Why Blu-ray will be the next DVD

From EngadgetHD:

"Everyone loves a fight, and no sooner was the HD movie format war over, many analyst and pundits were setting up Blu-ray's next battles. We love to watch a fight as much as the next person -- more like watching a train wreck really -- but some of the craziness just has to stop. Many give consumers too much credit, and even worse are ignoring the facts. Blu-ray has the best chance to replace DVD, and we're going to tell you why. There is no arguing that DVD currently rules the roost, but it won't forever and the battle to overtake DVD is being fought on two main fronts."

[decapitator]

I didn't know EngadgetHD did blu ?!?! ...Well nonetheless, good article. I agree with this 100%. Also I would like to add PS3 in it.

[lawman1108]

It will NEVER replace DVD. $25 to $30 bucks a movie is CRAZY !! You can buy new release movie on DVD for less then $20.00 and if you wait a month or so it can be under $10.00.

[Palodios]

You do realize that cost will go down, right? Its expensive to make blu-ray discs. Check amazon, the price of a single blu-ray disc is atleast 15 dollars (and even more for dual-layered discs). Sure, when produced in bulk for movies, they cost a lot less, but even if it costs 4 or 5 dollars to make them, that's a lot more than the pennies it costs to make dvd discs.

Now that Blu-ray is thee high def disc, that price will drop dramatically.

[ruibing]

Believe me, if it wasn't for Blu Ray, I would have downloaded the last couple of movies I bought through BitTorrent. There is no way I would buy something when an alternate free, non-DRM is available, especially when it is not a tangible product.

[PS360WII]

I don't know as much as I like BluRay (I have 25 movies so far) I think DVD will be the next ummm DVD. Those examples he uses are one pointing to digital distribution which doesn't have anything to do with DVD and then the upcoverter yes some care about clarity but and while it is noticably different it still doesn't have that same impact as vhs to dvd. I'm sorry it's true. I know I'm going to get 100 billion disagrees but that's how I look at it. DVD to BluRay for as nice it is, is no where near the switch from vhs to dvd in terms of audio, visual, storage, and the fact that it wouldn't be ruined over time.

That was the biggest plus. 5 year old vhs tapes did not look the same as 1 year old vhs tapes. 5 year old dvd's have the same quality as they did on day one. Plus no magnet is going to wipe away your data, the player won't eat the tape, and many units around are easy to use for recording and re-recording at a very affordable price.

My 2 cents at least ;)

[sonarus]

well everyone's opinions will be split and there will be no way of knowing until blu ray actually begins to gain momentum. I believe ppl will switch to blu ray just as ppl are switching to hdtv. With blu rays new promotions in places such as blockbuster, it will really help to get blu ray out there. Blu ray will start to take off this yr but that is purely opinion. When big titles such as lord of the rings, star wars, indiana jones start to show up on blu ray and get a lot of attention curious consumers will take that plunge. Price must go down first off course. People like technology and that is exactly what blu ray is the next technological step. With the full backing of the entire Hollywood movie industry blu ray will make some leaps this yr. But thats just my opinion

[PS360WII]

oh for sure unit sales will definatly increase both in terms of hardware and movie sales. Now that the standard is known it'll be easier for people to pick one up. I just don't see a massive wave of everyone buying BluRay.

[fenderputty]

so far BD has been adopted at a faster rate then DVD. People want to use their HDTV's. They don't know that 1080p is only useful above 42-45 inches. All they know is, BD movies look 10x better then DVD on those HDTV's when they walk into bestbuy or circut city or wherever. People want to move to the next format and will do so as more and more people aquire new HDTV's. People want a physical format as well. Until DD gives users the freedom that discs give us, it's going to have a hard time getting mass appeal.

BD has one more thing on it's side. The PS3. I know at least two people with standalones now because they've watched a movie on my PS3. The more the PS3 penetrates the market, the better the chances of BD's mass success.

Also ... at least in the US, digital is becoming the standard. People will soon (another year or so) be forced to either buy a converter or, upgrade their TV when digital becomes the norm. This is going to force even more people into the HD market. Prices will coninue to drop, the PS3 will continue to sell and HDTV's will continue to become the norm on a daily basis. Well ... maybe not daily but, you get my point.

[TheExodus]

The broadcast standard change from analog to digital will not force an upgrade to HD for the simple fact that analog to digital is not synonymous with SD to HD. Just given the demographics of US households when it comes to personal income I'd bet that well over ½ of us will be making the change to digital via converters & SDTVs.

[fenderputty]

analog and digital aren't synonomous with SD and HD but, some people WILL convert over once everything is digital. My girlfriends father is one of them. He knows he's going to have to get a new Cable box. He knows he's going to either need a new converter or TV. So ... he's going to get a new TV and a BD player in a year. He's not converting now ... hes waiting for next year's TV deals and the coming of digital. The chaning of analog and digital will play a role. It might not be huge but, a role none the less.

[BigKev45]

Yeah it will, duh.

[PimpHandStrong]

BR will become the new dvd. If it does become the main form of movie retail then you can bet the PS3 will sell more then the PS2. When the price for a new release is under 20 bucks it will become the main cd based money maker for the movie bizz

Its all crystal ball stuff but if it becomes fact that BR takes out normal dvd's the PS3 will sell 180-200mil units by the time its replaced

I bet the next Wii plays BR movies

[IntelligentAj]

I doubt the Wii will play BD's. You have to remember Nintendo doesn't believe in making a media center gamin console. According to them a gaming console should only play games, nothing else.

[Mr Playboy]

without a doubt :)

[You bought an Xbox]

Of being the next DVD than being the next HD DVD !!

Xbots Suck

[George Washington]

complete BS article. dvd will never be beat.blueray is just here for 2-3 years till digital downloads are in full swing... 1 terrabite hdds can store tons of vid content... the price of them are going down everymonth... itll only be a couple years till we can find these for 100$ or less

[PS360WII]

movies are usually 700mb so yes 1tb can hold many movies

[1-800-SaveAnXbot]

its the two of you that need assistance?

[butterfinger]

when you say 700mb obviously you are not talking about HD movies or movies of any length really... most movies are closer to a gig or more and thats not even HD...

[PS360WII]

Umm yeah I did not say HD and DVD quality movies run around 700. If you disagree you don't have any movies on a HDD obviously

[butterfinger]

I have 78 DVDs on my 500 GB HDD and it takes up about 127GB... you must have very poor quality DVD DL, and what is the point of the argument against blu ray if you are not downloading in HD?

[PS360WII]

I'm not arguing about BD vs DD. I was simply stating that yes 1tb can hold many movies. I have over 1k of movies on my 1tb HDD. Yes they look just as good from the .avi on my vlc media player as they do if I put the DVD in the player.

[butterfinger]

So I guess I will sacrifice my video quality (HD) so that I can have more movies? Your whole argument is pointless. Nobody cares about how many low quality DVDs 1TB can hold... How many HD movies can it hold? 1000? No. I guess you were not replying to the statement about DD over BD then.

[PS360WII]

You are not listening they are not low quality. I don't care how superior you feel your DVD's are to mine but they look same as the DVD. I already have those movies I put them on a HDD too that's how that works. I'm not sacrificing anything. I have plenty of BD and yes even HD movies same as I have VHS tapes still.

You are arguing against someone who just likes to watch movies. I don't sacrifice anything I enjoy the darn movies. HD or not. Much like many many people.

[butterfinger]

Many people given the choice would rather watch their movies in the highest quality possible, and I have listened to your pointless argument. I asked how many HD movies fit on your 1TB HDD, but I didn't get an answer, my guess is that you don't have any on there or it is some large amount of GB that you don't want to share. You are naive if you believe that most people just want to watch and the quality doesn't really matter, because almost 1-4 (some say more) have an HDTV. Are you telling me those people would prefer to just watch low quality DVDs? You have built your case from several different angles and you have no further steps to take. Your personal preference means nothing to me.

[PS360WII]

You are funny. Notice how I was saying I'm not arguing the fact of BD vs DD? I have plant earth on my hdd and yes each one is 2.2gigs. What of it? The majority of movie watchers if given the choice would wait for it on TV actually. So your argument is a moot point. Only a niche amount of people like to spend more on a movie they could spend less money on. Simple as that. and your personal preference means nothing to me as well.

[butterfinger]

I would really like to know how you compress these files so small. It really is amazing! Also, I would like to know when you were given the ability to determine what most people's preference is. That, too is interesting.
"I don't care how superior you feel your DVD's are to mine but they look same as the DVD." What is THE DVD? I am confused still.
"I already have those movies" What are those movies? I guess you're talking about some specific movie?
"Notice how I was saying I'm not arguing the fact of BD vs DD?" Yes I did notice that moron, but your original comment was in response to somebody who was advocating DD over BD. Maybe if you didn't want to comment in reference to his point, you shouldn't have posted as a reply to begin with. I suppose you are right in the fact that people with HDTVs (being the very few and far between lol) should just watch DVDs or will most likely prefer to buy DVDs instead of BD in the future. I am in now way endorsing BD as the way to go, I am just showing that your "facts" or whatever they are have no footing at all. However, as "they" say, you are entitled to your opinion, and you can believe with all your heart that DVD will be the standard forever. If you choose to reply I suggest you PM me.

PSN:filthyvillain

[MiniMii]

Did the xbot just say that his 700MB AVI file looks just on VLC player as the real DVD being watched on a REAL tv?

Rofl.

No, it dont. Not even close, kid.

Difference between 700MB avi file and real DVD:

_____________________________ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _ ____________________>

Yea

Difference between real DVD and HD Blu ray:

_____________________________ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ ______>

Yea, you have no case. Please remain uninformed and delusional.

[PS360WII]

Ha how did I become an xbot?! Lets see is that because I have 25 BD movies and 18 PS3 games? Or is it becasue I don't talk out of my arse and say .avi don't look as good as DVD's?

[BrianC6234]

You again clown? Blu-ray is the future. All HDTVs will soon be 1080p and if you spend the money for that you want the best video you can get. DVD just doesn't look as good as Blu-ray on 1080p HDTVs. Sony is proving how smart they are. People laughed at them over Blu-ray and even said HDMI 1.3 will never matter. Soon everyone will want both and when that happens Blu-ray will sell like hotcakes.

[KeiZka]

With a recession some kind coming up? Yes, yes... Of course they will sell when it's in full swing, wreaking havoc on your state economy. Mine too.

[PimpHandHappy]

its about the time it takes to DL a HD movie. The service you speak of will never take over dvd's let alone blueray. I know i myself like having a collection of movies and music. Im not alone

PPL like to buy things they can hold. They buy things so they can share with other ppl. Until the day you can hand over your harddrive to let your friends or family borrow a movie downloading movies will remain a niche crowd....

dvd buys are not niche and in fact a monster in the entertainment bizz

[MailMan]

The Digital Download format,you know,the NON-EXISTENT format that XBOTS now CLING onto?The one that takes over 9 HOURS to download HALF of an HD Movie?

Looks like THAT Xbot format is DESTINED to go the VERY SAME route as HD DVD,my OH my there will be A LOT of Micro$oft traffic on FAILURE Lane.

Jump OUT and Play B3YOND

[PimpHandStrong]

thats why i dont own a Wii and will never own one. I dont like kids games. I dont care but no matter the amount of Mario games they have i wont buy it for myself.

I heard the Wii had bluetooth tech in it? I do think the Wii is a nice gift for older ppl. I might get one for my P's. Get them Wii fit

anyway back on topic: I said the next Wii not this one

[Shimrra]

I personally could care less about Blue Ray. I already have a large selection of movies on dvd and I can not see myself going out and rebuying any of them. Yes I know it does look better but if you tell me that its worth almost twice as much as a dvd I tell you to go shove it. Sit down and think about how many times are you going to watch a movie. There will be that rare movie you watch more than twice but overall you see a movie just once and then put it away. So it doesnt make sense right now to go out and spend the extra money. Maybe when BR movies come down to around what regular DVDs cost these days. Until then I am either going to keep buying regular DVD or just stick to digital downloading.

[AceLuby]

You hit it right there and didn't even know it.

You don't want to re-purchase all those DVD's you have. And that's a really good point...

Except that when you purchase a BR player all those DVD's you've collected over the years aren't obsolete. In fact it's the opposite. You now get to watch all your DVD's in better resolution via upconversion.

VHS to DVD didn't have this luxury. You had to rebuy all those tapes you bought over the years. This time you get sweet backwards compatibility.

THIS is the reason why BR will take off faster than DVD IMO.

[lildave0500]

heck ya man no one that matters would never waste money on that crap

[meepmoopmeep]

very soon the only types of TV's available on shelves are HDTV's so it's inevitable that consumers will migrate to an HD format. The question is when.

[Vito4434]

I am not convinced that DVD will go like the VHS. The main reason VHS died was that there was no Backward compatibility (BC), but blueray players are making a mistake in adding BC because you are leaving the door open for consumers to select the cheaper media. The movie industry better stop using the DVD format, otherwise BC will be the albatross for blueray.

[meepmoopmeep]

that's why the movie industry should release the Blu-ray movie a week or two before the DVD version. That way it will help drive the HD sales. And i agree that having BC isn't going to help people migrate to HD any quicker. Most people would buy the cheaper alternative.

[fenderputty]

I don't agree. Giving the people the option of keeping their old movies without having to use up another input in the back of your TV isn't going to hinder the industry.

Do gaming consoles feel the pain of BC?

Ultimately, people want BD because of picture quality. Most newer movies see the benifits from this. A lot of older movies won't. I don't need to upgrade "Swingers", "Spaceballs", and "The Goonies" to BD since it won't make much difference in my viewing pleasure. However ... Pirates, Spiderman, Transformers, 300, Departed and every new release does benifit from this new format visually. This format's success will depend on how well HDTV's are addopted.

I do agree that beacuse of the BC, DVD won't "die" for a very long time though. I just don't think it's going to seriously hurt BD's addoption.

Plus ... DVD is the bread and butter right now. I'm sure that when BD is more widespread, studios will start to phase out DVD more and more.

[FirstknighT]

The new James Bond looks fantastic on bluray...but how are the old James Bond movies going to look like? Older movies will never look as good as the newer ones. That's why you get yourself a bluray player that has a fantastic upscaler chip like HQV. I bought a Sammy 1200 bluray player w/ HQV and tried out my older dvds like "Big Trouble in Lil China" and "Halloween" and it was a HUGE improvement. Highly Recommend it.

I personally hate when older classics get all fixed up in hi def. I expect to see visual flaws when I watch an old kung fu movie. It's supposed to be there.

[AceLuby]

That because of the BC (just like we see in games) the movie studios are eventually going to release new movies only in BR. It happened w/ VHS to DVD, except I could really see this happening sooner, especially if players are constantly sub $200. People would be willing to pay that much to a) see their movies in hi-def if they can and b) they would still be able to play all their old DVD's. I doubt they'll stop production of DVD's for older movies, but I would be very surprised if studios kept releasing NEW movies on both formats while the hi-def market grows.

[Alcaponeyou]

you're a disgrace to the first president of the US.
Now that HDDVD got anal'ed, you're hiding behind DD which won't happen anytime soon.

[eagle21]

Retail for Blu-ray is growing quickly!

[DJ]

But yeah, Blu-ray will definitely be the dominant format.

[tk]

When CD's was dominant, DVD's was the next optical media. Now DVD is dominant, BR is the next in optical media. Done deal. Move along. Nothing new to be analyzed.

[bakasora]

in 3 years time.
i might have a Blu-ray burner.
and im gonna burn all the hentai and porn into BD
25GB!! thats whole lot of em

[FirstknighT]

Not unless bluray movies lower their ridiculous prices. $25-$30 for one movie is a joke. They need to lower their price to an affordable level or dvd will always be the leader.

And I hope the movie studios get their act together and don't double dip their dvds. Their are like 12 version of Lord of the Rings on dvd. Bluray is way to expensive for a double dip. 30 Nights was just released on bluray this past week, but it wasn't the unrated version. They always release an unrated version after. If they start to do that than I will surely burn all bluray movies instead.

[level 360]

That was the price of standard dvd's when it started... nk-poof.

Time will come and pass when Blu-Ray would be as affordable and can be available in blank disc format meant for copying/burning.

[sephy 9 2 5]

Until that day, BDA will drop the cost of the movies and keep advertising [Insert popular title here] also available on BR in high-def.

[SubzeroX]

Blue ray is dvd who wrote this crap? I'll stick to my dvd's than u quality is still superior, and they haven't even taken advantage of it yet. Hey if people like wasting their money on the same movie's all over again that's them, but it's just a gimmick to sell more lame ass movies.

[Ricdog]

BD will eventually, but not until 2 or 3 years.DVD is still going strong for a few more years, so BD can come down to $150 and 1080p 42in. HDTV to $800, then il CONSIDER buying a BD player

[djroberts]

Generally speaking he makes some good points but his Toslink argument is dumb. There's no noticable difference between Toslink and HDMI. There's often a massive difference between component and S-video since S-video won't do 720p or 1080p.

[GamerMan]

My choice 720p Plasma or $300 more for a LCD 1080p .. easy the LCD.. also as a gamer I have to consider images burning in. Plasmas are more prone to burn ins than LCDs are. Not to mention that LCDs are getting the color and contrast that plasmas have and some have surpassed.

Toslink vs HDMI on sound. There is a difference especially if you have the receiver that can handle 7.1 uncompressed audio. It's fantastic sounding and so crisp and clear. He was stating no one cares about sound but that is one of the biggest reasons I supposrt Blu ray, for the sound quality to get better and of course the visuals of 1:1 1080p picture.

It's a very opinionated piece and I don't agree with most of the article, but I do agree that Blu ray will eventually replace the DVD market but that is about it.

[DFresh]

It's already final.
Blu-ray won!
Toshiba pulled out the race.
Downloads are cool and all but they are not that perfect to be a main format.
I believe Blu-ray will be around for another 8 years and then downloads will be the next big thing off of the PS4 and Xbox 720.
Downloads have been around since the DVD and before Blu-ray so why hasn't it taken over already.
If you ask me I believe Blu-ray will be the final format.
Blu-ray can always be upgraded by the time the PS4 comes out Blu-ray would have developed a newer player for the OLED TVs and for the next gen of games and so forth.
The only time when people like downloads is when your renting a movie or a game.
Say if you download it watch it or play it you can test before you buy and I mean the full version of a game or movie before you buy it.
Downloads don't have that many features compared to Blu-ray at this point and downloads take forever to download.
ex.)
Apple or XBL takes over 5 hours to download even if you have a fast wireless connection.
I'm gonna waste 5 hours just trying to watch 1 movie you might as well just walk down to Blockbuster and pick up a movie.
Games however are really fast when it comes to downloading and that's cool but if you want to watch a movie just rent it.
It'll be a long time before Hollywood and the public accept downloads as a format.
Personally I would rather pop in Blu-ray movie or DVD before I download a movie and I believe more than 90% feel the same way I do at this point.

[Harry190]

it is

[sumfood4u]

Bootlegs are cheaper an some have great quantity!or so i heard! haha