Another thing: physical discs will be the most reliable store media for a long time (a single BR can store 6 months of CT and MRI studies of a major diagnostic clinic, and it will last for decades) because every modern hard disk isn’t fail proof yet, though they are more versatile. My advice: administrate content on an external HD and make regular safe copies on a BR. 

It will take sometime before BR become obsolete (I would guess a decade) because the Internet still isn’t quick enough for downloading 1080 videos in reasonable time (but it will be soon) . In the meanwhile, do what any reasonable person would do: use both technologies during this transition period! 

Another thing: physical discs will be the most reliable store media for a long time (a single BR can store 6 months of CT and MRI studies of a major diagnostic clinic, and it will last for decades) because every modern hard disk isn’t fail proof yet, though they are more versatile. My advice: administrate content on an external HD and make regular safe copies on a BR. 

It will take sometime before BR become obsolete (I would guess a decade) because the Internet still isn’t quick enough for downloading 1080 videos in reasonable time (but it will be soon) . In the meanwhile, do what any reasonable person would do: use both technologies during this transition period! 

I started connecting through a windows VPN. It costs an extra 5.30 a month but that’s not bad given the alternatives. I went VPN Authority to access US content. Works exactly as I wanted it to.

Not to mention – we’ve been here before.  Would you have also scoffed “no one will listen to MP3′s, their quality isn’t even as good as CD, much less SACD.”
Do you even know where you might buy an SACD today?  It’s the analogy to the BluRay, where DVD is a analogous to the CD.  And guess what NetFlix is analagous to?
We’ve been here before.

Google “good enough technology”.  And consider history that’s already happened.

As stated by SlashGear at the end of the article.  It is only a mere opinion from the writer.  One that is narrow minded…. Sure, you could stream, I stream from Netflix.  I encourage and spread the word around to my work colleagues and friends.  I ditched the disc option from Netflix and downgraded to the stream only package.  I found myself keeping a disc for periods of 4 to 5 months.  After my second incident of keeping a disc for that long; I changed my Netflix plan.  

The true issue here is options, without them we would simply have whatever the tech industry would rather us use/have.  I’m not a lemming and I prefer to be given options than stripped of them.  I like the option of purchasing a Bluray if I wish, on the merit of the quality I will receive and also as a collector.  Prime example of dependance on one type only (streaming and On Demand),  ATT&T Uverse crashed a couple of times at my old residence.  Once on a Friday, when I just wanted to watch some recorded content from earlier in that week.  I couldn’t view anything online, until the technician was scheduled.  I wound up watching a Bluray from my library.  

A good analogy here would be the option of buying everything online.  Why would you ever want to go to a store and pay more!?  Well, I would, I’m sure I sound stupid.  Pay more?  I like prefer Best Buy as my gadget store.  Why? Because I could actually see an item before purchasing.  Same goes for returning a defect item.  Online buying does not allow you that option.  Wait a few days while your item is replaced by whatever currier you opted for.  The argument to this question could be something like; go to the store and then order online.  Well, if all stores that sell TVs and other technology goes out of business, due to internet buying, then customers that enjoy the feature of browsing at retail stores and then purchasing online will have a serious rude awakening.

Just a thought.

J

Regarding your 6GB difference, I presume you’re referring to the triple-layer HD DVD, which was never commercially released and was unlikely to be compatible with existing players.  The only “superior” standard feature HD DVD had was internet support, which really had no impact given that every major Blu-ray release and the vast majority of Blu-ray players all have internet support.  

Other areas where Blu-ray technology is superior include discs for writing (HD DVD-R had serious compatibility issues and HDDVD-RW was never released), and its unlikely HD DVD could have supported the additional bandwidth required for 3D (Blu-ray now supports 64Mb/sec for 3D movies).

Regarding the “healthy wad of cash” you claim Sony paid the studios (which has never been confirmed), you seem to forget that Toshiba and Microsoft started this game by paying Paramount $100M to drop Blu-ray support.

There will always be a few people, the audio geeks, who can appreciate the finest, nitpicky, tweaky details of audio and have the knowledge of how to get there.  They represent likely 1/10th of 1% of the population.

There will be many more people – nearly everyone else – who appreciate the convenience that MP3′s brought them.  iPods.  Portability.  Downloadability.  Integration.  Sharing.  Common format among friends.

This happened with the birth of MP3′s… what came after CD’s? SACD’s? Sure… but MP3′s took over.  SACD’s aren’t everywhere… in fact, music stores still mostly stock CD’s.  Interesting impact the MP3 had on things.

Same thing for home theater:  (my prediction has been dead on for years now)

What comes after DVD?  BluRay?  Sure… but downloadable video will take over.  BluRay isn’t everywhere… in fact, rental stores still mostly have DVD’s.  And Netflix is available on my computer, my Xbox, and my TV.

Physical discs, trips to rent, powering on equipment, switching sources… just to watch a movie… is so 1990′s at this point. 

Welcome to the future.  We’ve already been here, in the audio industry – for the same reasons – so it’s not hard to predict what’ll happen… for the same reasons.  I’m no Nostradomus, but I bet I’m more accurate.

And i had this largely foreseen since the HD formats stated to show up. This because the music world tried it back when DVD first launched, in the form of higher bitrate CDs on DVD media. In both cases the new format bring few tangible benefits, and require the user to replace most of his existing gear to benefit. This on top of issues like the player not wanting to talk to the screen because i think the screen is violating the anti-piracy measures.

That’s the logistical aspect, not counting the true level of quality of the audio/video that others have mentioned and you somewhat skimmed over. 

Then there’s the idea, the concept of actually *owning* something. If they put the LOTR Extended edition on Insta Watch, great. I still want to actually own it. 

It’s like saying “I live next door to (Blockbuster/Hastings/whatever) so I don’t need to ever buy a movie ever again!”

It works for some movies, but for those that you really want the best (both in quality and in actually owning it), accept no substitutes. 

I’ll still stream TV shows and filler content where I don’t care about picture quality, but I’ll save the real experience type of content for BluRay.

I guess flash memory is half baked too and acdead end?

If you want the utmost in picture and sound, it’s the only way to go.

If you are fine with compromises, well, go for it.

I have been getting my utmost favorite movies on Blu-ray.

I only see a scant few movies at the local cinema rip off joint. I figure I can just buy the Blu-ray disc for not really anymore when it comes out and I know own the movie.

I do not want to buy movies for download. Not much cheaper than disc, you get all the extras with the disc, and you get better sound and other options as well. And some discs come with a digital copy as well.

Blu-ray for me.

I love these articles that people write to convince themselves they do not need said technology.

So, in an Ideal world where we all have unlimited, super fast broadband, yes let us do away with the plastic circles altogether! In the meantime though I think I’ll still be buying DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

It’s somewhat reassuring to know that a ragtag team of Davids (Netflix, HDD manufacturers, Redbox, the premise of cloud computing) can still demolish the best-laid plans of Goliath (Sony).

At the end of a long day, I just want something I am into. At this point 95 percent of what I watch is from the internet in the form of podcasts, netlfix, hulu, digital downloads, or UK VPN connection to watch BBC online. And occasional a travel to the theater to see some awesome. But this only occurs a few times a year.  With a media server set up and plex on my apple tv, we have want for nothing.

To be fair, I agree that most people don’t have a set up that allows them to enjoy the aural benefits of BD nor are they packing high end tv’s.  Can you hear the difference between DD and DTS-HD MA if you’re only using a Sony or Panasonic HTIB with crappy little satellite speakers and a passive sub????  No, I didn’t think so.  I do have a premium home theater set up that cost as much as some compact cars–so BD is worth it to me.  But most people would be just as happy with netflix in 720p (and that’s enough to satisfy me a good part of the time).  

I don’t mind Netflix.  It *is* convenient.  But in Canada at least, it’s pretty much a failure due to content restrictions.  Try explaining to the wife that you’re saving money by paying for Netflix, when you still have to pay the monthly fee, and 90% of the movies are only getting onto Netflix 12 months after they came out on Blu-Ray at the local video store.