Blu-Ray disc sales soar...up 300%

Just kidding...

Sorry couldn't resist after I saw the Toshiba restarting HD DVD and HD DVD+ posts.

hehehe

lol...even if they did rise 300%, there is no chance of Blu-ray supplanting SD-DVD anytime soon

Let's not fool ourselves fellow mates,the future of high def. is digital downloads. The future of EVERYTHING is digital downloads. Our little chats about pretty shiny discs is about to end. Everything we buy today or tomorrow is already obsolete...we cannot win.

Resistance is futile?

I will take the shinny discs over downloads anyday )

Quote:
Fox market researchers estimate Blu-ray Disc sales will hit $1 billion in consumer spending in calendar 2008, up from an estimated $300 million for combined Blu-ray and HD DVD software in calendar 2007.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?sec_id=2&&article_ID=12401

Only an estimate but we might see it overshadow even your statement.

Um, whilst shopping at a local Target store this past evening, I notice iTunes download album cards starting to consume significant shelf space compared to Audio CD'S.

The required ownership of a shiny disc thing is rapidly being replaced by digital downloads, (how can iPod owners be so wrong), the next step is on to DVD and HDM discs.

"Eventually", downloads may replace physical media, but, until the MAJORITY of movie purchasers can "afford" to have a high-speed internet connection in their homes, and until either internet connections get fast enough, or compression technologies are good enough to allow for an ENTIRE movie download in under 1 minute, downloads WILL NOT replace physical media. That's just simple supply and demand laws.

If the main populous of your customers can't access your "downloads", or it takes 15 minutes (or longer) per movie to download, who is going to want to take 15 minutes per movie for someone with 100 movies in their collection, let alone some people here at DVD Town that have 700 or more movies in their collection?! That's just stupidity.

It will be a long, LONG time before physical media is no longer available.



- Josh

I don't see movie downloads being successful in the near future. Just look at all these cable providers compressing the hell out of their HD channels because of bandwidth limitations.

Have you been affected by over-compressed HD feeds?

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/05/poll-have-you-been-affected-by-over-compressed-hd-feeds/

For Rogers customers like myself here's a nice little shaft we're getting...

Bad news for Rogers Cable customers -- word on the street has it that your HD feeds may begin to look a little less fantastic in the coming days. According to Digital Home Canada, the carrier has outlined a plan in a technical briefing sent out by Rogers Network Engineering and Operations that will compress part of its high-definition lineup in order to "deliver more HD channels without having to use more bandwidth." As it stands, 15 HD channels are facing the dreaded HD Lite treatment effective April 9th, but curiously, we're not told which HD networks are actually on the docket to be added. Granted, we've yet to see a definitive confirmation, but given that Comcast has recently caught loads of flack for its decision to shove three HD channels on a single 6MHz slot, we suppose an awful trend could be (re)emerging.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/04/rogers-cable-to-implement-compression-on-some-hd-signals/

If I could get satelite I would. Paying for compressed HD that looks like garbage is backwards.

[Post edited by Falcon01 on Apr 6, 2008]

HD television requires 6.5 to 7Mb of data to stay HD. From what I know the cable guys used to be around 8-9Mb. Satelite is only broadcasting at 8.5Mb. They used to be 12Mb when it originally launched. The provider I use transmits HD at 7.5Mb with 1Mb of overhead allowance. HD-IPTV.

Falcon your problem with your cable feed is that there may be too many links/chains in the fence that may cause degredation. Cable Networks for the most part are using 30 or 40 year old cables in the ground. You may not notice the difference. But then again watch for your feed to have more mpeg noise blocking or blotching.

Quote:
If I could get satelite I would. Paying for compressed HD that looks like garbage is backwards.

I'll let you in on a little secret, ExpressVu's signal isn't much better than Rogers. The only one who seems to be able to do HD right is Star Choice...or you can use an external antenna to pick up you local stations.

Considering Starchoice is owned by SHAW Cable I highly doubt that. Bell Canada controls 85% of all Telecomunitcations and Television Network Broadcast Satellite transmissions in Canada, they provide services to Shaw, Rogers, Telus, and Starchoice. Starchoice used to be big game in Canada ten years ago when it had Superchannel, but since then sold it to Corus Entertainment. Starchoice may use less compression than Bell, but Bell is huge and still offers the most HD content in Canada. They also offer the most digital programming than any other provider in Canada. They are a bunch of theiving weiners though.

Reggie, your opinion of Bell is pretty accurate. I used to have ExpressVu (Bell satelite) before I moved and the image and sound were better than what i have right now with Rogers. Unfortunately Rogers is my only option for watching HD where I live unless I try over the air antennas route which I don't even know if there are any HD channels in Toronto over-the-air.

I use the ol' rabbit ears for my hd. viewing. Even have the "calling outer space" antenna on my roof.

BEAUTY!!! ONE OF THESE?


OR THIS?



[Post edited by ReaggieP on Apr 6, 2008]