Soooo, Where's The Blu-ray?

[rhett7660]

Please, everyone, you don't need an internet or phone connection to watch blu-ray movies.

You should really visit other sites to educate yourselves about other items other then Mac products.

Here are a couple of sites you might want to visit to start off:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=148

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/index.php

http://www.blu-ray.com/

http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#bluray_connection

Please, this is as bad as some people saying you can't watch SD DVD's on the machines either because they use a blue laser instead of the standard red one.

 

[secondcup]

Please, everyone, you don't need an internet or phone connection to watch blu-ray movies.

You should really visit other sites to educate yourselves about other items other then Mac products.

Yes, you are correct! I have first generation BD player and it doesn't have an ethernet connection. From what I understand, the next geration will, but the purpose of it is to allow access to additional material over the Net. It won't exclude you from playing the movie and all materials on the disc.

sc

 

[rhett7660]

Sc.. correct.

This was a big thing that alot of blu-ray owners wanted to have in the next round of the players. 2.0 is what they are calling it. It lets you download the latest firmware to your players and also allows some of the content on the disc's to play added features. But you do not need it to play the movie.

 

[Frisco]

Blu-Ray is the immediate and near future. Digital downloads are at least 5 years off from becoming mainstream.

 

[Koola]

I don't understand all the fuss about BD. For me it provides no real improvement over an upscaled DVD picture. The transition from VHS to DVD gave me a massive picture improvement, but the difference is so little with DVD to BD... I'm reluctant. Oh, and I have used Blue-ray before you ask.

I do recognize Blue-rays decent storage capability for backup purposes but that's it.

 

[jason999]

Got a message from MGM.com that "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" is available for purchase or rent on iTunes!

I have the DVD already, of course. But, it's also available for rent on AppleTV in HD?

Okay, but where's the Blu-ray (or HD DVD for that matter)???

I see a few movies on there that have BD/HD DVD releases, so it makes sense that the HD download is available.

But some titles, like "Star Trek: Wrath of Khan" and others have no high-def disc release.

Why not? When will the studio grace us with our own physical copies?

I'm hearing that ultimately, the studios want a Pay-Per-View on EVERYTHING.

When I upgraded my PS3 to the latest Blu-ray profile, interestingly, I got a warning that stated:

"Some Blu-ray movies REQUIRE an Internet connection, do you want to enable Internet for Blu-ray movie playback?"

This seems a bit scary to me... Pay-Per-View for movie discs (like the old Circuit City DIVX)...

HD-DVD is dead. Toshiba pulled the pin on hd-dvd back in Feb.
Its all blu ray now.

The question ought to be, how long had dvd got left before it too disappears.
Won't be to long before we see titles only on blu ray an dthen kiss goodnight to dvd for ever.

 

[MikieMikie]

HD-DVD is dead. Toshiba pulled the pin on hd-dvd back in Feb.
Its all blu ray now.

The question ought to be, how long had dvd got left before it too disappears.
Won't be to long before we see titles only on blu ray an dthen kiss goodnight to dvd for ever.

I disagree. The question should be, "How long will Blu-ray last?" After all, it has a few things going against it already:
1. The public seems nonplussed, and Blu-ray players are still artificially price-inflated to compensate for the format war.
2. Downloading services are just getting their acts together, and Apple TV represents an industry in its infancy. Don't count them out.
3. Someone, somewhere, is working on the next format.

You're statement that DVDs will go away assumes an awful lot:

1. Studios must believe they can force people to abandon DVDs in favor of Blu-Ray. The implication is that the public can (and needs to) be convinced that DVDs are significantly inferior to Blu-ray. (I'm not so sure studios can do this. DVD sales have been sluggish, at best, for years. There's nothing to make them believe that Blu-Ray sales are going to be decent for a long time to come. After all, studios are, well, interested in sales, not Blu-ray. They, like any good whore, will peddle their wares on whatever side of the street has the most traffic. That Blu-ray won doesn't mean it'll have more traffic than DVD -- only that it will have more traffic than HD-DVD.)
2. Broadband speeds will limit the accessibility of HD source. (I think that with each passing year, demand for better, faster broadband increases. As the public becomes more aware that the US is a third-world country in broadband speeds, demand for better service will have to be addressed by competing services. As broadband speeds go up, so does the likelihood that people will want the instant gratification of renting HD movies.)
3. People are willing to adopt yet another standard for media. (I, personally, am not. As a former SVHS, LD and DVD owner, I am done collecting soon-to-be-extinct media. I find the downloadable/streaming paradigm much less expensive and far more immediate. The assumption that everyone wants to own a format-sensitive collection of media is ridiculous, at best.)

For me, it's critical mass. As much as I would like to view Blu-ray on my nice HDTV, upscaled DVDs provide enough of a film/movie-going experience that I find the need for crisper, cleaner images overkill. I may at some time purchase a Blu-ray player for renting, but I am unlikely to ever purchase a Blu-ray disc.

 

[rhett7660]

I don't understand all the fuss about BD. For me it provides no real improvement over an upscaled DVD picture. The transition from VHS to DVD gave me a massive picture improvement, but the difference is so little with DVD to BD... I'm reluctant. Oh, and I have used Blue-ray before you ask.

Just curious as to what type of tv you viewed the Blu-Ray content on to not see a difference in PQ....

There is a pretty big difference between 480/570P and 1080P. Unless you viewed it on a TV that could only do 720p and was not able to handle the full 1080p....

Just curious.

 

[Koola]

Just curious as to what type of tv you viewed the Blu-Ray content on to not see a difference in PQ....

There is a pretty big difference between 480/570P and 1080P. Unless you viewed it on a TV that could only do 720p and was not able to handle the full 1080p....

Just curious.

It's a panny 47" 1080P Plasma. My DVR (also Panasonic) upscales DVDs to 1080i to which I compared it with a PS3 at 1080P. The difference is not huge so not worth me upgrading atm.

Gonna stick with DVDs and upscaling which toshiba has promised to improve even further... yay.

 

[rhett7660]

Koola...

You should go rent the blu-ray version of Pirates of the Caribbean any version and compare it to the upscaled version of the dvd. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Another question for you, did you support hd-dvd when it came out?

 

[Zwhaler]

Blu-ray is already dead in the water. downloading is the future. Glad I never bought a HD-dvd/ blu-ray player

I wouldnt say that Blu Ray is already dead, since isn´t Apple expected to put BluRay drives in their future computers? But I certainly think BluRay will not have as long of a life as DVDs had.

 

[gkarris]

HD-DVD is dead. Toshiba pulled the pin on hd-dvd back in Feb.
Its all blu ray now.

The question ought to be, how long had dvd got left before it too disappears.
Won't be to long before we see titles only on blu ray an dthen kiss goodnight to dvd for ever.

It's not about what format wins. It's about the studios winning.

And how much will it cost us to watch our Blu-ray discs?

I watched "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" in HD and it was very nice.

Now, the next day, it's gone from my AppleTV. It's another $4.99 to watch it again...

The industry wants to go Pay-Per-View. If HD downloads win, it will be for rent only.

Blu-ray can go the same way now that it has Internet connectivity.

 

[liberty4all]

Since we can rent movies for $1/ea. at Redbox.com kiosks via Jewel grocery stores, HD movie rentals will be the exception rather than the rule.

When the HD rentals get to be $1.99/movie for 24 hr viewing period, then it will take-off, IMHO.

Now where's the new Mac Mini w/Blu-Ray, Apple?! Just merge Apple TV & Mac Mini, and I would have all I am looking for.

It's not about what format wins. It's about the studios winning.

And how much will it cost us to watch our Blu-ray discs?

I watched "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" in HD and it was very nice.

Now, the next day, it's gone from my AppleTV. It's another $4.99 to watch it again...

The industry wants to go Pay-Per-View. If HD downloads win, it will be for rent only.

Blu-ray can go the same way now that it has Internet connectivity.

 

[albusseverus]

If you can't tell the difference between  TV and BD

Apple's HD downloads are 25% the quality of Blu-ray and 50% the quality of digital TV. You'd do better waiting for it to come to broadcast HD.

As an aside, did you know that BD's minimum data rate (quality) was HD-DVD's maximum data rate (quality) 30Mb/s? So glad BD won.

The fact that studios are not simultaneously releasing DVD and BD suggests that they don't want BD to cannibalise DVD sales. They want to sell it to you twice.

You can expect that as download quality improves, BD quality will improve (higher storage capacities, 4k picture etc). And download will never catch up. Download is for people who can't tell the difference between SD and HD.

Blu-ray requires internet connection for "interactive" features that were added to the 2.0 spec as a me-too to placate HD-DVD proponents. Not necessary, unless you want ads in your movies. Should be removed, now. Please.

 

[jason999]

I disagree. The question should be, "How long will Blu-ray last?" After all, it has a few things going against it already:
1. The public seems nonplussed, and Blu-ray players are still artificially price-inflated to compensate for the format war.
2. Downloading services are just getting their acts together, and Apple TV represents an industry in its infancy. Don't count them out.
3. Someone, somewhere, is working on the next format.

You're statement that DVDs will go away assumes an awful lot:

1. Studios must believe they can force people to abandon DVDs in favor of Blu-Ray. The implication is that the public can (and needs to) be convinced that DVDs are significantly inferior to Blu-ray. (I'm not so sure studios can do this. DVD sales have been sluggish, at best, for years. There's nothing to make them believe that Blu-Ray sales are going to be decent for a long time to come. After all, studios are, well, interested in sales, not Blu-ray. They, like any good whore, will peddle their wares on whatever side of the street has the most traffic. That Blu-ray won doesn't mean it'll have more traffic than DVD -- only that it will have more traffic than HD-DVD.)
2. Broadband speeds will limit the accessibility of HD source. (I think that with each passing year, demand for better, faster broadband increases. As the public becomes more aware that the US is a third-world country in broadband speeds, demand for better service will have to be addressed by competing services. As broadband speeds go up, so does the likelihood that people will want the instant gratification of renting HD movies.)
3. People are willing to adopt yet another standard for media. (I, personally, am not. As a former SVHS, LD and DVD owner, I am done collecting soon-to-be-extinct media. I find the downloadable/streaming paradigm much less expensive and far more immediate. The assumption that everyone wants to own a format-sensitive collection of media is ridiculous, at best.)

For me, it's critical mass. As much as I would like to view Blu-ray on my nice HDTV, upscaled DVDs provide enough of a film/movie-going experience that I find the need for crisper, cleaner images overkill. I may at some time purchase a Blu-ray player for renting, but I am unlikely to ever purchase a Blu-ray disc.

Blu ray though has already over taken dvd. Look at what hollywood is doing. They are mainly going for blu ray over dvd now.

Blu-Ray movies have over taken dvd in the last couple of months.
Many of the leading brands have dropped dvd players for the new gen of blu ray players which also play dvd.

When my dvd player died recently I bought a sharp blu ray player which can up scale dvd's to near hd. DVD's look better but are no where near as good as the blu ray movies.

I doubt I'll ever buy another dvd movie since buying the blu ray player.

 

[Koola]

Koola...

You should go rent the blu-ray version of Pirates of the Caribbean any version and compare it to the upscaled version of the dvd. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Another question for you, did you support hd-dvd when it came out?

Maybe so, but I have no means of testing now as I sold my PS3. I'm happy with the quality of upscaled DVDs at the moment, which cost considerably less than blue-ray and for me, provide good enough visuals.

As for my support; I supported neither as I'm happy with DVD of which many are on my tv.

 

[gwsat]

Even upconverted to 1080i, a 480p DVD is never going to look as good as true HD, and certainly not as good as a first class transfer on a Blu-ray disk. Still, it will look better than anything but HD. Recently I have been using Handbrake to convert some of my 480p DVDs to .mp4 files so that I could move them to iTunes and sync them with my Apple TV. The results have been gratifying. The Apple TV versions of my movies look and sound identical to the original DVDs. Although their PQ isn’t quite as good as real HD, it’s close.

I plan to continue avoiding Blu-Ray for the time being because, despite the format war with HD DVD having ended, both BD disks and players are still far too expensive for my tastes. Thus, Handbrake’s inability to work on BD disks has no effect on me right now.

 

[MikieMikie]

Blu ray though has already over taken dvd. Look at what hollywood is doing.

In what way has b-ray taken over? It has taken over hddvd, but certainly not dvd. For each b-ray disc in my video rental store, there seems to be a lot more people hanging around the DVD sections.

Or do you mean that it's taken over your fanboy mind?

They are mainly going for blu ray over dvd now.

Name a studio and a movie that is releasing solely on b-ray. Please. Until people stop buying DVDs, studios will continue to support the medium. After all, why wouldn't they? They couldn't care less which format wins.

Blu-Ray movies have over taken dvd in the last couple of months.
Many of the leading brands have dropped dvd players for the new gen of blu ray players which also play dvd.

Is this your impression or do you have some supporting evidence? If it's your opinion (or propaganda) that's okay with me. And you're free to spout whatever nonsense you like.

I understand your excitement over having 1080p content to justify your 1080p HDTV purchase. I'm thinking of buying a b-ray player when they become reasonably priced. But don't let your enthusiasm get the better of your reason.

When my dvd player died recently I bought a sharp blu ray player which can up scale
dvd's to near hd. DVD's look better but are no where near as good as the blu ray movies.

I doubt I'll ever buy another dvd movie since buying the blu ray player.

Ah, I see. So, let me better explain my position:

• I will probably buy a b-ray player within the next year or two to replace by DVD player and to enjoy b-ray 1080p content.
• I doubt I'll ever buy a blu ray disc.

 

[saltyzoo]

But I don't think downloading is the future, at least not just yet.

That statement almost made me take the time to set up a signature in my profile.

 

[gwsat]

I don't think downloading is the future, at least not just yet.

That statement almost made me take the time to set up a signature in my profile.

I agree that it’s too early to declare that downloads will be the end of BD but it is a reason to remain cautious about spending a bunch of money on BD disks and players right now. If prices come down so that both disks and players become competitive with SD DVD disks and players then BD has a chance but at these prices I continue to view it is little more than a niche product. I don’t know what the sales numbers of BD disks are compared to SD DVDs but I suspect that DVD sales are exponentially greater than BD sales.

 

[glide]

The master quality audio alone was enough to make me go with Blu Ray. I can understand how some may be happy with an upconverted DVD, but the audio is in a league of its own.

I would be willing to bet that most current Blu Ray owners do not even have a setup that allows them to take full advantage of the audio/video being offered on the disc...

 

[HotRodGuy]

I don't understand all the fuss about BD. For me it provides no real improvement over an upscaled DVD picture. The transition from VHS to DVD gave me a massive picture improvement, but the difference is so little with DVD to BD... I'm reluctant. Oh, and I have used Blue-ray before you ask.

I do recognize Blue-rays decent storage capability for backup purposes but that's it.

Just curious, what are you watching BR's on? Because I notice a pretty significant difference in visuals and sound

 

[aLoC]

I think Blu Ray has a place. Yes, downloads will eventually take over but not for another 5 years at least. And DVD is very old technology to keep around that long. Data wise it holds less than a only a few gigs, and video wise the resolution is not really good enough for some of the bigger TVs out today.

 

[Koola]

Just curious, what are you watching BR's on? Because I notice a pretty significant difference in visuals and sound

Maybe so, but I have no means of testing now as I sold my PS3.

Was using a PS3.

 

[glide]

Was using a PS3.

But hooked up to what, and how?

A PS3 hooked up with RCA cables to a CRT TV is no better than a dvd player.