Marz, when you use terms like "beating the pants off of HD-DVD" are you serious or just using hyperbole?
Most consumers don't have a horse in this so-called race yet. Even the so-called race is stupid because for movie rental distribution boxes like Apple TV are the future.
What Blockbuster does is irrelevant, because renters are about to desert the disc market in droves.
The fight between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is about the disc sales market, not the rental one.
Bollocks. What are renters going to do then - download all their movies? Here in Australia we have download limits per month, usually about 10 GB then we are shaped back to 64kb/s. It might work in the US, but you dont make up a big percentage of the global movie rental market overall I'm sorry to say, and the rest of the world doesn't have your fairly spectacular level of broadband (for the most part).
What Blockbuster does is very relevant. I for one love going to store to pick something out, and I dont think I am alone there...
the rest of the world doesn't have your fairly spectacular level of broadband (for the most part).
Hardly spectacular. In fact, for the most part, it's pretty sad, as far as broadband goes. We're lucky if we get 10Mbps. Some luckier souls get 15Mbps on FiOS for about the same price (or 30Mbps if you're willing to pay an outrageous $179US per month). But none of this begins to compare to reported speeds and prices a little north of you in Japan and South Korea, where they can get 100Mbps for about $25US (less than 30 Australian dollars) per month.
Here's something interesting. Murch likes to keep harping about how Planet Earth sells so well for HD DVD, ranking in Amazon's single digits, not so well for Blu-ray. But take a look at the rankings at Amazon.co.uk. Again, Planet Earth is the number 1 seller for HD DVD. Except that its rank is in the four digits, swinging between the mid-1000s to over 4000. Meanwhile the Blu-ray version swings between 700 and 1500 on an average day (obviously both titles dipping overnight) yet is only the fourth best seller for Blu-ray there. This is a BBC production! You think these Brits know a little something about their shows that we Yanks don't know?
Blu-ray is significantly ahead of HD-DVD in UK and the rest of Europe, from what I gather. The US is the main battleground.
That's correct. Toshiba's focusing on NA mainly although an exec recently said there would be a HD DVD player for 100 pounds this Xmas season which should help sales along with some solid titles.
as for Europe I'm pretty surprised the Studio Canal has been so slow to delivering movies. I thought by now they'd be distributing near a hundred movies and I don't think they are anywhere close to that number.
What happens with the PS3 is that where ever Sony has delivered it it's been adopted quickly as it's a gaming console. They they only need to convince gamers of the multimedia experience and they're set.
Toshiba is having to build up player sales on a slower ascent. It's looking like Q4 will tell us everything we need to know about the battle. I'm reading rumblings about how Q4 certainly has to be big for HD DVD so I take the recent Blu-ray announcements with a grain of salt because it's the Holiday season that matters.
Bollocks. What are renters going to do then - download all their movies? Here in Australia we have download limits per month, usually about 10 GB then we are shaped back to 64kb/s. It might work in the US, but you dont make up a big percentage of the global movie rental market overall I'm sorry to say, and the rest of the world doesn't have your fairly spectacular level of broadband (for the most part).
What Blockbuster does is very relevant. I for one love going to store to pick something out, and I dont think I am alone there...
By the way, Apple TV is crap.
Yes, in the future renters will download all their movies, and save the insane driving to and from the rental outlet and the associated late fees and/or mailing costs.
This is the future. For Canada, the U.S., Australia and most everywhere else. Get used to it.
We can all look back on when we had 2400, 9600 and then 14400 modems, a time when downloading a single song seemed like a useless and expensive exercise. Then, one day, music downloading rocked the planet.
The same will happen for movie rentals. Just because you can't see the preparations service providers are making for this doesn't mean it isn't going to happen.
And while Apple TV is fairly useless outside of the U.S. right now, entertainment contracts will adapt to the new realities (relatively) soon. Until then, it's a fancy way for showing your movies and photos on a big screen TV.
I Always wanted to get into SACD but the discs were too expensive for me at the time in comparison to CDs never mind the prices of most of the players! But if BD takes off (and considering my PS3 has a SACD logo on it) I would love to get some classical music in 5.1 some Tchaikovsky mainly appeals to me and a smattering of Mozart would be lovely.
I cannot understand why anyone, in this day and age, would actually ask Sony - of all people - to sell them music on a disc so full of DRM that even Sony Walkmans might have trouble decoding it properly.
Yes, in the future renters will download all their movies, and save the insane driving to and from the rental outlet and the associated late fees and/or mailing costs.
This is the future. For Canada, the U.S., Australia and most everywhere else. Get used to it.
We can all look back on when we had 2400, 9600 and then 14400 modems, a time when downloading a single song seemed like a useless and expensive exercise. Then, one day, music downloading rocked the planet.
The same will happen for movie rentals. Just because you can't see the preparations service providers are making for this doesn't mean it isn't going to happen.
And while Apple TV is fairly useless outside of the U.S. right now, entertainment contracts will adapt to the new realities (relatively) soon. Until then, it's a fancy way for showing your movies and photos on a big screen TV.
You would think 10Mbps is fast now.... but some parts of Asia get a Gigabit line for the price most of us North Americans pay for the 3 Mbps DSL or cable service. Downloading service is already a preferred choice for these countries..... The corporate america enjoys milking on their customers too much with their existing outdated system, but sooner or later, we'll get the bandwidth we deserve, too.
I cannot understand why anyone, in this day and age, would actually ask Sony - of all people - to sell them music on a disc so full of DRM that even Sony Walkmans might have trouble decoding it properly.
Could something similar be said about Apple and the iPod?
Please don't attack me for expressing an interest in listening to some classical music in 5.1!
I really don't care what format it comes in, and if it has DRM on it and my player can decode it, do I actually care?
-
In part I can understand the obsession about the "evils" of DRM, but to be honest VHS had its own DRM built in too! because you couldnt play it on anything else other than a VHS player, YES you could play it in your bedroom if you had two players. just like you can play on two iPods if you have two players and just like you can play BD OR HD-DVD on two players IF YOU HAVE THEM!
DRM only really effects those wanting to make a backup or interested in ripping and I'm sure given time we will have a handbreak like app that will rip BD or HD-DVD, whichever is the "winner" and likely able to rip BOTH anyway.
Until that time I intend to buy OR RENT (in itself a form of piracy) whatever the hell I want, thank you very much.
Yeah, that's what I don't understand...why don't they release discs with one side HD-DVD and the other side Blue Ray and be done with it? No one could decide between Dolby Digital and DTS and now many movies have both and all hardware decodes both. I know, it's probably an ugly licensing thing as always.
You would think 10Mbps is fast now.... but some parts of Asia get a Gigabit line for the price most of us North Americans pay for the 3 Mbps DSL or cable service.
Yeah, that's what I don't understand...why don't they release discs with one side HD-DVD and the other side Blue Ray and be done with it? No one could decide between Dolby Digital and DTS and now many movies have both and all hardware decodes both. I know, it's probably an ugly licensing thing as always.
Actually, Warner is releasing just this with their Total HD disc...a crap solution though in my opinion as it cripples both formats with only single layered versions on both sides. Moreover, I think double sided discs are an abomination. But that is what I think. In addition, the discs cost more and you're essentially paying for a side that you don't really want and that is there essentially because of one studio--Universal.
I cannot understand why anyone, in this day and age, would actually ask Sony - of all people - to sell them music on a disc so full of DRM that even Sony Walkmans might have trouble decoding it properly.
The appeal of SACD is sound quality, the target audience doesn't really care about making mix tapes.
What is laughable about SACD is that most comes as Hybrid disc containing both SACD and CD layer. The CD layer can be copied. I still do buy SACD's (Hybrid or not, but most are), and even the normal layer sounds way better than the prior release of the same album on regular CD version. It's funny that how much remastering of same recording can make things so much better even w/out all the extra data.
If you want to test this.... get a hold of "The Police' Every breath you take", and there is a obvious difference just comparing CD layer of SACD vs. the older CD only release version. I'm just glad I don't have to upgrade my SACD player anymore because it was even more expensive than the HiDef stuff.
Afraid not. Read it again. It says gigabit is $215 US equivalent per month. $34 is for the 100Mbps plan, which actually isn't as good as the $25/mo pricing for similar speeds in Japan or South Korea.
HD-DVD has been completely still born in Australia. Two major retailers have pledged exclusivity to Blu-Ray.
Why do people keep talking like Australia matters? Everyone who wants to be in showbiz wants to get the hell out of Australia.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kolchak
Afraid not. Read it again. It says gigabit is $215 US equivalent per month. $34 is for the 100Mbps plan, which actually isn't as good as the $25/mo pricing for similar speeds in Japan or South Korea.
I'm green with envy about the broadband options available to Korea, Iceland and other heavily dense areas.
Downloads will eventually catch up to disc rentals and surpass for pricely the reasons Frank777 stated. Why deal with mailing and driving to stores when you have the same access and no worries about a movie being out of stock.
It's really a no brainer. A decade ago people would have laughed at you for prognosticating about music delivery via the internet.
Comments
Marz, when you use terms like "beating the pants off of HD-DVD" are you serious or just using hyperbole?
Most consumers don't have a horse in this so-called race yet. Even the so-called race is stupid because for movie rental distribution boxes like Apple TV are the future.
What Blockbuster does is irrelevant, because renters are about to desert the disc market in droves.
The fight between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is about the disc sales market, not the rental one.
Bollocks. What are renters going to do then - download all their movies? Here in Australia we have download limits per month, usually about 10 GB then we are shaped back to 64kb/s. It might work in the US, but you dont make up a big percentage of the global movie rental market overall I'm sorry to say, and the rest of the world doesn't have your fairly spectacular level of broadband (for the most part).
What Blockbuster does is very relevant. I for one love going to store to pick something out, and I dont think I am alone there...
By the way, Apple TV is crap.
By the way, Apple TV is crap.
I was under this impression too, but with a little clever OS hacking it can become quite the capable media machine.
the rest of the world doesn't have your fairly spectacular level of broadband (for the most part).
Hardly spectacular. In fact, for the most part, it's pretty sad, as far as broadband goes. We're lucky if we get 10Mbps. Some luckier souls get 15Mbps on FiOS for about the same price (or 30Mbps if you're willing to pay an outrageous $179US per month). But none of this begins to compare to reported speeds and prices a little north of you in Japan and South Korea, where they can get 100Mbps for about $25US (less than 30 Australian dollars) per month.
HD DVD or Blu-ray? How about both?
Video formats are just like Highlander, but without the cool swords & accents...
Dave
Blu-ray is significantly ahead of HD-DVD in UK and the rest of Europe, from what I gather. The US is the main battleground.
That's correct. Toshiba's focusing on NA mainly although an exec recently said there would be a HD DVD player for 100 pounds this Xmas season which should help sales along with some solid titles.
as for Europe I'm pretty surprised the Studio Canal has been so slow to delivering movies. I thought by now they'd be distributing near a hundred movies and I don't think they are anywhere close to that number.
What happens with the PS3 is that where ever Sony has delivered it it's been adopted quickly as it's a gaming console. They they only need to convince gamers of the multimedia experience and they're set.
Toshiba is having to build up player sales on a slower ascent. It's looking like Q4 will tell us everything we need to know about the battle. I'm reading rumblings about how Q4 certainly has to be big for HD DVD so I take the recent Blu-ray announcements with a grain of salt because it's the Holiday season that matters.
Bollocks. What are renters going to do then - download all their movies? Here in Australia we have download limits per month, usually about 10 GB then we are shaped back to 64kb/s. It might work in the US, but you dont make up a big percentage of the global movie rental market overall I'm sorry to say, and the rest of the world doesn't have your fairly spectacular level of broadband (for the most part).
What Blockbuster does is very relevant. I for one love going to store to pick something out, and I dont think I am alone there...
By the way, Apple TV is crap.
Yes, in the future renters will download all their movies, and save the insane driving to and from the rental outlet and the associated late fees and/or mailing costs.
This is the future. For Canada, the U.S., Australia and most everywhere else. Get used to it.
We can all look back on when we had 2400, 9600 and then 14400 modems, a time when downloading a single song seemed like a useless and expensive exercise. Then, one day, music downloading rocked the planet.
The same will happen for movie rentals. Just because you can't see the preparations service providers are making for this doesn't mean it isn't going to happen.
And while Apple TV is fairly useless outside of the U.S. right now, entertainment contracts will adapt to the new realities (relatively) soon. Until then, it's a fancy way for showing your movies and photos on a big screen TV.
I Always wanted to get into SACD but the discs were too expensive for me at the time in comparison to CDs never mind the prices of most of the players! But if BD takes off (and considering my PS3 has a SACD logo on it) I would love to get some classical music in 5.1 some Tchaikovsky mainly appeals to me and a smattering of Mozart would be lovely.
I cannot understand why anyone, in this day and age, would actually ask Sony - of all people - to sell them music on a disc so full of DRM that even Sony Walkmans might have trouble decoding it properly.
Yes, in the future renters will download all their movies, and save the insane driving to and from the rental outlet and the associated late fees and/or mailing costs.
This is the future. For Canada, the U.S., Australia and most everywhere else. Get used to it.
We can all look back on when we had 2400, 9600 and then 14400 modems, a time when downloading a single song seemed like a useless and expensive exercise. Then, one day, music downloading rocked the planet.
The same will happen for movie rentals. Just because you can't see the preparations service providers are making for this doesn't mean it isn't going to happen.
And while Apple TV is fairly useless outside of the U.S. right now, entertainment contracts will adapt to the new realities (relatively) soon. Until then, it's a fancy way for showing your movies and photos on a big screen TV.
You would think 10Mbps is fast now.... but some parts of Asia get a Gigabit line for the price most of us North Americans pay for the 3 Mbps DSL or cable service. Downloading service is already a preferred choice for these countries..... The corporate america enjoys milking on their customers too much with their existing outdated system, but sooner or later, we'll get the bandwidth we deserve, too.
I cannot understand why anyone, in this day and age, would actually ask Sony - of all people - to sell them music on a disc so full of DRM that even Sony Walkmans might have trouble decoding it properly.
Could something similar be said about Apple and the iPod?
Please don't attack me for expressing an interest in listening to some classical music in 5.1!
I really don't care what format it comes in, and if it has DRM on it and my player can decode it, do I actually care?
-
In part I can understand the obsession about the "evils" of DRM, but to be honest VHS had its own DRM built in too! because you couldnt play it on anything else other than a VHS player, YES you could play it in your bedroom if you had two players. just like you can play on two iPods if you have two players and just like you can play BD OR HD-DVD on two players IF YOU HAVE THEM!
DRM only really effects those wanting to make a backup or interested in ripping and I'm sure given time we will have a handbreak like app that will rip BD or HD-DVD, whichever is the "winner" and likely able to rip BOTH anyway.
Until that time I intend to buy OR RENT (in itself a form of piracy) whatever the hell I want, thank you very much.
HD DVD or Blu-ray? How about both?
Yeah, that's what I don't understand...why don't they release discs with one side HD-DVD and the other side Blue Ray and be done with it? No one could decide between Dolby Digital and DTS and now many movies have both and all hardware decodes both. I know, it's probably an ugly licensing thing as always.
Blu-ray is significantly ahead of HD-DVD in UK and the rest of Europe, from what I gather. The US is the main battleground.
HD-DVD has been completely still born in Australia. Two major retailers have pledged exclusivity to Blu-Ray.
You would think 10Mbps is fast now.... but some parts of Asia get a Gigabit line for the price most of us North Americans pay for the 3 Mbps DSL or cable service.
Link?
Yeah, that's what I don't understand...why don't they release discs with one side HD-DVD and the other side Blue Ray and be done with it? No one could decide between Dolby Digital and DTS and now many movies have both and all hardware decodes both. I know, it's probably an ugly licensing thing as always.
Actually, Warner is releasing just this with their Total HD disc...a crap solution though in my opinion as it cripples both formats with only single layered versions on both sides. Moreover, I think double sided discs are an abomination. But that is what I think. In addition, the discs cost more and you're essentially paying for a side that you don't really want and that is there essentially because of one studio--Universal.
I cannot understand why anyone, in this day and age, would actually ask Sony - of all people - to sell them music on a disc so full of DRM that even Sony Walkmans might have trouble decoding it properly.
The appeal of SACD is sound quality, the target audience doesn't really care about making mix tapes.
Link?
Hong Kong, 1 gigabit/sec = $34/month
http://www.tvover.net/2005/04/28/Hon...et+Access.aspx
The appeal of SACD is sound quality, the target audience doesn't really care about making mix tapes.
Hong Kong, 1 gigabit/sec = $34/month
http://www.tvover.net/2005/04/28/Hon...et+Access.aspx
What is laughable about SACD is that most comes as Hybrid disc containing both SACD and CD layer. The CD layer can be copied. I still do buy SACD's (Hybrid or not, but most are), and even the normal layer sounds way better than the prior release of the same album on regular CD version. It's funny that how much remastering of same recording can make things so much better even w/out all the extra data.
If you want to test this.... get a hold of "The Police' Every breath you take", and there is a obvious difference just comparing CD layer of SACD vs. the older CD only release version. I'm just glad I don't have to upgrade my SACD player anymore because it was even more expensive than the HiDef stuff.
Hong Kong, 1 gigabit/sec = $34/month
http://www.tvover.net/2005/04/28/Hon...et+Access.aspx
Afraid not. Read it again. It says gigabit is $215 US equivalent per month. $34 is for the 100Mbps plan, which actually isn't as good as the $25/mo pricing for similar speeds in Japan or South Korea.
HD-DVD has been completely still born in Australia. Two major retailers have pledged exclusivity to Blu-Ray.
Why do people keep talking like Australia matters? Everyone who wants to be in showbiz wants to get the hell out of Australia.
Afraid not. Read it again. It says gigabit is $215 US equivalent per month. $34 is for the 100Mbps plan, which actually isn't as good as the $25/mo pricing for similar speeds in Japan or South Korea.
I'm green with envy about the broadband options available to Korea, Iceland and other heavily dense areas.
Downloads will eventually catch up to disc rentals and surpass for pricely the reasons Frank777 stated. Why deal with mailing and driving to stores when you have the same access and no worries about a movie being out of stock.
It's really a no brainer. A decade ago people would have laughed at you for prognosticating about music delivery via the internet.