Is this the last lap for Blu-ray? Is Blu-ray dead?

I know it has been a rough ride for Sony, but I didn't think it was that bad. Below is a link to the ZDnet article, or blog, that I just read. What a blow to Sony and the PS3 if this is true. But it is obvious that there needs to be a different approach, if they wish to survive through this economical crunch. DVD pricing is their competition, not the quality of the picture, especially since there are players out now that can do the HD improvement from a regular DVD for any of the HD TVs. Not that I own a HD TV or even a digital one. I have not read if there is any real comparison between the DVD players that can do the HD and the Blu-ray. So I am in the dark on that issue. As my stuff dies in the future sometime, I am sure that I will end up with some form of HD TV by default, being that seems to be the only thing being sold locally. But is Blu-ray joining Sony's other short lived format failures?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=365&tag=nl.e550

The short answer would be "no". After Blu-ray won the format war this round, PS3's have sold incredibly this year (reaching 17 million units now), along with a (I believe) 300% increase in Blu-ray sales and a ton of loyalty from movie companies. If anything, Blu-ray is becoming much stronger. Especially since most experts see DVD production stopping by 2010.

I say probably. Although they beat out HD-DVD, they still haven't beaten streaming video. Sure there will be those that prefer having the absolute best picture (me), but there are many people out there who just don't care as much or can't tell the difference. Not to mention that if you have a computer you pretty much have access to all of it and can stream it to your HDTV. The convenience of streaming video is awesome. I don't even watch regular television anymore since the majority of my favorite shows are legally online for free.

I personally haven't looked at a single Blu-ray player. I don't bother with the Blu-ray DVD aisle either. Honestly, I can't tell much difference other than Blu-ray animation hurts my eyes for some reason. If it fails I wouldn't notice.

Dart said:

I personally haven't looked at a single Blu-ray player. I don't bother with the Blu-ray DVD aisle either. Honestly, I can't tell much difference other than Blu-ray animation hurts my eyes for some reason. If it fails I wouldn't notice.

Click to expand...

Pretty much the same position I am in. I do not really care whether Blu-ray lives or dies.

I don't think that Blu-ray is dead, but like the article pointed out Blu-ray is going to have to compete with digital distribution networks, and the longer Blu-ray takes to gain a foothold in this competition the easier it will be for DD networks to push it back.

Others have already basically said this, but I'd like to comment all the same. The only real reason to have a Blu-ray player is the same reason most people cite when choosing not to get one: quality. Blu-ray has, undeniably, the highest resolution and image quality of any consumer video player, but the price of admission is too high. Not only are these players overpriced as is, but each Blu-ray movie is more expensive than its DVD counterpart, and one also needs an expensive HDTV in order to take advantage of the added quality. In most cases, the difference in quality is simply not worth the complete cost for most people, especially with the current state of the economy.

Again, time here is against Sony. Every day they fail to convert people to Blu-ray is one day more for digital distribution networks to work towards providing the same service, with added convenience, at a cheaper price.

Its an insightful article, short, to the point, and worth the read. It may writing off physical media a bit prematurely, but it is right to point out that this is a critical time for Sony to capitalize on winning the format war, or risk losing it all.

I really don't care what my picture looks like. Most of my favorite movies are on VHS tapes. :lol

I dont know where people are buying their blu-ray's and dvd's from but where I get mine from Blu-Rays are just like 2-5 dollars more than the DVD price.

I dont know anyone who knows what up-scaling DVD players are.

I save money and buy DVDs. Yeah, there is a quality difference, but not a big enough one to make me shell out the cash for a blu-ray player.

Getting a PS3 was the best deal for Blu-Ray I believe.