Should we worry? (2 Viewers)

[Rachael B]

Auh, c'mon....new speakers, any excuse will do. Everybody knows that!

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

They report every quarter and for big tentpoles (e.g., The Dark Knight_, and often times talk about Blu-ray. Here's some examples:


2008 Home entertainment spending down 5.7% - 1/16/2009 - Video Business
Worldwide packaged media up 6% in 2008 - 1/21/2009 - Video Business
Blu-ray boon for digital copy - 12/31/2008 - Video Business
2008 Year-End Market Research - Video Business

 

[David Wilkins]

So far as "minimum equipment", up-grades and so forth: During every phase of my music or movie indulgences, I've started with bare minimums and added hardware and software when it could be afforded. Hell, I had CD's and DVD's and BD's before I owned either type of player. I knew that I would buy one, so when bargains were found, I jumped on them. It was pure enthusiasm and love for those mediums and the entertainment and sense of joy that they brought to my life. That's why we're called enthusiasts, and why we call these activities hobbies.

Anybody can think of multiple reasons for buying, or not buying into a given form of entertainment. If wariness or general lack of enthusiasm exists for you, then by all means stay away from this hobby. And it is most assuredly a hobby. In the final rinse, it is a matter of personal priority, and what you choose to do with your spare dollars, rare as they might be at times.

Guess I remain at somewhat of a loss, so far as the on and on diatribe about the price of everything, if you put into perspective almost anything else in our market driven culture. I won't resort again to comparisons with other home entertainment formats, even though there's much to be learned from them. There are plenty of other areas of entertainment or leisure activity, where the same general marketplace dynamics exist, and always have, to the extent that I'm amazed that people are actually puzzled or caught off guard by this particular facet of the game.

If the price of any particular thing is too high, then w-a-i-t, or decide to do without and move on. The anxiety or complaint level is confusing, because anybody who's that wound-up about the issues, should by definition be an "enthusiast", and true enthusiasts always find a way. If people consider me "rich" because I've spent x-amount of dollars on home theater and audio...I like to point out that I don't own golf clubs, jet skis, snowmobiles, or many other things that average people commonly own. Again, it all boils down to personal priority and level of desire...as do most things in life.

 

[RickER]

David, thats a beautiful post man!
It could be copied and pasted in about a half dozen threads.

 

[rich_d]

Yep and I don't know the quality of Video Business' "market research" or the research of Adams and other groups they quote ... do you? I could take the 2008 Year-End post and state that it absolutely contradicts what RickER said. But I can't have it both ways, I just don't know whether the information is valid.

DVD sales tend to be pretty sleepy until Fall arrives anyway. Perhaps even more so this year as the Oscar contenders could not be more of a snoozefest. So we probably have the Watchmen release and then into Fall. Then we'll have a better idea how this is sorting out.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I agree, David. I wish I could repost it on ebay threads that I see. They are mostly troll threads that smugly trounce the emergence of BluRay and mockingly try to convince BR fans of their imminent demise. Your post is exactly what both sides of the fence need to read and understand.

 

[RickER]

Like i say rich, for me it all boils down to who's propaganda you want to buy into. I dont know any of this stuff, one way or the other, as fact. I just know what i read. Mostly on The Bits, Blu-ray.com and the like. But like David said above in my now most favorite post, for as long as i can remember it. Its all just a hobby. I do it for fun. I like movies and old sci-fi TV shows, and i want to see it on the best equipment i can afford. Since i dont get into hot air balloons, rock climbing, or fast cars i gotta spend my money on something! Its what makes working worth doing!

 

[beepa]

 

[David Deeb]

Great post David.

I love home theater. It's a great hobby & this hand-wringing has me confused too. I'm such a geek that I think there's nothing quite like the smell of unwrapping new electronics.

I'm even more confused when I read things here like "BD won't catch on because it isn't that much better than DVD, or that much of a leap like VHS was to DVD".

To that I would respond "More power to you. Save your money. Keep watching SD DVDs on your HDTV. In fact, save some more money & cancel your HD cable or satellite service. Just watch the SD channels and save money since they aren't that much better either."

 

[Cees Alons]

Same here. Add HD DVDs as well to that list.

And never had to worry.


Cees

 

[DaveF]

I have very inexpensive speakers, bought about 10 years ago. Since BR has higher-defer sound features, I assume that I would really need new speakers to fully take advantage of this (new speakers would certainly benefit DVDs too).

I could plug-n-play a BR player into my system. But the comments were about how upgrades are necessary to fully use a BR player. I can't use the better sound formats with my current receiver. Blu Ray begets new expenses

(As does a new HDTV)

 

[Edwin-S]

I`m using old non-HDMI equipped audio gear. Sure it would be nice to have new gear capable of taking full advantage of new audio specs, but the higher bit rate lossy tracks still sound pretty good. I`m using an old CRT-based rear projection HDTV and there is a noticeable improvement over SD. A new 1080p set would result in further improvement, but you make do with what you have. I`d really like to get one of those new 900 series Samsung LCDs but 4 grand for a 46 inch set is just too expensive. My old set is still doing the job so I can wait.

 

[Rachael B]

Thank You! (clap, clap,clap, general aupplause!)

 

[Brandon Conway]

Exactly. Great post!

 

[rich_d]

That's cool. And thank goodness for the early adopters as well as the passionate film lovers among us ... or there would be no new technical developments in HT. However, I don't think the idea for this thread is to challenge or question what a HT lover should spend their money on - merely to question the viability of Blu-Ray.

Personally, I question whether new formats of home film libraries of shiny discs are viable just like I question whether CD sales have much of a future. From the paper packaging and absence of liner notes in some CDs, it would seem that music producers are seeing and reacting to that trend.

I own a Blu-Ray player. I got my (Panny 35w?) for $199 plus tax and bought Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Thunderball in the Amazon Black Friday deal for about 6.68 per title so I'm into Blu-Ray for about $232 plus 1 dollar per month for the Netfllix Blu-Ray upgrade (Bourne will be arriving today). Some could argue that without a large 1080p flat screen or projection screen, I'm only pretending to be leveraging the potential of the format ... and I would agree with them. But one day that 108" screen will be mine.

Meanwhile, my golf habit needs to be fed.

 

[Sam Favate]

Anyone see this item?

Blu-ray Prices Drop

If true, it's the opposite of what Disney's Iger suggested recently.

 

[Rachael B]

Respectfully, Mr. Iger has mud for brains. He seems to think now is the time to super-size their BD's into 2 & 3 disc packages with elevated prices. That's brilliant, I'm convinced that not even Dr. Evil could hatch such a futile plot.

I've noticed alot of prices down lately. I predict they'll go lower yet.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hmmm... What bunch of titles had price cuts (unless we're talking about the blockbuster type ones like Iron Man that got slashed in the past couple months after the initial craze)?

Anyway, I sure would love to see some lower prices (like anyone else) so I can feed my big new DLP RPTV.

_Man_

 

[Mr. Film]

Blu Ray's prime is yet to come!!!!! It is the furture for Home Entertainment!! And anyone who doesn't think that is just duuuuuuumb.

 

[Rachael B]

Apparently, there's an epidemic.