Is the importance of Blu-Ray overstated?

bdbdbd

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bdbdbd on 28 April 2008

MikeB said:

@ Parokki

The only real advantage is better picture, while DVD against VHS offered better picture in a vastly more convenient physical package.

I don't quite agree, the jump from NTSC to 720p and especially 1080p HDTVs is huge. Blu-Ray players allow to get the most out of such TV sets, better audio and will include many additional features.

The move from VHS to DVD was IMO far more troublesome, as DVD players weren't backwards compatible with VHS releases. The jump in quality from VHS and DVD displayed on a NTSC TV wasn't really that big, not as big of a difference in picture quality compared to DVD on NTSC TV vs Blu-Ray displayed in full quality on a 1080p HDTV.

One thing which may hold Blu-Ray back somewhat is the minimal feature set, which requires even a harddisk. This will make price cuts more difficult, but also puts the PS3 in a good position as one of the best Blu-Ray movie players available, combined with being the best specced gaming console.

Durability and ease of use. No need for winding to find what you wanted to find, just pick what you want from the menu and editing your recordings with a single player. BD doesn't improve from that. The BC part do give BD advantage, but it's no reason to upgrade, only a disadvantage less (upscaling in the other hand is advantage).

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stranne on 28 April 2008

Different regions have different perspectives. Many reports only discuss the US outlook. Here in Sweden we have lower BluRay penetration and higher broadband penetration than in the US, so BluRay will have a tougher fight here.

Also, with DD you could have more formats with different bw requirements like 240p, 480p, 720p, 1080p. You could say that BluRay is not only up against HD downloads, but also SD downloads and "SD+"/"SD-" downloads. Pay one price and download/redownload it on all formats, forever.

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MikeB on 28 April 2008

bdbdbd said:

MikeB said:

@ Parokki

The only real advantage is better picture, while DVD against VHS offered better picture in a vastly more convenient physical package.

I don't quite agree, the jump from NTSC to 720p and especially 1080p HDTVs is huge. Blu-Ray players allow to get the most out of such TV sets, better audio and will include many additional features.

The move from VHS to DVD was IMO far more troublesome, as DVD players weren't backwards compatible with VHS releases. The jump in quality from VHS and DVD displayed on a NTSC TV wasn't really that big, not as big of a difference in picture quality compared to DVD on NTSC TV vs Blu-Ray displayed in full quality on a 1080p HDTV.

One thing which may hold Blu-Ray back somewhat is the minimal feature set, which requires even a harddisk. This will make price cuts more difficult, but also puts the PS3 in a good position as one of the best Blu-Ray movie players available, combined with being the best specced gaming console.

Durability and ease of use. No need for winding to find what you wanted to find, just pick what you want from the menu and editing your recordings with a single player. BD doesn't improve from that. The BC part do give BD advantage, but it's no reason to upgrade, only a disadvantage less (upscaling in the other hand is advantage).

Blu-Ray discs are protected from scratching issues, so it's a more durable solution compared to DVD as well. With regard to usage DVD and Blu-Ray movie playback is similar, that can also be looked at as an advantage. Back around DVD's introduction people were used to winding music and movie tapes. The main shortcoming was that many people were used to being able to easily record stuff as well, DVR/Blu-ray combos like the PS3 may provide the best of both worlds.