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Should I still be investing money in Blurays?

J

jshelton

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
528
8
I am getting a pretty nice collection of Blurays going. I am just worried that the format will be obsolete soon and I will have a shelf full of movies while everyone else is playing their movies directly from their media drives or Apple TV.

Do you still buy Bluray?
 
My brother is collecting a lot of BluRays and I don't see them stopping in the next 5 years. It's really up to you and how you want to spend your money.

I love the quality of those things... Oh man, especially on a sick TV.
 
collecting 1 disc seems reasonable, but films are going dematerialized. so long term what is the use.

don't forget that the reader is mecanical and hence when that goes, the platter is quite pointless...
 
I didn't have the money for BluRay's when it was first released, now I have the disposable income available to purchase films it's all done online. Im sure BluRay will be around in the future, however I just missed the boat.
 
There is no format that can really compete with Blu-Ray. Download are increasing their market share but the truth is, the quality is way behind BR. This won't change unless the network infrastructure receives a heavy update (you would need 100Mb/s for BR quality). Blu-Rays can always be ripped so you can still be part of the streaming gang.

CDs still exist even though downloads have been available for years.
 
I no longer buy physical media. Movies, music, TV, books, even software, I prefer a digital delivery. All of my discs (DVD, not Blu Ray) have been packed up and put in storage.

If I did buy a Blu Ray, I would immediately rip it into my library ( at a lower bit rate ) and pack the Blu Ray away. For me, the convenience of the digital copy trumps the higher quality of the disc.

If you want to OWN the movie, I don't think the purchase of a Blu Ray is wasting money, as the disc prices don't seem to be any higher than the download prices and you can always rip the physical disc and have the digital copy as well. But how many movies do you actually watch over and over again? In most cases you could just rent a movie from iTunes at least 3 times for the price of buying it, and you don't have to worry about keeping it backed up.
 
Hellhammer said:
There is no format that can really compete with Blu-Ray. Download are increasing their market share but the truth is, the quality is way behind BR. This won't change unless the network infrastructure receives a heavy update (you would need 100Mb/s for BR quality). Blu-Rays can always be ripped so you can still be part of the streaming gang.

CDs still exist even though downloads have been available for years.
Click to expand...

^this
 
McG2k1 said:
^this
Click to expand...

I mostly use Netflix and rent from iTMS from my AppleTV. I still see compression artifacts most of the time. But for most movies or tv shows it's ok.

But for the some movies, I much prefer Blue-Ray. LoTR Extended Edition in glorious 1080p is a good exemple.

Having the choice: thumbs up!
 
Blurays still have the quality advantage that streaming content does not- both audio AND video.

A lot of people forget the audio quality component.

Why don't you rip your blurays? I have done that and have a lot already done.

Without doubt physical media will go the way of the dinosaur, but not for a while.
 
Yes, Blu-rays are great, and offer better value, better quality and better choice than the download alternatives, and will do for some time to come.

Another question might be should you invest in Apple's 720p 'HD' movies when you know that they'll end up doing 1080p versions at some point and it's anyone's guess if you'll get a free upgrade or they'll expect a fee to do so like they did with music (which still isn't even the same quality as the physical media alternative of CDs). Why risk it? Buy the quality now.
 
Blu Ray isn't going to be replaced by anything anytime in the near future.

That said, buying movies is kind of silly to me. I rent them (usually for free from my public library or for $1.50 from Redbox). It's rare that I want to see a movie again. If I do, I just rent it again.
 
Blu-ray isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It's been growing ever since the end of the format war, and it's about to get a serious jump-start next month when the Star Wars films come out
 
Depends how/where you view movies

I hear you. I still have a 200+ Laserdisc collection nicely put away in boxes from the 1990s. Also, have 400+ CDs, ripped with Apple Lossless. Threw away the jewel cases and keep them in sleeves in an aluminium case. Same with my DVD collection.

If you view your movies mostly on your living room <50" flat panel with HTIB type speakers, or on your iDevice of choice, you won't need Blu-ray.

I have a dedicated theater room in the basement with a 60" Plasma, soon to upgrade to a projector with dedicated 7.1 speakers and sound treatment of the walls. Believe you me, it's easy to tell the diff between 1080p Blu-ray with DTS-HD or True-HD audio and an HD download from iTunes at 720p with DD5.1
Not that this matters for your average dialogue heavy Drama or chic flick.

The "big" movies, with lotsa eye & ear candy are truly amazing.
Having said that, the industry is always evolving.
Google "2160p" and see what you get.

My Provider (Shaw) already offers 50-100Mbps speeds, so in theory, 1080p downloads would be feasible, but it's not the industry standard just yet.

In less than 10 years we'll have the iPhone's Retina display technology on 80"+ displays. Google "4320p" and you'll see that when UHDV or Ultra HDTV hit's the shelves, there will be a UV laser disc product to go with it, while iTMS will sell you the 10 year anniversary of Avatar in Blu-ray quality.

Point being, buy to enjoy now... nothing lasts forever and the industry will always entice us with "the next best thing".
Cheers!
 
sure keep collecting blue rays , despite Apples way forward is cloud computing , with cloud computing on the horizon any computer with more power then a simple pocket calculator is soon old fashioned and totally outdated like foppy's , as with cloud computing you realistically only will need some internet connection and some processing device like a iPad and a big screen via hdmi , as the real processing will be done in the cloud and not on your computer any more , your computer will only receive the results

and you did invest in a iMac too or?

so yes, keep collecting those blue rays , its part of the fun , i still collect dvd's
 
GenesisST said:
Having the choice: thumbs up!
Click to expand...

Exactly. I find it funny when someone states that Blu-Ray or streaming is dead. Neither of them has to die - they can coexist. Actually, they coexist as we speak.

tentales said:
My Provider (Shaw) already offers 50-100Mbps speeds, so in theory, 1080p downloads would be feasible, but it's not the industry standard just yet.
Click to expand...

It's not just what the ISP provides but that there are very, very few services that offer any HD streaming, let alone 1080p. I think VUDU is the only one show offers decent quality, but even that is only one fifth of a good BR (10Mb/s vs 50Mb/s).

In less than 10 years we'll have the iPhone's Retina display technology on 80"+ displays. Google "4320p" and you'll see that when UHDV or Ultra HDTV hit's the shelves, there will be a UV laser disc product to go with it, while iTMS will sell you the 10 year anniversary of Avatar in Blu-ray quality.
Click to expand...

It's not necessarily needed to to come up with a new format. Blu-Ray can go bigger than 50GB - in fact, there are already 1TB prototypes IIRC. Will BR be the standard for next gen is of course not sure but it might have the potential. OTOH, Super Hi-Vision is still fairly far away so a new standard wouldn't be that big of a deal.

Furthermore, when a new standard comes, the network infrastructure would have to be upgraded AGAIN. Some demos have been shown with 24Gb/s content, which is a hefty amount of bandwidth.
 
I never really understood the point of "collecting" Blu Rays or DVDs. And its peculiar that the OP and others call it "investing" since there really isn't much value in a Blu Ray disc.

The overwhelming majority of people only watch a movie once due to the simple fact that there are so many other movies you haven't seen yet that you'd like to watch. So spending 2 hours of your life watching a film you've already seen often feels like a waste even if you like the movie.

And then add the whole storage issue and you're right back to the days of boxes full of cassette tapes, VHS, DVDs, etc. that you rarely actually use.

Hence the popularity of streaming services like Netflix. However, with the direction Apple is going with iCloud, it seems to be the best of both worlds.
 
Imo ....

This will turn out just like compact disc did.... My collection of hundreds of music CDs, mostly purchased throughout the late 90's, now serves as a "master archival backup" of the music. I've ripped everything into MP3 format, but its nice having the originals in case I ever need to re-encode anything to a different format or bit-rate.

I'm happy I bought and kept the CDs, but I don't buy them too often anymore, moving forward. (I'll grab the occasional CD if it's a used one on sale for $1 or $2.)

Blu-ray discs hold a pretty large amount of data. If you did a lossless rip of the contents of all of them and you own a sizable collection, that'd still be *many* gigabytes of data to store and manage. Again, it'll probably be handy to own the originals even if you wind up transferring the movies to a digital format for regular use.


jshelton said:
I am getting a pretty nice collection of Blurays going. I am just worried that the format will be obsolete soon and I will have a shelf full of movies while everyone else is playing their movies directly from their media drives or Apple TV.

Do you still buy Bluray?
Click to expand...
 
The Blu-Ray/DVD/iTunes combo packs are a great deal, and the majority of the Blu-Rays that I own are in this format.

On a proper home theater system, anything short of Blu-Ray is a massive step backwards in terms of quality. 1080p with no compression at all and 5.1 (not to mention 7.1 or 9.1) sound is simply the best you can get right now.

In many cases you can fully enjoy a show/movie in either setup, but if you're watching something like JJ's Star Trek on Blu-Ray, you'll be grateful for the investment. Battlestar Galactica is another thing I want to pick up on Blu-Ray... never saw it in HD until after the final season aired and it really is a huge difference. Next time it's on sale ;)
 
Seems like a lot of money unless you are really into viewing a show again and again. I stopped buying DVDs for the most part a few years ago. I have a nice handful of about 50 movies. It gives me something to go to if the internet is wonky or I don't want to pay anything (yes, I have netflix) or I just want to see one of the classics I own. It is nice to not deal with the hassle of an inconsistent Time Warner cable modem sometimes and know that something is available. But putting any serious money into owning movies seems like a waste when they are cheap to rent and the trend is obviously toward renting them being easier and easier in a higher and higher quality.
 
Hellhammer said:
Exactly. I find it funny when someone states that Blu-Ray or streaming is dead. Neither of them has to die - they can coexist. Actually, they coexist as we speak.
Click to expand...

I haven't heard of anyone saying streaming is dead! LOL

Blu-Ray, definitely. I was one of the first. And when we say it's dead, we don't mean "nonexistant", we mean on its way out as a mainstream product. There will always be a niche, just like there was for LaserDisc for many years. But Blu-Ray will never reach the market penetration that DVD did - streaming is the future. I used to have a high-end home theater, I had the bleeding edge in audio, projection, and optical discs (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray). But I got out, gave away the players and sold the discs for $1 each. I am sooooo much happier. Is picture quality lower on streaming HD than Blu-Ray? yeah. Do I really care that much? Not when I consider the huge benefits of no longer buying, storing, and manipulating all those little plastic discs! Not to mention waiting for them to load, sitting through ads and trailers, and navigating cumbersome menus. Now with my Apple TV, iTunes, and NetFlix, I choose the content i want, hit "play", and start enjoying my movie or tv show. Life's too short for optical discs!

Hellhammer said:
It's not just what the ISP provides but that there are very, very few services that offer any HD streaming, let alone 1080p. I think VUDU is the only one show offers decent quality, but even that is only one fifth of a good BR (10Mb/s vs 50Mb/s).
Click to expand...

iTunes is a pretty large service, and they offer streaming HD.
 
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