD and being surprised when Anakin’s force ghost appeared at the end of Return of the Jedi. Having only ever seen the pan-and-scan version, I never knew his force ghost faded in like that. I thought he was always there.

I never had that same feeling with Blu-ray (or HD-DVD). Early on, I had the usual “wow, this looks really good” reaction, but after a while, that feeling went away.


*I’m aware Laserdisc offered these benefits, but general consumers never bothered with that format.

Hey! I want some on the way!

(Going back further in time).

Does anybody remember what the "killer app" titles were for laserdisk ?

Of the then-local friends who were hardcore into laserdisc, quite a few mentioned that what convinced them to purchase a laserdisc player back in the day, was the original Star Trek episodes + movies.

For then-local friends who were not into sci-fi type movies, they purchased a laserdisc player for "karaoke" type stuff.

I worked at Circuit City and remember getting monthly laserdiscs to demo on all of the TV's. I think I have about 25-30 of them. They had a hodgepodge of music videos, movie trailers, and very few ads. I got my laserdisc player at cost, so that was my buy in reason. But when I got the Criterion of Goldfinger (got it for a great discount to bring it in under $100), that's what hooked me. Extras and being able to flip audio channels to hear commentary was a huge deal for me.

Everyone I knew into laserdiscs were mostly in it for karaoke and music releases, which was quite the fad in Asian households. The format never really had a killer app, which is why it never penetrated beyond a few wealthy owners. It had a slow, steady trickle of popular movies. The studios learned their lesson with DVD.

I thought the killer app for laserdisc was the original Star Wars films.

^ I've got that set!

I think "quality" was the appeal for us. We got our first Laserdisc player in 1984 (I think?), and our first two titles were MetalStorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn and Strong Kids, Safe Kids (which was my father's not-very-effective way of saying to my mom, "it'll be good for the kids!").

In early 1980 when I was stationed in VA. I walked into a Video Concepts store in Tyson Corner Mall.
Usually these stores were dimly lit. On a 50 inch tv was Michael Jackson dancing. I just stood there watching the screen. I was amazed at the picture quality. I asked the clerk what I was watching & he said it was the "Motown 25: Yesterday.Today.Forever" on laserdisc. This show original air live on broadcast tv. I was hooked right then & there. Did some research & brought my first Laserdiscs player a few months later. First models were huge & could only play one side & you had to get off your butt to flip disc over. I ended up with 500+ discs. Many I sold off to replace the fullscreen version with they started releasing widescreen version. I brought a lot of used laserdiscs online. Sort of like buying used bd's from GoHastings now. Can't remember that site any more. Where I worked when they would mail my discs to. I had about 3-4 people you ended up buying a laserdisc player after I gave them a demo.

Here in Hawaii, most people brought them for "Karaoke". Heck in my neighborhood there never a weekend where you could here people having Karaoke partys.

As others have mentioned, Laserdisc didn't really have any "killer app" titles. The format had negligible market penetration for its entire run. For the niche that was invested in it, the killer app was the fact that LD picture quality was much better than VHS and that (by the early '90s) most titles were presented in letterboxed widescreen, which was rarely offered on VHS.

Unfortunately, those advantages were offset by the inconvenience of having to interrupt the movie and flip or change the disc every half hour to an hour.

Right--look how you turned out!

Maybe your dad's strategy would've worked if he hadn't also gotten Metalstorm.

Those were the titles that led to laserdisc's renaissance. After DVD came out and Lucas made it clear he wasn't interested in putting the originals (or anything, at first) on DVD, that's when folks like me started scouring pawn shops for old players and discs.

I built up a decent collection of odd and unusual titles (including the Holy Trilogy) but let it go in late 2014 when we had to move. We downsized from a house to a condo and I let go of a lot of stuff like the laserdiscs, vinyl and some books and CDs.

Truer words were never spoken.

According to a report from U.K.-based Generator Research: DVD and Blu-ray revenues will fall because consumer demand is falling and competition from so-called "virtual formats" is increasing. Revenue from DVD and Blu-ray sales will decrease by 38% from $14.3 billion in 2014 to $8.9 billion in 2018, the report showed.

Even though it is on the downslide, any industry that still generates $8.9 billion is nothing to sneeze at.

I opened up this weeks Best Buy flyer and all of the new release physical media titles still featured photos of the DVD with a bold $19.99 price tag and in small, fine print - Blu-ray combo $24.99.

I suppose stores still like featuring that lower DVD price.

As you point out, DVD still maintains its dominance a decade after the introduction of Blu-ray. And lets face it folks, the push was hard—very hard to get the public to adopt Blu-ray disc. Those of us who disposed of our DVDs and plunged into HD DVD and then Blu-ray disc were treated to some unbelievable bargains during the HD wars. Even so, despite the rather obvious upgrade in image and other capabilities, the public largely did a collective yawn. So the idea that UHD as a format will gain anywhere near the popularity of even Blu-ray disc is a laughable pipe dream. All signs point to the eventual demise of all physical media. Much like 3D, UHD will be embraced by a niche market that will see newer titles and a precious few catalog releases. I suspect there are many like me who reached the point of diminishing returns. I've amassed a huge high definition collection and from what I've seen and read UHD is hardly revelatory. Sitting the proper distance from the screen its hard to imagine most of my films looking much better. Will UHD measurably improve the viewing experience—not for most.

I think Digital HD/streaming/VOD will gain in popularity over new forms of physical media. Shit, I just discovered VUDU.

I have

Netflix
VUDU
Amazon PRIME
HULU

I don't need UHD. Now when the time comes to upgrade it will be due to my equipment breaking down and not working anymore but to go out of pocket right this second, because I need these new and shiny toys is not an option.