I was going to say this, but I think you covered it.  Eventually, I think as BD components become cheaper, they will start replacing DVD players as the cost difference will be negligible.  Eventually, R&D costs will be covered and manufacturing costs of BD players approach DVD player's costs.  Same thing with the discs.

I'm with ssj12.  I think VOD is great for renting movies, and I do all the time.  But when I purchase a movie, I want the box-art (especially anime) and I want to be able to play it in my laptop by just carrying the disk around.  I have a laptop with a BD drive, since I don't buy DVDs if the movie is available on BD.

This is especially true with all these DRM limiitations bullshit, I actually saw myself 5 years from now or so (when Internet is speed is faster) only getting movies through either istore or PSN or XBL or something like that, after seeing all the limitations that it has (and that it has to have), I have to say that all my movie purchases will be disc based. I would like to have unlimited download subscription for rentals though (like XBL and netflix), that's where DD will probably shine.

 No question some of the big films, especially spectacles like LOTR, will sell fine on BD. However, Hollywood made a huge amount of coin on older catalog titles that probably won't be. I would be most people won't replace 50% or more of their collections, which puts a crimp into potential BRD sales, especially if one is going to try comparing them to DVD.

As for Planet Earth, did you want DVD or BRD? Amazon has the BRD for $65.

I'd also highly recommend Blue Planet (focuses on the oceans - much of the footage was cannibalized for the Planet Earth ep on the oceans) and the Univese series, which is from the History Channel.

The number is fine, and there is a reason they don't go higher.

If would be impossible to get every American to say why they don't have a Blu-Ray player, but that would be impossible. Instead, you chose a small sample of the population. If you get a good number of people of different ethichs and gender and from across the board, then you've got a good survey. If there are too many people, then you'll just be getting the same results with more work.

The number is fine, and there is a reason they don't go higher.

If would be impossible to get every American to say why they don't have a Blu-Ray player, but that would be impossible. Instead, you chose a small sample of the population. If you get a good number of people of different ethichs and gender and from across the board, then you've got a good survey. If there are too many people, then you'll just be getting the same results with more work.

The polls used to predict election results are usually only 1000 to 2000 people.  Those do a very good job of predicting the results of the actual election, which is about 150 million voters for the US.  As long as the poll was conducted correctly, these results should be accurate.

I'd have to do more research into the poll to determine if it appears to be a representative sample.

How do you know what most people still prefer?  And are you serious?  OnDemand, Netflix online, and similar services are gaining popularity every second.  I'm not going to say that "most people" go one way or the other for sure, but I am going to venture to guess that "most people" don't buy every single movie they watch.  "Most people" probably rent 99% of the movies they watch, and as far as I've been able to tell so far, "most people" still don't really understand what BluRay even is.  And finally, I'd also be willing to guess that "most people" rent 90% of the movies they watch.

It's just like how people don't understand HDTV.  My in-laws literally have an HDTV on every floor in the house.  There's a big 42" one in their living room, a small one in the kitchen, and a small one in the guest bedroom.  And they don't watch HD content on ANY of them.  They have an HD digital cable box that's hooked up to a fourth TV.........a STANDARD DEF TV!!!!  It drives me absolutely nuts whenever I go to their house.  And I find this to be common.  A guy I work with was bragging that he got an HDTV for Christmas last year.  I asked him how he liked it and he said, "Well, I guess it's clearer than before.  I can't really tell."  I'm sorry, but if you can't tell, you're most likely not watching anything in HD.  Throw in the fact that you can't get HD without an HDMI or HDCP cable, and then people like that start twitching and drooling.  They just simply don't know what they have in their homes, and even if they do, they don't know how to hook it up.

I'd venture to guess that those same people didn't even know there was an HD DVD vs. BluRay war, and if they did, they probably don't know who won or what the difference even was.  I told my sister in law the other day that I usually get my movies via OnDemand and that the HD ones are usually $6.99 or $7.99 if they're new or new-ish.  I believe that's what you pay to rent a BluRay at the store right?  Well, she replied "We go to Blockbuster and get them for much cheaper...they're $3.99 at Blockbuster."  To which I replied, "Yeah, for standard def movies, right?  Not BluRay."  Her reply?  "What's BluRay?"

My favorite is when people come to my house, where I have my HD cable box hooked up with an actual HDMI cable and tuned in to an actual HD channel with the screen set to the correct ratio and not stretching everything out or blowing everything up so that it looks weird.  (Another thing people seem to never realize is that most channels have an HD alternate channel, even if the standard one says it's in HD.)  Then they're always like, "Wow, your TV looks good."  And I always reply, "Yours could look like this too if you would set it up correctly."

My point is that people don't even know what the equipment they already own can do.  Things moved really fast from standard TVs to HDTVs and people are making the switch in droves even though they don't know why.  So BluRay isn't even their vocabulary yet.  But OnDemand is.  I don't know many people who don't know how to use THAT feature.  It's caught on like wild fire along with Netflix.  I think I'm the only person I know who DOESN'T have a Netflix account.  And I think once people get their HDTVs figured out and realize how awesome true 1080 HD can be, they will start seeking that content out via their cable box, not a multi hundred dollar player.

EDIT:  And when I say Netflix, I'm assuming that they will eventually get their Xbox Live stuff in HD.  I'm not sure if they do that or not yet on their web based streaming movies.

wtfh, I did not say most, I said many. Get your freaking facts straight before jumping all over someone. It is rude and destroyed basically your entire argument. I refuse to read past you stating I said most when I did not.

For all I care your entire post is bunk.

You're right, I apologize.  You didn't say "most people", you said "people still prefer".  I gave you the benefit of the doubt by thinking you meant "most people".  Did you actually mean "all people"?  By saying "people still prefer", you're implying that the vast majority of people buy their movies or rent physical copies.  I'm pretty sure that's not accurate, and it especially won't be once Netflix makes a deal with Comcast or AT&T or another similar cable service.

I was meaning in general terms that there are people who still like to do it, could be a small group or large group (but the fact that some would still probably mean millions does that really make it a small number).

As for your argument, yes people are stupid.

But since the HD singal from your cable company is 720p which means that there isnt a need for an HDMI cable, yet. From what I can tell is that even after the transition to digital there might not be a need for an HDMI cable unless you are running a 1080p TV and a channal decides to broadcast in 1080p. HDCP shouldnt interfer due to the cable box forcing the singals through from what I can tell from my cable box a really weird component setup and your TV upscaling the channels. If it does, time for an HDMI cable.