Is Blu-ray Finally Hitting Its Stride?

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yr

December 20, 2010 at 3:56pm

I remember my first CD burner (external)... $200, with a CD-R about $3. My Hard Drive was a massive 12 GB! Now I could burn music CD's and backups without hundreds of floppies. Then the prices dropped.

Then the $400 DVD burner (usb2/firewire), with $2 a DVD, for data backup without stacks of CD's. Then the prices dropped. Now DVD+-RW internal drives are $20 at Newegg.

With Blu-ray, I couldn't justify its prices for my needs. So I waited...

On black friday, I got an internal 10X LG Blu-ray burner (3D OK with viewer/burning software & anaglyph glasses) for $70! (Newegg.com) Just bought a 15 pack of BD-R discs for about $25, less than $2/disc!

25GB backup discs or 2+ hours HD video for $2! Not bad.

And most commercial titles are almost the same price as DVD's, but in HD!

As always, if you will use it, it's worth it. If you won't, then don't get it.

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stradric

December 19, 2010 at 8:53pm

I will never ever own a bluray player.  If I was given one as a gift, I would return it.  If I owned a PS3, which I probably never will, I would still not buy BluRay discs.  BluRay was obsolete before it was even released and I refuse to take part in yet another worthless media format.  I have a mild interest in using a BluRay burner for large backups, but BluRay burners (~$150) and the media (~$5 / disc) is a tad pricey especially considering the fact that 1TB external drives are under $100.

Streaming is fine, but the selection is not there because the movie industry wants to jam BluRay down our throats.  No thank you.  BT downloads on the other hand offer HD movies and an unlimited selection.  I would gladly pay, but the movie industry prevents the best market for movies from being legitimate.  It's quite amazing how bad they're shooting themselves in the foot.

As far as the rise of BluRay goes, it's not surprising.  Outside of tech communities like MPC, people are pretty clueless about technology and thus are easily fleeced by these massive corporations.  Fleeced is probably a harsh word for the phenomenon, but you get the idea.  There's a better way, but the movie industry doesn't want to give it to us because they already got us buying BluRay.  Vote with your dollar.  Don't buy BluRay.  Make them release a truly impressive format like something based on nanowires.

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nHeroGo

December 19, 2010 at 5:03pm

...I am one of the biggest loosers.

I am buying BluRay discs even though I do not have a BluRay player. I am thinking, with all these discs I will surely be inspired to buy one. I have done the same thing before. My first car was a Jag. Granted, it was an old one, but I figured it would inspire me to bother getting a drivers license. Later on, the insurance company talked me into it. So far, no one has made me buy a player. Strange.

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drcrazyrich

December 17, 2010 at 4:39pm

if I want to see it in I ll go to the movies .
the only purpose I see blu ray for is the theaters.
otherwise its a waist of $$ and just a money grab for SONY !!

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drcrazyrich

December 17, 2010 at 4:39pm

if I want to see it in I ll go to the movies .
the only purpose I see blu ray for is the theaters.
otherwise its a waist of $$ and just a money grab for SONY !!

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aviaggio

December 17, 2010 at 2:55pm

I've always believed the transition to blu-ray from DVDs was going to take time, as it's more of an evolutionary shift than a revolutionary one, like going from VCRs to DVDs was.

Price has always been a huge factor, and with the loss of HD-DVD's competition prices have been slow to come down. But they are coming down quite nicely now, and the price discrepancy is but a small fraction of what it once was.

The other issue was the lack of HDTV set penetration. If you don't have an HDTV then moving to blu-ray really doesn't do much for you. And in many cases your current DVD collection is "just good enough" -- there has been little consumer desire to replace DVDs with blu-rays, and this has also impacted the adoption rate.

I don't necessarily think that streaming media is going to replace physical discs, at least not anytime soon. IMO streaming is more akin to rentals, not purchases. Again, in most cases the quality is good enough, and most movies just aren't worth the additional monetary investment.

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novatvstdios

December 17, 2010 at 2:18pm

im going to replace ironic with moronic: isnt it moronic that the HD early adopters never seem to comprehend what they're looking at. "downloading" everything in HD and still not having a clue about the message in the medium. They laugh at my DVD rips.. seriously.. no seriously, this planet is finished..

 

My "good" (demoted from bestest) friend's favorite movie is Jet Li's Fearless, yet he still can't fathom why he barely beats me in soul calibur EVERY god damn time. God dammit. I really hate it when people stereotype themselves

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TechLarry

December 17, 2010 at 11:39am

It still has compatibility issues (and always will).  The Discs are too expensive.

And the quality of the movies just don't blow me away enough to choose the higher cost over DVD.

It was only by creative use of Corporate Tomfoolery that Blu-Ray became the standard.  IMHO HD-DVD had it's ass kicked.

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someuid

December 17, 2010 at 9:08am

Streaming video has led me to purchase less movies.  I only buy the ones I really, really want to watch at any time, and those have to be really good movies (no, not you Avatar).  I do have some Blu-Rays, but they number far fewer than the DVDs.

The higher prices have also turned me off to Blu-Rays.  When DVDs were $10 and $15, I'd buy them.  The Blu-Rays coming out at $30 - no go.  $20 - eh, better be a really good movie (see above.)

The extra gimmicks such as a DVD copy of the movie or one of those rip-to-the-computer versions don't really interest me either.  I think the rip-to-the-computer ones are set to expire after a while and if I just bought it on Blu-Ray, why the heck would I want a DVD copy other than to give away?  Neither of the gimmicks seem like a smart choice.  Both are temp (DVD will die, the rip-to-pc version will expire) but the money I forked over is never coming back.

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BlazePC

December 17, 2010 at 10:25am

Bluray movies have come way down in price over recent months.  The argument that Blurays are too expensive doesn't hold water anymore.  People need to do more research instead of complaining in that old vein style of thinking.  Blurays at or below $10 are found all over the place; and those below $20 is so commonplace that it's almost scary.

Not that I disagree with you on the "added" formats proposition, but to say that DVD's will up & die?  WTH?  Not in your lifetime buddy.

*********************

As far as the lack of effective spam filters on your site guys; it's not like you have that many stories/entries to manage on a daily basis.  Until you get the automated stuff figured out, how-a-bouts you spend a few minutes twice a day pruning the spam for crying out loud.  Seriously...

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Slugbait

December 17, 2010 at 3:29pm

Bluray movies have come way down in price over recent months.  The argument that Blurays are too expensive doesn't hold water anymore

Let's compare with last year's MaxPC article on Blu-ray: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/its_going_be_bluray_christmas

Dispicable Me is on BB's pre-order for $32. That's two dollars MORE expensive than Star Trek XI was last year. Twilight: Eclipse and Goonies are $30. Inception, Shrek Forever After, Prince of Persia and Last Airbender are $28. It's no different than what prices for new or recent releases were last year.

It is more correct to say that Blu-ray movies have not come down in price at all over recent months...or the last 12 months, for that matter. Older movies have always dropped in price, so it isn't much of an arguement since that applies to all consumable products.

Another telling stat to show that Blu-ray still hasn't hit its stride:

Blu-ray titles at BB increased by about 1700; DVD titles increased by more than 5000.

On the other hand, lower-quality standalone players have finally broken the $100 mark.

Since my comment last year, I replaced my old-school FD Trinitron with a P54G25. My MCE machine was upgraded to a C2D/EE with an 8600GTS, connected via DVI->HDMI, and it does the upscaling...and DVDs played on the old Plextor 708A look remarkable. Not Blu-ray stunning remarkable, but good enough to say that I don't have to spend $100 on a drive + a $10 premium for the content at this time.

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BlazePC

December 18, 2010 at 12:02am

If you're going to sit there and argue the merits of why new releases are still way too high, I could just as easily throw out lots of examples of particular movies that were AT or below $20 each upon pre-order or release.  Certainly some movies are going to garner a high price because the publishers know they can get it on the front end.  It's called understanding your market.  Despicable Me went down to to $29.99 on day two btw - and that's for the FOUR disk set, not the basic release on Bluray.  Do you think the four disk set with DVD, digital download, Bluray 2D and Bluray 3D is worth it?  I won't go there, that's another discussion entirely.  You need to watch Amazon or better yet, go to Blu-ray.com and educate yourself where prices are today, and not just focus on your particular pet peeve favorites that seemingly make some kind of basis for an otherwise weak argument.  Bluray disks (since the format won the war in 2008) have taken a dramatic step down in average price and are way beyond where DVD was, in terms of price, at the same time in its adoption cycle.  There's a handy Hot Deal area on Blu-ray.com that you should seriously take a look at pal.

I'm being nice here when I say, go do your homework before you simply spout off nonsense.  Or better yet, learn to shop intelligently.

Most readers of MaxPC understand the difference between MSRP and street prices, and bluray movies are no exception to that axiom...

 

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Slugbait

December 18, 2010 at 1:36am

I'm being nice here when I say, go do your homework before you simply spout off nonsense.  Or better yet, learn to shop intelligently

Looks like I touched a nerve...

Thanks for showing us all of YOUR homework.

Blah, blah, blah...

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deucezulu

December 18, 2010 at 9:41pm

I'm glad he did because he's right. It's always nice to get your facts straight, you should do the same. Besides prices have been low for awhile now.

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Slugbait

December 18, 2010 at 11:22pm

He didn't. After making a blanket statement that prices have come way down, BlazePC was obviously humiliated. In response to direct evidence that prices for new or recent releases are no different than what they were a year ago, BlazePC used nothing more than conjecture, then backed himself up by utilizing demeaning statements and direct insult...tactics that are always a clear indication that a person thinks a little too highly of oneself.

If you really think standing up for an asshole is the smart thing to do, Internet forums are the perfect place for you.

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BlazePC

December 28, 2010 at 9:57am

No Contest.

And from the looks of your OTHER comments on this site, I'd say everything seems to speak for itself pal.  Perhaps you should change your name to Trollbait.

 

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Slugbait

December 30, 2010 at 11:19pm

I'm mortally wounded.

But perhaps you're right that I should change my name to Trollbait. I sure do seem to attract a lot of them...

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