There are some posts that talk about how cheap BR has become. However, when you look further the cheaper prices and often the availability refers to players only. Do I take it that many here would be happy with a BR player/DVD/CD player/recorder combination.
Although there are BR recorders available, there are very few and many are just notifications that they are coming.
http://www.blu-ray.com/ the official BR web site doesn't seem to emulate some of the high degree of availability posted here. Prices are still high.
BR releases are limited as listed in the new releases. Most are older/old movies and very few of them at that.
Although the BR consortium has agreed to license Chinese manufacturing of BR RECORDERS, nobody has officially been approved to do so. Thus the price will remain relatively high.
Unless you are talking about stand-alone recorders, there are plenty for computers. The cheapest are about $250. While that may seem high in comparison to where DVD recorders have dropped to, that is still half the price of a year ago, which was half the price of the year before. By this time next year, they could be $100.
You can't always use current pricing to judge where an industry is going, because prices are always high in the beginning couple of years or so, but drop considerably afterwards. DVD remained high for years, as did recordable disk prices. But look at where they are now.
I remember when Yamaha said they were discontinuing making CD recorders because they couldn't make money from them. I'm willing to bet no one is making any money from making DVD recorders either.
You can't maintain an industry if the main players can't make money from the products.
The option of going entirely disc free on the movie front has been there for a long, long time. Renting straight off your TV via cable, subscribing to a premium movie service, etc. has been an option for quite some time. Yet, despite this and despite the fact that owning movies via optical media ? DVD and now either DVD or Blu-Ray ? is by far the most expensive way to get your movie fix, millions of people still buy their movies in optical-disc form.
This being the case, why is it that so many are in a hurry to declare optical media dead?
Optical media has its advantages and will not be replaced by digital downloads. Rather, I believe they will co-exist, much as we have seen many forms of media evolve over the years. Cinema has lived on, as has radio, as has television, and so on and so on. Maybe some adjustments are needed, sure, but as the human population continues to grow ? not to mention the base of consumers dramatically expanding in many foreign markets like China and India ? economies of scale still work in a splintered environment. It's not one size fits all any more.
Great fair post . I agree with you. Water will always find it s true level . ANS BR will always in some form be around ,I only wanted to sound a laser disc alarm thats all .
Buying 30 top rated top action blockbuster type film's <not ported over> I could do that . I might wait for a bundle price reduction from an oversea's dist . But if BR is that good why not . The LoTR must be wonderful on BR .
I wonder if we could get HALO or COD4 With BR action.
America is abused badly by the movie dist . Asian versions of our best block busters or x-file type tv series are always carefully encoded at the highest possible level over there. MY 9 Season X-FILE box for $200 < korean market version > plays back in excellent quality.Since i watched all nine seasons straight thru in order I got used to fine depth and many grays in the shadows in dark Seattle.
I may be wrong here since I only have seen a few asian copies of our blockbusters. I will find the link to share with you guys , it's a cheap Low budget site with great box sets with no frill at all .LEGAL
Just great quality discs . I wonder if they have BR OVER THERE CHEAP
Don't forget that Toshiba's one of the world's largest companies. If they didn't think there was a lot of money in this, they wouldn't bother to embarrass themselves like this after stating strongly, last year, that they wouldn't do it.
Don't forget that Toshiba's one of the world's largest companies. If they didn't think there was a lot of money in this, they wouldn't bother to embarrass themselves like this after stating strongly, last year, that they wouldn't do it.
I can't except your reasoning.
MicroSoft is well known for embarrassing themselves for basically the same type of retraction.
Don't forget that Toshiba's one of the world's largest companies. If they didn't think there was a lot of money in this, they wouldn't bother to embarrass themselves like this after stating strongly, last year, that they wouldn't do it.
But what other choice do they have? Perhaps joining Apple might be one. But hardly one that many would want to admit.
I don't believe that BR will not prevail. I just don't believe it will come as we know it today or that it will be resolved soon.
The consortium is not settled in how they are going to implement it and more importantly, there are too many 'new' technologies that make the 'disk' a slam dunk strategy.
Sure, storing movies are ideal for the BR format. Many here profess its superiority. But once everybody realizes that its more restrictive anti-pirating measures may change a lot of minds.*
Using Blu-ray for backing up files seem ideal for video production. But for the average consumer who can't find their CDs without much consternation, it will be agony moving to the much more massive medium. One of the things we notice with a lot of folks backing up, they will hesitate because they don't want to waste the CD unless they can 'fill' it. Now that DVD's are more prevalent, backing up is even more problematic. Blu-ray? By the time they get around to backing up routinely, the medium will be replaced.
Watching Blu-ray vs DVD movies is something to behold. However, most here are demanding it for a machine that really is for sole use only. I can't imagine many sharing their BR with the family from one's own personal computer.
And in this day, our current economy will only set back the one factor that made CD/DVD's so popular, i.e., everybody could well afford it.
A last thought. Blu-ray movies may be on the rise. However, the next time you visit a Best Buy, ask them how well blank BR disks are selling.
Depends on what are you calling the source. The original negative the show was shot on or the tape format used to broadcast the show.
Whatever they used for the DVD transfer.
Quote:
You're not going to see a huge difference on a 13" screen. Resolution isn't the most important factor in the sharpness of an image, it is one link in the chain. Contrast detail plays a bigger part in perceived sharpness.
I'm seeing a pretty huge difference. Not everything depends on the resolution of course. Some of the things that help improve the picture are the lack of visible macro-block artifacts, lack of banding and a lack of general noise artifacts around sharp edges, such as opening credits.
But what other choice do they have? Perhaps joining Apple might be one. But hardly one that many would want to admit.
???
Quote:
I don't believe that BR will not prevail. I just don't believe it will come as we know it today or that it will be resolved soon.
The consortium is not settled in how they are going to implement it and more importantly, there are too many 'new' technologies that make the 'disk' a slam dunk strategy.
I don't understand this. It's already prevailed. What do you mean by "resolved" or "is not settled"? It's resolved and settled.
That last minor problems about internet access and the rest have been laid to rest.
Quote:
Sure, storing movies are ideal for the BR format. Many here profess its superiority. But once everybody realizes that its more restrictive anti-pirating measures may change a lot of minds.*
Yes, t's very good.
Almost no one who actually buys anything actually cares about anti-pirating measures. That's a myth perpetuated by those who do care.
DVD's also have strong anti-pirating measures. They did very well. Most people want to buy or rent a movie and watch it. It's a small minority who want to make copies. And pirates will always be pirates. They're motivated by the desire to steal and get a way with it. Unless everything is free, they will continue to pirate.
Quote:
Using Blu-ray for backing up files seem ideal for video production. But for the average consumer who can't find their CDs without much consternation, it will be agony moving to the much more massive medium. One of the things we notice with a lot of folks backing up, they will hesitate because they don't want to waste the CD unless they can 'fill' it. Now that DVD's are more prevalent, backing up is even more problematic. Blu-ray? By the time they get around to backing up routinely, the medium will be replaced.
The same thing was said about Cd and DVD. I'm not impressed with the argument.
Quote:
Watching Blu-ray vs DVD movies is something to behold. However, most here are demanding it for a machine that really is for sole use only. I can't imagine many sharing their BR with the family from one's own personal computer.
If you would substitute the word "most" with the phrase "a few", you would be correct.
This has nothing to do with sharing your machine with the family.
Quote:
And in this day, our current economy will only set back the one factor that made CD/DVD's so popular, i.e., everybody could well afford it.
It's pretty amazing how well it's doing in this recession. It would be doing even better if we weren't in the middle of one. It's still a new format, but still...
Don't forget that Toshiba's one of the world's largest companies. If they didn't think there was a lot of money in this, they wouldn't bother to embarrass themselves like this after stating strongly, last year, that they wouldn't do it.
Embarrassed??? Who exactly could possibly be embarrassed.?
I am sure they had all bases covered from the start .
Every one involved in the end just wanted a single standard , getting there was the hard part
The original camera negative is the source. It has far more resolution and color information than will ever be used by a home video medium.
Quote:
I'm seeing a pretty huge difference. Not everything depends on the resolution of course. Some of the things that help improve the picture are the lack of visible macro-block artifacts, lack of banding and a lack of general noise artifacts around sharp edges, such as opening credits.
What movies are you seeing those problems. Professionally produced DVD's rarely to never have banding and artifacts. Studios are not paying all of that money for poor quality.
6' is not a typical viewing distance. If you have a group of people they can't all sit 6' away.
Now you're brining more people into the equation? LOL Five passengers is not a typical capacity. If you have a larger group of people you can't all sit in the car. Stellar logic.
Embarrassed??? Who exactly could possibly be embarrassed.?
I am sure they had all bases covered from the start .
Every one involved in the end just wanted a single standard , getting there was the hard part
Considering the maneuvering Toshiba did to keep Sony out of the DVD licensing group, and all of the work they did (including payments to a couple of studios to drop support for B-R) to kill B-R, and then their defiant statements when they first were forced to kill HD-DVD about how they would NOT make B-R players etc, etc, this sudden, and unexpected announcement, was an embarrassment for them.
Asian leaders don't like losing face over reversing decisions. And just in case someone decides to get all politically correct over that statement, don't. This has been written about to death in financial journals, the NY Times, the WSJ, and plenty of other places.
I agree with your concerns about legality but ripping is a one-step process (via MacTheRipper).
Really? That must have changed. My understanding was that it was illegal to combine the decryption software that removes the css encryption and the actual ripping software. Last time I ripped a DVD I had to decrypt it to an image on my hard drive, then convert the image to a desktop video file like quicktime or m4v. It's good to hear if that has changed.
Comments
http://www.blu-ray.com/ the official BR web site doesn't seem to emulate some of the high degree of availability posted here. Prices are still high.
That's not the offical BR site, that is like saying AI is the offical Apple site.
http://www.blu-raydisc.com
I am a little confused here.
There are some posts that talk about how cheap BR has become. However, when you look further the cheaper prices and often the availability refers to players only. Do I take it that many here would be happy with a BR player/DVD/CD player/recorder combination.
Although there are BR recorders available, there are very few and many are just notifications that they are coming.
http://www.blu-ray.com/ the official BR web site doesn't seem to emulate some of the high degree of availability posted here. Prices are still high.
BR releases are limited as listed in the new releases. Most are older/old movies and very few of them at that.
Although the BR consortium has agreed to license Chinese manufacturing of BR RECORDERS, nobody has officially been approved to do so. Thus the price will remain relatively high.
Unless you are talking about stand-alone recorders, there are plenty for computers. The cheapest are about $250. While that may seem high in comparison to where DVD recorders have dropped to, that is still half the price of a year ago, which was half the price of the year before. By this time next year, they could be $100.
You can't always use current pricing to judge where an industry is going, because prices are always high in the beginning couple of years or so, but drop considerably afterwards. DVD remained high for years, as did recordable disk prices. But look at where they are now.
I remember when Yamaha said they were discontinuing making CD recorders because they couldn't make money from them. I'm willing to bet no one is making any money from making DVD recorders either.
You can't maintain an industry if the main players can't make money from the products.
The option of going entirely disc free on the movie front has been there for a long, long time. Renting straight off your TV via cable, subscribing to a premium movie service, etc. has been an option for quite some time. Yet, despite this and despite the fact that owning movies via optical media ? DVD and now either DVD or Blu-Ray ? is by far the most expensive way to get your movie fix, millions of people still buy their movies in optical-disc form.
This being the case, why is it that so many are in a hurry to declare optical media dead?
Optical media has its advantages and will not be replaced by digital downloads. Rather, I believe they will co-exist, much as we have seen many forms of media evolve over the years. Cinema has lived on, as has radio, as has television, and so on and so on. Maybe some adjustments are needed, sure, but as the human population continues to grow ? not to mention the base of consumers dramatically expanding in many foreign markets like China and India ? economies of scale still work in a splintered environment. It's not one size fits all any more.
Great fair post . I agree with you. Water will always find it s true level . ANS BR will always in some form be around ,I only wanted to sound a laser disc alarm thats all .
Buying 30 top rated top action blockbuster type film's <not ported over> I could do that . I might wait for a bundle price reduction from an oversea's dist . But if BR is that good why not . The LoTR must be wonderful on BR .
I wonder if we could get HALO or COD4 With BR action.
America is abused badly by the movie dist . Asian versions of our best block busters or x-file type tv series are always carefully encoded at the highest possible level over there. MY 9 Season X-FILE box for $200 < korean market version > plays back in excellent quality.Since i watched all nine seasons straight thru in order I got used to fine depth and many grays in the shadows in dark Seattle.
I may be wrong here since I only have seen a few asian copies of our blockbusters. I will find the link to share with you guys , it's a cheap Low budget site with great box sets with no frill at all .LEGAL
Just great quality discs . I wonder if they have BR OVER THERE CHEAP
end of long boring post sorry
Notice the last paragraph:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...age_2009-08-10
Don't forget that Toshiba's one of the world's largest companies. If they didn't think there was a lot of money in this, they wouldn't bother to embarrass themselves like this after stating strongly, last year, that they wouldn't do it.
Your conversion will only be as good as the copy you are making it from.
Good Point.
If B-R wasn't going anywhere, it's not likely Toshiba would bother.
Something must be wrong, I am agreeing with you on something...
That's not the offical BR site, that is like saying AI is the offical Apple site.
http://www.blu-raydisc.com
Thank you. I made the correction.
Something must be wrong, I am agreeing with you on something...
Most people have one or two issues they disagree on, and the rest are up for grabs.
Heres another reference to Toshiba's move to B-R.
Notice the last paragraph:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...age_2009-08-10
Don't forget that Toshiba's one of the world's largest companies. If they didn't think there was a lot of money in this, they wouldn't bother to embarrass themselves like this after stating strongly, last year, that they wouldn't do it.
I can't except your reasoning.
MicroSoft is well known for embarrassing themselves for basically the same type of retraction.
I can't except your reasoning.
MicroSoft is well known for embarrassing themselves for basically the same type of retraction.
Except that in this case, Toshiba will be making money from their decision to backtrack on their word.
When MS has done it, they haven't done too well.
Heres another reference to Toshiba's move to B-R.
Notice the last paragraph:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...age_2009-08-10
Don't forget that Toshiba's one of the world's largest companies. If they didn't think there was a lot of money in this, they wouldn't bother to embarrass themselves like this after stating strongly, last year, that they wouldn't do it.
But what other choice do they have? Perhaps joining Apple might be one. But hardly one that many would want to admit.
I don't believe that BR will not prevail. I just don't believe it will come as we know it today or that it will be resolved soon.
The consortium is not settled in how they are going to implement it and more importantly, there are too many 'new' technologies that make the 'disk' a slam dunk strategy.
Sure, storing movies are ideal for the BR format. Many here profess its superiority. But once everybody realizes that its more restrictive anti-pirating measures may change a lot of minds.*
Using Blu-ray for backing up files seem ideal for video production. But for the average consumer who can't find their CDs without much consternation, it will be agony moving to the much more massive medium. One of the things we notice with a lot of folks backing up, they will hesitate because they don't want to waste the CD unless they can 'fill' it. Now that DVD's are more prevalent, backing up is even more problematic. Blu-ray? By the time they get around to backing up routinely, the medium will be replaced.
Watching Blu-ray vs DVD movies is something to behold. However, most here are demanding it for a machine that really is for sole use only. I can't imagine many sharing their BR with the family from one's own personal computer.
And in this day, our current economy will only set back the one factor that made CD/DVD's so popular, i.e., everybody could well afford it.
A last thought. Blu-ray movies may be on the rise. However, the next time you visit a Best Buy, ask them how well blank BR disks are selling.
*http://palgn.com.au/playstation-3/28...racy-measures/
Depends on what are you calling the source. The original negative the show was shot on or the tape format used to broadcast the show.
Whatever they used for the DVD transfer.
You're not going to see a huge difference on a 13" screen. Resolution isn't the most important factor in the sharpness of an image, it is one link in the chain. Contrast detail plays a bigger part in perceived sharpness.
I'm seeing a pretty huge difference. Not everything depends on the resolution of course. Some of the things that help improve the picture are the lack of visible macro-block artifacts, lack of banding and a lack of general noise artifacts around sharp edges, such as opening credits.
But what other choice do they have? Perhaps joining Apple might be one. But hardly one that many would want to admit.
???
I don't believe that BR will not prevail. I just don't believe it will come as we know it today or that it will be resolved soon.
The consortium is not settled in how they are going to implement it and more importantly, there are too many 'new' technologies that make the 'disk' a slam dunk strategy.
I don't understand this. It's already prevailed. What do you mean by "resolved" or "is not settled"? It's resolved and settled.
That last minor problems about internet access and the rest have been laid to rest.
Sure, storing movies are ideal for the BR format. Many here profess its superiority. But once everybody realizes that its more restrictive anti-pirating measures may change a lot of minds.*
Yes, t's very good.
Almost no one who actually buys anything actually cares about anti-pirating measures. That's a myth perpetuated by those who do care.
DVD's also have strong anti-pirating measures. They did very well. Most people want to buy or rent a movie and watch it. It's a small minority who want to make copies. And pirates will always be pirates. They're motivated by the desire to steal and get a way with it. Unless everything is free, they will continue to pirate.
Using Blu-ray for backing up files seem ideal for video production. But for the average consumer who can't find their CDs without much consternation, it will be agony moving to the much more massive medium. One of the things we notice with a lot of folks backing up, they will hesitate because they don't want to waste the CD unless they can 'fill' it. Now that DVD's are more prevalent, backing up is even more problematic. Blu-ray? By the time they get around to backing up routinely, the medium will be replaced.
The same thing was said about Cd and DVD. I'm not impressed with the argument.
Watching Blu-ray vs DVD movies is something to behold. However, most here are demanding it for a machine that really is for sole use only. I can't imagine many sharing their BR with the family from one's own personal computer.
If you would substitute the word "most" with the phrase "a few", you would be correct.
This has nothing to do with sharing your machine with the family.
And in this day, our current economy will only set back the one factor that made CD/DVD's so popular, i.e., everybody could well afford it.
It's pretty amazing how well it's doing in this recession. It would be doing even better if we weren't in the middle of one. It's still a new format, but still...
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=3127
A last thought. Blu-ray movies may be on the rise. However, the next time you visit a Best Buy, ask them how well blank BR disks are selling.
I'm not impressed with that either. It took several years before CD or DVD writing took off.
*http://palgn.com.au/playstation-3/28...racy-measures/
I can't except your reasoning.
MicroSoft is well known for embarrassing themselves for basically the same type of retraction.
Now guys.. remember really hard. "microsoft" should be in the lower case (non-capital. they don't deserve that )
Heres another reference to Toshiba's move to B-R.
Notice the last paragraph:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...age_2009-08-10
Don't forget that Toshiba's one of the world's largest companies. If they didn't think there was a lot of money in this, they wouldn't bother to embarrass themselves like this after stating strongly, last year, that they wouldn't do it.
Embarrassed??? Who exactly could possibly be embarrassed.?
I am sure they had all bases covered from the start .
Every one involved in the end just wanted a single standard , getting there was the hard part
Whatever they used for the DVD transfer.
The original camera negative is the source. It has far more resolution and color information than will ever be used by a home video medium.
I'm seeing a pretty huge difference. Not everything depends on the resolution of course. Some of the things that help improve the picture are the lack of visible macro-block artifacts, lack of banding and a lack of general noise artifacts around sharp edges, such as opening credits.
What movies are you seeing those problems. Professionally produced DVD's rarely to never have banding and artifacts. Studios are not paying all of that money for poor quality.
6' is not a typical viewing distance. If you have a group of people they can't all sit 6' away.
Now you're brining more people into the equation? LOL Five passengers is not a typical capacity. If you have a larger group of people you can't all sit in the car. Stellar logic.
6 feet for a 40" is ideal.
But Apple's 720p HD content is no match for Blu Ray at 1080p on an HDTV combined with the uncompressed audio of Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA.
True but how much is going to cost you to upgrade from this to play your Blu-Ray with DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3586/...6b275852_b.jpg
Embarrassed??? Who exactly could possibly be embarrassed.?
I am sure they had all bases covered from the start .
Every one involved in the end just wanted a single standard , getting there was the hard part
Considering the maneuvering Toshiba did to keep Sony out of the DVD licensing group, and all of the work they did (including payments to a couple of studios to drop support for B-R) to kill B-R, and then their defiant statements when they first were forced to kill HD-DVD about how they would NOT make B-R players etc, etc, this sudden, and unexpected announcement, was an embarrassment for them.
Asian leaders don't like losing face over reversing decisions. And just in case someone decides to get all politically correct over that statement, don't. This has been written about to death in financial journals, the NY Times, the WSJ, and plenty of other places.
I agree with your concerns about legality but ripping is a one-step process (via MacTheRipper).
Really? That must have changed. My understanding was that it was illegal to combine the decryption software that removes the css encryption and the actual ripping software. Last time I ripped a DVD I had to decrypt it to an image on my hard drive, then convert the image to a desktop video file like quicktime or m4v. It's good to hear if that has changed.