RU.08 said:

team_negative1 said:

Blu-ray has failed, because it has not replaced DVD's, or become the primary format for most releases. Digital releases have, and will overtake it.
Team Negative1

Bluray was never going to replace DVD. Had the HD-DVD format won the war then perhaps it may have, but Bluray couldn't for the simple fact that it requires publishers to use AACS encryption. I have a number of DVDs from small publishers that are not encrypted. This makes it less financially viable for a small publisher to release an obscure title on the format. This was a clear oversight, but one brought about because of the clear influence from the Hollywood stakeholders who only care about their interests and not the interests of the smaller publishers.

Digital releases are not the same quality as Bluray. It's like Laserdisc vs VHS - most consumers were happy with VHS, and those who really wanted the best quality invested in Laserdiscs. Same thing with Bluray vs Digital. Just because most consumers may prefer Digital doesn't mean that Bluray has "failed", it simply means it fits a different purpose. Whether it is fit for that purpose, however, is debatable because it will be faced with lower sales and the mandatory AACS encryption is a barrier to smaller releases.

I think that Blu-Ray is a niche format and the market is small. Most people who own Blu-Ray players are Movie Buffs who want the superior picture & sound quality. This reminds me of LaserDisc because most LaserDisc owners were Movie Buffs.

When Blu-Ray won the format war in 2008 I assumed that DVD would stick around for another ten years but now I don't see it going anywhere.

DVD is still the standard, everything is released on DVD whereas not everything is released on Blu-Ray. A friend of mine sells Audio & Video equipment and he told me that the DVD sales are still higher than Blu-Ray. Most people chose to stick with DVD because they think that it is good enough for them.