Blu Ray Vs. Hd-dvd in gaming possibilities

[Black Dynamite]

Then again, there's ITunes.showing that when digital downloads are convenient, easy and priced right... nobody cares about that little round piece of plastic any more.

You would think, but having the hardware is still the preferred option i think for video movies. or plastic that is. i dont think thats overhauling for atleast 10 years.

[geerussell]

It'll be a lot sooner than 10 years before you can download a high def movie in a realistic amount of time.

Once the fast and convenient part comes into play, the attachment to the old platter of atoms goes by the wayside.

[Black Dynamite]

It'll be a lot sooner than 10 years before you can download a high def movie in a realistic amount of time.

Once the fast and convenient part comes into play, the attachment to the old platter of atoms goes by the wayside.

Maybe, but can't say I see that as being the case. The issue of loss data being comfortably and easily resolved, storage space, storage expenses (separate hard drives and usb drives for transfer), and just the idea of owning your own shit(which the downloading process may not feel like to most people anytime soon imho).

Also Comcast isnt the all to end all(and I say that as a current subscriber), financially I figure that new speed to cost a hefty bit of change and w/o the nfl package Directv offers, they'll always lose out to a certain chunk of customers nation wide. Personally the opinion for me and most people I know is that the preference is having the disc. There's still more comfort in that and also if you read alot of the comments on that article, the sentiment isnt really endorsing this idea as something they look forward too actually happening as an option. Cost may still be an issue along with availability.

If they offer this at anything close to affordable and full speeds on the uploads it'll be a nice option for people to get some hd downloaded. But I still think the Discs, insert cover and all, will be the more comfortable route.

Maybe there's a crop of people who feel otherwise, but I have met many of them.

[DE]

^I have to really disagree with that one.

There is no doubt that most media will be downloaded way before 10 years from now. Storage devices are already really cheap and are getting cheaper, only Blu-ray burning will be expensive over the next year or so.

Plus most, if not all major players in the entertainment market are developing platforms for downloadable media. Major retailers (Best Buy and Amazon in the states and MediaMarkt and Fnac in Europe to name some examples) are at the very least talking to important companies like Digital River to create platforms for downloading software and games and they're being backed by big time manufacturer's (EA Spain is just salivating that the prospect of a major retailer to be able to add videogames to its media platforms).

Important media conglomerates are looking to purchase companies with online platforms already created for downloading media.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are even (though slowly) moving in this direction with their online "home" pages for their gamers. For Sony, going the download route is fantastic; they already produce every single disc for their game systems and even though that cost is put back into the game, saving that cost, especially now with the cost of Blu-ray discs, will be vital as long as they're trailing Nintendo in profitability. And I wouldn't be surprised if this all helps them load their media with all sorts of good DRM and other antipiracy/anti-personal copy software they can come up with.

Companies have been scrambling like mad over the last 18 months to be ready for the market push to full media download sales, there's no doubt that we're going to be seeing this all come to fruition in the next couple of years.

[WTFchris]

Also Comcast isnt the all to end all(and I say that as a current subscriber), financially I figure that new speed to cost a hefty bit of change and w/o the nfl package Directv offers, they'll always lose out to a certain chunk of customers nation wide. Personally the opinion for me and most people I know is that the preference is having the disc. There's still more comfort in that and also if you read alot of the comments on that article, the sentiment isnt really endorsing this idea as something they look forward too actually happening as an option. Cost may still be an issue along with availability.

I hate Comcast. Not only do their prices suck compared to the Dish, their guide system and remote are horrible. After a while I figured out the nuances, but I still hate it. The listings should be flipped in the opposite order, the guide skips ahead to the next program time too soon (so you have a hard time figuring out what is actually on), you can't bring up program info without chopping the screen in half (Dish network lets you bring it up in a see thru mode as well as the guide method), their guide cuts off the bottom (i prefer the shrunken method of Dish because you can still see the full image and the score on game while surfing). It just plain sucks for the veteran channel surfer. The only thing I like is On Demand, and even that is messed up. Half the time the listings aren't even in alphabetic order correctly, and they only save your place for 24 hours, then you have to start over and FF, etc. the fast forwarding is so slow because you can't skip chapters or anything. The all on/off doesn't work half the time either for some reason.

And I agree on having something tangable. It makes it very easy to borrow from a friend, take a movie to someone else's house, etc.

[Black Dynamite]

And I agree on having something tangable. It makes it very easy to borrow from a friend, take a movie to someone else's house, etc.

I think its something lamer than that we gravitate to because you can do that with digital files. It's just the actual owning of something material , cover, box, design and all. I hate the look of a blank disc collection vs a neat shelf of dvd's and blu rays. .

[Black Dynamite]

^I have to really disagree with that one.

There is no doubt that most media will be downloaded way before 10 years from now. Storage devices are already really cheap and are getting cheaper, only Blu-ray burning will be expensive over the next year or so.

Plus most, if not all major players in the entertainment market are developing platforms for downloadable media. Major retailers (Best Buy and Amazon in the states and MediaMarkt and Fnac in Europe to name some examples) are at the very least talking to important companies like Digital River to create platforms for downloading software and games and they're being backed by big time manufacturer's (EA Spain is just salivating that the prospect of a major retailer to be able to add videogames to its media platforms).

Important media conglomerates are looking to purchase companies with online platforms already created for downloading media.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are even (though slowly) moving in this direction with their online "home" pages for their gamers. For Sony, going the download route is fantastic; they already produce every single disc for their game systems and even though that cost is put back into the game, saving that cost, especially now with the cost of Blu-ray discs, will be vital as long as they're trailing Nintendo in profitability. And I wouldn't be surprised if this all helps them load their media with all sorts of good DRM and other antipiracy/anti-personal copy software they can come up with.

Companies have been scrambling like mad over the last 18 months to be ready for the market push to full media download sales, there's no doubt that we're going to be seeing this all come to fruition in the next couple of years.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying its a lame option or that its not possible. But we arent talking about the companies. I can see why Sony or Microsoft's money loving selves would jump on. But that's hindering on the under the impression that Blu Ray prices won't drop much like dvd's did. Again maybe its just me, but i just see it as an option, but i dont see it knock blu rays out.

[DE]

I agree 100% with you on that, and I think you're absolutely right that it won't knock Blu-ray's out. That's why we saw a format war in the first place, the format that wins gets all that money in royalties, controls manufacturing, and can even dictate content control; there's a reason that 4 of the top optical drive manufacturer's: Philips, LG (number one if nothing has changed in the last year that I know of), Samsung and Matsushita were on the side of Blu-ray with Sony. But with them it's a win-win situation. You can have downloadable content in Blu-ray format and if you want to make a copy, save it to Blu-ray support (which means you'll have to have some sort of Blu-ray burner or recorder to do so). On top of that they'll be trying to find ways to control the copies of the content you do wish to save.

I see downloadable media and the format wars as too separate issues that get to come together at some point, and companies like Sony and Microsoft have a big stake in this since they have both manufacturing (for Microsoft it's the Xbox, content they want to offer customers and what they will have to support with Windows), format support in general and content control (meaning regional control or DRM control) interests involved.