Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Blu-ray is dead - heckuva job, Sony!

SHHHHH, don't let them know that, otherwise the prices will never come down.

I'll throw in a "me too" on BD disc prices.

I could justify $300-$500 on a well-featured, fast-transport Blu-Ray player if I'm convinced it'll be the next "standard" and offer me superior picture and sound. But I, personally, am not going to pay $24-$30 per disc. And as I'm not convinced Joe Consumer will either, I don't think the format will truly succeed the way they hoped without disc prices coming down. And, if I'm not convinced it will succeed, I'm not going to invest in the hardware or a bunch of overpriced discs. Oh, yeah... and replace my receiver, too.

Jeez, I sounded old there, didn't I?

Hey you Blu-Ray kids...Get Off My Lawn!

We had a guy in the neighbouthood who yelled at the kids too. One night we 'borrowed all the knomes and pink flamingos on the block and decorated his lawn for him.

Going from TV sound to a quality HT settup was a WOW moment. Going from a 19" computer monitor to a 50" screen was a WOW moment. HD on anything 50" or less just isn't.

Predicting that Blu is dead may be a little premature, but they sure have challenges to overcome not the least of which is their own blindness to the situation. This has a lot of parallels with the music industry, which still hasn't figured out that its not going to ever get back the total control of the industry it enjoyed up until tape decks came out.

I would be curious to know what percentage of displays sold are over 50"? Growth in that area may well determine if or how fast Blu grows.

Ahem. Joe the Consumer

You just made me spit out Joe the cup of coffee.

Yesh, you,re right. Joe the Consumer must be willing to pay a bit more for higher quality.

I'm not sure it's your eyes. The differences become more apparent (to me) at larger screen sizes. I have a 92" projection screen and the difference between Blu-Ray and SD DVD is immediately apparent. (i.e. the kind of thing that my wife notices, not just me) Whenever we watch an SD DVD, she complains right when it starts that it's not Blu-Ray.

I realize I represent a very small slice of the overall market, but I'll be buying/renting Blu-Rays for as long as they're available.

Jason

Ahem! That's "mature"

I'll chime in with my two cents...

First off...LOVE my PS3. It's one of the very best pieces of electronics equipment I've ever bought. With all the features it has it's price is a bargain. When people finally start realizing it's not just the latest iteration game console, they'll realize it's a bargain.

Secondly, Netflix changed the way I purchase movies. I rarely rented before, because it was such a pain in the arse. I'd invariably return my movies late and end up paying $12 for a rental. It sucked. So I just bought my dvd's on the cheap and owned them. After a couple viewings they'd paid for themselves. But then came Netflix. I can see pretty much any movie ever made, I don't have to drive to the store, I don't have to wait in ilne, and I don't have to mull over a store full of movies I don't want to see to find something. It's great! As a bonus, if the title is available on blu-ray, they'll send me that version at no extra charge.

So what's all this mean? It means I rarely purchase a movie anymore. It's got to be something special for me to actually purchase it to own. It's Netflix's "fault"...not the price of blu-ray discs.

That said, I can't wait to get my hands on the blu-ray releases of the classic Bond movies. If you've ever read my old thread(s) about "Lowry Digital Images", you'd be excited too. The entire Bond series was one of the last big jobs they did. These discs should look as though the films were shot yesterday.