Blu-ray State of the Union. Are you switching to streaming media? (2 Viewers)

[lukejosephchung]

I can see myself downloading high resolution blu-ray quality files from the internet and burning them on to BD-R in another 3 or 4 years, provided the bandwidth of my connection is sufficient. Until then, I'm sticking to retail level physical media delivered to my home or office, or bought the old-school way at a store!!!

 

[Sid Verbal]

For most of us, there are only so many hours in a day you can devote to moviewatching. I still have a ton of laserdiscs and DVDs, most of which go unwatched anymore. I've bought several of my favorite films on Blu-ray, but I find more and more in most cases they are watched once/twice to ooh and awe at the "looks like it was shot yesterday" quality (2001, Bond films, How the West was Won, etc), then sit on the shelve gathering dust.; I rarely view even once all the "making of" extras except in cases of classics like Ben-Hur or Black Narcissus. Even with Blu-ray, once you've seen a film 10-20 times, it's hard to get too enthused about another viewing when streaming offers films you've never seen once. So I've cut down drastically on movie buying. With new movies, if I'm really interested, I'll see it in a theatre; otherwise I'll do the Redbox thing for a buck.
I used to use Netflix, but they don't seem to add to their streaming collection as often anymore; I found their streaming quality anywhere from excellent to crap. I now stream Amazon, and for the most part, found their quality to be excellent. The collection they have from Paramount all have nice transfers and stream very well for me. I've streamed a lot of films I really just wanted to watch once, and if the quality is somewhere inbetween a DVD and a blu-ray, that's good enough for me for a film I don't wish to own.
So yeah, for a lot of titles and TV shows I am just interested in viewing once or twice, I find streaming media works fine.

 

[Towergrove]

Originally Posted by DaveF /t/322642/blu-ray-state-of-the-union-are-you-switching-to-streaming-media#post_3955098
I was sloppy; I think downloads are the future. It may not be streaming specifically or generally. But downloads, as with music and apps, are the future of distribution.
That goes to my Cost factor: iTunes tends to be more expensive than physical media. And convenience: I don't have a simple way to play high-quality downloads on the 50" screen, yet.

Not at all Dave! As always I enjoy reading your posts.

Sarah

 

[Ethan Riley]

Some personal facts:
I don't mind upgrading old vhs and dvds to blu. But only in the cases of films I really want to see over and over. I have plenty of second-tier movies on dvd that I have no desire to upgrade. If I don't watch them that much, I don't really care. When I upgrade something to blu, I generally sell or give away the old vhs and dvd copies.
I don't stream anything. Ever. I see no reason to do that. You don't even get true hi-def. If you really want to see a movie, you want to see it in the best possible condition--and that means blu-ray, not streaming.
I don't feel the need to stream also because my dvd/blu-ray library is so huge that I barely have time to watch it, much less adding a bunch of movies and tv shows to that mix. I estimate I have nearly 1,000 hours of dvd content in my library that I haven't watched as of yet, and I buy so much that it grows faster than I can watch it. I do see a slowdown within the next few years, however, because my wishlist is becoming more and more complete. I'll catch up sooner than later.

 

[Ejanss]

I literally don't even remember anyone in the industry talking about the "death of physical media" until Microsoft started strategically acting sour-grapes about losing HD-DVD in the Format War--which if it'd won, would've given them the monopoly on all digital coding, hard and streaming--and hoped to surreptitiously "destroy" Blu's new hard-disk advantage in favor of getting that streaming-code monopoly anyway.
Any time the subject's come up, I've smelled a Big Fat Rat ever since. :alien:
(No, wait, think it was predated by Jeffrey Katzenberg at Dreamworks claiming "DVD disk sales are dying!" as his public excuse for why Shrek 2 didn't sell as many disks on shelves as he'd hoped. The Little Midget Rat just never missed a trick for alibis, and he ironclad believed every single one he thought up.)
And even then, you could take the sentiments back to the studios' support of pay-per-view DiVX in the DVD Wars, and their constant promotion that we should watch a movie "Now on your PPV cable system--You can fast forward and rewind!" over their hard-disk sales--
I compare it to the medieval days when the monarchy was afraid of the printing press, for fear that the peasants would learn to read and start expressing opinions, or the medieval Church's ban on letting peasants read the Bible themselves, instead of letting those in power do it for them:
In any new media, studios have always tried to retain whatever system would make us come to THEM for our movies, instead of a disk owner buying a disk once and taking it off his shelf any time he likes. For me, buying a disk is all about "A disk owner's shelf is his castle", and I don't want to rack up data charges every time I have the urge to watch something....Saving that money and effort was pretty much the reason I paid out the $24.95 in the first place.
If Warner gives me a free 2-D 480p Ultraviolet copy of Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 with the 4-DISK, 1080p 3-D SET I bought at Best Buy, I let them....It's free stuff.
I don't know if I'll ever use it, since I don't have any mobile devices, and I probably wouldn't be allowed to use them on an airline flight nowadays if I did (those I save for hard iTunes digital copies on my iPod Classic), but if it makes Warner feel better to have some illusion of corporate control over my life, who am I to spoil their dream?

 

[Mark-P]

The day that downloads and streaming can replicate the resolution and performance of a Blu-ray, I'll have a decision to make. That day is not here.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Michael,
The only thing I can say for your comments is wow.  I'm very excited about those Universal monsters, Hitchcock and other titles coming out on BRD.  I don't know what your HT equipment consist of, so maybe that's a factor in your lack of enthusiasm for this hobby right now.  Even Olive with their PQ concerns has me excited because I've seen number of titles for the first time on Blu-ray that never made it to my extensive DVD library because they weren't released in Region 1.  The same applies to DVD with those MOD programs and some titles that I haven't seen on a video format since the video tape era.  Perhaps, it's down to film taste as to why I'm very excited and you're not.  I'm a big western and crime film fan and I've been watching plenty of them on DVD and BRD that have been released for the first time on any type of disc media.  Anyhow, to each his own.
Crawdaddy

It's funny you mention the equipment because there was a point when I'd stand what I had up against just about anyone. When I first joined this forum I really got hit by the bug and I think over the years, thanks to many here, I built a very impressive theatrical system that I know kept many friends and family members amazed. However, looking back, the only thing this did to me was take me away from the theater and looking back on this I think it was a mistake. As great as any disc looks at home I've just fallen back to the opinion that it can't compare to being inside an actual theater and watching somethng. I'm sure back in the 80s getting SINGIN' IN THE RAIN on VHS was a major breakthrough and I'm sure the remastered LD was better. The original 2-disc DVD from Warner was terrific and I'm hearing that the Blu is even better. With that said, watching the film in a theater a few weeks ago with 70+ fans was something that can't be repeated at home. The same with the countless new releases I've seen so far this year. So part of me is just getting back to the theater and not needing to own.
I will agree that MOD has rescued the 100% boredom because so many rare titles are coming out. Even the lesser quality isn't an issue here for me because so many of these are titles that most felt would never see the light of day. The CRIME DOES NOT PAY series and countless other shorts from Warner are items that I thought I'd never own so it's great that we now can. With that said, I'm still not dropping $20 a title for something I can watch on TCM. The shorts are the one exception. I think the fact that, as you said, all of this rare stuff is coming to DVD and Blu means that studios are going to milk out what else they can before making the next step, which is streaming. Perhaps I'm a nut but I think one day every title made could be available in some way, shape or form and this is what I'm excited about and it's this that keeps me from being excited about something like the Universal titles.
I personally don't know anyone with such a wide range of tastes in films and this is yet another reason I think streaming is so good for film buffs. All those stations I mentioned offered thousands of titles and it would simply be impossible to buy all of them. With Netflix they've been showing so many "B" noir, sci-fi, western, action and juvenile pictures that it has kept me busy for months. I'm not sure how many of these will be released to DVD or Blu but these are often titles I wouldn't pay $5 for so the rental works out just fine. As someone who doesn't watch stuff over and over, streaming offers an unlimited number of titles and each week something new or interesting is turning up. That's what makes me excited and it's just a bit higher than for films I do love but just don't have the desire to drop more money on them.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Michael Elliott /t/322642/blu-ray-state-of-the-union-are-you-switching-to-streaming-media#post_3955237
It's funny you mention the equipment because there was a point when I'd stand what I had up against just about anyone. When I first joined this forum I really got hit by the bug and I think over the years, thanks to many here, I built a very impressive theatrical system that I know kept many friends and family members amazed. However, looking back, the only thing this did to me was take me away from the theater and looking back on this I think it was a mistake. As great as any disc looks at home I've just fallen back to the opinion that it can't compare to being inside an actual theater and watching somethng. I'm sure back in the 80s getting SINGIN' IN THE RAIN on VHS was a major breakthrough and I'm sure the remastered LD was better. The original 2-disc DVD from Warner was terrific and I'm hearing that the Blu is even better. With that said, watching the film in a theater a few weeks ago with 70+ fans was something that can't be repeated at home. The same with the countless new releases I've seen so far this year. So part of me is just getting back to the theater and not needing to own.
I will agree that MOD has rescued the 100% boredom because so many rare titles are coming out. Even the lesser quality isn't an issue here for me because so many of these are titles that most felt would never see the light of day. The CRIME DOES NOT PAY series and countless other shorts from Warner are items that I thought I'd never own so it's great that we now can. With that said, I'm still not dropping $20 a title for something I can watch on TCM. The shorts are the one exception. I think the fact that, as you said, all of this rare stuff is coming to DVD and Blu means that studios are going to milk out what else they can before making the next step, which is streaming. Perhaps I'm a nut but I think one day every title made could be available in some way, shape or form and this is what I'm excited about and it's this that keeps me from being excited about something like the Universal titles.
I personally don't know anyone with such a wide range of tastes in films and this is yet another reason I think streaming is so good for film buffs. All those stations I mentioned offered thousands of titles and it would simply be impossible to buy all of them. With Netflix they've been showing so many "B" noir, sci-fi, western, action and juvenile pictures that it has kept me busy for months. I'm not sure how many of these will be released to DVD or Blu but these are often titles I wouldn't pay $5 for so the rental works out just fine. As someone who doesn't watch stuff over and over, streaming offers an unlimited number of titles and each week something new or interesting is turning up. That's what makes me excited and it's just a bit higher than for films I do love but just don't have the desire to drop more money on them.

What is your screen size and is it 1080p or 720p plus how far do you sit from the screen? I found the streaming from Netflix mediocre at best. That might be good enough for you, but not me. As to theaters, that's fine and dandy for new films, but most of us can't watch classic films in a movie theater unless there is a special event.


Crawdaddy

 

[Eric Vedowski]

Right now I buy a CD, DVD or Blu-Ray and it's mine. I can manipulate the media in any number of ways. I'm not interested in a computer file that I have to park somewhere in the ether-a Cloud perhaps. A Cloud that may be free now but experience has told me that "free" usually doesn't last too long. Or on a computer hard drive that doesn't have the longest lifespan. To pay a fee to store a computer file I've already paid for...well, paying for something I've already bought seems very foolish. I pay every month for electricity, gas, water, mortgage (almost done), cable, internet...I'm not paying for digital storage too. I realize many people will. Many people are also, my experience has shown me, fools. The kind of people who want to borrow the same "hard copy" music every time they get a new computer...you know what I mean?

 

[DSmith1984]

Sales decreased dramatically after 2007 huh? Does Gunnarrson even consider the possibility that the U.S. economy began its downward spiral around 2007 and officially crashed in 2008? I don't know, could this have to do with the fact that nearly 1 in 5 people are unemployed in this country right now? Stupid statement. Forgive my temper here but I've seen that argument come from a lot of people who hate the blu-ray format that seem to evidently believe that people for no reason whatsoever decided to stop spending money on home media in 2007 as though it were a giant conspiracy.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Originally Posted by cineMANIAC /t/322642/blu-ray-state-of-the-union-are-you-switching-to-streaming-media#post_3955031
As for going to the movies being a "better" experience, yeah, if you're the ONLY one in the theater and didn't just spend $60 for tickets and popcorn, I can't see where it would be better.

I'm with you. I almost never go to a theater anymore. Between the admission and the cost of concessions (not to mention travel expense), it is more expensive than buying or renting physical media and you have to put up with cell phones going off, people gabbing away, etc.

As a general rule, I have no interest in streaming unless something very rare becomes available. I already own enough movies and TV shows on Blu-ray and DVD to keep me going for the rest of my life.

 

[moviepas]

[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I am a bit concerned. Something that raised a red flag for me is Blu-Ray recorders. Panasonic, and Sony were set to release Blu-Ray recorders....in 2008. What happened? Did they realize that physical media may be in danger, and didn't want to risk a huge financial loss?[/COLOR]
[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]DVR is great, but I have always been a physical media person. I would love to record HD programs on a blank Blu-Ray disc.[/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]What's that all about? I have had a 500gb Panasonic Blu Ray recorder since that time and use it often. Using it as I type this reply. They now have a 1TB model available for a much better price then I paid then and 3D to boot. I am looking at it for the a near future upgrade. [/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I am a physical disc person and see differences and was one of the few to have laserdisc in my country. My family & I were late adopters to VHS because we had lots of film to view in 16mm even though we had free access to VHS equipment as we were in the trade then at the repair & sales end. In the main the majority want quality, they want a better price and free if they can get it. [/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]What is wrong with Blu Ray is when discs are issued that have lousy transfers on them. This is consumer fraud and not a lot different for TV shows and the like that are incomplete(cut for syndication) and used for DVD etc when original film, tapes of negatives are in the vaults sitting there doing nothing. My view is always if you do it right once then it should always be "available" in that quality. No further restoration or mastering required. [/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I do receive a recent UK magazine of the disc market and they have a website and send e-mails: digital2disc. They subscription magazine is a glossy print.[/COLOR]

 

[Traveling Matt]

There has been lots of debate about the future of optical disc, particularly Blu-ray.  The talk has all been around streaming digital taking the place of optical media.

Kevin, could you provide links to what you're quoting? I'd like to read any available articles. Thanks.

 

[Rick Thompson]

A good policy is "never say never."
So I'll say sure, when
* Wireless is fast enough to stream 1080p or better;
* Cloud storage is available at a minimal price;
* Said cloud storage is guaranteed unhackable;
* Said cloud storage is guaranteed to have no viruses or malware of any type;
* DRM is made connsumer-friendly;
* Films stored in the cloud will always be available;
* Company providing said cloud is guaranteed to never go bankrupt; and
* Company providing said cloud will have actual U.S.-based humans answering the phones 24/7 when things go wrong.
So --
Not absolutely never.
Just probably never.

 

[J Whip]

I have quite a collection of films on BD as a reviewer and enjoy the Blu-ray experience immensely. However, I agree that the future of all content distribution, both audio and video is via downloads. The quality of audio downloads via lossless is now superior to that of CD's. It didn't take that all too long to happen and I can see CD's going the way of the dinosaur in the next couple of years. Why should a record company even bother with a CD release given that the cost, ease and flexibility of downloads is far superior via the download business model. The same will be true of Blu-ray as well. Take a look at what Comcast and Verizon are doing with internet speeds. Imagine what those speeds will be in 5 years. Full 1080p video and beyond with lossless audio will be available via download and it won't take hours to download either. While I see BD's as still be around in 5 years, they will be fully supplanted with a download system in 10. It simply makes sense. With the advent of 4K and beyond, why go through the expense of redoing the Blu-ray spec when that content can be distributed much easier via downloads. For that matter, the same is true for the whole TV distribution model although that will take longer. Imagine, full ala carte TV choices with the cable company as the middleman cut out of the picture entirely. As long as the quality of downloads can meet or even exceed, who really needs physical media collecting all that dust.

 

[DaveF]

For a different perspective, I look to my dad. I don't think he's bought or rented a disc in a decade. He goes the the theater maybe monthly. And at home, he gets all his movies from the cable pay-per-view. Mostly the free ones, but sometimes newer, for fee.
For him, the futures now, and he's gone streaming only , built into the cable box.

 

[Mark-P]

Maybe you're just referring to the communal experience, but the technical experience most certainly can be replicated in the home environment with Blu-ray, a good 1080p projector and a great sound system. I'd much rather experience a movie with a few close friends in my home theater than a huge crowd of strangers, but that's just me.

...As great as any disc looks at home I've just fallen back to the opinion that it can't compare to being inside an actual theater and watching somethng. I'm sure back in the 80s getting SINGIN' IN THE RAIN on VHS was a major breakthrough and I'm sure the remastered LD was better. The original 2-disc DVD from Warner was terrific and I'm hearing that the Blu is even better. With that said, watching the film in a theater a few weeks ago with 70+ fans was something that can't be repeated at home. The same with the countless new releases I've seen so far this year. So part of me is just getting back to the theater and not needing to own.

 

[DaveF]

I've really not had the "communal" experience at the theater. A thin crowd of strangers enters, sits quietly in the dark for two hours, and them leaves.
I like that being at the theater means I can remain focusedon the move; and not distracts by gadgets or cats or things I should be doing at home. But being alone Ina theater is little different than having a crowd, in recent years.

 

[Jason_V]

I've long held that physical media will never go away completely because there will always be a subset of the population that wants to have the disc on the shelf...me included.

Here's the thing I've found with working in "the cloud" over the last two years at work (both a CRM system and online document management system): they break. More accurately, they crash, go down and stop working, making the content stored in those areas unavailable. We had two different outages in the last two months, one for each system. The CRM system going down stopped our entire office from working, from operations to sales, from the "peons" to the CEO. The doc system severely hampered what could be done since every document we need is stored in the cloud.

So I have a very, very hard time thinking streaming will ever have the safeguards I would require to give up physical discs permanently. If one Amazon server goes down that houses, say, Star Trek 2009, I can't watch it. But that won't affect me in the least if the disc is sitting on my shelf.

 

[Kevin Collins]

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford /t/322642/blu-ray-state-of-the-union-are-you-switching-to-streaming-media#post_3954979

I don't like how long it takes to stream/download a movie. The PQ is still not on par with physical media. I prefer the discs to streaming, but the latter has much to improve in order to get me to do more of it.







Crawdaddy

I agree with you entirely.... The PQ is a constantly improving target though with streaming as I know folks at both MS and Amazon working on that technology. It's no different than the state of affairs with audio. When it first came out it was low resolution, now Amazon, Apple and MS allow for higher resolution, compressed audio tracks that are quite good.

At some point, technology will start to approach the ability to stream at lower bitrates, but nearly as good resolution/quality as what is on BD.

Until then, I am live Dave, I only watch streaming if I am on the road or reviewing a piece of equipment.

Now my wife is a different person entirely. She is more than happy to watch streaming and could care less about the artifacts that I point out while she is watching streaming. She just wants to watch it.

Unfortunately, there are more consumers like here than there are consumers like us...