The future of Blu Ray (1 Viewer)

[Brian Husar]

Just asking the experts. I am not prepared to stop buying blu ray, but reports I keep on seeing is telling me that streaming is the way to go. I still buy CDs and since Vinyl had made a comback I am buying vinyl again.

But does anyone think Blu Ray will go the way of VHS and Laserdiscs? I hope not. I couldn't afford a laserdisc player back in the day, but when DVD and Blu Ray came out, I was in heaven. What do you guys think?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Hard to say. I’ve always felt that blu-ray was far superior to streaming for video and especially audio quality. 4k blu ray discs and players are now on the market, which should indicate at least that the end is not in site.

Still, A/V history is littered with superior formats that ultimately lost out because the general public preferred convenience over performance – VHS vs. Beta, cassette vs. reel-to-reel, mp3 vs. CD, etc.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[jcroy]

In the end, all you can do is buy what you're comfortable spending on.

If some superduper 666K holographic optical disc/crystal/cube becomes the norm in 50+ years, most likely you won't give a damn anymore about your old dvds and blurays.

 

[TJPC]

I sort of look at it like the time when the majority of people were renting movies. I know all kinds of people who would not think of ever buying a movie. The would however rent one every weekend.
These people now download their movies. We collectors still collect.

 

[Brian Husar]

I sort of look at it like the time when the majority of people were renting movies. I know all kinds of people who would not think of ever buying a movie. The would however rent one every weekend.
These people now download their movies. We collectors still collect.

I agree with you. I like collecting and holding it in my hand

 

[jcroy]

In the end, it's your money and time.

If you don't like streaming/downloading (whether flat-rate or a la carte) for whatever reasons, then you should not be wasting money and time on it. Regardless of what happens in the near future.

If the day comes when physical media ceases to be made in the far future, then one either adapts to streaming/downloading or one simply stops watching new tv shows + movies which are never released on physical media. Hopefully I'll either be dead or afflicted with alzheimers by the time this happens.

 

[Alf S]

I think movies on disc be it DVD or Blu will be dead within the next 5 years or so. It's becoming much too easy for many folks to stream movies, be it via Netflix or their cable/sat receiver.

I no longer "collect" discs like I did when DVD first showed up, it was thrilling to be at BB the day a new high profile movie hit the streets and grab it to toss on the movie shelf at home. But pretty soon I would sit and look at said movie shelf full of the movies I felt I had to have and realized, "Sheesh, I don't think I've re-watched any of these movies in months, in some cases, years...why am I wasting all this money!?"

So I pretty much quit buying movies, even ones I LOVE because I know I'm not going to get much use out of them. Oh, there are a couple of movies we might buy cheap during the year mainly for the kiddos, but I no longer care enough about movies in general to "collect" them and watch them rot on a shelf.

We have a great rental store a mile from the house and they are uber cheap (Blu and DVD) and we mainly go that route for new movies, but streaming is now top on our list and it will probably stay that way now that we have faster internet speeds at home.

 

[TJPC]

Each to his or her own. I still love my collection of recent movies, but where owning discs becomes essential is when you want classic films. I have thousands of movies from 1920 to 1950 recorded mostly from TCM. These are not available to stream in Canada.

Our Netflix is rather pathetic, and anything else streams through your computer. I can't tell you the number of times I have searched and searched for a download only to find it is unavailable here. When we do find something we gather around the 17" monitor, while the 55" TV sits black in the next room.

Why can't streaming and physical media exist side by side as renting and owning have for years?

In 5 years, if the following exist I will take my collection to the land fill:
1) A service that is as easy to use
as cable or a disc player.
2) A service that streams every movie and TV show available today.
3) One service that is rock solid and will not disappear taking content with it. Perhaps government sponsored. We have the Wild West today.
4) A service which is reasonably priced. That does not require arcane codes or only works on a 4" smart phone etc. etc.

 

[skylark68]

I still buy physical media. Like TJPC said though, it is almost entirely classic themed. I rarely buy films that have come out in the past 10 to 15 years. Netflix barely provides any classic content, and Amazon Video, while they do offer many, charges too much to stream many of them.

I do stream recently released films however.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

In 5 years, if the following exist I will take my collection to the land fill:
1) A service that is as easy to use
as cable or a disc player.
2) A service that streams every movie and TV show available today.
3) One service that is rock solid and will not disappear taking content with it. Perhaps government sponsored. We have the Wild West today.
4) A service which is reasonably priced. That does not require arcane codes or only works on a 4" smart phone etc. etc.

That's just a pipe dream that won't really happen. And I wouldn't wanna trust any govt for that either -- seems like a recipe for disaster...

Only realistic option is to own on physical media that cannot be remotely disabled by whomever (at least until they stop making them for content you don't already own). These days you can also rip what you own for more convenient streaming, if you really want/need that -- and then, just put your discs in storage.

_Man_

 

[Brian Husar]

Each to his or her own. I still love my collection of recent movies, but where owning discs becomes essential is when you want classic films. I have thousands of movies from 1920 to 1950 recorded mostly from TCM. These are not available to stream in Canada.

Our Netflix is rather pathetic, and anything else streams through your computer. I can't tell you the number of times I have searched and searched for a download only to find it is unavailable here. When we do find something we gather around the 17" monitor, while the 55" TV sits black in the next room.

Why can't streaming and physical media exist side by side as renting and owning have for years?

In 5 years, if the following exist I will take my collection to the land fill:
1) A service that is as easy to use
as cable or a disc player.
2) A service that streams every movie and TV show available today.
3) One service that is rock solid and will not disappear taking content with it. Perhaps government sponsored. We have the Wild West today.
4) A service which is reasonably priced. That does not require arcane codes or only works on a 4" smart phone etc. etc.

Netflix is pretty pathetic in general. Whenever I want to watch a classic film that I don't have, they never have it.

 

[Brian Husar]

Each to his or her own. I still love my collection of recent movies, but where owning discs becomes essential is when you want classic films. I have thousands of movies from 1920 to 1950 recorded mostly from TCM. These are not available to stream in Canada.

Our Netflix is rather pathetic, and anything else streams through your computer. I can't tell you the number of times I have searched and searched for a download only to find it is unavailable here. When we do find something we gather around the 17" monitor, while the 55" TV sits black in the next room.

Why can't streaming and physical media exist side by side as renting and owning have for years?

In 5 years, if the following exist I will take my collection to the land fill:
1) A service that is as easy to use
as cable or a disc player.
2) A service that streams every movie and TV show available today.
3) One service that is rock solid and will not disappear taking content with it. Perhaps government sponsored. We have the Wild West today.
4) A service which is reasonably priced. That does not require arcane codes or only works on a 4" smart phone etc. etc.

I also agree that streaming and physical should co exist.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I *love* streaming ... for *renting* movies.

For ownership, streaming has too many issues -- not the least of which is that some of the larger ISPs (Comcast) have started imposing data caps. It's far more likely that in five years the majority of ISPs will be imposing data caps than it is for physical media to be gone during that time frame.

If I want to view a movie I "own" at the end of a billing cycle and it means going over the data cap which will require me to pay extra fees, then I don't really own the movie.

With Blu-ray I get a consistent A/V presentation any time I want it. And all I need to accomplish that is electricity and a Blu-ray player. And since the new UHD players can also play Blu-rays and DVDs I feel like my library is adequately future-proofed.

I say buy your favorite movies on DVD/Blu-ray/UHD with confidence!

 

[TJPC]

Do UHD players play 3D movies?

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Yes -- UHD players also support the 3D Blu-ray format.

 

[Brian Husar]

Based on what I'm seeing here, it wont go away. The interesting thing is that people are getting into Laserdiscs again. I wonder if Laserdiscs will make a comback like vinyl. The difference is vinyl was never a dead format, artists still were issuing vinyl during the CD revolution. But LD is considered dead. But for someone like me, who couldn't afford laserdiscs and would salivate over the Pioneer special editions of The Doors and Platoon, I have a nostalgia for that format. Probably because I was hoping one day to get a player, than DVD came along......

 

[David_B_K]

I wonder if Laserdiscs will make a comback like vinyl. The difference is vinyl was never a dead format, artists still were issuing vinyl during the CD revolution. But LD is considered dead. But for someone like me, who couldn't afford laserdiscs and would salivate over the Pioneer special editions of The Doors and Platoon, I have a nostalgia for that format. Probably because I was hoping one day to get a player, than DVD came along......

I can't see LD coming back, certainly not to the point where new discs and machines would be produced. The quality is nowhere near Blu-ray or even DVD. The only LDs I have hung onto are those that have not been released on DVD or Blu-ray, or those that have features that were left off of the newer format versions.

The quality of widescreen films really suffers on LD. The outputted picture was always 4:3, so that much of the resolution of a widescreen film is wasted on the black bars.It would be like comparing a Techniscope widescreen film to Todd AO.

 

[Brian Husar]

I can't see LD coming back, certainly not to the point where new discs and machines would be produced. The quality is nowhere near Blu-ray or even DVD. The only LDs I have hung onto are those that have not been released on DVD or Blu-ray, or those that have features that were left off of the newer format versions.

The quality of widescreen films really suffers on LD. The outputted picture was always 4:3, so that much of the resolution of a widescreen film is wasted on the black bars.It would be like comparing a Techniscope widescreen film to Todd AO.

I hear you on that. When DVD came out, I was excited because I could finally see these movies in Widescreen, even though by 96, studios started issuing widescreen letterboxed VHS, finally as an alternate. I could get all these cool special features that people would get on LD, and Blu Ray for me is no turning back. I just never thought it would be marketed to the masses, and thought it would be a cool club us collectors could belong to.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Each to his or her own. I still love my collection of recent movies, but where owning discs becomes essential is when you want classic films. I have thousands of movies from 1920 to 1950 recorded mostly from TCM. These are not available to stream in Canada.

Our Netflix is rather pathetic, and anything else streams through your computer. I can't tell you the number of times I have searched and searched for a download only to find it is unavailable here. When we do find something we gather around the 17" monitor, while the 55" TV sits black in the next room.

Why can't streaming and physical media exist side by side as renting and owning have for years?

Please kindly excuse the following rant:

Whatever happened to copyrights that covered the U.S AND Canada, instead of leaving we Canucks in the cold, so to speak?

For instance, I'm so sick and tired of not being able to find any Region 1 based Hal Roach DVD titles that are solely U.S. based! Some months ago, U.S. based Walmarts had "The Little Rascals Complete Collection" Hal Roach Sound Film RHI 8 DVD sets going for $10! Meanwhile, our Walmarts can't even carry these sets, and amazon.ca charges a mint for them! Why? Because they bloody well can, since we Canadians have NO other option - Not even streaming or digital downloads!

Of course by extension, that's why streaming and physical media can't fully co-exist, in Canada at least!

End of rant....For now!

CHEERS!

 

[jcroy]

Please kindly excuse the following rant:

Whatever happened to copyrights that covered the U.S AND Canada, instead of leaving we Canucks in the cold, so to speak?

For instance, I'm so sick and tired of not being able to find any Region 1 based Hal Roach DVD titles that are solely U.S. based! Some months ago, U.S. based Walmarts had "The Little Rascals Complete Collection" Hal Roach Sound Film RHI 8 DVD sets going for $10! Meanwhile, our Walmarts can't even carry these sets, and amazon.ca charges a mint for them! Why? Because they bloody well can, since we Canadians have NO other option - Not even streaming or digital downloads!

Of course by extension, that's why streaming and physical media can't fully co-exist, in Canada at least!

End of rant....For now!

CHEERS!

(On a huge tangent).

Amazon is highly variable, even between different regions or product lines.

For some items (unrelated to dvds/blurays) which I've been looking through recently on the different amazons worldwide, it turned out the canadian amazon had them for lower prices than the american or uk amazon sites.