Blu-ray and digital downloads: Best frenemies

LOS ANGELES--Rather than waging a war to make consumers choose sides between digital downloads and physical media, some content makers are calling a truce.

Instead of defending Blu-ray Disc's longevity as a physical format or predicting when downloads would finally reign supreme, they focused on how the two together can benefit consumers and content makers alike. It's as if two high school girls from opposing cliques just realized that if they team up, they're actually likely to attract even more attention and popularity than ever.

"It's a mistake to think it's either a physical (media) or an electronic (download) business," said Danny Kaye, vice president of research and technology strategy at 20th Century Fox. "That's arbitrary. They will coexist."

Blu-ray players will have their day in the sun before movie downloads become the norm.

(Credit: Samsung)

It's been widely assumed that digital downloads will wipe out physical disc media as soon as broadband Internet access becomes ubiquitous. But there are plenty of details to work out until that happens, such as consumers' continuing endorsement of DVD as an entertainment format.

NPD revealed at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference here Tuesday that while DVD sales are flat, they still dwarf downloads. The old standard-definition disc format still stands tall over Blu-ray Disc, but that will change eventually. What's certain, is that most people who favor DVDs won't be skipping Blu-ray entirely to start downloading all their entertainment.

"Consumer habits change slowly," said Russ Crupnick, senior industry analyst for the NPD Group. "Discs are not likely to go away anytime soon."

The numbers support this. NPD asked 1,500 consumers that own high-definition TVs and subscribe to HD channel services how they spent their discretionary income on movies. Fifty-two percent said they buy movies or TV shows on DVD, 29 percent rent movies or TV shows on DVD, and 6 percent download entertainment, either to rent or own.

But, as Crupnick pointed out, it's also not a zero-sum game. For example, PS3 owners download games from the Internet, but they also buy physical console games, rent TV shows on DVD, and buy movies on DVD, according to NPD survey results.

Disney has apparently found its customers aren't in the habit of choosing sides either. Rather than targeting one group or the other, the company found physical media and downloading coexist "more than we expected," said Lori McPherson, general manager of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

"Consumers want to consume different movies and programs in different ways. To limit any of those things wouldn't be good for the industry," she said. "But as content creators, we have to be responsible about how that content is windowed so that we keep the industry healthy."

It's one of the reasons some content makers are trying out the Digital Copy initiative, where consumers buy a movie, and they get two discs: one that's a regular DVD, the other that has a copy of the movie in Windows or Mac OS compatible formats.

There weren't any sales figures provided to show how well this nascent initiative is doing, but it shows that the movie industry is far more adaptable to changing media consumption habits than, say, the music industry.

Of course all this truce talk is just temporary, until broadband is available to a majority of American consumers and downloading is as easy as popping a disc into a player.

[HighwayHome]

Another thing this article failed to mention is there are a large percentage of consumers who, let me put this nicely, are not comfortable with downloading and prefer to purchase the physical media. Once the generation who is more familiar with downloading get older and gain more purchasing power, you will see a change in the ratio of downloading to buying discs.

There is no choice, but for both formats to coexist at this time, since you have the older consumers who prefer to pop in a disc and watch and the younger consumers who prefer to download and watch. The future of the physical media will depend on how creative the publishers are in marketing their products, such as offering special Collector's Editions and other goodies (artwork, posters, t-shirts, etc.) to go along with the discs.

As an example, the latest Collector's edition of GTA came with a metal safe and a pair of fuzzy dice to boot. There are plenty of people out there who value their game collection and want something more than just a computer file to show off to their friends.

Maybe some of the future Collector's Edition sports titles can include some limited edition sports trading cards from Topps or Upper Deck, which may have some value in the future. This idea can also help get kids back into the trading card hobby, which can use a shot in the arm from the powerful video game industry. I can't help but think that schoolyards during lunchtime are just not the same, since the baseball card hobby went south due to various factors.

[DrNezzy]

I agree. There's always a security in having a physical copy. Not to mention the fact that upcoming usage caps from cable providers are not going to help encourage people to purchase huge downloads.

[kalel33]

No security when you scratch the discs or your child decides to pour stuff on it, only to find it later after it's dried.

[minimalist]

Scratching may happen on occasion. But hard disks will definitely die. its not a question of "if" its a question of when"?. Until managing and backing up video content you have purchased becomes as dead simple as throwing a bunch of mp3's on an external hard drive its not going mainstream. When the content is stuck on some proprietary box what kind of long range solution is that?

This article confirms what I have suspected for a long time. That the future of video is not an either/or proposition. Its both/and. Downloads and discs will coexist and serve different purposes for a good while.

I have a blu-ray player, and xbox360 and an Apple TV. If I am going to buy a movie I want the highest quality I can get (1280p). If its just a rental or a TV show I'll watch once then the 720p HD of the other two boxes will suffice. I have lower expectations for a rental than I do something I want to own. I can't imagine why anyone would choose to pay 15 bucks for a splotchy, compressed to heck and back SD download that is saddled with restrictive DRM when the same thing can be had on DVD for a few dollars more.

[shusseina2]

I think the movie industry, much like the music industry, do not have consumers interest at heart. Movie downloads to buy and rent should be much more prevalent than they are, certainly the technology is available. The movie industry advocate DVD because it is there cash cow, but even with DVD they don't have the consumers interest at heart. How many DVDs are there on the market which are simply straight copies of old movies, when they should have been digitally re-mastered. I think HighwayHome is probably right about older consumers preferring a physical disc and younger consumers preferring downloads. For downloads to succeed they need to at least match their equivalent DVD offerings (like bonus/special features that are common amongst DVDs). In my opinion disc do not offer any more security over downloads as the physical players can also become obsolete, just like the software players which playback encrypted movies.

[shusseina2]

I think the movie industry, much like the music industry, do not have consumers interest at heart. Movie downloads to buy and rent should be much more prevalent than they are, certainly the technology is available. The movie industry advocates DVD because it is there cash cow, but even with DVD they don't have the consumers interest at heart. How many DVDs are there on the market which are simply straight copies of old movies, when they should have been digitally re-mastered. I think HighwayHome is probably right about older consumers preferring a physical disc and younger consumers preferring downloads. For downloads to succeed they need to at least match their equivalent DVD offerings (like bonus/special features that are common amongst DVDs). In my opinion discs do not offer any more security over downloads as the physical players can also become obsolete, just like the software players which playback encrypted movies.

[RighteousSoutherner]

Forgetta about it!, as the saying goes. Our only video store in town, Blockbuster, just went out of business in a very upscale neighborhood. It's a sign of the times and Sony missed the boat. Folks in our neighborhood just order up movies from Comcast---if they have the time.

[lyntone]

We have a machine in our grocery store that dispenses DVD movies for one dollar, a lot cheaper than any other source!