Is Blu-ray Doomed? - Comments Page 1

The problem is possibly outside of America: Blue ray equipment in Europe is quite a bit more expensive than that purchased in the USA. I read part of a blog article somewhere on this during this last week.

If this is the case then of course people in Europe are going to wait until their existing equipment breaks down and buy another DVD player - Make do with upsampling rather than fork out twice as much. Until the prices are evened out worldwide, blue ray just won't take off completely.

I fall firmly into the category of those who already own a DVD player and it works fine so why throw it out. Netflix and the like wont rent out to Canadian consumers, IP checks preclude this, so there goes that option and the cost of the Blue Ray disks seems out of proportion to me, who I think resembles Joe average! So Blue ray or not... I am just not willing to fork over my hard cold cash.

I do agree that the "Blu-Ray" along with ALL CD/DVD/DVR disks have a virtual short life span. Due to the advent of downloading, MP3 etc. Why buy something with moving parts when all you have to do is have an internet connection. Example. 18 months ago I purchased a portable CD player with the belt pack, better headphones, anti skip . . . . cost, aprox $135.00 said and done. Put up with scratched, cracked, broken disks (mishandling)
S O L U T I O N ! ! ! a $20.00 Creative 2 Gig MP3 player that holds almost 300 songs. No whistles, bells, screens, flashing lights, moving parts, just non stop music of my choice.
This is where the High Def video is probably already headed. so, no, I do not believe I will "take the Blu-Ray Plunge"

Congratulations, Bob! Once again you have used over 250 words to say absolutely nothing to further an argument. Thanks again for your timely and courageous answer to the question.

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you had read past the first 250 words, you'd have gotten a better picture. I laid out six reasons why Blu-ray could have trouble succeeding in the marketplace, then mentioned some of its strong points. I also said that to me it "seems unlikely the technology could die an early death." And then I solicited comments to further the discussion. So what do you think was missing?

Will a Blue Ray RECORDER ever become a reality?

EDITOR'S NOTE: They do seem to exist. See http://www.blu-ray.com/recorders/

I have a good HDTV and an upconverting Oppo DVD player, and for me moving to Blu-Ray is a non-issue right now. The DVD movies we watch run the gamit from B&W classics to the latest digital only releases and the clarity and definition are great.
For a lot of the "older" movies, how much definition do you need to enjoy it? The picture can only be as good as the original print or re-mastered digitized copy - how much sharper does "Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House" need to be ? Do I need to see the actual silver film grains? And the extra filler possibities of the larger disc doesn't sway me either.

To me the shift to Blu-Ray is not as great as the move to DVD from VHS. So those are my own reasons why I'll wait until the next evolutionary "jump".

Bottom line for me, I refuse to pay the price, when I can get the movies in DVD, that I want to see, most for under $10. As for my DVD players, they may be older technology, but, they are working just fine and my DVD movies are as clear, as possible. Definitely, FAR better than my old VHS movies!

One of my TV is HDTV and we have it set-up as HDTV. However, not all movies or TV programs are in HD, that come from DirecTV or Cable or DVD.

Now, maybe, just maybe, IF Blu-Ray HD players came down to the lowest price of around $30, I just might consider to purchase one. When you pay a price of $30 for a DVD Player, if it breaks, you can easily replace it, especially with kids and/or grandkids around.

My own conclusion is, that Blu-Ray will go by the wayside. Simply due, to the high price for all things related to Blu-Ray. Something else will come along that will be much cheaper to produce, as a player, recorder and media input (DVDs or whatever).

Thanks for a timely article... My thoughts are that the human eye cannot keep up with the depths of these new technologies like blu-ray. My eye cannot decipher the millions of colors in a computer monitor; 256 colors are substantial.

Thanks for the discussion on Blu-Ray and HDTV players, showever my questions was not answered. I have two DVD recorder/players. Unfortunately both have tuners that go to 99 channels. Since TV is going to High Def and needs a special cabel box to reach Channels 100 to 999, I cannot record the special programs that are in the upper spectrums such as the National Geographic Channel an other great programs. I also wonder what will happen to my recorders when all TV goes to digital. I know that I can get the cable channel 2 to 99 but how can I record the programs on channels 100 - 900? Will special tuners be offered to get these channels?

I'm glad this is being talked about. I had no plans of getting just a dvd player when you couldn't record; then we could so I bought one. It is different with "blu-ray". It is a horrible name that doesn't describe what the product is (unlike HD-DVD). It is totally propriatary, expensive and is loaded with DRM. Times are changing and I know that there are other options out there such as Divx. In conclusion, I have no interest in giving Hollywood one more dime of my money!