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Soooo, Where's The Blu-ray?

gkarris

gkarris

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 31, 2004
8,301
1,061
"No escape from Reality...”
Got a message from MGM.com that "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" is available for purchase or rent on iTunes! :p

I have the DVD already, of course. But, it's also available for rent on AppleTV in HD? :eek:

Okay, but where's the Blu-ray (or HD DVD for that matter)???

I see a few movies on there that have BD/HD DVD releases, so it makes sense that the HD download is available.

But some titles, like "Star Trek: Wrath of Khan" and others have no high-def disc release.

Why not? When will the studio grace us with our own physical copies?

I'm hearing that ultimately, the studios want a Pay-Per-View on EVERYTHING.

When I upgraded my PS3 to the latest Blu-ray profile, interestingly, I got a warning that stated:

"Some Blu-ray movies REQUIRE an Internet connection, do you want to enable Internet for Blu-ray movie playback?"

This seems a bit scary to me... Pay-Per-View for movie discs (like the old Circuit City DIVX)...
 
I could really care less. I already have blu-ray in my PS3, but I bought it more for the games anyway. Although I'm pretty sure my HD-DVD xbox 360 add-on is going to get no use anymore either way.
 
It's a racket. They blew the next gen dvd thing by having a 2 format war go on so long, and now by not lowering the price of blu-ray...and also not having the profiles worked out. I'm skipping it and will stick with downloading.
 
foofan said:
Blu-ray is already dead in the water. downloading is the future. Glad I never bought a HD-dvd/ blu-ray player
Click to expand...

I don't think it's dead yet. Agreed that the HD "war" went on too long and the public ultimately suffered, and now many can care less about HD. But I don't think downloading is the future, at least not just yet. For most, spending valuable time to download a movie is less preferable than buying a physical disc (my self included).

Longevity is another concern. I'm not ready to trust a hard drive with all my media. I still like having physical media (a CD or DVD) on the shelf in the event of a HD crash (I've been there before).
 
secondcup said:
Longevity is another concern. I'm not ready to trust a hard drive with all my media. I still like having physical media (a CD or DVD) on the shelf in the event of a HD crash (I've been there before).
Click to expand...

I suppose that's why they made time machine (backup all your media) simpler than a RAID (1,1/0,5) setup and a lot cheaper, but then this is an extra cost compared to physical media (need Mac, OS X 10.5 and to buy a large external hard disk).

If they could keep some kind of record of downloads on iTunes so if worst comes to worst you could re-download all your media overnight to your rebuilt setup then this concern would be less than the physical disks (if you scratch a dvd, break, or lose it there is no way to retrieve it other than re-purchase).
 
OlBlueHair said:
It's a racket. They blew the next gen dvd thing by having a 2 format war go on so long, and now by not lowering the price of blu-ray...and also not having the profiles worked out. I'm skipping it and will stick with downloading.
Click to expand...

secondcup said:
I don't think it's dead yet. Agreed that the HD "war" went on too long and the public ultimately suffered, and now many can care less about HD. But I don't think downloading is the future, at least not just yet. For most, spending valuable time to download a movie is less preferable than buying a physical disc (my self included).

Longevity is another concern. I'm not ready to trust a hard drive with all my media. I still like having physical media (a CD or DVD) on the shelf in the event of a HD crash (I've been there before).
Click to expand...

What scares me is the "An Internet connection is REQUIRED to view some Blu-ray movies" :eek:

Like that old Circuit City format, companies may still sell physical media, but still charge per view on it....
 
gkarris said:
What scares me is the "An Internet connection is REQUIRED to view some Blu-ray movies" :eek:

Like that old Circuit City format, companies may still sell physical media, but still charge per view on it....
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was called DivX, and it sucked. Delayed the DVD standard, the way HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray did.

I am still boycotting Circuit City, may they rot in hell.
 
foofan said:
Blu-ray is already dead in the water. downloading is the future. Glad I never bought a HD-dvd/ blu-ray player
Click to expand...

I disagree. It's been said before but until digital download is capable of 1080p digital download won't replace Blu-Ray.

gkarris said:
What scares me is the "An Internet connection is REQUIRED to view some Blu-ray movies" :eek:
Click to expand...

Not entirely true. Certain features will require an Internet connection (BR-Live) but the movie will always be able to play without the Internet.
 
No matter what people tell you, you'll never get rid of optical medium, not in our lifetime anyway. This is America! We are a very materialistic country. We love our stuff! Americans like to be able to hold something their hand that is tangible, that is a symbol of their hard-earned-cash.

The younger generation may embrace this new-fangled business model. But us 25 and older that have actually have real jobs, don't live off mommy and daddy and actually know the value of a dollar like our tangible goods. I'm not about to part with that for a digital download. So no, Blu Ray is not dead.
 
krye said:
No matter what people tell you, you'll never get rid of optical medium, not in our lifetime anyway. This is America! We are a very materialistic country. We love our stuff! Americans like to be able to hold something their hand that is tangible, that is a symbol of their hard-earned-cash.

The younger generation may embrace this new-fangled business model. But us 25 and older that have actually have real jobs, don't live off mommy and daddy and actually know the value of a dollar like our tangible goods. I'm not about to part with that for a digital download. So no, Blu Ray is not dead.
Click to expand...

Maybe some peoples thoughts, but I don't have a problem having all my music on my pc & ipod. Don't mind buying tracks, and now starting to come round to the idea of downloading movies and TV show to. Oh and I am over 25 (although I rarely act like it!)
 
when my isp can get me a descent DL speed (512kbps at the moment), probably above 8Mb with no download limits and i can find an online movie rental service in the UK that has 1080p movies / TV shows for the same or less cash than a physical disc then i might download films to own, again though only if i can watch them on my TV without buying yet another box to go under it. I pay for my Sky TV and record what i want on sky+ box then i download the torrent and keep it on an external HD plugged into my TV, which works better than an Apple TV because i dont have to re-encode and i can keep the 5.1 audio
 
Kebabselector said:
However this future is currently delayed by fairly poor broadband and capped limits. Biggest problem with downloads, how do you ebay your old unwanted downloaded music/films?
Click to expand...

yep, and we also live in a tangible society where the MAJORITY of people want to hold something.


Most people won't download, and it'll be 5-10 years before it will be feasible for EVERYONE

Until that time comes, i'm very happy w/ my BR player :)
 
gkarris said:
When I upgraded my PS3 to the latest Blu-ray profile, interestingly, I got a warning that stated:

"Some Blu-ray movies REQUIRE an Internet connection, do you want to enable Internet for Blu-ray movie playback?"

This seems a bit scary to me... Pay-Per-View for movie discs (like the old Circuit City DIVX)...
Click to expand...

Oh no, not the old DIVX/Circuit City scam again. I remember that horrible idea. You had to plug a phone line into your DIVX DVD player. The disc was only good for 10 views or something like that. Must have been around 1999-2000 ish. This is not good news for Blu-Ray. But, physical media is dead anyways...or soon will be.
 
Kebabselector said:
However this future is currently delayed by fairly poor broadband and capped limits. Biggest problem with downloads, how do you ebay your old unwanted downloaded music/films?
Click to expand...

Good Point! I've never thought of that. When the world finally switch over to downloading all media, there won't be any old movies/music to sell on Ebay!

Which means, much less physical production of DVD/CD cases etc... Less clutter, less trash, and less landfill waste.

See, Apple is doing their part to help the environment! (in the long run)
 
krye said:
No matter what people tell you, you'll never get rid of optical medium, not in our lifetime anyway. This is America! We are a very materialistic country. We love our stuff! Americans like to be able to hold something their hand that is tangible, that is a symbol of their hard-earned-cash.

The younger generation may embrace this new-fangled business model. But us 25 and older that have actually have real jobs, don't live off mommy and daddy and actually know the value of a dollar like our tangible goods. I'm not about to part with that for a digital download. So no, Blu Ray is not dead.
Click to expand...


Not in our lifetime? Not true, unless your really old! People are already ditching physical media left and right. CD's are pretty much dead. ALL of my friends carry their entire music collections on iPods. Blu-ray is probably the last of the physical media.

I'll bet you that there are no more CD/DVD's in 20yrs. That would make me 48yrs old, well within my lifetime...I hope.

Anyways, America needs to get over being materialistic. Nothing good comes from it at all. Mo' money, mo' crap, mo' greed, mo' jealousy, mo' problems.
 
ayale99 said:
Not in our lifetime? Not true, unless your really old! People are already ditching physical media left and right. CD's are pretty much dead. ALL of my friends carry their entire music collections on iPods. Blu-ray is probably the last of the physical media.

I'll bet you that there are no more CD/DVD's in 20yrs. That would make me 48yrs old, well within my lifetime...I hope.

Anyways, America needs to get over being materialistic. Nothing good comes from it at all. Mo' money, mo' crap, mo' greed, mo' jealousy, mo' problems.
Click to expand...

I agree. I am already 40, and buy everything from iTunes first, then go to physical media for things I can't find. I love having my entire movie collection on my iPod. Great for traveling, in the car, camping, etc. I haven't bought a CD in years. I don't plan on buying DVDs again if I can get away with it.

It also has a lot to do with the environment and waste. I have a number of friends and family who don't want to add to our growing waste problem by buying CDs and DVDs. I think a huge chunk of people will be all digital in 10 years or less.

Hell, my boss, the VP of our company, has bought an iMac and AppleTV in just the last year after berating me for using mac products for 6 six years before that. He loves his AppleTV and puts all his home movies on it and is now really getting into iTunes.
 
not being able to seel your old movies on ebay is exactly what film makers and studios want. it just means more sales and rentals
 
ayale99 said:
Oh no, not the old DIVX/Circuit City scam again. I remember that horrible idea. You had to plug a phone line into your DIVX DVD player. The disc was only good for 10 views or something like that. Must have been around 1999-2000 ish. This is not good news for Blu-Ray. But, physical media is dead anyways...or soon will be.
Click to expand...

No, I had one.

As far as I can remember, it was $4.99 for the disc with one view, and $3.99 per view after. Some movies had unlimited views for $9.99 which can only be played on the player it was registered to.

Sounds like they can now do the same with BD with internet connectivity... :eek:
 
gkarris said:
No, I had one.

As far as I can remember, it was $4.99 for the disc with one view, and $3.99 per view after. Some movies had unlimited views for $9.99 which can only be played on the player it was registered to.

Sounds like they can now do the same with BD with internet connectivity... :eek:
Click to expand...

Who's with me? Grab your picket signs! Boycott Sony! Down with Blu-Ray!

(I like a good cause every decade or so.)

;)
 
ayale99 said:
Good Point! I've never thought of that. When the world finally switch over to downloading all media, there won't be any old movies/music to sell on Ebay!

Which means, much less physical production of DVD/CD cases etc... Less clutter, less trash, and less landfill waste.

See, Apple is doing their part to help the environment! (in the long run)
Click to expand...

Excellent points. If you download a file (music or video), you own the rights to play and use the media. If you own a physical cd/dvd, you can still sell it or otherwise pass it on to another owner. The music/movie producers want to push downloads because if you you download a file, there's no way to sell it on the second-hand market. Music files are protected by DRM in an attempt to kill digital trading.

That's why physical media will prevail, IMHO.

sc
 
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