When Will Dvds/Cds/Blue Ray Become Obsolete

stateofflux

mickrock wrote: »

I still use videotape to watch certain, er, films.

debbie does dallas? :pac:

Capt'n Midnight

mikemac1 wrote: »

My computer (is an imac) let me switch regions 5 times and then it locked permanently
I assume there is a way to crack it but I'm not the best with things like that

Down with this sort of thing

it's only function is to stop grey imports.

China has it's own region because that will stop piracy copyright infringement - even though the DVD's of other regions are made there anyway :rolleyes:


No need to crack , just bypass.
VLC will play DVD's of any region
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

Nothingbetter2d

i cancelled my netflix ac... watched most of their movies in the first month.

Zab

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

If the only way to obtain music was to pay to download it I'd never listen to new music again. In my opinion MP3s only serve two purposes: to get music for free or to get rare music that's not available elsewhere. I don't understand why anyone would choose to pay for an MP3 file when the CD is readily available.

Downloaded music is cheaper, doesn't involve having to go to a shop (which means it's quicker too) and is already in the format that most people are going to use it in anyway (whether that be mp3 or a lossless format).

If you're truly of the opinion that the packaging is of more importance than the music itself then I guess you'll be screwed if they do stop selling CDs.

Capt'n Midnight

Two things

I hate having to pay yet again when the physical media changes
wouldn't it be nice if you could legally download media you already own
(same for DRM but thankfully that's not as bad as it was)

You can re-sell physical media
what is the story on selling files ?

Irish Guitarist

Record companies shot themselves in the foot when they tried to solve the problem of illegal downloading by copy protecting CDs. All they did was punish customers who still bought their products. These CDs damaged a number of computers and CD and DVD players. The sound quality is below that of a regular CD too. They're not even legally allowed to be called CDs. If you have one of them look at the jewel case tray where the logo saying "Compact Disc Digital Audio" usually is and it won't be there.

I have a few of these CDs myself which I ripped to my computer and then burned to blank CDs. This was partly because I was afraid of damaging my stereo and partly because I liked the idea of copying a CD that's supposedly impossible to copy.

Irish Guitarist

Zab wrote: »

Downloaded music is cheaper, doesn't involve having to go to a shop (which means it's quicker too) and is already in the format that most people are going to use it in anyway (whether that be mp3 or a lossless format).

If you're truly of the opinion that the packaging is of more importance than the music itself then I guess you'll be screwed if they do stop selling CDs.

Going to a shop?! You mean actually walking somewhere? :eek:

MP3s sound crap too. I don't know how anyone can enjoy listening to an iPod with those terrible earphones that keep falling out of your ears.

Zab

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

Going to a shop?! You mean actually walking somewhere? :eek:

Come on man, you can do better than that.

MP3s sound crap too. I don't know how anyone can enjoy listening to an iPod with those terrible earphones that keep falling out of your ears.

Then don't use MP3s or in-ear headphones. You can still download music. However, most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a 320kbps MP3 and a lossless format, so MP3s are fine for them.

books4sale

Blu ray is a dead format.

1ZRed

CDs are nearly dead, DVDs aren't selling as much but I think blu ray will stay around. It won't be as popular as DVDs but its still picking up in sales.

I like streaming and downloads but there's a reason a blu ray is 50GB vs an 8GB download. The quality is not nearly the same because it's so compressed.

What's the point of a full HDTV if you're not watching it to the fullest?

Go off and watch planet earth on blu ray and you'll be a believer in the format.

books4sale

1ZRed wrote: »

Go off and watch planet earth on blu ray and you'll be a believer in the format.

Prefer watching it in reality TBH

DjFlin

They're going to stay around as long as people cant get the media other places. Just because you can afford a broadband package that you can use to get your media, doesnt mean the whole world can.

filmbuffboy

just because blu ray hasnt been mass adopted doesnt mean its a dead format.

its a niche market, for those who are willing to spend more for the best quality available.

Am Chile

I have noticed in the last few years the decline of music shops/video rental stores- going back to 2004 my local town had roughly 4 music shops' todays its just one that's left golden discs and the prices have went up-seen the loss of two xtra visions and the one chartbusters store that was there-others have prob seen a decline in their local area too- Id personally prefer renting or buying a film on a dvd or blue ray format instead of live streaming or downloading- same with music Id take Vinyl anyday over i tunes.

filmbuffboy

for those interested in BR vs DVD sales 2012:

Blu-ray sales increased by $1.75m (up 6.8%), while DVD sales decreased by $11.36m (down 11.5%)

despite BR sales increasing worldwide, and dvd sales dropping, dvd still has more of a market share. but just because they sell more, does not mean BR is obsolete. it still makes a lot of money for film companies, and as such will be around for a long time. there will still be those who prefer physical media rather than digital, for a very very long time. as long as there is demand, supply will remain.

link below:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/nielsen-videoscan-home-media-magazine-blu-ray-dvd-hd-dvd-stats-updated-weekly-86912-29.html#post591972

LincolnsBeard

Hopefully instant movie downloads never happen. I love Cinema and it would be a crime for it to disappear.

PickledLime

The album format is in rude health, you just have to look for it a bit. Physical media will probable become a niche market, but it will be the biggest one imaginable. I don't know a single person who counts themselves as a big fan of music who doesn't own a small mountain's worth of CDs or vinyl. As other people have said, no reason why both markets can't co-exist.

Granted, my computer is choc full of music (mp3s ripped at a minimum of 192kb/s), and that's fine to listen to if i'm working at the computer, or i can do a huge playlist up if guests are over, but I've a dedicated space for listening to music in my house. Beast of a hifi with a turntable, CD player and a good set of opened back headphones for late night sessions. The comfort and fidelity that people have for things like gaming and films are rarely afforded to music, but i like to think i have that. I can kick back with a new CD in comfort, with a decent reproduction of the music that lets me really get to know it.

Also, if i ever have kids who develop an interest in music, i'd like it for them to be able to get lost in and explore my collection, get sucked in by stuff like album covers, 'thank you' lists and the such, rather than them pressing 'ctrl+F'.

cjlawlor

If the quality of downloadable music improves to be at least as good as CD in terms of compression/bit rate etc., then CDs/Vinyl may well become a niche market. Until then, it's hard to match the experience of physical CD/Vinyl when compared to mp3s/aac files compressed by 90% or more. As much as I like the convenience of mp3/aac music for portable listening when I'm out and about, at home I only listen to Vinyl/CDs.

For some reason I don't feel the same about movies... I have a large DVD collection and maybe a dozen BluRays but since Netflix and the various online TV players (particularly with unblock-us enabled), I've got a library that expands itself without me needing to worry about storage... very handy/convenient.

I'd guess that physical media for movies will die off faster than Vinyl/CDs... A lot will change in the next 5 years.

Zab

cjlawlor wrote: »

If the quality of digital music improves to be at least as good as CD in terms of compression/bit rate etc.,

CD audio is digital. Some of the "major" vendors only sell MP3 files, but that's because the majority of people don't care. You can get CD quality FLACs from many other sites, such as hdtracks or the likes of bandcamp. Of course, the FLACs themselves will always be niche too, just like CDs will most likely become.

R.F.

filmbuffboy wrote: »

just because blu ray hasnt been mass adopted doesnt mean its a dead format.

its a niche market, for those who are willing to spend more for the best quality available.

Indeed, and some of the box sets released are items I will keep forever.

I hope blu ray sales keep building, even if it is slow.

filmbuffboy

R.F. wrote: »

Indeed, and some of the box sets released are items I will keep forever.

I hope blu ray sales keep building, even if it is slow.

blu ray accounts for 30% of the home video market. thats a lot of mulah. its not going anywhere anytime soon.

1ZRed

R.F. wrote: »

Indeed, and some of the box sets released are items I will keep forever.

I hope blu ray sales keep building, even if it is slow.

Once it gets nearly as cheap as DVDs it will catch on in sales fast. I'm surprised a big price drop hasn't happened yet considering its been out for 6 years and DVD prices remain fairly constant.

What I really hate about some blu rays though is that you have to buy the DVD as well. I realise it's for people who haven't upgraded to a HDTV but it keeps the cost up a bit compared to stand alone disc versions. I don't buy from retailers because it's such a rip off compared to online but that's the one problem I have when getting blu rays off amazon and you can't get the disc on its own.

In one way it's handy to just give the DVD away to friends since its no use though.

Irish Guitarist

Zab wrote: »

Come on man, you can do better than that.

I don't see how not having to go to a shop is a selling point. Personally I love browsing through record shops.

Then don't use MP3s or in-ear headphones. You can still download music. However, most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a 320kbps MP3 and a lossless format, so MP3s are fine for them.

The people that think MP3s are fine are the people who use music as background noise while they're jogging.

As for lossless files they take up loads of hard disk space. If I had all my albums on FLAC or whatever instead of CD I'd need about ten external hard drives.

On the occasions that I have downloaded music, which has mainly been concert recordings that aren't commercially available, I've just ended up burning them to CD to listen to on my stereo anyway.

Outkast_IRE

1ZRed wrote: »

Once it gets nearly as cheap as DVDs it will catch on in sales fast. I'm surprised a big price drop hasn't happened yet considering its been out for 6 years and DVD prices remain fairly constant.

What I really hate about some blu rays though is that you have to buy the DVD as well. I realise it's for people who haven't upgraded to a HDTV but it keeps the cost up a bit compared to stand alone disc versions. I don't buy from retailers because it's such a rip off compared to online but that's the one problem I have when getting blu rays off amazon and you can't get the disc on its own.

In one way it's handy to just give the DVD away to friends since its no use though.

Thats not he case most of the time though, id say 99% of my bluray collection came with bluray disc only . You should avoid the ones with the dvd aswell as they usually cost extra.

1ZRed

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Thats not he case most of the time though, id say 99% of my bluray collection came with bluray disc only . You should avoid the ones with the dvd aswell as they usually cost extra.

See that's it. On amazon it's hard to avoid them (because it's usually only one type of movie package sold) but still they work out to be cheaper than shops like hmv. I think single blu rays run around £8-12 and the double packs are £15+. It's still a better deal than €25 I see sometimes in store for the BR only.

criticalcritic

F*ck sake I just bought a blu ray player and now its going out of fashion

Outkast_IRE

1ZRed wrote: »

See that's it. On amazon it's hard to avoid them (because it's usually only one type of movie package sold) but still they work out to be cheaper than shops like hmv. I think single blu rays run around £8-12 and the double packs are £15+. It's still a better deal than €25 I see sometimes in store for the BR only.

ya this €25 lark for a blu-ray is only the industry killing itself. Fair enough i say if its some super duper special edition with extra box art and a special case and loads of other gear , but its not the special edition comes a year or two later , with a lower price and better stuff in it. This is the case with a few exceptions.

filmbuffboy

criticalcritic wrote: »

F*ck sake I just bought a blu ray player and now its going out of fashion

blu ray has never been 'in fashion'. only 30 percent of home video market is attributed to HD. its a niche market. not sure why you would be bothered if joe soap next door has one too or not???? your br player will still work regardless...

Capt'n Midnight

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

ya this €25 lark for a blu-ray is only the industry killing itself. Fair enough i say if its some super duper special edition with extra box art and a special case and loads of other gear , but its not the special edition comes a year or two later , with a lower price and better stuff in it. This is the case with a few exceptions.

The price is based on time and apart from some perennial classics drops off exponentially

wait a few years and the disc will be given away on newspaper

The media industry is determined to increase the copyright term from 70 years after the death of the last artist involved. In the pre digital age films such as the 1978 Superman ( at the time the sixth biggest grossing film ever ) weren't properly looked after and needed restoration in 2000. And IIRC it wasn't thanks to the studio it was actually Christopher Reeve who is responsible for saving it.

The digital age means that films will be preserved regardless of the studios neglect.

Zab

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I don't see how not having to go to a shop is a selling point. Personally I love browsing through record shops.
The people that think MP3s are fine are the people who use music as background noise while they're jogging.

I refuse to believe that you can't see how not having to go to a shop is a selling point. I can see your point about browsing, but I was replying to you saying you couldn't understand why people download music. I've explained why they do and you're just pretending to not understand. 320 kbps MP3s are used by way more people than you're implying too. They're not perfect but their portability can make up for that.

I suppose you don't see the advantage of having access to you entire collection wherever you are either. Sure, you can just drive home and pick up the CDs you need.

As for lossless files they take up loads of hard disk space. If I had all my albums on FLAC or whatever instead of CD I'd need about ten external hard drives.

A FLAC album is about 400MB, so a 1TB drive could hold ~2500 albums. You can get 3TB drives for about €150, so that would hold about 7500 albums. As you're an audiophile this isn't an issue, in the same way as dealing with 7500 CDs wouldn't be an issue.

On the occasions that I have downloaded music, which has mainly been concert recordings that aren't commercially available, I've just ended up burning them to CD to listen to on my stereo anyway.

This is an issue with your setup, not with the concept. A CD is a media that holds digital content, just like a hard drive but a different technology.

TheStook

Well they are already Useless but they will never ever be "Obsolete".
There will always be collectors and stuff. I for one have an extensive Dvd Collection and will always purchase Cd's from my favourite artists. Its nicer to have the physical thing tbh.

B.A._Baracus

I can't understand the way people say "the future is nigh! its digitial download"

Yes. It will be even more popular in the future. But it isnt the majority now & there will always be a physical product present. We are still a long way ahead where broadband is in every home like the common water tap is.

90s = cd (700mb)
Early 2000's = DVD (4.7 gb)
Recent times - Dual layer dvd (7gb) and Blu-Ray (25gb/50gb)

But yet all mediums above are still used. If you wanna get technical the CD is in use for 20+ years. But yet we still use it for music.

cjlawlor

Zab wrote: »

CD audio is digital.

Eh... I never said it wasn't! That's why I mentioned compression/bit-rate...

I know FLAC/Lossless etc. is available from certain sites (mainly independents such as Warp) but most people want to be able to fit their entire music collection on their iPod/iPhone or whatever portable device they use so MP3s are seen as more convenient.

Discostuy

I don't understand why people always have to see each format as mutually exclusive...they can all get along together and physical media will be around for a long while yet, especially if 4k media hits the market.

Download and on-demand services are improving rapidly which is great, but likewise you still have BR offering amazing Hi-Def quality...its never been a better time to be a music/home cinema enthusiast. Wanting one or the other to fail/die is crazy talk.

Personally myself, I ripped all my DVDs to a NAS so I have them available throughout the house at the press of a button.
But I still buy Blu-rays. They can't be matched on a 50" tv with proper surround sound.
Alien, Bladerunner, Lord of the Rings on BR are amazing over their DVD versions.

Likewise with music. I download albums and songs but I'd still buy a CD if it’s an album I really want and know I’ll listen to a lot. I ripped all my CDs in iTunes using Apple Lossless.
It means the songs are 10x bigger in size, but I just mix up my iPod every other week.

A good set of earphones and lossless music really make a huge difference, but little ear buds and random MP3s are great for the gym...best of all the worlds.

Beefy78

I've become a bit of a Blu-Ray snob in recent years. I find it difficult to go back to DVD and downloads don't cut it either. Over the last few years people have gone for bigger and better televisions and so it seems strange to me that some people think that there's not a place for retail sales of a physical HD format.

My position on all this has changed somewhat over the last couple of months. I love collecting DVDs and Blu-Rays. I have hundreds as I'm sure others do as well. TV box sets are my weakness but I must admit that I've been really surprised by the quality of Netflix. I'm watching shows on that which I would have been buying on DVD and not noticing a loss of picture quality. If a service like that can take hold and really increase the size of its catalogue then maybe I'll become less attached to the hundreds of plastic and cardboard boxes I have lining the sides of my living room.

Cokeistan

All downloads for me, saves so much physical space and all that. Kindle Books are awesome

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

wes

As some have said already, the Internet infrastructure, needs to catch up, and we need 0 download limits. There are also storage issues, if you want Bluray quality downloads, which would require a great deal of local storage, but thats changing with bigger and better hard drives. I would be more than happy to abandon physical media, but I think it will be a few years yet before everything is up to snuff imho.

Right now, I have moved away from Physical books and music, and I also download a lot of my video games from steam as well. Only get Blurays and Xbox 360 games etc on physical media, and will probably get that stuff digitally as well in time.

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

The next generation video codec is coming soon, HEVC.

Compared to H.264 (as found on BluRay discs and most online streams) it'll basically half the size or bandwidth you need for a given quality. So it'll definitely ease the load on the networks.

It'll be a few years before it's widely used and supported in devices, but not too long.

What it means is you'll get very high quality 720p and 1080p movie streams that only use up a couple of gigs bandwidth.