Has Blu-Ray really won?
Okay, this might be a stretch, but you guys all read what I read, and here is what I see as a serious possibility. This so-called DVD format war might have been all for nothing. Suppose next week at MacWorld the dark sith-lord Jobs announces that he has all the major studios on board for sales and rentals of movies via the iTunes store. (does this sound familiar? remember the launch of the music store?) And further assume that AppleTV, which by all accounts has been a total turkey of a product, is reborn as a device that is capable of delivering these movies/rentals to your HD display in 720p or better.
Say what you want about Apple, but they tend to be innovators. They tend to pioneer things that become the norm. And we all know that digital delivery of content over the net is the future, right?
Blu-ray better win. I already bought a PS3, HD-A3 and a 360 HD-DVD drive. Most of my gear is going to be worthless now. So let BD win and @ lease my PS3 has some use (other then waiting for RE5.) BTW still not looking forward to downloading 50 GBs of data per movie.
PS. Looking for updated or new macbook in macworld though.
I’m hoping for a sub-notebook…
Me too. I have held off buying a macbook because it’s just too darn heavy. If the rumors are true then a flash based sub-notebook with LED-BLU is coming this macworld.
I am afraid of losing the multi-channel high resolution audio because i am sure that apple will more than likely focus on video quality. Lossless and/or uncompressed audio is something that could go the way of the CD with MP3’s.
What, I go out of town for a couple of days and I come back to this pro-Mac stuff?!? You’re a sneaky one J. 😉
I actually would be excited about this – but I doubt it.
I’d like an AFFORDABLE touchMac with handwriting recognition that works and flash drive. I’d also like an Apple that streams HD movies to my home with support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. I’d also like Steve Jobs to wear a pink tutu and sing “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” while playing a ukulele…. Just for giggles.
Clint,
Disturbingly, I share your vision of Mr. Jobs…
Okay J is right. First there is going to be movie rentals from all major studios in appleTV. Then there is the Macbook Air which is coming out in 2 weeks which is a small ultraportable with SSD option.
Just read it here. Very cool. SSDs are the future IMO. I want one. I’d like to know more about the HD over iTunes. Do you need to download it? How long does it take? $3-4.99 is pretty good but I don’t see why you need the 24 hour time limit. Why not give people a certain number of of movies they can store and have them choose which to replace when they want to download a new movie? The more downloaded or streaming movies act like real DVDs, the better accepted they will be by the public IMO.
Tom – agreed on all thoughts. You are sort of suggesting what makes Netflix so great – having 4 discs sitting on my rack all the time – no restrictions. From the little I was able to read today, the HD content will have DD but not DTS yet.
That’s pretty common as DD is way more compressed and easier to stream. I’d be pretty impressed if DTS were even an option. I don’t really expect there to be any of the high def audio formats available in the near future.
I think the better question is “has downloading FULL 1080p movies with TrueHD/DTS-HD MA” won?
If not. You’re wasting our time. Sure, smaller 720p movies will have a place. But when you want the best and get it at a low price. Blu-ray is here to say. Sorry.
That’s true for now (though I’m not so sure about the low price thing). The REAL question is will Blu-ray have time to get the market penetration it needs before something better comes along (be it streaming or something else) and people jump on that. Blu-ray’s job is to convince everyone that their DVD players just aren’t adequate enough. That’s a tall order with only higher resolution video (that most people don’t notice) and audio (that most people don’t care about even if they did notice it) as a selling point. With HD DVD out of the way (for the most part), Blu-ray does at least have a chance. When both formats were still viable, they were too busy fighting each other to notice that they were losing the larger war.
The people that buy DVD players are the same people (non-techy) people that will buy Blu-ray players (sub-$199). They just want a movie disc, put it in, press play. Simple.
The iPod is a success. But for simple reasons. It’s simple to use and portable. But a media center with highdef files streaming to your HDTV is not as easy to setup for the average users. That’s why the MP3 player is a success but the downloadable 1080p movies is not. It requires a large HDTV and configuration to work. Not so portable, huh?
Downloading movies will happen eventually. But it will happen in conjunction with physical media. The idea of “ownership” the physical media is still strong in peoples minds as well. That will not just wash away anytime soon.
HD DVD and Blu-ray being “busy” fighting each other was not just Sony’s fault like everyone likes to say. But DVD FORUMS fault for holding on to their DVD monopoly which the movies studios did not want to pay royalties anymore.
What’s funny is that time and time again I hear opponents such as yourself say, “with only higher resolution video/audio (which most people don’t notice)” but then forget the reaction of your average joe when they see DISCOVERY HD for the first time in their life. Once you go HD, you’ll never go back. Sure and simple.
I don’t have to convince them. Their OWN EYES do it for me.
Remember this. MOST people do not own the best upconverting DVD player with composite cables hooked up. They have a DVD composite player doing 480i on their old CRT.
Trust me. They WILL NOTICE A DIFFERENCE went hey walk into Best Buy and see a Blu-ray on a Bravia 40″ for the first time. I’ve seen it time and time again.
They ask, “What’s Blu-ray?” and “That looks great!”
EDIT: “Remember this. MOST people do NOT own the best upconverting DVD player with COMPONENT cables hooked up. They have a DVD composite player doing 480i on their old CRT.”