Discs Will Dominate Until At Least 2015
Yeah, I can see this as being believable. As much a fan of digital distribution as I am, there’s just way too many people who affectionately cling to old media, not to mention the high definition folks who just demand Blu-ray quality. Have to love the irony that Redbox is a major reason, yet studios are so opposed to it.
Part of the reason is that there’s no clear point of transition. When DVDs came out, you only really had one choice – get a DVD player. With digital distribution, you have a number of choices in both hardware and sources. It’s a much more complex environment.
Many of the “affectionate”
Many of the “affectionate” people hanging onto their media are doing so for fear of DRM coming along and preventing us from being able to play what we’ve already purchased (i.e. downloaded). But, if I was able to stream Blu-ray quality movies, I might very well give that a try every so often for newer releases (after the mandatory 28 day waiting period, of course).
I don’t think studios hate
I don’t think studios hate Redbox at all. Studios have been happy to take money from Redbox and strike deals with them like the 28-day window. From the studio POV, it’s just another opportunity to get their product into the market and get paid.
swoon wrote:I don’t think
[quote=swoon]
I don’t think studios hate Redbox at all. Studios have been happy to take money from Redbox and strike deals with them like the 28-day window. From the studio POV, it’s just another opportunity to get their product into the market and get paid.
[/quote]
Eh…you have to believe they were significantly happier when Blockbuster was ruling the rental world and charging $4-6 per rental. You know a larger cut of that was going in their pocket
That model has been dead for
That model has been dead for a while and yet they are making more money today than in 1995. Today, there are way more outlet for studios to pimp their wares. The windowing opportunities they have set up and continue to set up all create more ways to get paid.
I am a physical media type. I
I am a physical media type. I enjoy the idea of holding a purchased item in my hand. I also know that the simplicity of placing the disc in the device and pressing play is something that my wife dearly prefers.
Now if I were able to enjoy the same audio/video standards that are available via Blu-Ray then I may be swayed. Keep in mind that this process would need to be as simple as placing a disc in the tray as well. But I suspect that this will be unlikely to happen in the near future.
We won’t see exact Blu-ray
We won’t see exact Blu-ray replication for quite some time, but VUDU is a very good experience with HDX.
swoon wrote:
We won’t see
[quote=swoon]
We won’t see exact Blu-ray replication for quite some time
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Agreed. I just don’t think that there is the bandwidth to stream BD quality picture and sound. Until there is, I’m sticking with the discs.
If they’re actually planning
If they’re actually planning on pushing 4k TVs in a few years, I expect we’ll see another physical format move in; I don’t see bandwidth opening to that degree any time soon.
I don’t see people moving
I don’t see people moving from 1080p TVs to 4k TVs for many, many years.