Comments on: Is Blu-ray becoming a commodity?--Ask the Editors

A reader writes in asking if Blu-ray is becoming a commodity, and while CNET doesn't think Blu-ray is there yet, it won't be long until it is.

[xmendoza]

I love how blu-ray exposes 40-year old actresses trying to play 20 year olds. You can't smooth those wrinkles in high-def. haha

[Jmobie]

So true. I asked my dad, "Do you really want Shine a Light on Blu-ray and see the Stones in HD?"

[gunnergoz]

I have a Blu-Ray player in my HP laptop but I refuse to pay $25 bucks for a movie. It's positively highway robbery. Why pay that when regular video DVD's cost $15 at discount upon release? My HD-upscaling DVD player shows them very well at 1080i.
It seems to me that the movie industry and the Blu-Ray manufacturers think the public are chumps; well-paid, yuppie chumps.

[haphilli]

It is all about people's tastes, I was watching The Lord of the Rings upscaled yesterday and it looked like crap, and that film is wonderfully shot. I usually only buy movies that I know will watch, straying away from Comedies and Dramas. WaLL-E is amazing and a noticeable difference.

[moviemaestro]

I'm sure this comment was posted purely to inspire debate. Well, here it is. When you're watching a movie on a laptop screen - sure DVDs will look "fine". Watch a movie on a 42" screen (or on a 90" screen with a projector, like I do) and the difference between DVD and blu-ray is PAINFULLY obvious.
I'll gladly pay the extra $5-10 for that much improvement in quality. By all means, continue to watch your movies in mediocrity - but no need to call me a chump for appreciating the best video format on the market.

[jimothyGator]

moviemaestro: I've never watched a Blu-Ray on a laptop, but I suspect you'd still be able to tell the difference between it and a DVD, as you're then dealing with a very short viewing distance.

[Renegade Knight]

DVD is 480p. That does OK when upscaled. That's why you can enjoy your DVD's on your BlueRay player and have the luxery of waiting for BlueRay disks to hit the bargain bin at Wally World.

[darkpoet25]

People can obviously tell a difference when a movie like The Dark Knight can sell 2,000,000 copies over just a few days.

[dworkman]

Echoing moviemaestro, clearly gunnergoz needs to compare standard DVD and blu-ray on a large screen, 50 inch or more, to appreciate the difference. I imagine you'll happily hand over $5 more then, gunnergoz.

[miltongomes]

I am a brazilian that likes very much to see films in DVD. I agree with you. Blu-Ray manufacturers think the public are chumps; well-paid, yuppie chumps. I never will pay so much for a Blu-Ray film. Why to buy a player for? Just to say you have one at home? Kind regards from Brazil, home of Bossa Nova.

[MasterJ24]

The technology is still very new. When the demand hits a certain point the prices will drop substantially.

Besides, you need to know where to shop. A blu-ray at Best Buy could be $35 and if you look on Amazon the same version would probably be $25 or so.

[ev61]

The complaining about price for discs is silly. When discussing CDs even 5 years ago, did everyone complain that a CD cost $25 at Sam Goody, therefore CD technology is dead? People who are looking at MSRP and other high priced BDs are not looking at all, but simply complaining. Less than $20 is the standard, and for the huge improvement over DVD in picture and sound, it is worth a bit of looking around!

Ha! Ha! No. They complained that CD's were $25 at Sam Goody and now Sam Goody is dead. Haven't seen a Sam Goody store in about 10 years.

[shinelikeitdoes]

exactly..bye bye sam goody. its also the reason the music industry is completely falling apart. rather than change with the times and offer reasonable prices for new formats, the industry wanted to ride its sinking ship of price gouging for mostly mediocre to poor content.

[Renegade Knight]

eh? 30 bucks a movie for BlueRay is a rip off when the DVD right next to it is 15 or less.
Now if CD's were 25 bucks and the (Insert Non Existant Format here) Right next to it that played in the CD players was 12 bucks it would be a fair comparison.

[Haasbat]

The only reason I want Blu-Ray is so i can Netflix Blu-Rays and watch them for only $1 more per month. I don't find there are THAT many movies I want to own anymore. Of course, I have some classics, that I will likely upgrade eventually, once the Godfather Trilogy is quadrulply remastered for Blu-Ray. But just for watching, Netflix is like a library card, and I don't mind having them only 1 day away, so that's the only reason I need Blu-Ray. Of course, once they offer their whole library Instantly, and I have a faster broadband connection, I won't need Netflix to mail me anything anymore.

[dworkman]

Godfather has already been quadruply remastered. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Godfather-Coppola-Restoration-Giftset-Blu-ray/dp/B000NTPDSW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1230593856&sr=8-1

Looks great too!

[tipoo_]

"I'm not a macodity!"


(Dr tran refrence)

[shinelikeitdoes]

blu ray is simply going to be too little too late to ever be as ubiquitous as regular dvd. if they DO add the netflix streaming or similar options being offered out there, most people will probably wind up finding that being more useful.

i can stream HD titles to my xbox360 right now, the selection is small but it will grow, and this will be the model of the future. monthly rental fees for access to huge libraries. the bandwidth and resolution issues will catch up eventually. with few exceptions, i could care less to ever *own* a disk anymore at all.

[Shaun822]

The best thing that could have happened for BR occurred when Comcast, Time Warner, and other ISPs decided to limit data transfers per month. Stream 1 true full HD moive a day and you will go over the monthly HD limits in between 2 and 3 weeks (less than that if the stream includes dolby true HD sound), add in all of your other internet activities such as e-mail, gaming, surfing, etc. and that time limit goes down quicker. Or get a BR disc and watch it as much as you want without having to worry about data transfer limits.

[shinelikeitdoes]

@ shaun822

i could still stream a number of movies at whatever price for exceeding bandwidth for less than the cost of ONE blu ray disk.

[skillingssucks]

No you can't. The "cost" of repeatedly exceeding your bandwidth cap is termination of your account.

[Renegade Knight]

@shinelikeitdoes

You can stream all you want and you still won't own the movie the say as if you bought it on DVD or BlueRay.

[loose_screw]

Until blueray hits below the $50 mark, I'm not buying. Call me a late adopter, but I waited for DVD to come down in price, and am glad I'm glad I'm not one of those people who paid a premium for DVD players. I was an early adopter once (can you say minidisc? ouch), never again!

[robertorosco]

lol @ minidisc :)

[mpheadley]

I'd actually rather see Blu-Ray become a stepping stone for a new chip-based home video format. A non-recordable flash-like chip for movies (that could employ AVCHD) and flash memory for recording HD. This technology is here now. Camcorders are already doing this. Someone just needs to mass produce it and make it affordable. Would solve the problem of storage. Think about storing 300-500 movies in a briefcase! It would solve the problem of scratches.

[Stories84]

But think how expensive blank media currently is. If an average BD title is 40GB in size, imagine what a 50GB SDHC card with media on it would cost. I mean, a blank 16GB SDHC card is around $40 on Amazon right now. I think we're still a bit of a ways away from that.

[ddiddy415]

Watch The Matrix on Blu-ray........Even if you have seen the movie a 100 times.....as soon as the movie starts.....it feels like the first time you've ever seen the movie. It just AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! It makes the dvd version look like vhs.....ha ha ha....vhs.....thats funny

[shinelikeitdoes]

too bad blu ray cant make the matrix sequels not suck.

[VitaPrimo]

My only -and stupid- complain is that they made the boxes slightly smaller than the DVD's. But, oh well, since my blu-ray collection is already growing, I guess the old DVDs will just phase out.. :)

[emgesp]

I have Blade Runner on Blu-ray, SD-DVD and VHS, so I thought I would do a pq comparison.

The most astounding difference was looking at the VHS and saying to myself, "How the hell did we enjoy this format?" It was if the once beautiful cinematography and visual effects were butchered by the worst surgeon in South America. Comparing the VHS to the newly restored Blu-ray version was a revelation.

VHS was a terrible format when it came to widescreen films. What ass-munch came up with the idea of pan & scan? The man should have been executed.

[dirty55409]

It's not becoming a commodity quite yet. I'm not one of those idiots that says "I'm not getting it until the players are under $100" because you can hardly find a good upconverting DVD player for that price. I have 1 friend with an HDTV and he just got a blu ray player for $250 which came with 2 Blu Ray Discs... I've had my PS3 for 2 years bought Speed for $5 at Gamestop. When the BD-Rs become cheaper and people can rip blu ray discs for cheap... then it'll become more mainstream.

[brettak81]

my Blu-ray player is my 60gb PS3. sad thing is that i don't own a single movie on Blu-ray because of the price. anytime i want a movie bad enough to buy it i'm still opting for the standard dvd from walmart, target, or even the used-dvd section at blockbuster.

$5 - $10 per movie is what i need. until Blu-ray drops significantly i can't begin my conversion of my collection just yet...

[lobo65]

You folks who say that Blu-Ray movies are too exepensive are right, but you should do what I do---buy them used from private sellers on Amazon. I usually wind up getting them for half the retail price that way.

[drriver]

lobo65 makes an excellent point --- even amazon's (as opposed to marketplace sellers) prices are often much much lower than retail. I really get a sense of finality when I buy a blu-ray. IMHO, blu-ray is as far as we need to go in terms of image and sound quality. The price for the discs will continue to drop as sony sells more PS3s and the bargain brands jump in with quality standalone players. Just a few days ago I bought First Blood on blu for $10 at the local Wal-Mart.

[cardfan1212]

Netflix is your answer. I prefer BR when possible.

And here's why. I got a 73" Mits. I got a Klipsch sound system, denon receiver, PS3.

Now why on God's earth would i buy a dvd when i can get the movie in 1080p on a BR disc?

I know i'm not the mainstream consumer that the writer is talking about. Yep, they'll be fine getting dvd's. The problem is having something to watch them on. Flat panels or hd monitors are still being adopted and are not the norm yet. As more go this route, having bought that 1080p set, then they'll naturally look at blu-ray next. If i haven't got a flat panel, then i've no reason to look beyond a dvd.

Keep in mind, consumers know how to buy a disc and put it in. Downloading or streaming movies will take even longer to adopt IMO (keep in mind, you have to view the general consumer as totally ignorant). Not to mention, try finding HD streaming or downloading that is in the same league as 1080p?

Blu-ray will have a limited life, but that is true of any digital format. Streaming and downloading has its place but they're are more constraints...speed of ISP, availability, caps, networking, consumer know how, etc.

[Josh BSN]

No need to complain about $25 and $30 prices. When you see those, skip over them and look elsewhere. If you won't take the time to look for a decent price, then you shouldn't be complaining about the high ones anyway =D

I only have a small blu-ray library, but they are 10 of the most popular blu-rays out there, and I paid ~$15 for all but one, which I paid $18 for.

[cpopken]

When VHS first came out they were VERY expensive, after they became more popular that Betamax the prices were still about 25-30 dollars. Granted most people just rented them than bought them. VCR's were about $400-600 when we first bought ours in 85. Even in 93 when I was in college the cheapest one I could find was $200. It took a long time for the prices to come down. Most people I know didn't buy movies on VHS, they just rented them and recorded from HBO or Cinemax. That was the advantage that VCR's had over DVD's at the beginning, you could record off of you TV.

When DVD's became popular the price differences between VHS was about $15-20. VHS was about $10-12 and DVD's were 25-30. People loved the quality of DVD's and the special features, so they were willing to pay the extra money. It also took a while for rental stores to carry DVD's. When it became mainstream it really took off. People bought 5.1 surround sound systems and wide screen TV's to take advantage of the full potential of the format. Now that HDTV's are becoming more popular people are going to want to take full advantage of their purchase. I have a 55 inch TV and can notice a big difference in DVD and Blu-ray.

Streaming may be the future, but it still is about 5 years off. But when it takes off there will still be a market for discs. People still buy movies even though you can rent them, so I think people will still want to own their favorite movies. Do you want to drag your player over to your friends house to watch a movie? There is enough of a market for both formats to survive. One great new feature they have added is the addition of a separate disc for digital copy. I think it is a great idea that I can own the movie and have a copy I can put on my mp3 player or computer to watch on the go.

Blu-ray will eventually replace DVD's, but for how long remains to be seen. Something new and better may come along.