Is Blu- Ray,the Beta-Max of the Future ?

Question

and why is blu-ray so bloody expensive , is it that good

Answer 1

All current technologies will eventually be eclipsed in the near future.

If it is the latest and greatest...(& in Demand)...

It is expensive...'til the next great thing

to come down the line makes its appearance...

then it will be (discounted) as yesterdays news!

If you don't know...you are obviously out of touch...

got to Circuit City, or Best Buy....

and smell the sony!  or

Hurry Up and Wait!

Answer 2

No - it's not worth $5 to $10 more per dvd.  It's probably worth it to get something that upconverts to HD because that is worth it - but upconverted dvd really is as good as BRD, not to mention the availability of titles, player software updates, and region code restriction problems.

Answer 3

No, HD DVD was the Beta-Max...Blu-ray is the VHS of the 'now'.

Just like minidisk & DAT tapes were a basic failure and MP3 players won.

Answer 4

Bluray is today. DVD is yesterday.

You decide if it's worth it...

Video:

DVD - 300,000 pixels maximimum resolution, even upscaled

Bluray - 2,000,000 pixels is standard, with better color depth too

Audio:

DVD - compressed Dolby Digital 5.1 and compressed DTS

Bluray - uncompressed (flac quality and beyond!) Dolby True HD and HDDTS, both up to 7.1

Additional features:

Bluray - new models coming in May will connect to the Internet for a true interactive experience

There is no competing technology on the horizon to outstrip Bluray. Downloading will become more popular but to match Bluray, you will need to download over 20gig to watch one 2 hour movie.

We should see product in the $299 range starting in May. (I personally don't think that's too much of a premium to pay for a dramatically better picture and amazing sound!)

Answer 5

I think you meant HD-DVD! Blu-Ray is the future

Answer 6

Tshnob says that upconverted DVD is as good as BD.

NOPE!

The difference is tremendous. The native image is far sharper and has better color. BD also has much better audio.

The question is whether that matters to you.

Apparantly it doesn't matter to Tshnob or his equipment doesn't support all of the advantages of BD.

This is a question of Worth vs. Value. Worth is determined by what someone is willing to pay. The worth of gold is very high because someone is willing to pay it. The same with stocks and in this case Blu-Ray.

It's value is more personal. Will you get personal enjoyment equal to what you spend on it? Does it enrich your life to that degree? Does it matter to you?

It you have a 27" TV and want to watch movies now and aren't going to upgrade your TV and if you don't have a surround sound system then Blu-Ray won't matter to you. It has no increased value to you over DVD.

If however you have a 50" plasma and a surround sound system and want to buy a movie player that you will keep for a long time then Blu-Ray will be of great value to you.

Expect continued transition to BD to continue and Blu-Ray is expected to be the prefered medium after about 1 1/2 to 2 years.

Answer 7

In February, the HD-DVD and BlueRay DVD battle was officially over.

HD-DVD is your Beta-max of the future, as BlueRay won.  ;)

Answer 8

To answer the second part of your question first.  Blu-ray is a new technology and has dropped faster in price than DVD after its first 2 years on the market.  Blu-ray has the ability to produce a picture better than broadcasted HD.  Yes, it is THAT good.

Is Blu-ray the next Beta-max?  No one knows that answer.  The consumer marketplace is finicky.  Betamax provided higher quality video than VHS, yet VHS prevailed.  HD-DVD lost the format war with Blu-ray, even though HD-DVD offered the same picture quality for lower prices.   HD-DVD's dimise isn't a guarantee that Blu-ray will succeed in the marketplace.  Before Mp3, there was a format war for the next digital portable media.  You had Mini-Disc, DCC tape, and DAT.  None of those formats took off.  Here is another example.  In Audio you had DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD, two music formats with higher resolution than CD, yet neither format took off.  Competing with Blu-ray are Video On Demand  services like Vudu, AppleTv, Xbox Live Video Marketplace, and Cable TV's On-Demand service.  Although Blu-ray offers a higher quality picture, things like price or convenience could play a larger role in what consumers decide is the next step in video playback.

Answer 9

I'm not so sure of that. Blu-Ray won the war against HD-DVD. If anything, I'd say that Blu-Ray is the VHS of today since VHS won the war in VHS vs Beta-max.

Answer 10

The war Is over. Blu-Ray is VHS if HD-DVD were Betamax.

The reason this was important was because many consider this the last true tangible format war. With many claiming that digital distribution will replace it in the near future.

The reason why Blu-Ray is more expensive was because it is a completely new process for manufacturing to be able to produce the disks readable by the blue laser. The prices were consistently going down during the format war. But now that its over they appear to be rising again.

In either case, the PS3 is the most future-proof device since it has network connectivity and a hard-drive that are necessary for BD+  playback. (Right now I believe it is the only player that can do it).

And to asnwer your 'is it that good?' question... I love my Blu-Ray player. I also have a 1080p tv and a 7.1 sound system so anything that can take advantage of those two things I love (looks at his PS3 and hugs it). If you are willing to put a serious investment into your home entertainment system and you like owning discs then, yes, it is that good.

If you are more than happy with DVD, I would wait a few years while the technology cools down and prices come down to normal.