On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 8:23 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > > Will Blu-Ray really dominate the market? Picture quality not > withstanding, I hope not. My admittedly optimistic prediction is that > hard-drive technology will continue to improve (read: smaller sized > drives capable of holding increased amounts of data) and drop in > price. I'd like to think we will transition to a society of easy and > affordable downloads as opposed to another clunky format that has to > be stored on a shelf, only to be replaced by the next format.
The thing that worries me about Blu-Ray, though, in terms of its success as a format, is that Blu-Ray players will upscale standard definition DVD's. They don't show up on your TV as "high definition", but standard def DVD's look a helluva lot better playing from a Blu-Ray player. Once HD-DVD folded, I bought a PS3 to use as a Blu-Ray player; immediately thereafter, I went out and bought a number of titles on Blu-Ray disc. Some were really deserving of high defintion (2001, Blade Runner), and others were just old movies I hadn't seen in a while and wanted to see again (guilty pleasure: Twilight Zone: The Movie). I've purchased a couple of games for the system too, but since then, the absolute number one thing I do with my PS3 is play standard definition DVD's. Your average consumer probably isn't going to notice a lot of difference between the quality of a Blu-Ray disc and the same title on DVD upscaled in a Blu-Ray player. And therein lies the problem--you're gonna have a hard time selling Joe Walmart on the higher picture quality, when a similar quality picture can be had at half the price. I know I've seen titles I'd like to buy on Blu-Ray that I've skipped simply because I already have it on DVD and there's no reason to upgrade. Sure, Blu-Ray has the fancy-schmancy features (the pop-up menus can be kinda cool, but they can also be annoying), but I don't know that it's enough to convert people...and thus, I don't think DVD is going anywhere anytime soon. I think there's enough of a convenience factor over VHS (smaller footprint, easier to access, more portable) to ensure DVD will be around for a long time to come... -- -- Ben Scripps [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Like TV only smarter. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
