Seems like the age of digitally downloaded content is getting closer and cloooosseerrr. Better hurry and grab that marketshare more than 3-7% Blu-ray crowd before digital distrubtion steals it from you!
Quite obvious ain't it. The only people in denial about this are Blu-Ray zealots :)
This year, SD DVD content will be streaming everywhere, next year HD will get into everywhere as they will already have full infrastructure working. By 2010 when Blu-Ray is supposed to START living, we'll have a cheaper and more convenient way of getting content.
No wonder many insiders are saying that Sony will ditch Blu-Ray in 2 years as they are also going digital through PS3.
What a sad thing because HD DVD could've been dirt cheap DVD replacement by the time for those without online capability. But unfortunately that's greed to ya. Kill a good thing to rip people off and then get that to die too, all because of greed.
LOL.. hit the nerve eh? well reality hurts I guess.. and then when digital downloads are everywhere it will be how we somehow sabotaged Blu-Ray LOL. You just keep buying those $40 movies.. LOL
What you are forgetting to realize is that people like physical content. People like putting a disc into a machine, it has a sense of ownership that digital downloads will never have. People will pay a premium for that sense of ownership.
I know I will.
Also, all of these digital downloads lack additional content. Reviewers don't rate for special features for the fun of it, they talk about that stuff because the general population cares about that! Ok, so the high end techy guys often don't, but the Mom watching Disney movies with her daughter cares about seeing fun stuff for the kid to do on the disc... digital downloads do NOT allow for this, and most likely won't for a very very very long time.
Personally, I love additional content via special features. My favorite thing to watch on a disc is a good behind the scenes feature with interviews from the creators of the movie (writers, directors, producers, special effects artists, etc). I know my wife enjoys this stuff as well. Did you watch the blue screen feature on 300? It was incredibly awesome and that's not something you'd get on a digital download.
First records lost to cassette tapes. Next cassette tapes were blown away by CDs. CDs are losing more and more traction each year thanks to iTunes. Now iTunes, Amazon, and customer-challenged Netflix are jumping to streaming. This is the way the studios want it. They save a ton on production and shipping logistics. Titles are available instantly to just about everyone with a broadband connection. As broadband connections continue to grow along with upgrades in other network tech...this will only be easier and easier to do. Did I mention gas prices? Does anyone realize that the post-office has to fuel their trucks. Broadband eliminates that. The average consumer is laughing at hi-def discs. They don't want discs anymore. MP3s taught them they can have all of this stuff a different way. The more they learn about MP3s and the more people who learn, the less attractive any physical media will look to them. It's really up to the content streamers to make it more and more attractive for users to use the downloaded purchased content. But most likely like anything else digital...it will weed itself to near perfection.....it's happening...get used to it...Q
You completely ignored the second half of my comment where I talked about the extras. Are streaming downloads ready to provide interactive menus, are they ready to provide additional content? Not quite. In fact, I don't see that coming about any time soon either.
I agree with you that when it came to CDs, people (hesitantly) gave them up for MP3s, and once there was a worthwhile product to play them on (the iPod) digital storage for music became widespread. Again, it just gave them something to hold on to... you carry your iPod with you and you show it off. As I said, people want something physical. They don't care if the information is downloaded, they want to be able to hold it. You put your media on your media server or you PS3 or your Xbox 360 or your NewDeviceNotYetAnnounced and people still won't feel like they own it.
When they can carry their high def videos around with them in a way that will allow them to share the videos with friends, then there will be a mass exodus to digital downloads of video content. As for now, it's not going to happen. (iPod's screens are too small the the ability to share the videos on your friends HDTV in high def isn't there yet.)
If I could store all of my high def movies in their exact quality (no additional compression) with all of the features and menus on some future iPod with 250 Terabytes of storage that allowed me to plug into the HDMI port of a receiver or TV and replicate the experience I get with my Blu-rays and HD DVDs, then yes, I would get behind downloads of movies taking over Blu-ray.
But not until then.
And I want to be sure to stress... I like streaming content as a replacement for the DVD, but in no way does it compare to or will it take over Blu-ray.
The article above actually peaked my interest because I am a fan of Netflix, and if I had a way to use their streaming video on my 360 I would very much enjoy the experience. (Unfortunately I don't have Vista or Media Server, so I'm not sure how this could benefit me.)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wes @ May 13th 2008 9:40AM
Seems like the age of digitally downloaded content is getting closer and cloooosseerrr. Better hurry and grab that marketshare more than 3-7% Blu-ray crowd before digital distrubtion steals it from you!
Nfinity @ May 13th 2008 11:24AM
Quite obvious ain't it. The only people in denial about this are Blu-Ray zealots :)
This year, SD DVD content will be streaming everywhere, next year HD will get into everywhere as they will already have full infrastructure working. By 2010 when Blu-Ray is supposed to START living, we'll have a cheaper and more convenient way of getting content.
No wonder many insiders are saying that Sony will ditch Blu-Ray in 2 years as they are also going digital through PS3.
What a sad thing because HD DVD could've been dirt cheap DVD replacement by the time for those without online capability. But unfortunately that's greed to ya. Kill a good thing to rip people off and then get that to die too, all because of greed.
Sad really.
dkrift @ May 13th 2008 6:22PM
Nfinity, seriously. Shut the fuck up.
Nfinity @ May 13th 2008 12:40PM
LOL.. hit the nerve eh? well reality hurts I guess.. and then when digital downloads are everywhere it will be how we somehow sabotaged Blu-Ray LOL. You just keep buying those $40 movies.. LOL
Michael @ May 13th 2008 3:17PM
@Nfinity
What you are forgetting to realize is that people like physical content. People like putting a disc into a machine, it has a sense of ownership that digital downloads will never have. People will pay a premium for that sense of ownership.
I know I will.
Also, all of these digital downloads lack additional content. Reviewers don't rate for special features for the fun of it, they talk about that stuff because the general population cares about that! Ok, so the high end techy guys often don't, but the Mom watching Disney movies with her daughter cares about seeing fun stuff for the kid to do on the disc... digital downloads do NOT allow for this, and most likely won't for a very very very long time.
Personally, I love additional content via special features. My favorite thing to watch on a disc is a good behind the scenes feature with interviews from the creators of the movie (writers, directors, producers, special effects artists, etc). I know my wife enjoys this stuff as well. Did you watch the blue screen feature on 300? It was incredibly awesome and that's not something you'd get on a digital download.
ChiWax @ May 14th 2008 2:02AM
@Michael
First records lost to cassette tapes. Next cassette tapes were blown away by CDs. CDs are losing more and more traction each year thanks to iTunes. Now iTunes, Amazon, and customer-challenged Netflix are jumping to streaming. This is the way the studios want it. They save a ton on production and shipping logistics. Titles are available instantly to just about everyone with a broadband connection. As broadband connections continue to grow along with upgrades in other network tech...this will only be easier and easier to do. Did I mention gas prices? Does anyone realize that the post-office has to fuel their trucks. Broadband eliminates that. The average consumer is laughing at hi-def discs. They don't want discs anymore. MP3s taught them they can have all of this stuff a different way. The more they learn about MP3s and the more people who learn, the less attractive any physical media will look to them. It's really up to the content streamers to make it more and more attractive for users to use the downloaded purchased content. But most likely like anything else digital...it will weed itself to near perfection.....it's happening...get used to it...Q
Michael @ May 14th 2008 1:06PM
@ChiWax
You completely ignored the second half of my comment where I talked about the extras. Are streaming downloads ready to provide interactive menus, are they ready to provide additional content? Not quite. In fact, I don't see that coming about any time soon either.
I agree with you that when it came to CDs, people (hesitantly) gave them up for MP3s, and once there was a worthwhile product to play them on (the iPod) digital storage for music became widespread. Again, it just gave them something to hold on to... you carry your iPod with you and you show it off. As I said, people want something physical. They don't care if the information is downloaded, they want to be able to hold it. You put your media on your media server or you PS3 or your Xbox 360 or your NewDeviceNotYetAnnounced and people still won't feel like they own it.
When they can carry their high def videos around with them in a way that will allow them to share the videos with friends, then there will be a mass exodus to digital downloads of video content. As for now, it's not going to happen. (iPod's screens are too small the the ability to share the videos on your friends HDTV in high def isn't there yet.)
Michael @ May 14th 2008 1:14PM
@ChiWax
To add to what I last said...
If I could store all of my high def movies in their exact quality (no additional compression) with all of the features and menus on some future iPod with 250 Terabytes of storage that allowed me to plug into the HDMI port of a receiver or TV and replicate the experience I get with my Blu-rays and HD DVDs, then yes, I would get behind downloads of movies taking over Blu-ray.
But not until then.
And I want to be sure to stress... I like streaming content as a replacement for the DVD, but in no way does it compare to or will it take over Blu-ray.
The article above actually peaked my interest because I am a fan of Netflix, and if I had a way to use their streaming video on my 360 I would very much enjoy the experience. (Unfortunately I don't have Vista or Media Server, so I'm not sure how this could benefit me.)