Do you want blu-ray to remain niche? - Page 2

I don't want it to become mainstream. If everyone has BD then i would want something better. I like friends coming over and drooling over my HD setup.

Unless the profile 2 BR players come out, if they don't have a reasonable starting price point(lets say $250 tops for a base model),AND new release BR movies doing the same(lets say $19.99 for a new reease BR movie), then BlueRay will stay niche no matter what happens.Whether people like it or not, most folks are still very satisfied with their dvd players and dvds and the folks that do have new HDTVs are ALOT more likely to view HD programming via Cable,Satellite, and/or VOD than they are to run out an buy a $399+ BlueRay player and $28+ a pop for a new release BlueRay movie.

I doubt we'll ever see any HD disc format take off the way DVD did.The cable,satellite,and most studios want to control ownership of their media as tightly as possible and the best way to do that is through VOD and digital distribution.VOD and DD also happen to be the cheapest and easiest means
to get media(movies,music,tv programming,etc.)to the masses and the average consumer tends to like thigns that way.Enthusiasts will always have some sort of physical media format to choose from, but at a premium and likely not nearly as convenient as the future of VOD and DD.

I want BR to be successful enough to be affordable to the average consumer but at this poit i don't think it's goign to be up to us or the consumer to make that decision.That decision will be up to the movie studios and BR standalone manufavterers come the 3rd and 4th quarter.If they want BR to start selling decently well then THEY,are going to have to make the prices of the players and the movies affordable and attractive to the average consumer,not the enthusiast.If they fail to make BR catch on this coming holiday season, then i believe BR will have forever lost it's chance of ever becoming a commercial success and will have to rest comfortably being an enthusiast/niche product.Should Sony try to control standalone pricing of other BR manufacterers/supporters,then we may just see hardware manufacters start dropping the platform itself in time.If hardware makers aren't allowed to try and make their consumer equipment affordable and attractive enough to sell and turn a profit then there will be little reason for them to continue to support something that makes them no profit nor attracts any consumer sales to them.

Will people continue to purchase $12.99 SD movies (New) or $24.99 BD movies (new)?

Fair enough, and I agree. I'm talking from the POV of a collector, who likes to have supplements geared towards an archival mentality. Already, Disney is waisting the extra space BR touted so much on crap like games where you can look for different types of cars during the movie....?!?!?

Do I want BD to remain niche? Who cares I just asked my extended family members about BD and no one is buying in! Me, I'm an equipment junkie and will hopefully be adding an HD VMD player to go with my two BD players, two HD DVD players and my HTPC with a dual drive!

Life is short so here I come HD VMD!

Cheers,

Grant

Picture quality, sure. Sound quality? Not so much.

i would love to get those sd's for 12.99 but the best i see are 15.99 on tuesdays along with 24.99 blu and red sometimes as high as 34.99.

I personally am tired of buying movies over and over and look toward the day when I can pick any movie in HD (1080p and advanced audio) and rent per use and would really like to watch movies the day they come out in theaters in my own home!!

Even when the HD DVD fire sales start on software I am only buying titles like Blade Runner and Old school....

By having the war over hopefully the studios will take the time to put forth their best product. (I can dream can't I ) But since this will cost the studios money we will have to buy them. Blade Runner and Close Encounters are a good example. Blade Runner was a "great value" and the only movie I purchased day of release. (Hey I have bought 102 Blu-rays since August and I don't have a player yet.) I asked for Close Encounters as a gift. (Not one of my favorites and would have normaly waited for price drop, but wanted to support the format.) I will buy LOA the day it comes out to support the studio giving us a premiem product. I think that most of us here who care about quality will step up to the plate.

Enjoy your movies.

Doesn't just about everyone here feel a little exclusive to have higher quality video (or audio) products? You get a prestige feeling just like having a Mercedes or BWM versus a Hyundai (even if the latter puts out more reliable products). I know when all my friends and family have started getting HDTVs over the past few years, my 'cool' TV isn't so snazzy any more. They still ooh and ahh over seeing Transformers or Harry Potter in HD.

However, I want more content and that means getting out of that niche market. Just like HDTVs that are starting to gear up to be in a good percentage of homes has brought tons of HD channels from cable and satellite providers, having a good percentage of homes with HDM players will result in more choices and better choices. Even if I am no longer the only person on the block to own a snazzy player, I can get titles that I want like "Big Business" in HD as a result.

Niche? Never!

The DVD format is totally mainstream, and it has had plenty of high-quality releases since it became the format of choice for the general public. Also, since it has become the most popular home movie format, the percentage of OAR releases has increased, not decreased. (I don't remember the last time I saw a DVD title released that was not available in widescreen; in the format's early days, there were plenty of those, including movies that had been released in widescreen on Laser Discs. I hope Blu-ray becomes as popular as DVD already is, and the sooner, the better.

Laserdisc style niche / longetivity wouldn't necessarily disapoint me. Pricing and availability are already far superior to LD... DVD may well be an aberration and unrealistic to expect BD to meet that.

I do expect that studios want to stop producing on DVD and it's irrevocably broken CSS as soon as they reasonably can... if not a bit before. The key factor most people who think DVD must be beaten. DRM, as crummy as the concept is, cannot be salvaged on DVD and it can be on Blu-ray, both through AACS and BD+

+1

I always thought that DVD would go mainstream but Bluray is dependent HDTVs. Most people do not have HDTVs and although its growing and prices are falling they are still far from the norm. Also keep in mind that 80-85% of blu players are ps3s so its current success is partially a result of being packaged with system that at least initially was purchased to play games with the bluray part a side dish.

As far as the niche part I don't like the idea of everyone having it because it makes it less special. In reality though I really don't care.

As much as I like buying the movie cases with the discs inside I have to admit there has to be something else coming down the pipeline soon enough. I really don't see the majority of the market buying into another disc format. It may be downloading HD movies, or it may be something else but either way I am willing to bet a new HD mediam is right around the corner...

I agree with this. And I remain purple.

At least you are honest if not totally misguided.

I thought you cared about quality though?

I don't think they'll stop producing DVD's to force people into bluray. What will all of the minivan w/DVD owners and portable DVD player owners do? Many displays that are in people's secondary rooms are not HD and won't be HD for years to come. Should we now expect them to start upgrading TV's and disc players in every room just to watch movies?

The only reason studios stopped making VHS tapes is because DVD sales surpassed them, and even when they did, VHS new releases were still available.

Bluray would have to dominate DVD the same way DVD dominated VHS and I just don't see that happening. DVD is already the epitome of convenience for disc based movie media and studios would be pissing off too many people by stopping DVD production to force people to go blu.

About the only thing they could do is start postponing DVD releases for a couple of weeks behind bluray releases. That way if people want to see movie releases on day one of availability, they'll be encouraged to buy a bluray player. But like I said, for many users, unless the bluray disc offers the convenience that they currently enjoy with DVD's, including even the conversion programs that let them put a copy on their ipods, I just don't see it taking over.

i think early release would help push it alone if its at least a month early.

I've always stated that I'm ready for blu-ray, but blu-ray is not ready for me.

For now it is very niche, and once studios find a way to filter out the quality on SD DVD's so they wont upconvert so well(hint hint Disney), and the early adopters have payved the way for lower prices, we will all be buying into Blu-Ray.

Hell no I don't want it to be niche! Look, even though I never bought a HDM player, I was pulling for HD DVD (because I liked their approach to market). HD DVD is done. So at this point, it is BD or downloads, and while downloads fill a true "niche" in my viewing habits, I'd prefer to own my media (omnipresent DRM and all). So, BD it is!

To echo other comments made, if going "mainstream" means losing its inherent HD-ness, then no I'd prefer it remain just niche enough to keep the high quality but mainstream enough such that studios publish most if not all titles in the format -- which, quite frankly, I can't see them doing unless BD is fairly mainstream. So, bottom line, preserve the quality that we've seen so far, and make it mainstream until 1 gbps download speeds are common, and the legal details around what I am legally allowed to do with my downloads are cleared up (and more consumer friendly) . . . or whatever comes next.

Personally, my pricepoint is $200 or under for a Profile 2.0 from a brand name company like Sony, Panasonic or the like before I buy in or before I believe the larger public will buy in in large quantities, but that's just my two cents, YMMV.

Blu-ray will become a mainstream format, mostly because once the price of players start to drastically drop later this year you will see a massive increase in sales, especially given all those widescreen TV's with HDMI inputs bought in the past 3-4 years.

But SD-DVD will still hang around, mostly because they'll be used for older movies and TV shows that were shot in the 4:3 aspect ratio format. (Mind you, Blu-ray discs could be used for older shows, and with only a 4:3 aspect ratio plus way more storage space per disc it could mean we could put in many more episodes per disc than now with SD-DVD.)

The cost will have to be around $100-$149 for them to infiltrate and take over DVD market.....and these players must be problem free......Grandma buying a new fangled HD machine is not going to understand FW updates and lfe bugs let alone player lock ups....I am not saying all BD machines do this but when you have a $99 dollar player it will be even more prevalent. I do not want them to stay niche unless they dumb down transfers for the masses...like grain filtering and softening of films so they look like cartoons...If that happens then yes stay niche.

Exactly. The margins maybe high on the fancy video phile segment but the total revenue is still made off of avg joe who doesn't have time to spend with FW updates & half finished codecs.

Give me a complete <$150 BD with all the bells & whistles & $15 new releases I'll bite.
Otherwise, the current price point is not worth 4x what a good A3 does.

I don't think it can go mainstream without qaulity control, because if the word gets out that there are a lot of BDs that make no improvement on SD, then they simply won't be purchased. AQ & PQ are the only reasons to buy a BD over SD.

If it meant products of higher quality then sure. However that doesn't seem to be the case as even now, when the market is comprised only of supposed enthusiasts, we're seeing a good amount of manipulated, shameless releases of poor quality, confusion and reviewers who have, frankly, no business commenting on the quality of the discs.

This unfortunately just proves that not even a format whose sole reason for existence is vastly higher picture/sound quality will be able to escape lazy studios preying on ignorant consumers; pushing out crap for a quick buck, or over-zealous authoring houses trying to "improve" the look of a film.

In the end all I can hope for is wide adoption so prices drop, and a good place of knowledgeable people (like AVS ) to warn me of poor releases so I don't have to waste my money or support crap efforts.

Given the rapid improvements in IC technology, we could see a US$150 Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) Blu-ray player as early as the fall of 2009.

Besides, it took nearly four years for the cost of DVD players to become reasonable since the 1997 release of the first players. I am hopeful that by early 2009 Blu-ray players will work reliably, since with the Profile 2.0 spec finalized manufacturers can concentrate on improving the reliability of players along with lower its production cost.

How could you want BR to remain niche ?
Do you think that J6P doesn't deserve it, too good for him.

Are you an elitist like the one who wrote that article ?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...120700617.html