Blu ray is doing well even during the slow season

[Woochifer]

Let's get back to reality.

As I've indicated before, back up your points with concrete facts and actual trend info, otherwise it's just more pointless pontificating on your part. So many of the points that you repeatedly state over and over have zero basis in reality, other than your own wishful thinking. The world doesn't revolve around the ideological rantings of techies, or is that news to you?

1. Just because he (and every other person who owns movies) may one day no longer be able to purchase a player that won't play BR disks, means very little because it will still play DVDs. This is a crucial difference from the comparison with VHS - DVD players could not play the old format.

What good does that do if the studios pull the plug on the DVD format? Once that happens, your universe of availability is limited to whatever already on store shelves -- and that inventory won't take long to absorb. All you have to do is look at the timing of when support for the audio cassette and VHS formats got discontinued, which was not long after they lost their respective market leads.

2. The slower adoption rate of BR in the rest of the world could just as well mean that they never will convert completely to BR. In many other industrialized countries the problems with download speeds and infrastructure are far less serious. Downloads could very well become the dominant format there and then it will be those countries that will be pointing out to us that we're stuck with a niche technology. The argument that the rest of the world is backwards or behind because they aren't adopting the latest technology is bigoted, ignorant, and the reason we are so often labeled "ugly Americans." You two exemplify the worst stereotypical traits towards the rest of the world.

Oh please. Using hard facts about sales and consumer behavior is a sign of being the "ugly American"? So much for reality.

3. Whether you want to admit it or not, the fact that BR isn't conveniently cracked continues to be an impediment to it's widespread adoption.

Like I've asked before, where's the evidence that software pirates are the ones purchasing DVDs and keeping that format alive? This just defies simple math and logic. All it takes is one copy to get cracked and distributed through torrent trackers for an illegal download to make it way across the internet. I mean, if everybody needed to buy their own DVD copy, what's the point of illegal downloading?

Your ideological rants about this issue don't even register with the average consumer, most of whom don't visit torrent sites. Do you really think that an average consumer is going to choose a DVD over a Blu-ray just because it's easier to copy? If that's the case, then why does Blu-ray now make up the majority of sales for a lot of new releases?

4. Along with the technological arrogance you two exhibit, you also exhibit it's associated sibling: a most irritating and stereotypical economic arrogance. You presume that the rest of the world is going to follow the US in an expensive technology, when acceptable alternatives are less expensive.

Past is prologue. Then again, trend data doesn't mean anything to you, so that reference probably went over your head.

5. And for the trifecta, you also exhibit an unabashed arrogance with your devil-may-care consumerism and waste, something else the rest of the world so resents about us. The very real possibility that the rest of the world doesn't dispose of technologies as readily as we do, for practical reasons as well as environmental ones, is so anathema to your world view, that you can't even fathom its possibility. As hard as the pill is for you to swallow, the rest of the world may very likely stay with DVD simply because it's good for others, and the sacrifice to stay with the alternative of upconversion may be a compromise they're willing to make to meet that end.

Really? Show me a part of the world that where 8-track tapes, LPs, audio cassettes, Laserdiscs, CED discs, or any number of other defunct consumer formats currently dominate. Presuming that the rest of the world doesn't "dispose of technologies" is patently absurd. The timing of when technological transitions occur might vary from region to region, but that certainly doesn't mean that they don't occur. If anything, you're making a rather arrogant ugly American presumption here that the rest of the world has no desire to embrace newer technologies and is content with staying behind.

6. Finally, what you two just can't get through your arrogant heads is that most of these impediments can be addressed with downloads. They:

- will soon be true HD
- are technologically feasible
- can more easily be cracked and re-distributed
- are better for the environment
- are more economically sound to implement
- and will benefit more people in more places

Perhaps we should take a closer look at what is happening in a country that is indeed more advanced than we are: Japan.

Show me the evidence that this is actually having an impact on how consumers consume media other than short-form clips. All of your rantings are nothing more than end-state predictions, with absolutely nothing demonstrating how we're actually going to get there and no evidence that the we're even heading in that direction in any significant way. T and I have both indicated that downloads will someday be the primary media distribution, but you fall into the typical techie trap in presuming that manifest destiny is going to happen almost overnight. Past precedent and current trends and behavior don't seem to mean squat to you. Why you think you can make prognostications about the market on this basis is always an amusing exercise to witness.