http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/ Engadget HD Comments for Why Blu-ray will be the next DVD http://hd.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://hd.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 1:06PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 4th 2008 6:07AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
And Bose sucks]]>Mar 4th 2008 9:03AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
- Many, many Laserdiscs also cost over $100.00. Yes, the LaserDISCs, not the players. Any time you had special features, you were paying over $50.00 per.

- Video quality depended heavily on the Player Quality. I had two players from Pioneer, the lower end one -- which cost $500 couldn't even touch the $1000.00 one.

If you wanted LaserDisc you had to be willing to pay a TON of money. In and out the door. There is no comparison between Blu-Ray costs and LaserDisc costs, not on players, and not on media.

-Pie]]>Mar 4th 2008 4:38PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 10th 2008 11:45AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Has she ever actually seen an entire Blu-ray disc movie? Probably not. But she's already bought in to the hype that BD is the new DVD, and doesn't want to keep purchasing "obsolete" discs (even though I've explained they're really not).]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:12PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
There is an assumption of course that studios won't be too greedy with their content. People *will* buy Blu Ray discs if they only cost a little more than the equivalent DVD. They *won't* buy them if studios try to fleece them. After all, let's be honest here - HD is great but I expect most people will stump with SD if the cost of disks is prohibitive.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:13PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Oh... and bright reflective surfaces? They're shiny, not shinny.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:15PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Otherwise, the reason it will become standard can be seen by just visiting any electronics retailer. Visit comet.co.uk for example and you will see they sell 143 LCD / Plasma TVs and exactly one CRT TV. And of the 143 LCD / Plasma sets, 129 are HD-Ready. It's getting harder and harder to find an SD set.

The same will happen with Blu Ray players in time. The retailers and CE manufactuers will discontinue sales of DVD players and people will buy Blu Ray as a matter of course. Partly because stores predominantly sell them and partly because it makes sense to buy them.

I expect stores might stock a few DVD players for the cheapskates just like they do with TV sets, but how much profit is to be had in those people anyway?]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:32PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
In order for Blu-Ray to succeed, it needs serious attention to detail. If consumers have to consistently hit up review sites to weed out titles with bad transfers, poor encodes & kludgey menus, Blu will remain niche.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:24PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Downloading content will be popular, but there's still a huge part of the population that doesn't have broadband, so they're out. Their option with be Blu-ray. Plus, people still like to own physical things and blu-ray media will fit-the-bill. Of course they could still buy DVD's, but for a few dollars more they could be buying a better product. ]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:09PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
HD is only sent digitally in America, but just because you have a digital feed does not mean you have to send HD over it. Indeed, my parents have digital cable, but they do not get any HD channels.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 4:07PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 7:24PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/all studios are using avc or vc-1 and mpeg-4 for video.
studios want bd to take over dvd because its there new cash cow.
it took dvd almost 5 yrs to take off and we heard the same bs were hearing now dvd will never take over for vhs..did ]]>Mar 8th 2008 11:26PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Suppose Jane consumer is shopping for a new DVD player in three years, because she either needs a new one or her old one broke. She has a choice between an upconverting DVD player, or a Blu-ray player that's backward compatible with DVD, for nearly the same price (give or take $40 or $50, maybe). What consumer would possibly lock themselves out of Blu-ray in that scenario? It's cheap future proofing, at the very least.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:25PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
As far as your comment on the sound goes. I'm one of those people who had a "super cheap" HTiB and I could easily notice the difference between a trueHD or an uncompressed track and the standard Dolby Digital or DTS tracks. Could I appreciate the difference more after I upgraded my speakers to something nicer? Sure, but the point is, even with my old speakers, there was a clear and noticable difference.

but again, I really don't get the point of this article. Is it a slam on early adopters? Is it saying that blu-ray is only wining because consumers are gulible?]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:28PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
My point is that people care about video enough to use HDMI etc, but not enough about audio to upgrade from toslink.

The success of 1080p is a perfect example.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:29PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
I'm sure if it's that they don't care, but that they might not know that theirs a difference. In addition if you're hooking up directly to the TV without a sound system, then who cares, you probably never notice a difference. If you're using a home theatre system, then you'll need a preprocessor or a receiver with HDMI, spdif or 5.1/7.1 inputs. There haven't been very many products in the audio market that have HDMI. Then there aren't a full array of dvd players that contain 5.1 or 7.1 analog outputs and again the receiver may not contain them. So spdif or toslink is the simple solution.

I think audio is something that takes a bit longer to uprgade and as you said isn't quite as important to many. But I think a majority of those people don't have systems that could utilize it anyway. ]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:38PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
How can 1080p be a success when it is being forced on the consumer? Not to mention all the bullshit marketing around (Sans Sony and others) that 1080p is FullHD.

1080p is more of a mine is bigger than yours with a combination of general populous ignorance that anything else.

I am not saying that 1080p is not better, but when we are being forced to switch since manufactures are making the switch, 1080p really is not the perfect example of people caring about video quality.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:23PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/You make good points, but HDMI has been available on AVR as long as it's been on HDTVs. ]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:39PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 4th 2008 12:41AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
More to the point, who is running around saying LaserDisc was unsuccessful? Just because it isn't the format of choice today doesn't mean it didn't have a great run. My parents did have one, and the quality (at the time) was out of this world. Blu-Ray will be the same. Everything has to get replaced eventually by it's better. Remember 8-tracks? Yeah, me neither.

*(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinny)]]>Mar 3rd 2008 9:13PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
And pet peeve... "Shinny" does not = "shiny" :)]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:32PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
However - I like my High Def, and Blu-Ray is still MUCH better than unconverted DVD. I like having a physical disk and I like the ability to transport it. Like start watching a movie in my Family Room but decide to finish it in the bedroom. Going over a friends house, etc... Its MUCH harder if not almost impossible with most downloaded content. Then, most times the DRM on the downloaded content gets in the way. The only way non physical media works is when its illegally ripped. Then, what about the US's absolutely craptastic broadband speeds and the limiting of certain content by certain ISP's? Broadband speed and DRM will seal the fate for download HD content. I am only interested in the absolutely highest quality. I don't care about SD or compression or anything. I just won't watch it. I want 1080p/24 and beyond - to hell with legacy. Gimme the new stuff and keep it coming.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:33PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
But lets not be ignorant and smack down on Sony for throwing some monetary weight around cause we know that this is the nature of the beast. Money talks, we talk how its most efficient to make our points.]]>Mar 4th 2008 2:14PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 4th 2008 2:54PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
It's to make piracy more difficult, time-consuming, expensive, and user un-friendly for as long as possible. It's to deter, for several years at least, the mass hordes of casual potential pirates.

Theoretical cracks by 180 IQ math major geniuses does not translate overnight into 90 IQ teenagers able to use a user-friendly program that can run on their $400 Dell PCs and quickly and easily rip their Blu-rays onto their PCs and swap them online with their friends.]]>Mar 6th 2008 10:33AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Yes, BD players play DVDs, but it's largely a perception thing: people hate feeling that they're being taken for a ride by constantly being compelled to purchase new hardware. Also, a lot of consumers will still feel compelled to replace discs, desiring that all their movies look better as a result of the investment.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:35PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 1:35PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/TV spots need to be ramped up as well in order to start getting BD out to the general public and not just to enthusiasts who are already likely to buy HD media and players anyway.
If they market it right, BD stands a chance of enjoying similar success to DVD.

BTW, BD is HARDLY Laserdisc. How quickly folks forget how much LD movies were back in the 80's. You would see movies going for above $50, so on movie price alone BD is nowhere nearly as niche and prohibitive as LD was. And BD movies are CHEAPER than DVD's were at their comparable life span.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:41PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Maybe they fared better in the US. I don't think that laserdisc's history is remotely comparable to Blu Ray. Blu Ray is already entering mainstream in a way that laser disc never even dreamed of.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:55PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
]]>Mar 3rd 2008 3:28PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
They may have fared slightly better in the US. I knew of places that rented them and a few that sold them, but they still were not as easy to obtain when compared to VHS. BD has the advantage that it is more in the splot light, but I am not sure if I seen BD (or HD-DVD for the point) replacing DVD.

I think BD is going to be a niche market, more so than lasrdisc, but not as big as DVD. I think we will see something new come along before BD has even run its course that will gain momentum like DVD. BD came out too soon for a lot of people. I know a descent amount of people with out HDTVs yet and even people with HDTVs that don't care much about HD media right now. Maybe it will change in the next few years, but I just don't see that. Unless people like this, and I feel a lot of them, change from this attitude, BD will not be overtaking DVD.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:28PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
LD would release at the same time as the rental version at or below the VHS rental price with Dolby Digital and secondary audio to boot.

Blu IS LaserDisc today, it can become DVD, but can it do so quickly enough?]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:40PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 7:57PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Anyway I think its clear that Blu Ray is way, way, way more popular than laserdisc ever was. Virtually every midsize video / music store carries them and they're growing by the day. I don't think it is unreasonable to think that they'll take over from DVD as more and more people go HD. ]]>Mar 4th 2008 6:45AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 1:45PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 1:50PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/What is my TV has a HQV chip? (I don't)

My point is no one looks, they just buy the upconverting players. I don't upconvert, but if I did I'd be surprised if a $99 upconverting DVD player did a better job than my $6k PDP-6010FD.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:52PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 4:25PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Upconverting has the best chance at the source, where a few frames can be compared to better determine what the image should look like. I have no idea if any upconverting players actually do this, though... but I do know the better ones have much more sophisticated algorithms than most TVs employ.

Of course, upconverting can't come near the quality of an HD source. I didn't bother with an upconverting player until I got one that played HD as well.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 5:31PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/I predict that we will see extras in BD's like movie wallpaper, icons, screensavers, and even movie soundtracks.

Just remeber that you heard it here first.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:49PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1071
]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:31PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 1:53PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
It's sad that people don't pay more attention to audio, but to be fair, a receiver that can do TrueHD, forget DTS-HD MA, is still pretty expensive ($600, at least). You can buy DD-5.1 receivers for like a hundred bucks at this point. It's no surprise that most people are still using the cheaper alternative.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 1:53PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
Now Blu-Ray did not go out of their way in any way shape or form to accommodate people’s current sound systems. Only HD DVD did that!!

As for the rest of your article it is merely YOUR opinion with no facts to back it up, so we'll leave you to it.

]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:00PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 2:01PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
So many people on tech sites like this confuse their own concerns about media with what the average consumer wants. We are not the mAinstream. We are enthusiasts. Average consumers don't give a crap about all this Blu-ray profile 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 nonsense. They could care less about splitting hairs over audio codecs or concerning themselves with who Sony paid off or didn't pay off, etc. All they care about is this: will this player make my new 2K HDTV look good and will there be a significant selection of titles available? DVD's were once 30-50 dollars and the players started at 400 dollars. Yet somehow, people adopted them. Funny how that trickle down system works.

It seems every time you turn around there is another poster claiming physical media is "irrelevant". Really? The music industry may not be doing so well but CD's still represent over 75% of all music sold. And it took 9 painful years of failed starts and obnoxious DRM restrictions before music labels finally gave up on DRM. Movies are a good 10 years behind music. I would not hold my breath for movies and TV shows be available for (legal) download without seriously complicated strings attached. And the average consumer just doesn't want to deal with those kinds of restrictions when its so simple to buy a disc and pop it in your player.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:04PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/
I think many of the facts that you raise support the fact that folks like me *aren't* giving "Joe Six Pack" any credit. I stand behind these folks in Best Buy and eavesdrop. I also do some side business where I consult folks on technology purchases. I agree completely that they're just going for buzzwords -- "Give me a 1080P set". "I need HDMI". But these are the same folks that would rather have their colors popping beyond realistic levels than providing a true representation of what the filmmaker/producer envisioned.

I'm giving "Joe Six Pack" NO credit. :-) I believe that to most consumers, the migration from VHS to DVD was much more about convenience than it was about image quality. Aside from the obvious quality difference, there were a ton of other differences that made DVD popular, like smaller size, no rewinding, skipping between scenes, ability to rip digitally, etc.

I think my post on the podcast last week got misinterpreted. I wasn't trying to bash folks like Leo Laporte and others who comment on high definition media. I'm simply saying that if these are the opinion leaders in the tech community who are doing podcasts, going on CNN and local TV talking about the formats and even they can't see the difference between upscaled DVD and Blu Ray, then what hope does Uncle Eddie in Peoria?

Another key factor is that folks like me are looking at their massive DVD collections and realizing how little they've watched them. There wasn't a 'Netflix' when I got started. And honestly I think I'd own less movies now if there were.

Bottom line for me -- if we make ANY noticeable strides in bandwidth in the next two years, believe that the convenience of being able to download from the iTunes store (or whatever store) is going to trump any physical format. Folks are getting used to it now with mp3 downloads. It's only inevitable. The only question is whether we'll stay on the same trajectory for improving bandwidth that we've been on.]]>Mar 3rd 2008 2:14PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/03/why-blu-ray-will-be-the-next-dvd/Mar 3rd 2008 2:15PM