The future of Blu-ray

[Demonwhore]

I was talking the other day with some friends about the future of Blu-ray and i was wondering what is the opinion of the fans of this format, considering the other avaiable formats.

My opinion: i believe it's a good format, but people will still bet strong on the dvd format. I talk with a lot of people that are not willing to buy in blu-ray, the movies they have already been obtained in dvd. But as a collector i will get some of the films that i have on dvd as well. I believe any film collector will do this.

Any thoughts?

[BioZombie]

For me personally I think blu-ray is a stunning format. When you watch a top quality blu-ray on a good setup you can really see the difference.

Hopefully this means it will have a long future. I would not want to switch over to downloads or any other non physical format as I like nice shiny boxes and physical extras. Lets just hope there are enough people like me to keep blu-ray alive.

[bizarre_eye]

There's no denying that Blu-Ray is an improvement over standard DVD, but I see it as nothing but a brief step in the direction of something bigger like complete digital media or holographics/3D.

As raw material and fuel costs rise and their availability depletes, plus with the increased awareness of recycling and wastage a 'phyiscal' product that you hold in your hand is looking less and less likely in the future. Retailers will take advantage of this as well as increased technological advancements in computers will mean storing complete films on your home PC will be the equivalent of storing a document or an MP3 music track now. My PC has a 1.5TB hard-drive, yet 10 years ago that was unheard of in any PC retail outlet. Soon 1.5TB will be tiny too. This will pave the way for easy film storage (we already have 'Digital Copy'), and you will see online retailers like HMV and Amazon selling downloadable films, like they do currently with MP3 albums.

This would certainly not be great for the collector's among us though...

[Demonwhore]

I hope blu-ray has a long future, i'm not into downloading movies, i always liked to have the physical product. I still don't have a blu-ray player but i'm having it soon. I'm already acquiring blu-rays for my collection. But i still have to buy The trilogy of the dead and the City of the living dead on blu-ray, it must be stunning!

[bizarre_eye]

Originally Posted by Demonwhore

I hope blu-ray has a long future, i'm not into downloading movies, i always liked to have the physical product. I still don't have a blu-ray player but i'm having it soon. I'm already acquiring blu-rays for my collection. But i still have to buy The trilogy of the dead and the City of the living dead on blu-ray, it must be stunning!

I don't download movies either and really enjoy collecting movies and being able to look at my collection on the shelves and browse it at my leisure; plus, presently physical media is the norm. However, give it 20 years or so, and things could be very different...

[Daemonia]

I absolutely detest the idea of everything going purely the download/digital copy route. Come on, a full 1080p transfer is going to be on average - what - 24GB+? How long will that take to download if I purchase it online? With my connection out here in the sticks it'll take a few days at my speeds. A lot of work needs to be done if they want downloads to be the way of the future.

So no, I'm sticking with the physical format of Blu-ray. I'm a collector and I like something tangible for my money.

[Vampix]

I've said this before and I know a few people who think the same way (the rest aren't interested in Blu-ray at all), I will only buy Blu-ray discs for genre films I really love.The rest I am more than happy with on DVD.If your average movie fan wants to buy the latest Jim Carrey movie, what are they gonna do? Go for the expensive Blu-ray or the cut price DVD that offers excellent picture quality and all the extras you'd want from that kind of film.How long can Blu-ray continue if people are not willing to replace their extensive DVD collections with this more expensive format? Especially the hundreds of thousands who don't have 1080p TV's, Blu-ray playing equipment, and are more than happy with the quality of DVD.In the current economic climate where everyone is watching their spending, I think Blu-ray will remain the format of the nerdy film fanatic (like us lot) and that's it!

[it'smebilly]

I agree, problem is there aren't enough releases geared toward the nerdy film fanatic in my opinion. There seems to be shelves of mainstream mediocrity at the moment and precious little else, thank god for Arrow I suppose.

[vipco]

Sony have made the PS3 BluRay player compatible with the new 3D TV technology making it the only BD system currently able to play films on BD shot using the new 3D technique .
If Sony are thinking this far ahead and are keeping the BD format up to spec for the very latest technology then the future for the format looks bright imo .
I recon the abilty to evolve the BluRay format as technology evolves should make people less cautions about buying into it now .

[phelings]

Originally Posted by vipco

Sony have made the PS3 BluRay player compatible with the new 3D TV technology making it the only BD system currently able to play films on BD shot using the new 3D technique .
If Sony are thinking this far ahead and are keeping the BD format up to spec for the very latest technology then the future for the format looks bright imo .
I recon the abilty to evolve the BluRay format as technology evolves should make people less cautions about buying into it now .

The PS3 is the only player that is upgradeable , no others are at the moment.
It seems fairly clear that for a long time to come Bluray is going to have only a slightly larger niche in the UK than Laserdisc had.

Some people cannot even tell they are watching HD and as with most new technology that involves improving quality most Brits don't give a toss.