5 Reasons To Buy A Blu-Ray Player Soon

Some were recently quick to mentioned that the Blu-Ray format is a dead format and won't last pass 2012.

They often used 5 reasons:

HD movie download/Streaming

I often wrote that it's not going to work like people would like. DRM(Digital Right Manegement) and Internet bandwidth are the 2 most problems that it will face.

DRM: Too many companies in that field making files/streams not readable by different players.

Internet Bandwidth: Even if they are able to deliver exact Blu-Ray spec(35GB movie) to your home, do you think your ISP will give you unlimited bandwidth? Hell no! Most are now capping it.  "Honey, what HD movie should we watch this month. We still have 40GB left for this month"

Plus, it's easier to loan a physical object to a friend or family member.

BD-Live

I tried this feature a few weeks ago for the first time on my PS3 and I was not that impressed. It's just starting to be added in newer Blu-Ray movies(profile 2.0). The first DVDs were not that great too, menu wise.

But, I see something that could be useful. They could make available the secondary extras(SD or HD) thus keeping the maximum space for the movie, the main extras and deleted scenes. A fan of the movie could then optionally download it later on.

If a Blu-Ray movie becomes an unexpected cult classic, they could then produce new featurettes without "double dipping" the fan.  This way, they don't need to invest much money for extras. If they see that it's downloaded more and more, then they could create a Special Edition based on a poll from the BD-Live menu. Fans could they offer a feedback to see if it's worth while or not.

Samsung thinks Blu-Ray won't last 2012

Yes, Samsung is a big company. Then again, Toshiba is too and still failed with HD-DVD. It's hard for anyone to predict the future.

Consumers will have to move to HD eventually.  Some countries, like the US, will stop analog signal next year so more US consumers will have an HDTV at home. If you can afford the price difference, 1080P is better for a larger screen.

Once they tasted HD, they will want more sources thus Blu-Ray players will better fit for that new craving. Since I went HD(Satellite), I'm 90% watching those HD channel. I still watch SD channel because no HD is available but less and less. I heard many doing the same thing but did not believed it until I was in the same situation.

Other physical media

We went from VHS(analog) to DVD(SD digital) to now Blu-Ray(HD digital).  The technology will always play catchup to quality signal like Super Hi-Vision(4K). Some are talking about flash drive or something else. My guest and to not make consumers too mad will be to stay with Blu-Ray(4K). They have a 500GB BD prototype. You DVD collection and Blu-Ray collection will still be able to play( like the PS3 does now) in the new players. Plus, it would remove the need for an extra player(Flash) or a more costly hybrid player(Flash/BD).

DVD is good enough

I agree that DVD is good enough but for certain movies genre like comedies. I stopped buying DVDs in the last 2-3 years when HD was about to get out. But if I had a strong need(okay, a gun to my head) between a chick movie DVD for $27(many extras) and a Blu-Ray(less extras) for $27, I would take the Blu-Ray. At least, I would have quality picture of the chicks in the movie.

Even with Blu-Ray, I don't buy them like I first did with DVDs. I don't have all the time in the world now. The transfer of older movies(like Die Hard) were not that great on HD. Newer movies are better.  I even passed on buying ID4 because it was not the extended version(lame move from Fox).

In other words: You don't need to replace all your DVD movies. They will still play in your Blu-Ray player.

If you are still the kind of person to buy DVDs, then buying the Blu-Ray version will be better on the long run. It's like Anamorphic Widescreen DVDs:  not until I got my HDTV that I understood why it was better versus Full Screen DVD. I got a few non Widescreen DVDs in my collection.

Conclusion

No, Blu-Ray is not perfect. But if you do buy a Blu-Ray player soon, I would still go with the PS3 for my money. It has BD-Live(profile 2.0) versus cheaper Blu-Ray models(profile 1.1). It can also play games.

The price is now between $250-300. You can always wait for Black Friday to pay less for a setup box BD player(profile 1.1 or 2.0). If you don't care about the Internet feature, a profile 1.1 is also another option.

Something to think about: Almost 140Millions PS2 were sold since it was launched 8 years ago. Now, think of the PS3 in a few years plus add the normal Blu-Ray players. That's a huge potential market for movie studios.

Blu-Ray Players

Playstation 3