Blu Ray Wins The War... So Far

[Stubblecat]

I don't know about that Sony thing. The PS3's games run on Blu-Ray technology, so Sony obviously has a vested interest in BD.

For those who don't know it yet:

- Blu-Ray players totally play your existing DVDs and CDs. And your standard DVDs will be upscaled as well.
- DVD +/- Rs and CD-Rs play on them as well.

I too expect an iPod-style method of movie storage soon. All the same interactive features as regular DVD, but your entire collection is in a mini hard drive that you can take over to your friend's place. All they have to do is get the whole issue of bandwidth settled for downloads.
But wouldn't it be cool to have a new movie downloaded onto your hard drive automatically at 12:01 A.M. on new release Tuesday?

[aperio]

Originally Posted by Stubblecat

But wouldn't it be cool to have a new movie downloaded onto your hard drive automatically at 12:01 A.M. on new release Tuesday?

Yesssssssss.
Don't you feel like this is just so overdue already? I realize that standard dvd's currently play in blu-ray players, but I cant help thinking at some point that functionality will no longer be available once they realize people are making the shift. I'm sure they'll want to cash in on extra sales by making older libraries defunct. Just my opinion, but I dont' think I'm too far off base. I think if they had launched the blu-ray without the "backwards" compatability (so to speak) then I think there would have been some extra resistance that may have hurt them in the HD vs Blu-Ray war. Now that they've won, they'll likely shift strategies after a few generations worth of players. What do you think?

[Stubblecat]

There's a good chance that within the next few years or so if the industry keeps with the DVD-style media that they'll start to manufacture a next-gen hi-def disc which will be backward-compatible with Blu-Ray but not standard DVD.

On the same (sorta) topic: Things like copyrights and bandwidth and storage are an issue with the downloadable iPod-style movies. But when you think about it, exactly what do you get physically when you buy a DVD nowadays?

- A disc
- A plastic case
- A slip of paper which slips into the front sleeve of the plastic case
- And if the studio really hates your guts, you'll get a useless cardboard slipcover which serves no purpose rather than using up perfectly good paper which could have been used to print up a nice glossy insert (like in the good old days)

So that final pont notwithstanding, there's barely anything physical left to your actual DVD.

Give it 10 years or less, folks.