Looks like this article was incorrect. Didn't DK do like 1.6 mil week one?

streaming hd is heavily compressed.

Haven't read all the pages, but what exactly is pushing the cost of a blu-ray disc so high?

Mass production should've been able to lower the cost pretty rapidly, no? (Not really an economic genious, so explanation anyone? :p)

I agree.

I actually was an early HD DVD and Blu-ray adopter and have TONS of movies on both formats... but I am an audio/videophile.  That, unfortunately for Sony, I am in the minority.  Most people don't care about Blu-ray's benefits.

I'll use my dad as an example. 

He's 50-years old, has a home theatre that almost anyone would kill for.. 73" 1080p TV with a $30,000 7.2 surround sound.  It's a killer setup.

His problem, as with a lot of people, is that they don't know what HD really is.  They might have the setup to view/hear an awesome movie experience, but they don't know how to make it work.

For instance, I setup my dad's system for him, and his Blu-ray player, and he was amazed.  But, within a few days, one of my younger brothers jacked with the controller and changed the TV settings to 480i, and of course the movies he watched (including Dish Network) were coming through in standard def.

I think a lot of people out there have never calibrated or setup their TVs correctly, and therefore their first experience with "HD" is often SD.  And therefore, they think that standard and high-def are no different.

The problem is with the industry that has been introducing high-def.  It's just too complicated for a majority of the generation of folks who grew up with a black & white TV.  The jump to color was easy for them.  They plugged it in and turned it on... wham-o, an instant upgrade over B&W.

Yet, with the latest tech jump, it's all about A/V vs Component vs HDMI and 480i/p vs 720p vs 1080i/p and it's just too complicated for a generation who are used to simple plug-in upgrades.

HDMI is the worse culprit because it's so finicky when you set it up. 

I remember the grief I got when I first bought my PS3.  It took awhile to get the TV to recognize the 1080p signal feed... I had to do a lot of work to get it right... and I actually know what I am doing.  Imagine the 98% of folks who don't have a clue. 

The answer is simply making it easier for that 98%.

I guess you have never heard of video on demand.  Something that is more than acheivable today.

So whats your point?  If you can find anyone that is capable of seeing a difference between compressed video and uncompressed video I  will send you send you money for christmas.

I couldn't agree more, and to back that up, I'll throw money into the pot as well on this bet.

Outside of a few VERY hardcore videophiles, the difference is 99.9% unnoticable.  That's why people haven't rushed out to adopt Blu-ray... because the majority of people can find a reason to shell out that much cash for something they see as only a minor upgrade.

"The answer is simply making it easier for that 98%."

And that is why DVD was such an intuitive leap over VHS. You would have to actually deliberately design a player to force someone to rewind a movie in DVD before it would play back. In most players, the ease of use is built in.

Sony is having a reality check...and this is with ALL MAJOR STUDIOS pushing the format!

Sorry, but maybe holiday season 2009 will see the rise of the ps3 and brd... BTW....TDK is anomaly...for chrissake, the movie did 1bln at the box office...so when do analysis of number, you've gotta take out the outliers to get to some median, otherwise, it will skew the picture.