UHD How are we going to get people to move to HD? never mind UHD.... (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

I don't think physical media will completely disappear for a long time, at least for "new" releases. Sales may be in decline as a segment of the populace moves to streaming, but not everyone will do so and I find it difficult to believe the studios will simply abandon an entire market segment if there's any money to be made.


Heck, they're still making vinyl records and stores still sell blank VHS tapes (plus Mike's Round-Up occasionally features a VHS new release), so there must still be a fairly significant market available for people using those formats.

 

[Thomas T]

More evidence of the decline of physical media. I was at my local Costco today and their blu/DVD section was cut by 1/3. Perhaps that's not much but it's not a good sign. On the plus side, the 1/3 space that was blu/DVD is now devoted to more books!

 

[DalekFlay]

DVD (and now HD streaming) are simply good enough for most consumers, just like MP3 and now streaming audio is good enough. I don't think there's anything we can do about it, or the studios can do about it. It's not the end of the world though, since movies on disc will definitely keep going as a niche medium.

 

[bruceames]

My home internet service (Time Warner-Brighthouse cable) went out last night and the issue could not be resolved remotely. A tech is coming out this evening.


Just another reason I want nothing to do with streaming.

It's very rare my home internet service goes out. About as rare as the power going out. But those few times that it did I just fired up the hotspot app on my smartphone and didn't miss a beat. I think pretty much everyone has a smartphone these days to use for backup internet?

 

[revgen]

The best way to get folks to switch to HD is to convince them to invest in larger screens.


How many people would want to keep watching DVD's after looking at them on huge 77 inch TV screens? I think there would be a lot more converts.


Very few people are willing to invest in very large TV screens. Until that changes, DVD is going to stick around for awhile.

 

[bujaki]

I don't own a smartphone. I don't have voice mail, texting, or messaging. I live in the Dark Ages. At some point in the distant future, perhaps, when I have no choice...

 

[Thomas T]

The best way to get folks to switch to HD is to convince them to invest in larger screens.


How many people would want to keep watching DVD's after looking at them on huge 77 inch TV screens? I think there would be a lot more converts.


Very few people are willing to invest in very large TV screens. Until that changes, DVD is going to stick around for awhile.

Not everyone, even film buffs, want a massive screen. When I go to the movies, I sit in the very last row if I can. Sitting up in the front row is my punishment for not getting there early enough to get a good seat in the back. A 55 inch screen much less a 77 inch screen is out of the question for my small one bedroom apartment.

 

[bujaki]

I used to sit in the last row as well. However, after cataract surgery and lens implants, I found that I couldn't see as well from that distance, so now I have to sit much, much closer to the screen. But never in the front rows!

 

[Clinton McClure]

I haven't bought any blu-ray discs in a while and recently got the bug to upgrade some of my DVDs. Going to my local Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target and Hastings was a real eye-opener. The big three retailers now carry very few blu-ray releases. The last time I had looked, which was well over a year ago, the ratio was about 50-50. Today I would put it at closer to 95-5 in favor of DVD, which has shrank 50% or more in the same amount of time. Hastings, which is a local video, music and book store, used to have a very large blu-ray section. Now it has shrank to ⅓ or less of the size it once was while their DVD selection has also gone down substantially.


What I am seeing where I live is retailers adjusting to the fact that the majority of the public believe streaming is where it's at and optical media is dying a slow, painful death. Blu-ray has all but been written off here. It also doesn't help that in that particular city where I do all my shopping, the city corporation offers 50mb/s broadband very cheap with no data cap.


So it's off to Amazon for my blu-ray purchases.