Blu-ray prices not coming down — Page 7

Jay said:

You could remove encryption from all DVDs today and the number of discs being ripped to hard drives by tomorrow would have increased by exactly zero percent.

Anybody who has any interest whatsoever in "backing up" their DVDs or having a media server is already doing it. Not one consumer--not a single one--who doesn't understand that you can rip DVDs would be interested in ripping DVDs if they knew they could. And the same is true for Blu-ray.

We're nerds, dude. We get this stuff. We need this stuff. They don't.

Actually, I've talked to a couple of non nerds (I actually consider myself a Dork, nerds have zero social skills, I at least have some) that didn't know they could rip DVDs and asked how to do it.  After telling them about DVD Shrink, they started ripping all kinds.

The reality is that people don't usually want to go to the effort of setting up a media server because 1) it sounds complicated and 2) it takes a bit of work.  For the first one, companies like HP are taking the "complicated" out by giving people everything they need in a prebuilt box.  It does still take a bit of work though.  And most people would rather have a "media server" look like their existing equipment.  Otherwise, it looks like a PC hooked up to a TV (which it is) and they don't like that.

The only reason it wouldn't make a difference to remove encryption from DVDs is because there's already plenty of programs available for breaking the encryption.  Each and every one of them is free, so the only thing that would be saved is a little bit of time.  It takes about 15 mins (maybe less) for me to rip a movie from the disc to the hard drive.  If I had a large enough hard drive, I'd just leave it like that.  I'm trying to save some space though, so I end up converting them to mp4 in an mkv container.  That takes about an additional 5 hours, but I usually do it at night.  They look just as good as the DVD did (unless I get really close to the screen).  If it were as easy as clicking one button (MeGUI isn't that easy, but AutoGK practically is) then more people would do it.

Jay said:

Octorox said:

I disagree. If say, iTunes, had a DVD ripping feature to get your movies on your ipod I think a lot of people would rather do that than rebuy them from the itunes store.

This is quite a different situation from setting up a media server and connecting it to your TV.

Not really.  Your entire iPod is usually synced to iTunes on the computer.  Simply plugging your computers DVI into an available HDMI port on an HDTV is a pretty easy process.  From there, you just press play within iTunes.

If anything, the "Digital Copy" that's available on many newer releases makes setting up a media server way easier than it use to be.  Unfortunately, those files can only be played in either iTunes or Windows Media Player.  Combine any of those setups with an XBox 360 or PS3 for doing streaming and it's very easy to set the whole thing up.

i do have to thank SONY for being so stupid about everything this year.

(including the Blu-ray fiasco...)..

1) losing a ton of money this year, due to stupid marketing and overpriced items.

like the ps3... good job on keeping the price up, when the others were reducing

them..

this will help them stay in 3rd place, and keep losing money, and keep more people

from getting the ps3

2) marketing the ps3 as a media player instead of a game machine .. unfortunately there

are cheaper blu-ray players out there, so yes it hurts sony, but helps the format, oh well

3) sony keeps trying cram propietary and ridiculous formats on people, and at some point

they will just get tired of it.... i think it's pretty sad that it's taken sony how long to update

their music players? what a joke...... yeah, maybe when the sony name actually meant anything,

it was cool, but apple, and every other company out there has taken away your value for

branding on anything..

so in other words SONY, keep up the bad work, and keep messing up the company with

record losses, and losing market share.......

hopefully this will trickle down, and kill off a few more of sony's projects/hardware/ and other

mishaps they keep trying to push on people..

so you think you won the war with forcing people into blu-ray?, i hope you're enjoying the results of it..

later

-1

dark_jedi said:

Damn -1 your Bluray bashing is REALLY getting tiresome,Is there a way to ignore others posts on this board,it is always the same BS from the same people,really friggin tiresome,if you HATE Bluray and Sony JUST DON"T BUY THE STUFF! simple as that,every day we have to read your negativity,this thread is pretty informative aside from this BS.

sorry for the rant,and going off topic,but lets get back to the constructive criticism and such,I am really enjoying the arguments made here.

 

WOW the ignore works,no more negative posts,GREAT feature Jay,I love it.

well,

show me one positive article about how sony did last year, or how well they're doing now.

here's some commentary:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28788149/

Battered by slumping sales and a strong yen, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company expects to sink into a 150 billion yen ($1.7 billion) net loss for the fiscal year through March, a reversal from 369.4 billion yen profit the previous year.

Profitability had worsened at its video game and movies units, as well as with its financial businesses in Japan, including an insurer and Internet bank, it said.

etc..

so don't want face the reality? sure all the companies are hurting too.

but they didn't go around with the arrogance that sony had.

later

-1

Jay said:

lordjedi said:

Not really.  Your entire iPod is usually synced to iTunes on the computer.  Simply plugging your computers DVI into an available HDMI port on an HDTV is a pretty easy process.  From there, you just press play within iTunes.

If anything, the "Digital Copy" that's available on many newer releases makes setting up a media server way easier than it use to be.  Unfortunately, those files can only be played in either iTunes or Windows Media Player.  Combine any of those setups with an XBox 360 or PS3 for doing streaming and it's very easy to set the whole thing up.

You're ignoring a lot of intermediate steps and giving consumers way too much credit. You're also projecting your technical understanding onto the market again.

There is no comparison to be drawn between the process of connecting a media center to a TV and that of syncing an iPod with iTunes. There is no application that automatically rips a DVD for you upon insertion, stores it in a way that makes it accessible to Windows Media Center, and does all this without significant input from the user or the use of additional software like AnyDVD to break the encryption.

I can't think of one person in my entire family who knows what DVI and HDMI are, let alone that they're compatible.

Maybe not, but I'm sure they know that they need a cable to connect their HDMI laptop to their HDTV and that cable probably came with their laptop.

Think about it.  I'm not referring to connecting your iPod to your TV.  I'm referring to connecting a laptop to an HDTV with an HDMI cable and just playing right through iTunes on the screen.  It's not nearly as "technical" as you make it out to be.

You can easily setup DVD Shrink to run automatically upon insertion of a DVD.  The shrank files can be setup to save directly into your Windows Media Center folders.  The Window Media Center software would then automatically show the files when ready.  This is in fact how a lot of the HP Media Centers work (they don't give you DVD Shrink, it's a different program).  The only step the consumer really has to do is plug both ends of the little cable into the computer and the HDTV.

There are plenty of programs that do most (if not all) of this for you.  I've seen them running.  I personally don't like them because I want full control over the process, but the programs do exist.  Just because you haven't used them doesn't mean they aren't there.  They usually ship with prebuilt media center PCs that have 1 TB hard drives in them.

Jay said:

negative1 said: ...

I think the sales numbers will tell a different story once the price drops on the PS3. Ignoring all the doom and gloom from the wannabe tech morons in major publications, while in third place, Sony still sold a respectable number of consoles over the holidays, and a price drop in the spring should help pick up sales gradually throughout the year.

I also think the huge dividends that Sony will reap thanks to Blu-ray's success will help them on their recovery. 2009 is going to be a good year for Blu-ray.

That's doubtful Jay.  I'm sure Sony will get quite a bit from Blu-ray licensing, but it's not going to be nearly enough to help them.  Even a price drop on the PS3, in my mind, wouldn't help them at this point.  With $150 Blu-ray players coming, the PS3 would still cost twice that of a standalone player.  And if you're not into gaming, then the PS3 would just be a really expensive Blu-ray player.  If they had cut the price back in December, it would've helped a lot.

I'm sure Blu-ray will see great success this year, but I'm also sure that the PS3 will continue to be a flop when compared to the XBox and Wii.

I've built up a DVD collection for almost 10 years, so I'm not keen on converting (until/unless they stop releasing movies on DVD). At a store I saw clips of Spider-man 2 in a video showing off the quality of Blu-Ray on an HDTV, and it made everything look faker (I can only imagine what older movies look like).

I like having physical copies because I don't like having to back things up all the time. Plus I'm sentimental and like displaying a collection. :P

I just got my first HDTV and I'm so glad I did. It's only a 32" but I'm ASTONISHED at how fantastic my DVDs look on it (and my current DVD player doesn't even upscale, or have HDMI).

My next DVD player will be a blu-ray player. Why not? A blu-ray player can play and upscale all of my current DVDs, and I can find the occasional great deal on blu-ray discs- I recently got the first 6 James Bond blu-rays from Amazon for $6.60 each! (I always buy the media before I have anything to play it on :-P ). And I can rent the blu-rays that are too expensive to buy.

I was a bit underwhelmed by the way the picture looked on the HDTVs in the stores, too. But when I got mine up and running and made a few tweaks (ALWAYS turn that noise-reduction feature OFF!) I was really surprised at how fantastic everything looked. I only get about 6 channels in HD, but it's great to finally watch some of my favorite shows in hi-def.

Look for the SW films on Spike HD.  A few weeks ago I babysat my nephews and TPM and AOTC were on.  Even TPM, which we know was shot on real film, looked so clear that it like it was shot on video.  Whether that's good or bad from a creative/artistic perspective is a different discussion, though.

lordjedi said:

Jay said:

 

We're nerds, dude. We get this stuff. We need this stuff. They don't.

Actually, I've talked to a couple of non nerds (I actually consider myself a Dork, nerds have zero social skills, I at least have some) that didn't know they could rip DVDs and asked how to do it.  After telling them about DVD Shrink, they started ripping all kinds.

I know this is an old post, but it was at the very top of the screen, and I had never read it before. Just made me laugh, lj prefering to be considered a "dork" as opposed to a "nerd", because where I come from, "dork" means "penis" and has little to do with nerdiness.

Ziz said:  Even TPM, which we know was shot on real film, looked so clear that it like it was shot on video.  

And that's a good thing? :-P

Film still has a higher "resolution" than video methods. TPM will always look better than AOTC or ROTS for that reason.

That's not what I mean.  "Video" looks different than "film".  It's hard to put into words.

Look at a home family video.  Look at the dimensionality of it.  Look at the way things look.

Now look at a film.  It has a different feel to it.  It almost makes video look fake, as backwards as that sounds.

Film looks "real".  Video looks "live".

As far as i know the HD Phantom Menace being shown on tv was put through a digital video noise reduction process by Lucas to look that way.  Not a lot to recommend there as it removes fine detail.

Then there are other considerations the way the film shot, the lighting and the grain level of the stock used.

It is entirely possible Lucas used a low grain stock and Lenses that give it that video look.

They did not use the same cameras or lenses or cinematographers on the new movies.

Phantom Menace will continue to look like shit because the digital intermediate used back in 1999 vs the kind of scan Lucas could now do of the original camera negative at 4k a joke.  They are claiming a 2k was done back then.  Then edited on video by computer.  one generation less than the original photography.

The Special Editions master was only 1080P according to Lowry.  Lucas never even comissioned a new scan.  1080P to Lucas is good enough for video.

Ziz said:

That's not what I mean.  "Video" looks different than "film".  It's hard to put into words.

Look at a home family video.  Look at the dimensionality of it.  Look at the way things look.

Now look at a film.  It has a different feel to it.  It almost makes video look fake, as backwards as that sounds.

Film looks "real".  Video looks "live".

 

 

I think that's because of film's frame rate- 24 frames per second. It's like the difference between watching a TV drama and a sit-com. Sit-coms have traditionally been shot on videotape, dramas on film. Things shot on videotape always looked "flat" to me.

But I guess that's all changed now with digital cameras, HD cameras. If I'm not mistaken, HD movie cameras use a 24fps frame rate to simulate the look & feel of film. 

Just to drag this a bit back on topic to the thread title, I've been seeing more and more players in the $199 range.  I'm hoping they'll be down to $150 by the summer.