Now that the war is over will the BDA become the new association to control the optical formats for the future, or will the DVD forum try to retain its relevance and adopt Blu-Ray?

Yes

Pretty much.

Yes
LOL.... NO!
Not until they surpass SD DVD. there's still only one format of choice in the USA and it's not Blu-Ray (yet).

Xperinet CEO Predicts Imminent Death of the DVD

Demise of HD-DVD spells curtains for the DVD as well, as

Hollywood studios drool at the prospect of another format change.

Any DVD-only media server to be obsolete next year.

Annapolis, Maryland , February 29, 2007 – Xperinet, Inc., the leader in media storage and IP media distribution, announced today its prognostication with respect to the future of DVD media. "The DVD will be dead in 18 months," predicted John T. Cox, President and CEO of Xperinet. "Now that the format war has been resolved, the Studios are chomping at the bit to implement another wholesale format change. This means big money for them, as consumers start replacing their DVD libraries with Blu-ray."

Content creators have in the past benefited greatly from media transitions, as consumers re-purchase content they already own on the new format. This enables the industry to reap new revenue and royalties on old content, with a minimal investment for re-mastering. Other transitions, such as VHS to DVD, and LP to CD, saw huge spikes in content purchases as consumers sought to take advantage of the convenience and quality improvements of the new media.

"The transition from DVD to Blu-ray represents the biggest quality improvement of any media change to date," continued Cox. "It's a difference you can really see, and once accustomed to it, anything less is unwatchable." Xperinet believes this dramatic step in picture quality will drive the 30 million households in America who own High Definition televisions to rapidly move on replacing their existing libraries of DVDs.

"We anticipate Studios will begin publishing new movies on exclusively on Blu-ray as early as Christmas of this year, and will use the broadcast transition to HD as a justification for the move," continued Cox. "This will prove a boon for Blu-ray player manufacturers, as hold-out DVD customers are forced to upgrade. We expect by the fall of 2009, DVDs will rapidly disappear from retail stores, just as LPs did in 1987."

The implications of such a swift transition are critical for anyone purchasing a media server this year. Numerous products on the market only support DVDs, and their video decoders cannot play Blu-ray movies. "Many competing server products cannot be upgraded to Blu-ray," warned Cox. "The servers don't have the storage capacity or throughput to handle 1080p video to multiple streams; their players can't read H.264 encoding used on many BD titles; and their video chips aren't powerful enough to decode 1080p video, which is six times the frame size, and requires ten times more processing power than DVD. Nothing short of a complete retrofit will make the transition possible."

Xperinet has been shipping Blu-ray compatible systems for almost a year now, and has recently released it latest firmware update to enable loading and managing video from Blu-ray discs. Xperinet's MIRV (Multiple Independent Replay Video) system can support up to 10 simultaneous streams of 1080p video, and its latest players decode WMV-HD, MPEG-2, H.264, and DIVX formats. This powerful processing capability combines with numerous new features to make MIRV the premier video storage and distribution system, including:

* Synchronization of content between locations for customers with multiple homes
* Small form-factor HD player that can be mounted behind a display
* RAID-6 storage protection for movies and music
* Film conversion to 1080p for Blu-ray quality video from home movies
* Expandable storage to grow the system as one's library grows

About Xperinet, Inc.

Xperinet, Inc develops and markets convergence technology products for the custom electronics integration industry. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland , Xperinet is committed to making technology usable by all consumers. For more information, please visit http://www.xperinet.com, or call 1-888-288-7500.

^Pure fiction.

Interesting that a CEO can be that delusional, if you want to quote history it took 3 years after Betamax was less than 5% of the market before it was pulled completely. As to LP's, tapes and CD's were revolutionary products compared to the previous formats, but Blu-Ray is only evolutionary, so it WILL NOT displace the entrenched media quickly.

I agree that this is why so many people think that downloads are the next step to replace Blu-Ray, but downloads requires an infrastructure that is not yet fast enough to satisfy the average consumer.

This CEO is hopeful, but if he believes his own hype then he is not a person to trust future trends to.

P.S. Was this posted here because you were implying that the DVD Forum has only 18 months of life left?

"We anticipate Studios will begin publishing new movies on exclusively on Blu-ray as early as Christmas of this year"

Maybe the occasional direct-to-video movie but certainly none of the blockbusters will be BD exclusives this year. That will probably take at least 3-5 years IMO.

Xperinet CEO Predicts Imminent Death of the DVD

Demise of HD-DVD spells curtains for the DVD as well, as

Hollywood studios drool at the prospect of another format change.

Any DVD-only media server to be obsolete next year.

Annapolis, Maryland , February 29, 2007 – Xperinet, Inc., the leader in media storage and IP media distribution, announced today its prognostication with respect to the future of DVD media. "The DVD will be dead in 18 months," predicted John T. Cox, President and CEO of Xperinet. "Now that the format war has been resolved, the Studios are chomping at the bit to implement another wholesale format change. This means big money for them, as consumers start replacing their DVD libraries with Blu-ray."

Content creators have in the past benefited greatly from media transitions, as consumers re-purchase content they already own on the new format. This enables the industry to reap new revenue and royalties on old content, with a minimal investment for re-mastering. Other transitions, such as VHS to DVD, and LP to CD, saw huge spikes in content purchases as consumers sought to take advantage of the convenience and quality improvements of the new media.

"The transition from DVD to Blu-ray represents the biggest quality improvement of any media change to date," continued Cox. "It's a difference you can really see, and once accustomed to it, anything less is unwatchable." Xperinet believes this dramatic step in picture quality will drive the 30 million households in America who own High Definition televisions to rapidly move on replacing their existing libraries of DVDs.

"We anticipate Studios will begin publishing new movies on exclusively on Blu-ray as early as Christmas of this year, and will use the broadcast transition to HD as a justification for the move," continued Cox. "This will prove a boon for Blu-ray player manufacturers, as hold-out DVD customers are forced to upgrade. We expect by the fall of 2009, DVDs will rapidly disappear from retail stores, just as LPs did in 1987."

The implications of such a swift transition are critical for anyone purchasing a media server this year. Numerous products on the market only support DVDs, and their video decoders cannot play Blu-ray movies. "Many competing server products cannot be upgraded to Blu-ray," warned Cox. "The servers don't have the storage capacity or throughput to handle 1080p video to multiple streams; their players can't read H.264 encoding used on many BD titles; and their video chips aren't powerful enough to decode 1080p video, which is six times the frame size, and requires ten times more processing power than DVD. Nothing short of a complete retrofit will make the transition possible."

Xperinet has been shipping Blu-ray compatible systems for almost a year now, and has recently released it latest firmware update to enable loading and managing video from Blu-ray discs. Xperinet's MIRV (Multiple Independent Replay Video) system can support up to 10 simultaneous streams of 1080p video, and its latest players decode WMV-HD, MPEG-2, H.264, and DIVX formats. This powerful processing capability combines with numerous new features to make MIRV the premier video storage and distribution system, including:

* Synchronization of content between locations for customers with multiple homes
* Small form-factor HD player that can be mounted behind a display
* RAID-6 storage protection for movies and music
* Film conversion to 1080p for Blu-ray quality video from home movies
* Expandable storage to grow the system as one's library grows

About Xperinet, Inc.

Xperinet, Inc develops and markets convergence technology products for the custom electronics integration industry. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland , Xperinet is committed to making technology usable by all consumers. For more information, please visit http://www.xperinet.com, or call 1-888-288-7500.

I love Blu-ray to become mainstream, but this article is pure delusional.
Imminent death? come on!

The new DVD Forum? with 1% of DVD sales?

No.

Content creators have in the past benefited greatly from media transitions, as consumers re-purchase content they already own on the new format. This enables the industry to reap new revenue and royalties on old content, with a minimal investment for re-mastering. Other transitions, such as VHS to DVD, and LP to CD, saw huge spikes in content purchases as consumers sought to take advantage of the convenience and quality improvements of the new media.:eek: This is the part that makes me nervous. With HD DVD out of the way, and Sony intent on burying DVD (ala Nikita Khrushchev), what incentive do the studios have to faithfully live up to consumers' HD expectations and Blu-ray's potential? What's to stop them from slacking, especially on older catalog titles?

The new DVD Forum? with 1% of DVD sales?

No.

Actually it is 0% of DVD sales since the DBA can't/doesn't make DVD's. ;) The BDA will be to the DVD Forum a lot like the DVD Forum is to Red Book CD.

Xperinet CEO Predicts Imminent Death of the DVD

Demise of HD-DVD spells curtains for the DVD as well, as

Hollywood studios drool at the prospect of another format change.

Any DVD-only media server to be obsolete next year.

Annapolis, Maryland , February 29, 2007 – Xperinet, Inc., the leader in media storage and IP media distribution, announced today its prognostication with respect to the future of DVD media. "The DVD will be dead in 18 months," predicted John T. Cox, President and CEO of Xperinet. "Now that the format war has been resolved, the Studios are chomping at the bit to implement another wholesale format change. This means big money for them, as consumers start replacing their DVD libraries with Blu-ray."


A genuine Nostradamus:rolleyes:

^Pure fiction.

You don't think that companies are going to push for a new, better, and more profitable standard?

Comsumers are not going to decide this, studios, retailers, and manufactures are going to decide for you.

With something around a third of the households in the US having HDTVs and HDM making up a tiny fraction of DVD sales, it will be some time before Blu-ray supplants DVD as the format of choice. It won't happen in 2008 nor will it happen in the next few years.
The consumers will decide when Blu-ray will take the place of DVD because until the consumers start purchasing enough BD products to justify dropping DVD, the DVD will continue to be produced. Blu-ray will have to account for well over 50% of sales (and IMO it will need to approach 70%) before they could even consider dropping DVD and the numbers right now are a long way from there. Studios, retailers, and manufacturers are not just going to drop DVD for a more profitable standard that people are not yet purchasing.
If Blu-ray does replace DVD it will not be a fast change it will be a slow methodical change and it will take a number of years to do it.
It is going to be a two format world for the forseeable future.

With something around a third of the households in the US having HDTVs and HDM making up a tiny fraction of DVD sales, it will be some time before Blu-ray supplants DVD as the format of choice. It won't happen in 2008 nor will it happen in the next few years.
The consumers will decide when Blu-ray will take the place of DVD because until the consumers start purchasing enough BD products to justify dropping DVD, the DVD will continue to be produced. Blu-ray will have to account for well over 50% of sales (and IMO it will need to approach 70%) before they could even consider dropping DVD and the numbers right now are a long way from there. Studios, retailers, and manufacturers are not just going to drop DVD for a more profitable standard that people are not yet purchasing.
If Blu-ray does replace DVD it will not be a fast change it will be a slow methodical change and it will take a number of years to do it.
It is going to be a two format world for the forseeable future.

When you say 50% do you assume that Blu-ray players and movies sell for the exact same margin as DVD players and movies?

Xperinet CEO Predicts Imminent Death of the DVD

Demise of HD-DVD spells curtains for the DVD as well, as

Hollywood studios drool at the prospect of another format change.

Any DVD-only media server to be obsolete next year.

Annapolis, Maryland , February 29, 2007 – Xperinet, Inc., the leader in media storage and IP media distribution, announced today its prognostication with respect to the future of DVD media. "The DVD will be dead in 18 months," predicted John T. Cox, President and CEO of Xperinet. "Now that the format war has been resolved, the Studios are chomping at the bit to implement another wholesale format change. This means big money for them, as consumers start replacing their DVD libraries with Blu-ray."

Content creators have in the past benefited greatly from media transitions, as consumers re-purchase content they already own on the new format. This enables the industry to reap new revenue and royalties on old content, with a minimal investment for re-mastering. Other transitions, such as VHS to DVD, and LP to CD, saw huge spikes in content purchases as consumers sought to take advantage of the convenience and quality improvements of the new media.

"The transition from DVD to Blu-ray represents the biggest quality improvement of any media change to date," continued Cox. "It's a difference you can really see, and once accustomed to it, anything less is unwatchable." Xperinet believes this dramatic step in picture quality will drive the 30 million households in America who own High Definition televisions to rapidly move on replacing their existing libraries of DVDs.

"We anticipate Studios will begin publishing new movies on exclusively on Blu-ray as early as Christmas of this year, and will use the broadcast transition to HD as a justification for the move," continued Cox. "This will prove a boon for Blu-ray player manufacturers, as hold-out DVD customers are forced to upgrade. We expect by the fall of 2009, DVDs will rapidly disappear from retail stores, just as LPs did in 1987."

The implications of such a swift transition are critical for anyone purchasing a media server this year. Numerous products on the market only support DVDs, and their video decoders cannot play Blu-ray movies. "Many competing server products cannot be upgraded to Blu-ray," warned Cox. "The servers don't have the storage capacity or throughput to handle 1080p video to multiple streams; their players can't read H.264 encoding used on many BD titles; and their video chips aren't powerful enough to decode 1080p video, which is six times the frame size, and requires ten times more processing power than DVD. Nothing short of a complete retrofit will make the transition possible."

Xperinet has been shipping Blu-ray compatible systems for almost a year now, and has recently released it latest firmware update to enable loading and managing video from Blu-ray discs. Xperinet's MIRV (Multiple Independent Replay Video) system can support up to 10 simultaneous streams of 1080p video, and its latest players decode WMV-HD, MPEG-2, H.264, and DIVX formats. This powerful processing capability combines with numerous new features to make MIRV the premier video storage and distribution system, including:

* Synchronization of content between locations for customers with multiple homes
* Small form-factor HD player that can be mounted behind a display
* RAID-6 storage protection for movies and music
* Film conversion to 1080p for Blu-ray quality video from home movies
* Expandable storage to grow the system as one's library grows

About Xperinet, Inc.

Xperinet, Inc develops and markets convergence technology products for the custom electronics integration industry. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland , Xperinet is committed to making technology usable by all consumers. For more information, please visit http://www.xperinet.com, or call 1-888-288-7500.


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x66/LeeAStewart/unicorns-rainbow-1.jpg

You don't think that companies are going to push for a new, better, and more profitable standard?

Comsumers are not going to decide this, studios, retailers, and manufactures are going to decide for you.

If studios et al decide on a format that only a small percantage of consumers buy then they are commiting financial suicide.

If studios et al decide on a format that only a small percantage of consumers buy then they are commiting financial suicide.

It would be interesting to see Disney, Fox, and Sony release only on Blu-ray by the end of this year. The only way BD can hope to "win" against DVD is to do what they did to HD DVD -- win exclusive studio support. If people wanted Disney, Fox, and Sony movies (content), they would have to buy a BD player and then buy or rent the movies.

Actually, I think this is not in the cards for this year; but it could happen next year, if DVD sales are sluggish. The original BD studios might bite the bullet and take short term losses in order to make BD exclusive in the long run. This would leave some of the other studios "neutral" (BD and DVD) for a year or so, until they too capitulated.

I see the same strategy against HD DVD being repeated to bring an end to DVD. It is indeed possible, if studios are willing to take a hit short term.

One problem with this strategy is that BD will not likely have enough replication lines by this fall to produce all new day and date releases even from three studios, unless most of them are BD25.

But in a year or so, we could hear the mantra: Content is king. If you want the new releases on Sony, Fox, and Disney, you will only be able to get them on BD. Just pick up a BD player ($199 and up, by then), and all that new content from the exclusive BD studios will be available to you.

The downside would be billions of dollars of losses from missing DVD sales, but that might be a small price to pay to speed adoption of BD. BD could try to win by default, by suppressing DVD sales the same way they suppressed HD DVD sales.

Universal would probably be the last to give in and would probably remain "neutral" as long as possible.

Also, BD could set itself up as king of new content, while DVD continues to be used for catalog titles. The lure of the blockbuster title would draw many into BD.

Stranger things have happened in the area of corporate manipulation of new technology.

We would even have supporters cheering on BD as it tried to defeat DVD the same way the Spartans tried to defeat the Persians. If only the Spartans had been able to buy a few Persian generals.

But I see the possibility of BD forcibly trying to edge out DVD within the next two years. It is a slim possibility (and I wouldn't bet on it now), but I think it exists.

It would be interesting to see how much studios would have to be paid to go BD exclusive.

It would be interesting to see how much studios would have to be paid to go BD exclusive.


They wont do it until BR hits atleast 50% or even higher. No way any company would risk their DVD revenue stream on the thought that people care about quality.

You guys know that HDM represents probably less then 5% of the total movie market? How can anyone here even think that studios would go pure HD and lose 95% of their revenue???? J6P is NOT going to go out and buy a $400 player just like that.

Comsumers are not going to decide this, studios, retailers, and manufactures are going to decide for you.

lol, its a revenue KILLER, so go ahead. I love company failures.

I will short stock of these companies for a couple of quarters. Big money to be made on them being dumb!!

If they think J6P will run out and buy a new player they are simply crazy. Heck you will have the government in on this before you know it.

For those that think those prognostications hold credence, ask yourself this. Can you still buy movies on VHS?

For those that think those prognostications hold credence, ask yourself this. Can you still buy movies on VHS?

With great difficulty. And how many studios are still releasing new movies on VHS?

Of course the DVD used market would flourish, even as the VHS used market has.

With great difficulty. And how many studios are still releasing new movies on VHS?

Of course the DVD used market would flourish, even as the VHS used market has.


Admittedly with great difficulty. None that I know of. I think by 2006 most movie studios stopped. That is still a full 9 years of movies (on vhs) with DVD out there. The point is, DVD will be around longer than 18 mos. That guy is smoking something questionable out of his pipe.

Can you still buy movies on VHS?

VHS to DVD was a HUGE difference.

DVD to HDM not a huge leap when you consider movies are upscaled to 1080i already and J6P doesnt care about the last quality leap.

DVD was succesful over VHS for many, many reasons including less play back problems and better lifespan. 1080p vs 480p upscaled to 1080i is the only reason to pick BR over DVD and honestly the normal person out there JUST WONT CARE ENOUGH.

I dont know why people dont understand that? Look at music, MP3s or WMA are accepted as great quality. This isnt debated either, they are purchased and used more then any other format.

Quality has a dimished returns, we have already reach that point for the average J6P. BR doesnt give that person more.

VHS to DVD was a HUGE difference.

DVD to HDM not a huge leap when you consider movies are upscaled to 1080i already and J6P doesnt care about the last quality leap.

DVD was succesful over VHS for many, many reasons including less play back problems and better lifespan. 1080p vs 480p upscaled to 1080i is the only reason to pick BR over DVD and honestly the normal person out there JUST WONT CARE ENOUGH.

I dont know why people dont understand that? Look at music, MP3s or WMA are accepted as great quality. This isnt debated either, they are purchased and used more then any other format.

Quality has a dimished returns, we have already reach that point for the average J6P. BR doesnt give that person more.

While I agree with you somewhat, that was not my point. I was arguing with the article giving DVD another 18 months of life before these studios abandon it in favor of Blu Ray. That is just laughably absurd.

DVD sales have been declining steadily. See this article from the NYT:

Studios Are Trying to Stop DVDs From Fading to Black (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/business/media/25dvd.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin)

As DVD sales fall, there could be less money to lose and more money to gain (long term, not short term) by trying to inject BD exclusive sales into the market. It is a long shot which could backfire, but long term it may be the only way studios can head off other ways of obtaining content.

The studios believe they have to try something new to save media sales, and they just might believe that BD is the way to go. At least a few of the studios might believe that and might be willing to bite the bullet to make it happen.

DVD sales have been declining steadily. See this article from the NYT:

Studios Are Trying to Stop DVDs From Fading to Black (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/business/media/25dvd.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin)

As DVD sales fall, there could be less money to lose and more money to gain (long term, not short term) by trying to inject BD exclusive sales into the market. It is a long shot which could backfire, but long term it may be the only way studios can head off other ways of obtaining content.

The studios believe they have to try something new to save media sales, and they just might believe that BD is the way to go. At least a few of the studios might believe that and might be willing to bite the bullet to make it happen.

Here is the Data for 2007 DVD Revenue (and studio breakdown:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x66/LeeAStewart/2007YearEndOverall-Small.jpg

Here is the data for previous years:

http://www.dvdinformation.com/News/press/CES010807.htm

As you can see, 2007 was the first year for a decline and that decline was small. Yes DVD peaked a few years ago. But the decline is for many reasons.

Here is the Data for 2007 DVD Revenue (and studio breakdown:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x66/LeeAStewart/2007YearEndOverall-Small.jpg

Here is the data for previous years:

http://www.dvdinformation.com/News/press/CES010807.htm

As you can see, 2007 was the first year for a decline and that decline was small. Yes DVD peaked a few years ago. But the decline is for many reasons.

Great chart, Lee! Thanks. As usual, you are on top of things.

But heck, what's a few billion in losses to ensure the victory of BD? Maybe Sony will lead the way and give up their three billion.

As you can see, 2007 was the first year for a decline and that decline was small. Yes DVD peaked a few years ago. But the decline is for many reasons.

I'm betting that decline had little to do with HDM, and it's continued decline will also have little to do with HDM for quite some time. Perhaps within 2-4 years we can BEGIN to slowly replace DVD with Blu Ray...or even something else for that matter.

There could be many reasons that DVD sales dropped last year. It could be the economy, for some people it could be the lack of must have titles, even people buying HDM instead of DVDs probably had an affect on it.

While I agree with you somewhat, that was not my point. I was arguing with the article giving DVD another 18 months of life before these studios abandon it in favor of Blu Ray. That is just laughably absurd.

Sorry about that...yes I agree.

I'm betting that decline had little to do with HDM, and it's continued decline will also have little to do with HDM for quite some time. Perhaps within 2-4 years we can BEGIN to slowly replace DVD with Blu Ray...or even something else for that matter.

It probably had more to do with other ways to get content.

Sorry about that...yes I agree.

Not to worry, my friend:)

It probably had more to do with other ways to get content.

Absolutely.

Any studio that announces they will stop releasing movies on SD DVD and only BD will get a call from Congress within 24 hours. 100 million DVD player owners in the US will never stand for that. Tell that "prognosticator" to call us back when BDA can say they sold 50 million BD players and BD discs are $15 or less! That will be about 10 years! If ever!!!

Any studio that announces they will stop releasing movies on SD DVD and only BD will get a call from Congress within 24 hours. 100 million DVD player owners in the US will never stand for that. Tell that "prognosticator" to call us back when BDA can say they sold 50 million BD players and BD discs are $15 or less! That will be about 10 years! If ever!!!

Did you mean our supine Congress? :confused:

Yes

Great chart, Lee! Thanks. As usual, you are on top of things.

But heck, what's a few billion in losses to ensure the victory of BD? Maybe Sony will lead the way and give up their three billion.

So that they have a 6 billion dollar loss then?

don't think so. They already bet big (3.8B) on the PS3/Blu-Ray thing. They are not going to bet big again as they have yet to recoup those 3.8B (Actually as of FY07Q4 they are down 3.66B since they made a 138M profit finally).

Xperinet CEO Predicts Imminent Death of the DVD

Demise of HD-DVD spells curtains for the DVD as well, as

Hollywood studios drool at the prospect of another format change.

Any DVD-only media server to be obsolete next year.

Annapolis, Maryland , February 29, 2007 – Xperinet, Inc., the leader in media storage and IP media distribution, announced today its prognostication with respect to the future of DVD media. "The DVD will be dead in 18 months," predicted John T. Cox, President and CEO of Xperinet. "Now that the format war has been resolved, the Studios are chomping at the bit to implement another wholesale format change. This means big money for them, as consumers start replacing their DVD libraries with Blu-ray."

Content creators have in the past benefited greatly from media transitions, as consumers re-purchase content they already own on the new format. This enables the industry to reap new revenue and royalties on old content, with a minimal investment for re-mastering. Other transitions, such as VHS to DVD, and LP to CD, saw huge spikes in content purchases as consumers sought to take advantage of the convenience and quality improvements of the new media.

"The transition from DVD to Blu-ray represents the biggest quality improvement of any media change to date," continued Cox. "It's a difference you can really see, and once accustomed to it, anything less is unwatchable." Xperinet believes this dramatic step in picture quality will drive the 30 million households in America who own High Definition televisions to rapidly move on replacing their existing libraries of DVDs.

"We anticipate Studios will begin publishing new movies on exclusively on Blu-ray as early as Christmas of this year, and will use the broadcast transition to HD as a justification for the move," continued Cox. "This will prove a boon for Blu-ray player manufacturers, as hold-out DVD customers are forced to upgrade. We expect by the fall of 2009, DVDs will rapidly disappear from retail stores, just as LPs did in 1987."

The implications of such a swift transition are critical for anyone purchasing a media server this year. Numerous products on the market only support DVDs, and their video decoders cannot play Blu-ray movies. "Many competing server products cannot be upgraded to Blu-ray," warned Cox. "The servers don't have the storage capacity or throughput to handle 1080p video to multiple streams; their players can't read H.264 encoding used on many BD titles; and their video chips aren't powerful enough to decode 1080p video, which is six times the frame size, and requires ten times more processing power than DVD. Nothing short of a complete retrofit will make the transition possible."

Xperinet has been shipping Blu-ray compatible systems for almost a year now, and has recently released it latest firmware update to enable loading and managing video from Blu-ray discs. Xperinet's MIRV (Multiple Independent Replay Video) system can support up to 10 simultaneous streams of 1080p video, and its latest players decode WMV-HD, MPEG-2, H.264, and DIVX formats. This powerful processing capability combines with numerous new features to make MIRV the premier video storage and distribution system, including:

* Synchronization of content between locations for customers with multiple homes
* Small form-factor HD player that can be mounted behind a display
* RAID-6 storage protection for movies and music
* Film conversion to 1080p for Blu-ray quality video from home movies
* Expandable storage to grow the system as one's library grows

About Xperinet, Inc.

Xperinet, Inc develops and markets convergence technology products for the custom electronics integration industry. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland , Xperinet is committed to making technology usable by all consumers. For more information, please visit http://www.xperinet.com, or call 1-888-288-7500.

I wonder if he predicted the death of DVD when UMD was released too? :)

There could be many reasons that DVD sales dropped last year. It could be the economy, for some people it could be the lack of must have titles, even people buying HDM instead of DVDs probably had an affect on it.

It could be the same stories being told over and over again with less talented actors and parts of the story being replaced with special effects.

I fear that someday we could see a future like it was described in Idiocracy. :)

:eek: This is the part that makes me nervous. With HD DVD out of the way, and Sony intent on burying DVD (ala Nikita Khrushchev), what incentive do the studios have to faithfully live up to consumers' HD expectations and Blu-ray's potential? What's to stop them from slacking, especially on older catalog titles?

Nothing, there is no competitive format.

That said what did they "slack" on with the transistion to DVD from VHS?

The article quoted is behind the times too. I just saw that there are now an estimated 37 million HDTV enabled households.

"Now that the format war has been resolved, the Studios are chomping at the bit to implement another wholesale format change. This means big money for them, as consumers start replacing their DVD libraries with Blu-ray."

I won't be replacing my DVD library. I see BD as an addition to my HT setup not a replacement. I will replace/upgrade about 100 of my current 550 SD DVD collection concentrating mainly on my all time favorites and SD DVD's that need an upgrade badly such as the one flipper I have left and the many non anamorphic discs. I will be buying mostly new releases (movies coming to home media for the first time Cloverfield etc) and movies that I never got around to buying on SD. I certainly won't be replacing all 550 DVD's onto BD.

It could be the same stories being told over and over again with less talented actors and parts of the story being replaced with special effects.

I fear that someday we could see a future like it was described in Idiocracy. :)

Ah, the entertainment equivalent of junk food.

That said what did they "slack" on with the transistion to DVD from VHS?

Keep in mind that the move to DVD made economic sense. That medium was less expensive to produce than VHS was, as CD's were less expensive to make than LP's. That was not the whole story, but it definitely was part of it. BD, on the other hand, is more expensive to manufacture than DVD and will probably remain so for quite some time, especially if you factor in the cost of new replication lines. I doubt that BD releases will accumulate very fast, at least not for a year or two.

"Now that the format war has been resolved, the Studios are chomping at the bit to implement another wholesale format change. This means big money for them, as consumers start replacing their DVD libraries with Blu-ray."

I wonder how long it would take to replace the complete library of existing DVD titles, over 90,000, especially given the present "trickle" rate of releases. Somebody else can do the math; the thought of it gives me a headache.

VHS to DVD was a HUGE difference.

DVD to HDM not a huge leap when you consider movies are upscaled to 1080i already and J6P doesnt care about the last quality leap.

DVD was succesful over VHS for many, many reasons including less play back problems and better lifespan. 1080p vs 480p upscaled to 1080i is the only reason to pick BR over DVD and honestly the normal person out there JUST WONT CARE ENOUGH.

I dont know why people dont understand that? Look at music, MP3s or WMA are accepted as great quality. This isnt debated either, they are purchased and used more then any other format.

Quality has a dimished returns, we have already reach that point for the average J6P. BR doesnt give that person more.I agree and would like to add to your points made. Blu-Ray doesn't look any better on an analog television than DVD. DVD did look much better on an analog television than VHS. The feature set and handling of optical discs also was much improved over VHS while Blu-Ray is only slightly improved. People in this forum must remember that the majority of Americans best TV is a 27" CRT alongside a $49 half sized DVD player and a PS3.

Here is the Data for 2007 DVD Revenue (and studio breakdown:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x66/LeeAStewart/2007YearEndOverall-Small.jpg

Here is the data for previous years:

http://www.dvdinformation.com/News/press/CES010807.htm

As you can see, 2007 was the first year for a decline and that decline was small. Yes DVD peaked a few years ago. But the decline is for many reasons.


IMO the studios are trying to creat a false sense of what is actually happening.

Heck I have tons of movies on my dvr's in HD that havent even yet made it to hdm yet. I doubht I will ever buy them either. Lots of oar movies. Like the 6 star wars movies recorded off of MAXHD.

As long as there are premium channels and dvr's your going to expect to loose some from dvd sales.

You can't expect every person who sees the movie on demand and then go out and buy the movie and then tivo it. There are so many ways to watch content now days and the disc is not the only way anymore.

It could be the same stories being told over and over again with less talented actors and parts of the story being replaced with special effects.

I fear that someday we could see a future like it was described in Idiocracy. :)

I love that movie. Funny as hell. Got it in HD on both tivos.

You don't think that companies are going to push for a new, better, and more profitable standard?

Comsumers are not going to decide this, studios, retailers, and manufactures are going to decide for you.

Uh, wrong.

If a studio has a choice of selling 8 million copies of a movie ( DVD ) or 100,000 copies ( BD ), they will release on DVD as well as BD.

:eek: This is the part that makes me nervous. With HD DVD out of the way, and Sony intent on burying DVD (ala Nikita Khrushchev), what incentive do the studios have to faithfully live up to consumers' HD expectations and Blu-ray's potential? What's to stop them from slacking, especially on older catalog titles?

I dont know but even when there were two formats some titles were crap..actually quite a few are crap...

Obviously BD will be compared to DVD if consumers see the difference....

No way. Blu-ray is and will remain a premium priced alternative to DVD. End of story.

There were 82,681 DVD titles in early Feb 2008 (and 560 new ones announced for release before June 30, 2008 (<5 months)). As of today there are ~500 (497 on one source) Blu-ray titles (with 96 new ones announced to November 2008 (9 mo). Blu-ray isn't gaining ground, it's losing!

The author of the article is delusional (and self-servingly attempting to sell product). The article is basically an ad ... and we all know how accurate ads are.