Blu-ray has won the format war? So then what that means?

Question

Does it mean that there will be now DVDs? If that's the cease, NOT everyone has HDTV or blu-ray player.

Answer 1

I suppose it means HD-DVDs will become obsolete and people people will being to buy blu-ray players. . .this situation is similar to the CD versus cassette war. . .

Given a decade or so, DVDs will become obsolete too

Answer 2

Everyone always seems to say "people are going to have to rebuy their DVD collection" when they switch.  The fact is you don't have to.  DVDs will upscale on a Bluray player.  It won't look as good as the Bluray version, but a lot of people won't notice that distinction.

Also, with the higher Bluray disc capacity, Bluray could store 1440p material.  Sure, you might have to bump it to a dual layer Bluray, but it's not out of the question.  Bluray players are 1080p right now anyhow.  No consumer TVs even dislay 1440p.

As far as digital downloads go, those are far from taking over.  You'd have to convince every elderly and young person that digital downloads are better, and then teach them how to do it on the computer.  Physical media is a lot easier, in that you just put it in the machine.  There's no confusion.

Also, infrastructure in the US is definitely not up to par.  "Broadband" is defined as 256kbps.  With Comcast filtering Bittorrent traffic, there's no way an industry of legit BT downloads will ever crop up.  The ISPs will just squash it in an effort to "not let 5% of users consume 99% of the bandwidth."

It's also a common trend that people who backed HD DVD are suddenly pro-downloads.  Just go to HD DVD forums and you'll notice that.

Answer 3

The so-called format war wasn't the real war -- it was the first battle to see which HD format would get a shot at replacing DVD. The REAL format war is whether Blu-ray can replace DVD before the next NEW BIG THING comes along.

The facts are that as of today, unless prices are reduced to DVD levels (and they won't be for reasons given below), Blu-ray will not replace DVD.

The majority of consumers either can't or would only get minimal benefit from Blu-ray (no HDTV, no HDMI, too small HDTV, non-1080p HDTV) or will choose not to convert (too expensive (and this is an increasingly important issue in a recession in the US), DVD good enough, confused, etc.), so Blu-ray will remain a niche product (max ~30% of consumers) with the majority of consumers staying with DVD.

In the meantime non-1080p (lower video quality than Blu-ray, but better than DVD) download / VOD options will slowly become available as infrastructure, improved compression and other technology is developed. And in the meantime better colour space (eg. xvYCC) and 10 or 12 bit colour 1080p (or maybe even 1440p) video will likely be developed which will make Blu-ray obsolete.

The chances of Blu-ray being sold for the same price as DVD is low. The whole purpose of the studios introducing Blu-ray and HD DVD disks was to get consumers to repurchase their DVD libraries and rekindle demand for video disks. But, the cost of producing a Blu-ray disk is significantly higher than DVD, so unless studios are willing to accept a lower profit margin they can't sell Blu-ray disks for a lower cost. At the same time they can't stop selling DVDs since they are still the mainstay of their market.

In fact, the most logical approach would be for studios to sell Blu-ray disks as a premium higher quality alternative to DVD. A lot like Criterion DVDs vs regular DVDs.

The present bargain prices on Blu-ray disks -- necessary to fight off HD DVD -- are working against the studios since consumers have got used to them and don't buy at full price.

That said, this is all speculation at this point and we'll have to see.

Answer 4

i think gradually that will be the case, just like vhs to dvd

Answer 5

It'll take time for the complete transition to occur like with vhs to dvd. eventually it'll change but that will take at least 5 years to completely change.

Answer 6

It hasn't totally panned out yet but it was just a repeat of the VHS vs Betamax video war. Now it's "sorted" the manufacturers know what to make and we know what to buy.

Answer 7

that may be true eventually but it won't happen overnight - look at vhs/betamax, cd/cassette and vcr/dvd recorder.

Answer 8

As with the transition from VHS to DVD, The transition from DVD to BLU-RAY will take a few years. Now that the format war has all but been sorted, the major manufactorers of Blu-Ray equipment will step up production, helping to drive down prices. In the meantime regular DVDs will continue to be produced for a few years yet.

Answer 9

no but eventually DVD it will get behind just like VHS and besides that a lot of major movie industries are switching to blu-ray to release their material....so in a couple of years when....HDTV's cost less as well as blu-ray player's the regular DVD as we know it will extinct.