Does anyone here buy and watch blu-ray DVDs?

[FridgeMagnet]

TBF DVD's were very expensive when they came out, but you can pick them quite cheap these days, I'm sure if they get the uptake they want then we will cheaper ones.

Well... yes and no. The thing is, I remember when CDs came out - they were priced above tapes and LPs because the technology initially was expensive anyway, so they were priced for a premium market. Then CD players started to get very cheap, but somehow CDs didn't get cheaper, even though it was far cheaper to make them than tapes and records. They didn't go up precisely with inflation, sure, but they still went up as the years went on, so you were still always spending a greater fraction of your disposable income on a CD purchase than you would have been with older formats.

Of course once CDs got common enough that there was enough of a second hand market that wasn't so much of a problem, and once the internet came along, well. But the same happened with DVDs - they started off expensive, and you still pay more for a DVD edition "in real terms" than you would have for VHS, despite it being way way cheaper to make DVDs. So, I predict that blu-ray will work on the same lines; at the moment they're 25% or so more expensive, and they'll come a bit down, but at the end they'll still be more expensive.

Assuming the market for physical media sales continues that long of course. Which I'm not sure it will.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I think it will for a good while yet. It will take a long time to roll out net connections fast enough to deliver HD across the country. There are still places that can't get broadband.

Maybe solid state memory will get cheap enough to replace optical discs before that happens?

 

[Iam]

Plus, good reliable storage on disk is still prohibatively expensive. When my HDD died recently, I was fucking overjoyed to have so many CDs. Without them, it'd have been a dull time, musically.

 

[kyser_soze]

Yes. I saw my first full 1080p film on Saturday night, having hired the somewhat excerable Jumper, and was blown away by the picture quality.

I have a fully fat shopping list of films I want to buy on BDVD, for which I have asked for a pile of Amazon vouchers for Xmas.

Chris - for someone in marketing you're really unable to step outside your own IT ability level. There are BDVD players for £150 on Amazon, so you don't need to lay out for a PS3 if you don't want to. The vast majority of people who watch films do not download them - you're making the mistake of thinking that everyone out there is as IT literate as you are and prepared to faff around with VLC, torrenting etc etc.

Blu-ray sales in 2009 Google news search...indicates that people are trading up as they buy big flatpanel TVs...

 

[PacificOcean]

I have a 50" HD telly and Sky HD. I also have a £70 HDMI DVD player that does a great job of upscaling. I don't think I will bother with blu-ray.

There are loads of movie channels in HD now if I want to watch a HD film.

Any news on blu-ray porn? That will shift units.

 

[Iam]

Upscaling doesn't remotely compare to proper HD content.

 

[Kanda]

I am more IT literate than Chris and I for one can't be fucking arsed faffing

Buy disc, put in player, bingo.

I remember paying £450 for my 1st DVD player when they came out. They're the price of a pack of fags these days aren't they??

E2A: That DVD player is still running, 5.1 out, plays most formats and nearly 10 years old

 

[Iam]

Word.

 

[kyser_soze]

Upscaling doesn't remotely compare to proper HD content.

Innit? It's necessary on big TVs (I tried watching an un-upscaled DVD on the big telly last night, and it was like the worst VHS copy, especially when I zoomed it to full size), but full HD compared to upscale is like comparing ditch water to Evian.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Yes. I saw my first full 1080p film on Saturday night, having hired the somewhat excerable Jumper, and was blown away by the picture quality.

I have a fully fat shopping list of films I want to buy on BDVD, for which I have asked for a pile of Amazon vouchers for Xmas.

Chris - for someone in marketing you're really unable to step outside your own IT ability level. There are BDVD players for £150 on Amazon, so you don't need to lay out for a PS3 if you don't want to. The vast majority of people who watch films do not download them - you're making the mistake of thinking that everyone out there is as IT literate as you are and prepared to faff around with VLC, torrenting etc etc.

Blu-ray sales in 2009 Google news search...indicates that people are trading up as they buy big flatpanel TVs...

I'm fully aware that I'm an exception, I acknowledged as such earlier in the thread.

My reasoning is that there are a limited number of people who are willing to spend £500+ on a TV, £150+ on a player and £15 for each BDVD and by the time they become the accepted standard (which I ever doubt they will) then On Demand HD content will be far more prevalent than BDVD rentals.

Actual purchases of BDVDs may be a slightly different story.

 

[ChrisFilter]

I am more IT literate than Chris and I for one can't be fucking arsed faffing

Buy disc, put in player, bingo.

I remember paying £450 for my 1st DVD player when they came out. They're the price of a pack of fags these days aren't they??

E2A: That DVD player is still running, 5.1 out, plays most formats and nearly 10 years old

I worked in 2nd/3rd line support for years, you 'nana!

Besides, you're far from a typical UK consumer in that you're a gadget whore with money to spend on it.

Bob and Sheila from number 52 wouldn't dream of spending the necessary cash to get a better picture on a film. They can get Bee Movie via BT Vision, why would they need owt else?

 

[ChrisFilter]

Upscaling doesn't remotely compare to proper HD content.

Oh, agreed. SD with a LCD TV is near unwatchable, upscaled is a minimum standard I'd argue.

 

[kyser_soze]

HMV have started doing 2 for £20 offers on BDVD, won't be long til it's 3 for £20 same as it was on DVD about 10 years ago.

You're sadly behind the times on people's preference for buying TVs and suchlike as well - sub-30" LCDs that are still 1080p can be had for under £300, and it won't be long before the bigger ones come in under £500. They're already a de-facto standard since HD-DVD is now defunct.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/22/displaysearch_crt_lcd_global_q4/

That's from Feb this year - most stores have stopped selling CRT sets as well.

 

[ChrisFilter]

HMV have started doing 2 for £20 offers on BDVD, won't be long til it's 3 for £20 same as it was on DVD about 10 years ago.

You're sadly behind the times on people's preference for buying TVs and suchlike as well - sub-30" LCDs that are still 1080p can be had for under £300, and it won't be long before the bigger ones come in under £500. They're already a de-facto standard since HD-DVD is now defunct.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/22/displaysearch_crt_lcd_global_q4/

That's from Feb this year - most stores have stopped selling CRT sets as well.

I'm well aware that people have HDTVs... both sets of Grandparents have had them for years, but neither of them would ever consider getting a BluRay player.

Like I said, this isn't a fan boy thread, I just fail to see BluRay ever reaching DVD-like prevalence.

 

[Kanda]

I just fail to see BluRay ever reaching DVD-like prevalence.

Don't like the name or something?

 

[kyser_soze]

We'll see - much the same comments were made about DVD vs video early in the day, and when did DVDs first launch? Mid 90s or thereabouts? If you look at the global sales pattern, it was when they started coming in at under £200 for the units that people started buying them, and the whole business with upscaling means that peeps will be changing players in the future as well.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Don't like the name or something?

No, I was just thinking of the argument that PS3s are worth the extra £150 over the 360 'cos of BluRay and I thought.. er.. does anyone even care about BluRay other than those that have it as a fringe benefit of having a PS3. The answer seems to be 'No, not yet' which lead me to wonder if it will ever properly dominate the market given that On Demand HD content is rapidly developing.

 

[ChrisFilter]

We'll see - much the same comments were made about DVD vs video early in the day, and when did DVDs first launch? Mid 90s or thereabouts? If you look at the global sales pattern, it was when they started coming in at under £200 for the units that people started buying them, and the whole business with upscaling means that peeps will be changing players in the future as well.

True, but upscaling players already cost very little (even with divx support) and even then I don't think the average consumer will bother. DVDs were such a leap from video, and the same leap hasn't been made with BlurRay. It's the same but prettier, not a change in the way of viewing.

 

[Iam]

Oh, agreed. SD with a LCD TV is near unwatchable, upscaled is a minimum standard I'd argue.

Yeah, definitely.

One of the downsides of having HD equipment is that it makes you realise how poor the quality of standard tv transmission is.

I've come to hate watching footy on ITV now. The ball looks square.

Well, sort of...

 

[ChrisFilter]

Doesn't Sky HD upscale it?

 

[Iam]

Yeah, somewhat. But it can only work with what's there in the first place, and ITV is really, really poor quality.

 

[Kanda]

The answer seems to be 'No, not yet' which lead me to wonder if it will ever properly dominate the market given that On Demand HD content is rapidly developing.

Or, the answer seems to be yes, when people can afford it...

 

[ChrisFilter]

Or, the answer seems to be yes, when people can afford it...

14% say when they can afford it, 73% just don't care.. and this is, on the whole, a pretty tech savvy board.

 

[kyser_soze]

It's also pretty anti-consumer too...

 

[Kanda]

It's also pretty anti-consumer too...

Yeah, looked at the names rather than the %'s. Could have pretty much told you which way all of those would have voted

Tech savvy board? !! lol...

 

[ChrisFilter]

Well, as suspected, it's only PS3 owners watching them. Would you have bought a BluRay player if it wasn't a feature of the PS3 do you think?

More tech savvy than a lot of social circles, for sure.

 

[Kanda]

Would you have bought a BluRay player if it wasn't a feature of the PS3 do you think?

Of course.

I would have waited to see which format won the war 1st though.

If HD-DVD won, I would have bought one of those too.

 

[kyser_soze]

Well, as suspected, it's only PS3 owners watching them. Would you have bought a BluRay player if it wasn't a feature of the PS3 do you think?

More tech savvy than a lot of social circles, for sure.

Yup.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Interesting. To me, I just don't see the point. And I like gadgets and a nice HD picture.

 

[Iam]

I would have too. I'd just bought a telly, I'd have wanted some kind of HD source...