Blu-ray is a great format. There is a huge difference between BD and DVD in audio and picture quality. These facts have nothing to do with its success or failure. Remember, BD movies have less features and do not look any better than HD-DVDs and the BD players still are more expensive, yet HD-DVD failed. We live in a "Good Enough" society and when their crappy HDTV doesn't yield much difference between DVD and Broadcast HD, why would you expect them to spend more money on BD? We are in a recession, headed toward a deep recession, so why would consumers not say that DVD is "Good enough". During this time, Cable TVs On-Demand services are growing more and more popular. Wait, AppleTV, Vudu, Xbox Live, and PS3 Online, all offer movie downloading. Broadband is getting cheaper, and even a slow HD movie download is faster than the USPS mail service for Netflix or driving to the video rental store.
Your rant never gave one piece of evidence to prove your case. You just backed up one assumption with another as if it were true. Here are some facts: Internet speeds are getting faster and cheaper, The catalog of HD-downloads is growing faster than the catalog of Blu-ray disc. All BD titles sold in the US last year were less than any single DVD title in the top 5. All BD titles sold in the UK last year were less than the amount BD players (including PS3s) out in that market, meaning BD sell less than videogames which are twice as expensive.
BD's presence in the market is growing fast, its growth is slow, and its marketshare compared with DVD is nil. You don't know anything about consumer electronics if you don't expect someone to walk through this huge window of opportunity.
In fairness, HD DVD "failed" because Warner pulled its support, and Warner pulled its support because it decided to go with the format that had the most exclusive studio support. With both formats at that point having relatively few sales in terms of standalone players, the consumer was pretty much out of the loop as far as that decision went.
But I do agree that "good enough" is what's going to be the decider here. HD DVRs + HD cable, coupled with numerous download services that are getting better all the time, is where people are heading and likely to spend their money. The choice right now is not between SD and HD video discs. It's between convenience and higher quality. And, really, honestly, I think as long as the more convenient option is "good enough" quality, it'll win over high quality, especially if it feels like it's free.
I now have more HD movies on the hard drive bolted onto my Dish Network DVR than I have HD DVDs. I still buy the occasional HD DVD, but over-all my DVD and HD video disc purchasing habits have gone from "two-to-four a month" to "once in a blue moon".
And I haven't even bought a streaming media box yet. Hulu et al hasn't announced a way to stream to standalone media boxes. The options that aren't Blu-ray are growing by the day.
“While it's not exactly punching it out with the heavyweights in multi-room audio, the Mint Studio does certainly hold its own with many similarly-priced iPod docks out there.”
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Blu-ray is a great format. There is a huge difference between BD and DVD in audio and picture quality. These facts have nothing to do with its success or failure. Remember, BD movies have less features and do not look any better than HD-DVDs and the BD players still are more expensive, yet HD-DVD failed. We live in a "Good Enough" society and when their crappy HDTV doesn't yield much difference between DVD and Broadcast HD, why would you expect them to spend more money on BD? We are in a recession, headed toward a deep recession, so why would consumers not say that DVD is "Good enough". During this time, Cable TVs On-Demand services are growing more and more popular. Wait, AppleTV, Vudu, Xbox Live, and PS3 Online, all offer movie downloading. Broadband is getting cheaper, and even a slow HD movie download is faster than the USPS mail service for Netflix or driving to the video rental store.
Your rant never gave one piece of evidence to prove your case. You just backed up one assumption with another as if it were true. Here are some facts: Internet speeds are getting faster and cheaper, The catalog of HD-downloads is growing faster than the catalog of Blu-ray disc. All BD titles sold in the US last year were less than any single DVD title in the top 5. All BD titles sold in the UK last year were less than the amount BD players (including PS3s) out in that market, meaning BD sell less than videogames which are twice as expensive.
BD's presence in the market is growing fast, its growth is slow, and its marketshare compared with DVD is nil. You don't know anything about consumer electronics if you don't expect someone to walk through this huge window of opportunity.
In fairness, HD DVD "failed" because Warner pulled its support, and Warner pulled its support because it decided to go with the format that had the most exclusive studio support. With both formats at that point having relatively few sales in terms of standalone players, the consumer was pretty much out of the loop as far as that decision went.
But I do agree that "good enough" is what's going to be the decider here. HD DVRs + HD cable, coupled with numerous download services that are getting better all the time, is where people are heading and likely to spend their money. The choice right now is not between SD and HD video discs. It's between convenience and higher quality. And, really, honestly, I think as long as the more convenient option is "good enough" quality, it'll win over high quality, especially if it feels like it's free.
I now have more HD movies on the hard drive bolted onto my Dish Network DVR than I have HD DVDs. I still buy the occasional HD DVD, but over-all my DVD and HD video disc purchasing habits have gone from "two-to-four a month" to "once in a blue moon".
And I haven't even bought a streaming media box yet. Hulu et al hasn't announced a way to stream to standalone media boxes. The options that aren't Blu-ray are growing by the day.