New Harris Poll bashes Blu ray!

[pixelthis]

[QUOTE=ldgibson76]I just read the June issue of "Home Theater Magazine"-'Hook me up column: "In Memoriam: HD DVD by Joshua Zyber.
The article lamely explains the how and why's of the demise of HD DVD. It's certainly a watered-down explanation of why HD DVD lost the war!

That being said, I must admit that you were WAY ahead of the curve. I know this is old news, but I believe that I need to acknowledged this. That way, I can continue to be a "troublemaker" with a little credibility!

HE was "ahead of the curve"?
What about MY prediction that blu would win the format war, and not only that I predicted the time frame.
This guys head is already huge, dont give credit where its not due

You get your "Due Res-spect Mon!"

YOU CAN GIVE HIM "RESPECT", I never will
Regards.

BTW, you have to admit that "Pixel" is funny at times! The 'airplane mechanic/767 in the garage' comeback was hilarious. Relevant analogy?! Debatable.

Actually its a perfect analogy.
Sir talky has said repeatedly that I know "nothing" about front projection CRT because I NEVER OWNED ONE.
Which is rediculous. Can you imagine a world where you wouldnt be an expert without owning the object you're "expert" in?
The 767 quip was just pointing out the idiodicy of a common sir talky statement, that in order to be knowledgable in a certain piece of gear, you have to OWN it.
Well, I dont own a bluray either, but I dont need to own one to know that it uses a blue laser, a standard CD disc tray like every other format over the last two and a half decades,
ETC.
AS for CRT I am currently "forgetting" everything I can about this obsolete format in order to make way for new stuff.
Like Winston in 1984 I am stuffing details of this horse and buggy contraption down the memory hole as fast as possible.
LIKE how it takes a pro to sit one up after its in place, how you sometimes have to
"twin" a pair in order to get decent light output, their finicky nature, their expense,
their relatively short lifespan, etc, etc,etc...

[Mr Peabody]

Pix your analogy falls a bit short, a therapist may be able to tell a couple how to have sex based on what the therapist reads in a book but if this therapist was a virgin they'd lack a bit of insight i'd say. If you had a BR player and watched a couple movies through your TV and didn't think it looked or sounded better than VOD then your argument would hold more water. If you don't care, then you don't care and should really stay out of discussions on whether it succeeds or how it compares to another source. I personally don't care if you and Sir T banter, it's sometimes entertaining and sometimes good points are actually brought out. I also know from experience you NEVER change your mind even when you are over whelmingly proved wrong. I also empathize because it is more than frustrating to me when those who lack equipment and knowledge jump on the band wagon of diminishing returns or attributes of better cables. Knowledge is a good thing but it's much better tempered with some experience.

[ldgibson76]

"Pixey"

Wave your "I'm the Man Flag" You've earned it! Yes, you too deserve props for the timely prediction of Blu ray's victory and HD DVD's demise. And I do agree with you to a certain extent regarding ownership of a product equating to having expert knowledge of that product. Plenty of people own a RPTV's, but how many can explain design concepts, specifications, or functionality?! And, on the opposite side of the argument, not every Mercedes Benz mechanic owns a Mercedes, but they can most likely explain every nuance of the car! So the analogy can be considered somewhat relevant.

You have my apologies for not acknowledging your foresight and unique perspective on various topics

I do like the fact that you keep "Sir T" on his toes! Keeps him sharp!

Regards.

[ldgibson76]

In the latest edition of Sound and Vision Magazine, "Ken C. Pohlmann", in the "Reality Bites" column, writes an article titled, "To the Victor Go the Spoils?" Pg. 26.

Basically giving his spin on Blu ray's winning of the battle, but now entering the WAR. A war that it could easily lose. In his words, "Soon, Blu ray might feel nostalgic for the days when it's only nemesis was its evil hi-def twin."
He believes, along with more and more industry pundits, that Downloading content in Hi-Def is the way of the future. And it ain't as far away as some have vehemently suggested! I'm not name dropping....."T"

Anyway, it was an interesting, if not thought provoking perspective, being that that has often been a topic of heated discussion on this website! Yo "Pixey"! Someone actually shares your outlook on the world! Go figure! Wave that flag Buddy!

Cheers.
Oh boy, I know I'm gonna get it now!

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

In the latest edition of Sound and Vision Magazine, "Ken C. Pohlmann", in the "Reality Bites" column, writes an article titled, "To the Victor Go the Spoils?" Pg. 26.

Basically giving his spin on Blu ray's winning of the battle, but now entering the WAR. A war that it could easily lose. In his words, "Soon, Blu ray might feel nostalgic for the days when it's only nemesis was its evil hi-def twin."
He believes, along with more and more industry pundits, that Downloading content in Hi-Def is the way of the future. And it ain't as far away as some have vehemently suggested! I'm not name dropping....."T"

Anyway, it was an interesting, if not thought provoking perspective, being that that has often been a topic of heated discussion on this website! Yo "Pixey"! Someone actually shares your outlook on the world! Go figure! Wave that flag Buddy!

Cheers.
Oh boy, I know I'm gonna get it now!

Your not in trouble at all. Ken Pohlmann has made alot of predictions. I remember he once said the DVD-A was going to kick the CD to the curb. We all know how that turned out

Alot of people say what Ken is saying. There are several problems with his prediction. The infrastructure isn't there, the quality isn't there, the interest isn't there, it ain't doing well now(bluray passed downloading last year in overall business), nobody but Apple and the studios are making anything with it(and downloading doesn't make the studios much revenue at all), the studios do not have a viable business model, cannot make the revenue they can off of disc based media and have watched the market lose money last year, and lastly and most important, the studio DO NOT WANT DOWNLOADING FOR SELL THROUGH AT THIS POINT. They will support media rental through downloading, but they do not want downloading to effect disc sales at this point, so they are not support it with much enthusiasm. Every analyst who knows the film and video industry well(and that does not include a certain journalist working for sound and vision) says that downloading en mass is still at least a decade away, and some say closer to fifteen years away. Bluray has plenty of time to establish itself by then, so I do not see downloading as a threat to bluray anytime soon.

Digital sell through is a disaster up to this point. Four companies have folded up their downloading sell through services because they lost money. If downloading is going to be a success, they are going to have to get people like myself in their camp. They are a looooong way from that at this point. Digital sell through will not happen until there is a viable business model that makes the studios as much money as the disc makes. Until that happens, I do not care what a journalist from Sound and Vision says, it is not going to happen.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

HE was "ahead of the curve"?
What about MY prediction that blu would win the format war, and not only that I predicted the time frame.
This guys head is already huge, dont give credit where its not due

Once again, trying to take credit when you don't deserve it. And you say my head is huge. Just saying YOU THINK bluray was going to win does not get you brownie points old fart. Alot of people said that. It when you say it, and have evidence and information that it was so that gets you credit. Credit for a guess, I think not

YOU CAN GIVE HIM "RESPECT", I never will
Regards.

Oh, I think I am going to lose some sleep tonight, and forever. I do not want a bottom feeding dumpster diver to give me anything.

Actually its a perfect analogy.
Sir talky has said repeatedly that I know "nothing" about front projection CRT because I NEVER OWNED ONE.
Which is rediculous. Can you imagine a world where you wouldnt be an expert without owning the object you're "expert" in?

Right pixie. I just read about how they remove tonsils and now I am ready for surgery! Opps I have never done tonsil removal, I just read about it, Oh I am an expert, I read about it!

The 767 quip was just pointing out the idiodicy of a common sir talky statement, that in order to be knowledgable in a certain piece of gear, you have to OWN it.
Well, I dont own a bluray either, but I dont need to own one to know that it uses a blue laser, a standard CD disc tray like every other format over the last two and a half decades,
ETC.

You have just sent the idiot factor off the charts with this one. So you know a bluray player uses a blue laser, and has a standard disc tray. Ooooooo, expert stuff.

Two people here who actually own a CRT front projection system have disputed your stupid claims. We both own the stuff that you talk about. You make really stupid claims about their light levels, and you have no clue because you have never seen their light levels, or what properly calibrated light level should be. You make a claim that CRT are all but gone, but I do not hear of any glut of CRT based televsion filling up dumps or recycling centers, 50 years worth of sales at that. All of your comments on CRT based front projection systems are just way off base, and that is because you have ZERO experience with them. ZERO! So to claim that you are some sort of expert on them is pretty absurd.

A person who is an expert on 767 doesn't have to own the plane, he works on them on a daily basis. He or she doesn't have to own it, but their personal experience working with them on a daily basis gives them that expert status. Its called familarity, experience and exposure. You have NONE of these with CRT projection systems, so what you have to say regarding them is for lack of experience, familarity and exposure, another two words would be utter ignorance.

AS for CRT I am currently "forgetting" everything I can about this obsolete format in order to make way for new stuff.
Like Winston in 1984 I am stuffing details of this horse and buggy contraption down the memory hole as fast as possible.
LIKE how it takes a pro to sit one up after its in place, how you sometimes have to
"twin" a pair in order to get decent light output, their finicky nature, their expense,
their relatively short lifespan, etc, etc,etc...

More of your senseless uneductated bull$hit. Your house must really smell. The purge probably isn't going to take long, you do not know all that much in the first place.

[pixelthis]

Pix your analogy falls a bit short, a therapist may be able to tell a couple how to have sex based on what the therapist reads in a book but if this therapist was a virgin they'd lack a bit of insight i'd say. If you had a BR player and watched a couple movies through your TV and didn't think it looked or sounded better than VOD then your argument would hold more water. If you don't care, then you don't care and should really stay out of discussions on whether it succeeds or how it compares to another source. I personally don't care if you and Sir T banter, it's sometimes entertaining and sometimes good points are actually brought out. I also know from experience you NEVER change your mind even when you are over whelmingly proved wrong. I also empathize because it is more than frustrating to me when those who lack equipment and knowledge jump on the band wagon of diminishing returns or attributes of better cables. Knowledge is a good thing but it's much better tempered with some experience.

where to start?
First off you're therapist deal is totally whack.
DR Spock (the baby doctor, not the science officer) was considered the preemminent
expert on raising children.
Didnt matter that he never had any.
THE ENGINEERS, TECHS, who bravely brought home Apollo 13, turning a disaster into a triump, how many actually flew an apollo space craft?
And I could go on and on.
As for whether or not the quality of BLU IS BETTER THAN vod, OF COURSE IT IS.
But what has that to do with the price of eggs?
You want "experience"?
Well, lets see, the conversation goes like this.
"Oh, your picture looks really great, what is that? A Laserdisc? Nice.
A SVHS player,recorder? NICE"
And then they go home and watch their Emerson VCR on their 25"Magnavox console TV.
VOD doesnt measure up to BLU IF...
You have a 1080p TV(half dont even have HDTV)
Otherwise the conversations in stores of people watching demos goes,
"So thats the new DVD player, whats the difference"?
The hardest thing for people in this hobby to get their brains around is a simple fact,
most of the market arent discerning buyers, quality freaks, most watch TV on SD tv SETS and some complain to the powers that be about having to "switch" in 2009".
I am constantly bringing this up because people keep forgetting it.
BUT the truth is that the sooner that blu becomes a mass market product, the better for all of us.
I like HIGHQ myself, but for casual watching VOD is fine, this is the case for most people.
I have gone down the road to the point that DVD just doesnt cut it anymore, but HD on VOD ISNT THAT BAD, AND FOR THOSE WITHOUT hd (half) DVD is fine.
if I GET A bLU PLAYER NOW, then I will get discs, and I can barely afford the player,
and they arent quite ready for primetime anyway.
But I have watched them , know they are a quality product.
But you have to allocate resources, and VOD is fine right now.
It seems that some on this board are rather well insulated.
Well, let me explain it to you.
People are stuck with SUV'S, cant make the payments, or afford gas, and NOBODY wants em. Try to trade one in.
And people are losing their houses, food prices are sky high.
In other words this is a terrible time to launch a new format that to a lot is a fifth wheel anyway.
And if they dont start cutting player prices then say hello to the laserdisc of the future, BLU-RAY.
Seen it happen before, will see it again.
I wanted Blu to "win" the format war, because I want a nice format to collect movies in.
But if people dont buy the things in a lot higher quanties than they are now it
WILL fail, Sony, like the dinosaur chewing his cud and calmly watching the asteroid hit,
doesnt seem to understand that the paradigm has changed, the world is wired.
I remember when the video stores started springing up, now they are in trouble,
and NETFLIX, WHICH IS ALREADY KICKING THEIR BUTT, WILL HAVE A 99$ MOVIE MACHINE SOON.
Thats what people will buy if the buy anything its three hundred dollars cheaper than a blu player!
People just need a reality check on this board is all I AM SAYING.
What the mass market does affects us perfectionists, whether we want it to or NOT

[filecat13]

Well, geez, I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but predicting the future is a pretty dicey enterprise. Some might say it's a fool's game.

Whether it's Ken Pohlman, pixelthis, Sir Terence, Mr. Peabody, Harris Interactive, NPD, or me, it's all just a mixture of past experience, conjecture, and smoke blowing.

Our local weather persons (are any of them actually meteorologists? maybe one or two) attempt to predict down to the % how much the chances of rain are. Yet with all their past experience with weather patterns and local conditions, with the conjecture they can glean from the sophisticated machines that give them effing pictures and graphs and data to use, and with all their assured posturing on TV, of the ten times they predicted 70% or higher chances of rain, only four panned out. Of the five times they predicted less that 20% chances of rain, it rained area-wide twice. And four times it rained when there was no prediction of rain of any kind.

So you can't accept my analogy because you think there's no logical connection between these two like conditions? Fine. How about we check the Wii forecasts from the past?

Predictions for the Wii's failure were abundant. Polls "conclusively demonstrated" that consumers wanted HD output, that they wanted significantly higher polygonal output from the processor, that they wanted gamepad-style controllers, that they wanted sophisticated games with violent/mature/fantasy storylines, that they were not interested in a toy, that they had moved on to XBox and PS3 land, that they wanted a BR or DV DVD drive in it, and that Nintendo had signed its own death warrant by staking its future on the underpowered, underperforming, too simplistic, and too different Wii.

At best the Wii would be a distant, third-place also-ran, and at worst, the company was doomed. DOOMED I tell you. Except it surpassed the PS3 in sales in July and the XBox in September of last year.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3162770

So the thing about polls and predictions is that they shouldn't be trusted too far, regardless of who makes them.

Gather your closest ten friends, look them in the eye, and poll them on this question. "If I experienced massive kidney failure and were going to die, if you were a match would you give me a kidney if it meant saving my life?" Six of the ten might say, "Sure, you bet. I would. No question."

Now fast forward two years and suddenly your life hangs in the balance for want of a kidney. How many of the six would still answer yes? How many would say there are special conditions that keep them from doing it? How many would pray that they would not be a match? How many would have an excuse that a spouse or child or parent begged them not to do it?

Well, you'd only need ONE to actually do it for you to survive, so the poll be damned. It's what people actually do, not what they say they'll do, that matters.*

I still think downloads will become the dominant means of all media delivery within five years.** Others think its ten or maybe even twelve years away. None of us knows, if we're being honest; we're just making predictions based on past experience, conjecture, and a bit of smoke blowing. I'll admit smoke blowing is fun. What do I really care if I'm wrong?

In either case, I don't think it matters for the survival of BR. BR just needs enough people to support it for it to be profitable enough to survive.


* I'm not a Christian, but this seems germane. People don't always do what you think they will (or what they say).

Matthew 21:28-31"What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?"

**I stated in another thread I'll buy two forum members beers if it doesn't happen. I've got 4.5 years to go. You boys can start licking your lips.

[pixelthis]

In the latest edition of Sound and Vision Magazine, "Ken C. Pohlmann", in the "Reality Bites" column, writes an article titled, "To the Victor Go the Spoils?" Pg. 26.

Basically giving his spin on Blu ray's winning of the battle, but now entering the WAR. A war that it could easily lose. In his words, "Soon, Blu ray might feel nostalgic for the days when it's only nemesis was its evil hi-def twin."
He believes, along with more and more industry pundits, that Downloading content in Hi-Def is the way of the future. And it ain't as far away as some have vehemently suggested! I'm not name dropping....."T"

Anyway, it was an interesting, if not thought provoking perspective, being that that has often been a topic of heated discussion on this website! Yo "Pixey"! Someone actually shares your outlook on the world! Go figure! Wave that flag Buddy!

Cheers.
Oh boy, I know I'm gonna get it now!

ken Pohlmann has been saying this for years, I read an interesting op-ed piece in his rag
quite some time ago.
You couldnt say he shares MY views, MORE like that I share HIS.
He is a learned and intelligent man, but these ideas arent just his, they are pretty much
what most in the industry think.
Verizon is completing A SECTION OF THEIR NET WITH "FIBER TO THE HOUSE",
which will be like a vette to the rest of the means of access firebird.
FAST, VERY FAST.
But you wont need this extra speed to even download HD, you can do that now with
DSL/CABLE.
And VOD OFF OF CABLE IS WAY AHEAD OF THE NET.
Which is basically what I have been saying, Blu is mainly going to be a collectors medium,
eventually, the question is will it gain some mainstream status before becoming the "laserdisc of the future", or will most go straight from DVD to downloading?
Blu needs to "buy" marketshare instead of trying in vain to sell players at exorbiant prices
(doesnt matter what it costs to make em, but what people will pay) they should be
getting these out there.
I saw Pannys new Blu, "final version"(these "versions" dont help either) for 499$.
Anybody been in a circuit or bestbuy lately? Business is kinda "slow" not to put too fine a point on it.
Pohlman's words resonated when I FIRST READ THEM, AND THE STILL RING TRUE TODAY.
And the BDA can ignore them at their own risk.
Which they probably will.
THE Car AND portable CD player are disapearing, some are in cars but how many use them?
SAME THING THAT HAPPENED TO AUDIO ON DISC WILL HAPPEN TO VIDEO ON DISC , just like the videocassette player followed the audiocassette, so will VOD
follow MOD(music on demand)

[pixelthis]

Once again, trying to take credit when you don't deserve it. And you say my head is huge. Just saying YOU THINK bluray was going to win does not get you brownie points old fart. Alot of people said that. It when you say it, and have evidence and information that it was so that gets you credit. Credit for a guess, I think not

The facts are the facts, I dont need "credit" I have money in the bank on this one

Oh, I think I am going to lose some sleep tonight, and forever. I do not want a bottom feeding dumpster diver to give me anything.

You have nothing to worry about

Right pixie. I just read about how they remove tonsils and now I am ready for surgery! Opps I have never done tonsil removal, I just read about it, Oh I am an expert, I read about it!

THE ONLY THING YOU'RE "EXPERT" ON IS RUNNING YOUR MOUTH

Two people here who actually own a CRT front projection system have disputed your stupid claims. We both own the stuff that you talk about. You make really stupid claims about their light levels, and you have no clue because you have never seen their light levels, or what properly calibrated light level should be. You make a claim that CRT are all but gone, but I do not hear of any glut of CRT based televsion filling up dumps or recycling centers, 50 years worth of sales at that. All of your comments on CRT based front projection systems are just way off base, and that is because you have ZERO experience with them. ZERO! So to claim that you are some sort of expert on them is pretty absurd.

I WORKED in a place for a decade that had panny front projectors in all of their conference rooms and spent quite a few hours watching them, and helping set them up sometime.
THEY WERE LOUD, TOOK UP QUITE A BIT OF SPACE, and you had to watch them in a dark room, which the employees loved because they could nap.
AS SOON as possible they were all replaced by DLP projectors.
Too bad you werent there, you could have went "dumpster diving" for parts.
YOU call me a "dumpster diver" and you're the one scrounging around for parts for your obsolete crap.

A person who is an expert on 767 doesn't have to own the plane, he works on them on a daily basis. He or she doesn't have to own it, but their personal experience working with them on a daily basis gives them that expert status. Its called familarity, experience and exposure. You have NONE of these with CRT projection systems, so what you have to say regarding them is for lack of experience, familarity and exposure, another two words would be utter ignorance.

I can take a set apart and put it back together, on my panny 47 I had to go in and disconnect the scan velocity modulation, which was on the yoke for some reason, had to unhook it from each yoke.
THERE IS NOTHING MYSTICAL ABOUT FRONT PROJECTION CRT , it works on the same basic premise as other CRT based display systems, just because I have rented most of my life, and never had a place to put one doesnt mean I am not familiar.
I followed CRT front projection with some interest, but it always seemed a bit too expensive and troublesome for me.
Doesnt mean I dont know anything about them, whats to know?

More of your senseless uneductated bull$hit. Your house must really smell. The purge probably isn't going to take long, you do not know all that much in the first place.

Still more than you

[filecat13]

NPD info as spun by analysts.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/I...-It-63156.html

[ldgibson76]

NPD info as spun by analysts.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/I...-It-63156.html

And this is by the "NPD"? Are you checkin' this out "Sir T"?!!!!

Peace!

[filecat13]

RoughlyDrafted Magazine (online) add this to the discussion.

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/0...g-up-apple-tv/

As some have also reported before, I generally enjoy Dilger's articles, and this one is no exception. He's got me waiting for the next installment for sure.

The part that resonated the most to me was this:

America is now discussing Net Neutrality as if freedom of speech is a controversial idea. The real discussion should be much further ahead, instead discussing how we can induce companies to provide better, faster and cheaper Internet service as a matter of national security and competitiveness. Instead, the only political discussions are related to preserving copyright, because the media companies have the money to buy political capital.

This is unlikely to change until the government begins seeing the need to serve citizens rather than just making it easier for corporations to make money.

Yeah, I'd like the government to think about me from time to time. Farging bastiges.

It'll be interesting to see how Apple manages the three barriers Dilger identifies and which we have discussed here. It's because I think that Apple already has a strategy that I hold to the five year timeline for the emergence of real downloadable HD content. Otherwise, I would agree more easily with the opinion that it's probably 10-12 years away.

That time frame is only loosely tied to the technological challenges, IMO. It's much more encumbered by greed and control issues.

[Mr Peabody]

Downloading and increased VOD is on it's way. How much market it gets and how effective will yet to be seen. If you haven't yet, you may want to read the article I posted on News & Rumors, Have you seen what the cable companies are doing lately, or something like that. The cable companies are working on standardizing their systems and equipment. Panasonic and a couple other manufacturers are coming out with TV's that have the cable box built in so you can have interactivity without renting a box. Cables big hurdle is updating their infrastructure and not everyone having access. It will take a long time getting fiber optics in place. Same with downloading, it will take some time to get a faster internet with more bandwidth. Although I did hear a buzz about cable coming out with a faster broadband connection, I'm talking faster than has ever been available before.

[filecat13]

A lot will depend on who wins the presidential election. McCain and Obama have significantly different ideas about net neutrality and high speed access for all. Clinton's position is unclear to me.

Imagine even 10% of the money being spent on Iraq being spent here at home on publicly-funded infrastructure build out.

[Mr Peabody]

A lot will depend on who wins the presidential election. McCain and Obama have significantly different ideas about net neutrality and high speed access for all. Clinton's position is unclear to me.

Imagine even 10% of the money being spent on Iraq being spent here at home on publicly-funded infrastructure build out.

You said it. And imagine what that could have done for our education system. I heard the U.S. don't even compete in the international math contest anymore. I some how missed McCain and Obama's views on the internet. I'd think Obama being a democrat was more supportive since Al invented it

[pixelthis]

And this is by the "NPD"? Are you checkin' this out "Sir T"?!!!!

Peace!

PROBABLY NOT.
For him denial aint just a river in Egypt.
TEN bILLON DOWNLOADS, and counting.
What I have been saying, basically.
MARKETING TYPES COME ALONG WITH THEIR "plans" and ideas of the future, which promptly get shredded by the free market.
those pesky consumers just dont wanna go along with the plans of THE BDA to make a mint off of high priced players.
When 85% of your instaled user base is a game platform you have problems.
OR maybe they are like me.
I paid 450 $ for my first DVD player, it had SVHS and that was it.
Done that enough times.
think I WILL WAIT AWHILE this time.
If I HIT A WINDFALL, MAYBE, but otherwise, I think I will wait awhile.
And plenty agree with me.

[filecat13]

I some how missed McCain and Obama's views on the internet. I'd think Obama being a democrat was more supportive since Al invented it

I think Obama might put Internet Al on his cabinet as the nation's first CTO.

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/0...itics-of-tech/

Yes, it's biased and it's not the definitive article on the subject, but it's still a good snapshot.

[Mr Peabody]

That was interesting how MS got employees to pose as ordinary citizens on the internet. I wonder if that's Sir T's role, he sure is a BR, BDA and industry defender no matter what. You rarely see a person who totally agrees with everything a company does. He isn't very professional in his posts but maybe that's part of the guise.

[blackraven]

BR sales are doing very well here. Some of the stores cant keep BR players in stock because they are selling so well. And most people I talk to dont want to be bothered downloading off the internet to obtain their movies. People are busy and many people have limited computer skills and have cheap computers with little HD space. Its more convienent to stop by Blockbuster and browse the movie section and rent a movie. Especially when many people have more than one TV and may want to move it around the house, especially with kids. Now I live in the Burbs and it may be differnent for people living in the city.

I think that VOD will be huge but I dont think BR will disappear.

[Mr Peabody]

I agree Blackraven, I am one who is not interested in the least in download, I haven't even downloaded music and not sure I would even know how. I'd probably hit download, it would do it but I'd never find it again. You can't ignore though that there are factions out there who is trying to push it. I believe it will be an alternative and all these things will exist in the market much the same way they do now. There will undoubtedly be a fight for market share though. You can see the camps gearing up, cable companies are standardizing and working with manufacturers to make compatible TV's with the boxes built in. Netflix will be looking to do something because their profits are starting to drop due to mail cost. I think the popularity of Netflix and Blockbusters competitor service shows at least some are looking for more convenience. I miss some of the movies that come out so I like to browse the isles of the video store. That's one thing I used to like about the movie channels but satelite and cable are so expensive who can keep the premiums anymore.

[Ajani]

That was interesting how MS got employees to pose as ordinary citizens on the internet. I wonder if that's Sir T's role, he sure is a BR, BDA and industry defender no matter what. You rarely see a person who totally agrees with everything a company does. He isn't very professional in his posts but maybe that's part of the guise.

LOL.... I think we just have too many hardcore fanatics on this site.... Sir T's love of Blu Ray is not that much worse than some of the brand worship that regularly occurs in the audio threads.... Though, who knows? Some of those 'fanatics' could be on manufacturer's payrolls

[pixelthis]

BR sales are doing very well here. Some of the stores cant keep BR players in stock because they are selling so well. And most people I talk to dont want to be bothered downloading off the internet to obtain their movies. People are busy and many people have limited computer skills and have cheap computers with little HD space. Its more convienent to stop by Blockbuster and browse the movie section and rent a movie. Especially when many people have more than one TV and may want to move it around the house, especially with kids. Now I live in the Burbs and it may be differnent for people living in the city.

I think that VOD will be huge but I dont think BR will diappear.

I certainly hope not. I am counting on this format to "archive" my favorite movies.
I understand that initaal cost of players in a new format are high, until economies
of scale kick in, but they need to get the price of these down as soon as posible.
And boost the PR, show peeps the advantage of blu.
You can win the "format war" AND LOSE THE PEACE

[blackraven]

The other problem with VOD is who wants to have your computer hooked up to your TV. If the cable and sat. providers offer onscreen browsing of hundreds if not thousands of titles then it may work, But on screen browsing will be a pain in the A$$, having to scroll through hundreds of titles. Its so much easier to pop over to BB and walk the isles and pick up the movie and read the review on the box to see if you want to rent it. We ususally rent 2-3 movies at a time.

The other thing is that there are still millions of people who cant afford the $50-60 per month cable TV bill along with the $50 per month cable internet fee. Dial up is still alive and well.

And with gas prices going up and its affect on food prices and all commodities, less people are going to be able to afford cable services such as TV and internet. So owning a BR player and renting movies the old fashion way still makes sense.

[Mr Peabody]

Hey Pix, I saw you can get a PS3 from Wal-mart for $399.00 and you get a $100.00 gift card. I'm not sure all the details but surely it's on their website.