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Microsoft XBox (Games) Games

Xbox Head Proclaims Blu-ray Dead 547

Blacklaw writes "Microsoft has sided with Apple in a rare case of solidarity between the two companies, and declares that Blu-ray will be 'passed by' as a high-definition format. In many ways, it's hard to disagree. US markets have seen the demand for legal digital downloads of PC games exceed sales of the physical object for the first time, and Apple famously refuses to put a Blu-ray drive in its Macs, as Jobs prefers to send people towards iTunes to download their entertainment. That said, there's an argument for physical media, too. A recent survey suggested that the majority of gamers prefer physical discs, and digital downloads have the secondary effect of entirely cutting out the popular market for second-hand films and games — a plus for publishers, but a big negative for the consumer."
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Xbox Head Proclaims Blu-ray Dead

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  • by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @09:56AM (#33662460)

    I never thought I would say it, but I can now quite easily envision a day very soon when all my new media (games, movies, music, TV shows, books, etc.) will belong to studios, software companies, publishers, etc.--with me just renting it. There will be no such thing as buying a used book, or a used videogame. I will never be able to resell any media that I "buy." If the studio decides to have a moritorium [wikipedia.org] on a movie (like Disney so often does), they will just be able to flick a switch at any time and turn my copy of that movie off. Publishers will be able to edit all my books retroactively. When a director decides he doesn't like the ending of his movie, he can change it and force that change on everyone who owns it. If a studio goes bankrupt and takes down their servers, all my movies from them will turn to digital dust. If a judge issues a court order, all copies of a piece of media will evaporate with a single command from a media server somewhere. And when my internet goes down, so does every piece of media I own.

    I will own nothing. The media companies will control how I watch or use my media, when I use it, where I use it, and how long I use it, and even *if* I can use it. I will either be completely at their mercy, or forced to resort to law-breaking to enjoy my own media as I wish.

    • by commodore64_love ( 1445365 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:11AM (#33662758) Journal

      >>>-with me just renting it.

      Pretty much.

      But before we jump on that bandwagon, let's not forget practical limitations. A Bluray holds 50 gigabytes of data. Downloading that over my 750k DSL connection would take 7 days, and there are a lot of people who don't have even that speed (still suck on dialup). Plus once I've downloaded the file I'll want to store it somewhere permanent, like a Bluray-R so why not just save some time, go to the store, and get the Bluray already conveniently pressed on disc for me?

      Bottom Line - Blurays are not disappearing yet. People like the convenience and instant gratification.

      Also Steve Jobs has a bad habit of burying technology while it's still alive & breathing in the coffin. He famously stopped putting floppies in Macs (1999), when people still needed floppies to trade work files, or to access older archived software, or to revive dead systems, thereby forcing Mac users to spend extra for an external drive. NOW it looks like he's doing the same with DVDs and Blurays - declaring them as "not needed" when they still ARE needed.

      • by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *
        As I pointed out in another post, even with bandwidth limitations, existing physical media formats could easily start requiring internet connections (requiring that media be activated and controlled by a studio media server before being used). That's already happening with PC games. I suspect console games will follow suite next.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by BobMcD ( 601576 )

        He famously stopped putting floppies in Macs (1999), when people still needed floppies to trade work files, or to access older archived software, or to revive dead systems, thereby forcing Mac users to spend extra for an external drive. NOW it looks like he's doing the same with DVDs and Blurays - declaring them as "not needed" when they still ARE needed.

        And today? Still using floppies?

    • by erroneus ( 253617 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:13AM (#33662802) Homepage

      In a sense, you are correct in that media publishers have always sought the advantage of being able to control access to their content so that they can charge you many times for the same thing. It's not enough that they can "print money" by charging excessively for that which cost them pennies to produce, now they want to charge repeatedly for things that cost an order of magnitude less to produce.

      I have already said "goodbye" to paying for TV. With my last move, I was unsuccessful in bribing the cable internet installer to "forget to block the TV signal" which meant I was faced with (a) hacking on the physical cables and locking devices, (b) paying for the TV services or (c) doing without. I went with option (c). I would simply rather do without. Turns out that while I get fewer digital TV channels than I did with analog, I get some in hi-def and I can watch The Big Bang Theory for free. And while I don't get access to everything else I might want to see, I have found that I don't miss it as much as I thought I would and can do without just fine.

      Getting away from the various sources of media has been an interesting experience and I find that it doesn't harm me in the least. On the contrary, I think it was actually good for me.

      People are largely addicted to their media streams and are unaware of what their life might be like without all that noise to fill the empty moments and spaces. I'm here to say, it's not that bad! I got a new bicycle and I ride it. It's fun! Build things! Create things! This is how we used to entertain ourselves back in the day and it still seems to work.

      • I have already said "goodbye" to paying for TV.

        Some people have reported success with replacing most TV watching with Netflix rentals and Netflix streaming. But this doesn't work so well for news or sports, which are worth much less if they are not live. And it doesn't work so well if the cable company's pricing structure is such that Internet-only subscribers could add basic TV for free.

        Build things! Create things!

        The incumbent publishers want national legislatures to make this illegal for indies to do. See Anonymous Coward's comment [slashdot.org].

    • by dc29A ( 636871 ) *

      Will not work because ISPs are moving toward caps, if they haven't already. In Canada, I am paying around 45 bucks a month for 7.5 megabit download speed and 60 GB cap. If I want to watch 3 BluRay movies a month, I am fucked, I just busted my cap.

      Also, you really think people with no technical know how will wait 5+ hours to download one movie? Or how about people who have slower connections because they don't need anything faster? You really think Apple couldn't stream 1080p from their stores, yet they have

      • by Andy Dodd ( 701 )

        Look at the success of Redbox... 100% based on rapid gratification of a desire for physical media.

        Netflix's business is still at least 75%+ based on physical media due to the limitations of streaming (lower quality than DVD, less portability, restricted availability of content.)

  • Not only BluRay (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Tukz ( 664339 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @09:57AM (#33662480) Journal

    Microsoft and Apple aren't just proclaiming the death of Blu-ray, but psychical media entirely.
    They are just using Blu-Ray as a front for that, as it's the biggest consumer disc currently.

    I don't see psychical media dieing anything soon though.

    I don't mind digital downloads, I see a use for it.
    But I also see a use for psychical media.

    Get over it, they can both be here.

    • As long as the majority of users are at leastreluctantly willing to purchase a digital download you won't have a choice much longer. The publishers will see it as a more than even trade if they keep 75% of their sales during move to digital downloads. The costs saved in production and distribution (you didn't really think they would pass those savings on did you?), the money saved by reducing piracy (if you can download a game, you must have broadband, therefore you should be able to sign in every time yo

    • Buy movie, $10

      Buy a case and DVD/Blu-Ray of said movie, $6 shipped?

    • Psychical media? You mean, downloading a movie into my brain?
    • When physical media becomes as locked-down as digitally distributed files, then it will be dead for all meaningful intents and purposes, intensive or no.

      And, oh look, we're almost there. Except that so far, only incompetent DRM has been used on physical media, the kind that presents no meaningful impediment to the public. When that changes, you'll either see an outcry, or you'll see physical media go away. My prediction is that the price gap between the two will widen so that by that point the public at lar

    • I use Amazon VOD...

      Just a viewpoint from a primarily digital guy- Over the years I've always wanted a digital library of video. The thing stopping me was the overhead on storage of digital video. I had multiple terrabyte drives full of tv shows, and it started becoming overwhelming. I considered transcoding all my video to fit it better, but with my processor power, it was years of transcoding just to get a decent quality.

      Enter the ROKU and Amazon VOD. I understand that they ultimately have the control an
    • by Hatta ( 162192 )

      They are just using Blu-Ray as a front for that, as it's the biggest consumer disc currently.

      Is it? Even the biggest, most spectacular, high def Blu-ray sold less than half [gizmodo.com] of its DVD equivalent.

  • Hmm (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Pojut ( 1027544 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @09:59AM (#33662512) Homepage

    Eventually, yes...but I think optical media will still be around for a while.

    Purely from a gaming perspective, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft includes Blu-Ray in its next Xbox. I doubt the next Xbox will be far enough in the future to support only digital downloads (due to ISP bandwith concerns), they won't be able to just stick with DVD9, and they would be pretty stupid to try to release their own optical format.

    All that being said, I'll agree that Blu-Ray is likely the last (or the second to last) optical media standard that will ever hit mainstream status.

    • Perhaps cartridge-style flash media via USB?
      • Return of the cartridge. We truly will have come full circle.

        (Well, maybe full circle will be when you can go buy a book, or a magazine for computing which publishes the code which you can then enter in by hand)

    • An ejectable SSD. By the time the 360 gets replaced, a 64GB SSD may be cheap enough to be "disposable". It would be faster than a spinning disk, with full random access. It could even store patches and gamesaves. Relatively indestructable, decent storage capacity, low latency, it's a good format, if possibly pricy.

      So, maybe the last physical media will be a last hurrah for cartridges.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by norminator ( 784674 )
      I just purchased my first HDTV and Blu-Ray player a couple of months ago, and I had always thought that Blu-Ray wouldn't stick around long. Now I feel differently. While streaming video à la NetFlix is convenient, the quality is just not there. There's no 5.1 audio from NetFlix, for example, and the video quality depends way too much on the quality of the internet connection. I have decent quality cable internet service, but my Blu-Ray player still chokes on HD NetFlix streams, leaving me with an H
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by llZENll ( 545605 )

      "All that being said, I'll agree that Blu-Ray is likely the last (or the second to last) optical media standard that will ever hit mainstream status."

      Doubtful, I don't know how much storage is required for a holographic two hour presentation, but I would guess a hell of a lot more than 50GB. Physical media has always been a magnitudes faster than downloading for consumers, technology pushes both every year and will for the foreseeable future, until we can download a lifelike experience in a matter of secon

  • by Anonymous Coward

    It's one step closer to the pay per play model. If people can't sell or give away their old titles, everyone will have to cough up.

    Jobs obviously has a shitty home theatre if he believes the "HD" crap in itunes is acceptable on anything other than little screens, with low-fi sound systems.

    • by DinDaddy ( 1168147 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:09AM (#33662708)

      Or he thinks we do.

    • Jobs obviously has a shitty home theatre if he believes the "HD" crap in itunes is acceptable on anything other than little screens, with low-fi sound systems.

      That wasn't an impediment to MP3s. Heck, I remember when people were transcoding popular songs to midi.

      MP3s offered much reduced sound quality (at first) in return for greatly enhanced transportability and convenience. There is a huge market of people who will only watch these things while sitting at their desk looking at their computer monitor.

  • I believe it's the last spinning physical media device, it's not dead...

    • I believe it's the last spinning physical media device, it's not dead...

      Excluding Hard drives of course. But that's not a generally 'shippable' item.

      For a good portion of people, it will be. But what they also miss is that for a hell of a lot of people who will NEVER have access to broadband in the next 50 years, something similar will exist for them. There are a lot of people out there who live in the boonies (as of 2 years ago, I was one) and unless satellite really takes off, they are stuck with dialu

  • While Fry's is offering Civ5 for $39, I am still thinking of getting it off Stream for $49. Netflix is "good enough" and most of my other programs I get on the web (www.thedailyshow.com, southpark.com, etc.)

    I mean DVDs are still being sold by the millions so why I believe BlueRay fills a needed market, that market is just shrinking like crazy.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      Why get Civ 5 on Steam? You can just activate it on Steam once you buy the physical copy.
      • by Pojut ( 1027544 )

        I know your question wasn't direct at me, but I did buy Civ V on steam rather than physical copy, so I feel I can answer your question (for myself, anyway)

        Civ V is a game that I will never have any interest in reselling. Shooters, platformers, etc...sure. But a game that contains, for all intents and purposes, unlimited replay value? No reason to ever sell it.

        In light of that, it makes no sense to have to keep track of a physical copy.

        • Fair enough, but I guess I wanted to make him aware that you could activate it on Steam. I bought Civ V on Steam because I had no idea you could do that (after all, most games don't allow you to activate the physical copy even if it is also sold on Steam). I love the convenience of Steam, and not having to fetch no-CD cracks, but I do still love to have a physical copy.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

      Why not order it off fry's and put the key into steam?

    • by armanox ( 826486 )

      I think it's more of many of us don't want to purchase a BluRay player. I don't have a PS3, and don't watch enough movies to make it worth my while to purchase a new drive. Streaming/Downloading (legally, of course) is simply much more convenient and easier.

    • I mean DVDs are still being sold by the millions so why I believe BlueRay fills a needed market, that market is just shrinking like crazy.

      DVD has huge penetration already, and adequately fills most of the low end market for media distribution and storage. Bluray is still in kind of a high end specialty market that is being squashed. Unlike the switch to Bluray there is no extra cost to the consumer to start using digital downloaded media.

      You're right in that the market exists. I don't think DVD or Bluray are in immediate danger of abandonment and death (Remember HD-DVD? That was tragically swift). But if only one of those formats is goin

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by mcgrew ( 92797 ) *

      I mean DVDs are still being sold by the millions so why I believe BlueRay fills a needed market, that market is just shrinking like crazy.

      Blu-ray isn't selling well because it's too high priced. I can get brand new DVDs for $5 at Wal Mart, the cheapest Blu-rays are four times that, and new releases are twice what a new DVD release is -- for a piece of plastic! It doesn't cost much if any more to manufacture a Blu-Ray than a DVD. And there are still more low-def TVs out there that Blu-ray will look identical

      • by bored ( 40072 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @01:39PM (#33666480)

        It doesn't cost much if any more to manufacture a Blu-Ray than a DVD.

        Well, maybe not for large runs, but apparently the AACS yearly license fee's can exceed the cost of the disk duplication for small runs. Originally this was one of the HD-DVD advantages (used existing DVD replication lines, with minor upgrades, rather than replacing the duplicators). Apparently the cost difference vs DVD is still fairly significant for DL BR's (>$1) (someone has to amortize the cost of buying the duplicators). This may not seem like a lot if the movie is selling for ~$20, but it makes a diffrence if your selling in the walmart bargin bin for $4.

        Still, the studios always use the lure of new technology to raise prices. They did the same thing with DVD vs VHS, and CD vs tape. Initially they were just "passing on additional costs", but the price hikes stuck long after the new technology became mainstream.

        Other than that I generally agree with you.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by cgenman ( 325138 )

        I picked up a 42" 1080p HDTV (60fps) for $700 earlier this year. The prices have dropped astronomically in the past two years, and the quality remains high. Avoid unnecessary extras like 120 / 240 hz, any sort of BS color correction, etc, and you can get a great looking screen for quite reasonable amounts these days. This is especially true over old CRT's, that had issues with color blur, "bending" the picture when things got bright, colored fringes around spots of light or dark, and weighing a bloody to

  • Let me see if I can lay this out:

    1) An Xbox exec claims that Blu-ray will be "passed over" as an HD format.
    2) Author notes that Apple seems to agree, pushing consumers to use the iTunes store rather than make OEM Blu-ray drives available on Macs - even though the majority of iTunes-connected devices are not Macs, and most would agree Blu-ray for iPod Nano or even iPad would be odd.
    3) ???
    4) Argument in 1) is refuted by claims that gamers still like physical media, despite recent stats showing more PC gamers

    • Argument in 1) is refuted by claims that gamers still like physical media, despite recent stats showing more PC gamers are buying downloads rather than physical copies of games.

      Windows PC Gamers are buying downloads rather than physical copies for reasons including (but not limited to):

      1. Convenience. One doesn't have to find the closest store that sells PC games.
      2. Availability. Game stores like Game Stop have a terrible PC selection. Also, digital stores (usually) don't run out of products.
      3. Cost. A

  • Figures don't lie (Score:5, Informative)

    by Cytotoxic ( 245301 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:03AM (#33662586)

    The sales figures [blu-ray.com] for blu-ray seem to indicate otherwise. Sales are up over 68% year over year, marketshare has nearly doubled year over year (2009 to 1020).

    Of course there are dynamics at work outside of the straight consumer choice angle. There is the control afforded the media companies via downloadable media to consider as well. That may be what these guys are relying on for their opinion. The question then is whether the sheep are willing to follow where they are being led.

    • I agree with you, and the fact that broadband speeds have remained relatively flat in the US are another argument against streaming taking over. People buy blu-ray for the HD video and audio; streaming can't even offer surround sound currently. I like getting Indie movies and DVD-only movies via streaming, from Netflix -- because it's a free addition to my account with them.

      The Xbox heads and the Apple heads talk about how streaming is going to be on top -- are they talking about buying a movie from iT
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You'd hope sales would be up since 1020.

  • for the publisher to remove parallel economy.
    People get done with the game and move on, other people in a different economic demographic then got your game. It's good for your brand, and if they would focus more on DLC, you have another market that can't buy 40+ for a game, but can afford the 5 bucks for a DLC.

    This isn't hard.

  • by pablo_max ( 626328 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:04AM (#33662604)

    Now I can finally get of the fence and order my new HD DVD player! Awesome.

  • by datajack ( 17285 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:04AM (#33662612)

    The point of HD is high quality, right?

    So, in which fantasy land do these streamed or downloaded films match the 20-30Mb/s data rate of playing a film off Blu-Ray? Or have they managed to invent some magical new codec that's ~10x as efficient as what you find on disk without losing quality?

    Enjoy downloading your high resolution but blocky and fuzzy mess. I'll stick to a high quality, sharp picture thanks.

    • by NetNed ( 955141 )
      I feel that way too, but the younger generations seem to not care if it is in a terrible looking format that is fuzzy and messy. I really don't get that. When I got my Blu-ray player I was blown away and pretty much stopped purchasing regular DVD's. The kids could care less. It's almost like a youtube effect. They have accepted crappy pictures as a norm. Maybe at one point they will want better or they will just get used to better as the streaming content improves over time. If the later happens then I woul
    • by Tha_Big_Guy23 ( 603419 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:27AM (#33663072)

      The point of HD is high quality, right?

      Exactly! And the Blu-Ray format was invented to allow more storage on a physical disc media. Thus, you have the storage available to put an entire movie in High Definition on it(~10 - ~30Gb).

      I have the fastest available broadband in my area(18Mbps down). To download an entire high def movie in that size would take significantly longer than I would want to wait in front of my television for it. I bought my Blu-ray player for the quality. If I'm going to be forced to download the same content, I expect, and demand, the same quality.

      Also, let us not forget about the fact that a sizable portion of the US is still running on dial-up, so downloading a high definition movie is completely out of the question.

      Unless the content providers are willing to invest heavily in the broadband infrastructure of the country then physical media like Blu-Ray is here to stay, at least for the next several years.

  • A recent survey suggested that the majority of gamers prefer physical discs, and digital downloads have the secondary effect of entirely cutting out the popular market for second-hand films and games

    OK, that explains the console market, but for PCs, most games on disc contain DRM. Given that fact, I'm going to look at my options for digital downloads first, starting with Steam.

    If the game is on Steam, I'll check the game page and look to see if it includes Third-party DRM, which is noted on the right side

  • Headline wrong (Score:5, Informative)

    by joeflies ( 529536 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:07AM (#33662660)
    Technically, the guy says that he predicts the format is dying (i.e. bluray is currently in use but he forsees the day that his approach, downloads, will overtake physical media). He doesn't actually say that it's dead (past tense) like the headline states.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Blacklaw ( 311963 )

      Technically, the guy says that he predicts the format is dying (i.e. bluray is currently in use but he forsees the day that his approach, downloads, will overtake physical media). He doesn't actually say that it's dead (past tense) like the headline states.

      But "Xbox Head Proclaims Blu-ray Dying" doesn't rhyme...

  • I don't think "pure digital" is going to catch on for quite some time. While many people like to download their content. Some people are still going to want everything a Blu-Ray disk provides. The extras, the commentary, etc. Digital downloads, from what I have seen, don't do this.

    While I do have the habit of ripping all of my DVDs and Blu-Rays, and storing them on my massive media server because hard drives are cheap, I still prefer to have a physical copy. With limited programs that can play back
  • Here's the thing. If I get a movie on BluRay, or DVD or a physical game, etc, then I know that if my system gets whacked then I still have the movie or game. As long as the media companies can change their policy at will, or like Apple tell you that sorry, no you can't re-download all your music even though you already paid for it: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11654170 [apple.com]

    When we get into HD movies that I purchase (I will also rent, but there are a lot of movies and music that i want to

    • by jo_ham ( 604554 )

      Given your sig, I should think you would have a backup solution in place.

      You do back up, I assume?

      If your house burns down and destroys all your DVDs the store you bought them from isn;t going to let you replace them all for free - how is that different to an online store only allowing a download once? Once you have it, you should back it up (as Apple strongly suggests you do) so you don't lose it if your machine dies. Some places might let you redownload (steam does, for example), but bandwidth is not free

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        If your house burns down and destroys all your DVDs the store you bought them from isn;t going to let you replace them all for free -

        This is tangentially related to the story topic, but I have definitely had physical media replaced. It wasn't through the retailer though. One instance I recall was that I accidentally dropped one of the disks to C&C Generals and rolled over it in my office chair. Totally ruined it. I wrote a polite letter to EA Games, included what was left of the original media to prove I wasn't trying to scam them, and they sent me a replacement disk.

        They weren't obligated to do this by any means (that I am aware

  • I'm thinking some serious infrastructure, download cap, net neutrality, and just plain money issues are going to need to be addressed before the masses can download all their HD content.

  • Just to add my personal perspective on the digital vs physical media thing:

    Legal downloaded content wins in the convenience stakes (let's leave piracy out of this for the moment; I've not done it for products available in my region for over a decade anyway). I've got a reasonable connection, so it takes less time for me to download the average game (say... 6 gigs) or high definition movie than it does for me to go out to the shops and buy it. As far as games go, high street retailers have made things even w

  • I loved DVD when it came out and "Collected" movies for a while but soon realized it wasn't "Dvd" i loved, but how accessible dvds made movies to me.

    Sold off my collection and have never bought a DVD, or a CD or a bluray since. On the CD front for less than the price of a CD at bestbuy i get unlimited access to songs on zune.net and can keep 10 a month non DRM in mp3 format. With Xbox live I can stream 1080p 5.1 digital videos and enjoy a movie in hi-def on my tv or computer or zune or windows phone 7. Wi

  • by HockeyPuck ( 141947 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:20AM (#33662940)

    "CD Quality" is dead, to be replaced by downsampled and compressed mp3s
    "Bluray Quality" is dead, to be replaced by downsampled, compressed iTunes downloads, streamed netflix/comcast, Hulu etc..

    Hell, even the stuff on TV that is claimed to be "HD" is compressed by your cable provider. It's a shame as a Bluray just provides that much more content than some compressed/re-encoded file. While it's not as easy to tell when watching "HDTV" on a iPhone or iPod. When you have a 50in TV and a 5.1 stereo, you can tell.

    Steve Jobs' motto should be, "Compressed media, through earbuds, it's good enough."

  • I prefer physical copies of my games because I don't want to have to face the ordeal of having to download everything all over again if something happens to my system. But more importantly, I don't like being at the whim of an online retailer or publisher, worrying about my account expiring for whatever reason and no longer having access to something I've purchased. And I don't think broadband is still at the point for a lot of people where it's realistic downloading a game that would occupy the majority of

  • The problem with BluRay specifically is that it eliminates most of the advantages of physical media. What's the point of having a physical disc if you still need to have internet access to play it? It's pretty much the same as PC games: why bother with the disc when you have to deal with the same DRM either way?

  • by ducomputergeek ( 595742 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @10:23AM (#33663008)

    I worked as a consultant primarily with small and medium sized production houses who were transitioning from other editing platforms to Final Cut Pro and from SD to HD. They would ask, "Should I invest in Blu-ray or HD-DVD?" My answer would be neither. Those of us in the industry saw that by the time one format won out, it would remain dominate for 18 - 24 hours before everything went Digital Download anyway. And this was back in 2004. The only question would be the method of digital content delivery. Would it be a store like iTunes, would it be streaming through set top cable boxes (On Demand), or would it be some kind of web streaming service like Youtube or Hulu? Or would it be a combination of all? So far it's a combination of all.

    I can't remember the last time I used my DVD player. I bought a Mac Mini in 2005 and hooked it up to my TV's DVI port and attached a 320 and now 1TB external harddrive to it. At the time, the apartment I lived in didn't have SciFi as part of the basic cable package. I purchased season 2 & 3 of Battlestar Galactica and quickly figured out for 2 months of the TV/Internet/Phone bundle I could buy all the TV programs I watched off iTunes and download them the next day . And the Quality of picture was good enough on my 32" TV.

    That's what I did until Hulu came along. Then I just started watching the shows I wanted on it.

    Most videographers I know are still creating regular DVD's and then if a client wants their movie in HD, they save it as an H.264 file onto a thumb drive or have the client provide an external HDD.

    • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      Yup, I have had ONE client ask for a BluRay of their event. When I told them that the pressing price was more than giving out thumbdrives with the video on them they were happy. Although we still get the random idiot that asks, How do I use this... but then I also got that with bluray discs...

      The conversation went as follows.....

      These BluRay discs do not work in my DVD player...

      That is correct, they work in a blu ray player.

      But I have a DVD player....

      Then you wanted a DVD....

      No I wanted a BluRay....

      You we

  • I buy the bluray and then rip it to a non DRM file format for use on my XBMC box.

    Works great. 720p looks fantastic but I can always rip to 1080p if I ever desire to. AND they cant take the files away from me or invoke any control at all.

    And I get that warm fuzzy feeling that I am violating a unjust law by doing it.

  • by Jackie_Chan_Fan ( 730745 ) on Wednesday September 22, 2010 @11:05AM (#33663874)

    I love Blu-Ray. I love having a physical copy of my movies, that have a higher bitrate and quality than those sent via Net Flix and iTunes.

    I will ALWAYS side with owning a copy on disc, as long as the disc contains a superior quality product, and I can own my disc.

    Be it movie, or game.... I want a physical version that I can load or unload onto my own media server as I see fit, or sell to someone else on a whim etc.

    Downloadable services have their place, but none of them include ownership of the films. Games yes, but games are a complex issue as many of them require online servers to play. Unfortunately many games do not provide you with the server code, or the match making applications used by the game companies networks. This hurts classic gaming.

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