Re: Blu-Ray players now $499

On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:44:50 -0700 Kevin <webman6@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
|
| "Wes Newell" <w.newell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
| news:sbDDj.5704$sw3.4532@xxxxxxxxxxx
|> That's the price I see advertised now in current newspaper ads/flyers.
|> They were $399 a few weeks ago.
|
| Newegg price is $349. Until the price of the movies goes under $15, I
| personally would not buy one. In fact, I don't think I'll be buying one
| until the price for movies is under $12. And/or the price of the player is
| under $120. The consumer is being ripped off, big-time, by both the movie
| and electronics industry.
|
| Not to mention that Blu-Ray may not be the format choice for very long.

I almost bought Blu-Ray. But a few months ago I realized that within just
a year or two, the greater use I intended to make of Blu-Ray would be better
done with with the coming alternative. That use was not for buying movies
and other video content in a pre-recorded format. That use was occaisional
distribution of computer data, various backup formats, and "rescue discs".
The direction I see things going now is a media format that is much more
technologically flexible. It can come out in a greater capacity easily and
not be incompatible (with one silly exception that has mostly been dealt
with, now). That media is the USB and Firewire attached storage device,
especially those based on Flash technology, but including those with more
traditional hard drive technology.

When Betamax and VHS came out, it became a practical convenience for people
to now watch movies at home. It didn't totally kill the movie theatre
business, because NTSC TVs just didn't really cut it for that big screen
experience. But it dented it pretty good. DVDs have given it another big
whack. And now big screen LCD/Plasma/Projection TV systems, combined with
high definition, will give the theatre business a big blow. But that is
not the ultimate in convenience. You still have to go to the store to get
a DVD, or wait for one to arrive in the mail.

The internet will eventually decimate the theatre business. About the only
things we won't get to experience at home are the dark sticky floors and the
lady in front with the big hair. Movies on demand, being offered by many
cable companies, will have a similar effect (but I believe even that will
be killed off in about 10 to 12 years by the internet).

The storage media will be whatever is in that PVR box. And it can be huge.
A 1TB hard drive is about $300, now.

And for video you make for yourself, you can save them on your computer,
or on a memory stick (USB, CF, SDHC, etc). PVR makers will probably soon
have a means for you to inject your home videos into them (afterall if
you fill them up sooner, you may buy the next generation storage capacity
increase). Expect them to have memory card and USB slots to load your own.

If you want to send your own video to someone else, you make a copy using
your computer, onto another memory stick ... or eventually do so over the
internet (as soon as Youtube, or someone else, cranks up the capacity and
lets you store big videos and control access).

And this doesn't even yet touch on all the capabilities further opened for
those who are accessing the content by theft, who won't be limited by the
various DRM systems that content producers will insist on for many more
years to come.

The optical disc is already obsolete. It needs to get out of the way.

FYI, I have used the spelling "disc" for optical discs, and "disk" for
hard drive disks. So there, you now know why you see it spelled the way
I do it.

--
|---------------------------------------/----------------------------------|
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below |
| first name lower case at ipal.net / spamtrap-2008-03-18-2029@xxxxxxxx |
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