Are Blu-rays Going To Take Over DVDs?

[JamesG]

Recently, I've been seeing a couple of things that makes it look like they are trying to phase out DVDs and make Blu-rays the dominant home media format.


One thing is on recent advertisements where they say "Coming soon to Blu-ray and DVD"; putting the Blu-ray first.

Another thing is what's happening with the special features. The Blu-rays get exclusive content and commentaries that are sometimes not found on the DVDs.

An example of this is when I saw Terminator: Salvation. The Blu-ray release got all of the features whereas the DVD release is pretty much bare-bones.

Also, the Director's Cut of Watchmen was only released for the Blu-ray.



Anyone else noticing this? It looks like they are trying to phase out DVDs to me. Do you think it's on the verge of happening?

[PlayOn]

Oh, their's no doubt in my mind Blu-Rays are over-shadowing DVDs. The DVD will be like the VCR and VHS in a few years: long gone.

[JamesG]

Oh, their's no doubt in my mind Blu-Rays are over-shadowing DVDs. The DVD will be like the VCR and VHS in a few years: long gone.

The quality of Blu-rays are excellent but I'm not to keen on re-buying my whole movie collection (or most of it) for Blu-ray. I have tons of DVDs and when Blu-rays first came out they were expensive. The price has decreased recently though.

Back when VHS was first starting to phase out I knew of people who refused to get into DVDs since they didn't want to give up their VCRs.

Even when DVDs were a decade old I knew people who never "got into" DVDs. They were mainly older though; not in my age group.


I use my PS3 as my Blu-ray player.

[PlayOn]

Ditto on not re-buying my collection. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. If I watch one, it'll be on a regular player, which I heard you can do.

[JamesG]

Ditto on not re-buying my collection. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. If I watch one, it'll be on a regular player, which I heard you can do.

You do notice the difference in quality by playing DVDs on a Blu-ray player; esp. with a high-def tv.

[MickeyMac]

Who the hell can keep up


First it was VHS/Beta

Then VHS
Then DVD
Now Blue Ray

Whats next????????


I dont see what is so special about blue ray myself. Then again I dont see what is so special about high def TV.

[JamesG]

Who the hell can keep up


First it was VHS/Beta

Then VHS
Then DVD
Now Blue Ray

Whats next????????


I dont see what is so special about blue ray myself. Then again I dont see what is so special about high def TV.

Just asking, have you watched anything on Blu-ray?

[MickeyMac]

Just asking, have you watched anything on Blu-ray?



I dont have the interest

[JamesG]

I dont have the interest

I asked if you watched any Blu-rays to see if you noticed any differences with them; but since you haven't then you wouldn't know.

They're not a necessity, only if you want to experience really, really good quality that a high-def tv enhances.

[MickeyMac]

I asked if you watched any Blu-rays to see if you noticed any differences with them; but since you haven't then you wouldn't know.

They're not a necessity, only if you want to experience really, really good quality that a high-def tv enhances.



Just as long as I can see and hear the picture. Most of the stuff I watch is from a time when high def didnt even exist.

[dakert]

I have never seen blu ray but when I put The Captain and Tennille Christmas Show in my dvd player and watch it on my Sony Bravia 32" HDTV it looks fantastic to me.

[browneyes106]

My sister got into buying Blu-Rays last year. I have watched at her house. The Blu-Ray version of My Bloody Valentine 3-D was better than the DVD version. There are some great things about Blu-Rays. I have wondered about Blu-Rays phasing out DVD's. I think DVD's will stick around for awhile though.

[comedyfreak]

Who the hell can keep up


First it was VHS/Beta

Then VHS
Then DVD
Now Blue Ray

Whats next????????


I heard by next year or so it will be 3D Television.

[JamesG]

My sister got into buying Blu-Rays last year. I have watched at her house. The Blu-Ray version of My Bloody Valentine 3-D was better than the DVD version. There are some great things about Blu-Rays. I have wondered about Blu-Rays phasing out DVD's. I think DVD's will stick around for awhile though.

Yeah, at this point the majority of people don't have Blu-rays yet.

DVDs will probably be around a bit longer but it looks like, to me, that they are in the beginning of trying to have them phased out. It took a few years for DVDs to take over VHS.

[Pitooey]

Who the hell can keep up


First it was VHS/Beta

Then VHS
Then DVD
Now Blue Ray

Whats next????????


I dont see what is so special about blue ray myself. Then again I dont see what is so special about high def TV.

On contraire................

First there were 33 RPM records
45 Records
78's
Cassette tapes
That other one ...... I can't remember the word after cassette tapes...
CD's
VHS
DVD
Blue rays

I was speaking to this with a friend the other day because I did notice Blue ray being pushed up to the front and seeing a whole big rack of them.

I told her that we can't see normal TV now without having to spend big bucks on cable. You put on regular TV and nothing shows.

Satellite radio is on and with regular radio you have to keep switching the channels like crazy because there's hardly anything good.

I can't afford all the changes.

I think I'll just stop playing their game and start living a more humble life.

[tv star collector]

On contraire................

First there were 33 RPM records
45 Records
78's
Cassette tapes
That other one ...... I can't remember the word after cassette tapes...
CD's
VHS
DVD
Blue rays

I was speaking to this with a friend the other day because I did notice Blue ray being pushed up to the front and seeing a whole big rack of them.

I told her that we can't see normal TV now without having to spend big bucks on cable. You put on regular TV and nothing shows.

Satellite radio is on and with regular radio you have to keep switching the channels like crazy because there's hardly anything good.

I can't afford all the changes.

I think I'll just stop playing their game and start living a more humble life.

The 8-Track tape was the format that came along in between cassettes and
CDs. What it all boils down to is planned obsolesence; the manufacturers
want to force people to buy something they don't really need.

[patrickinstardom]

Well, there are some old movies that will look better on Blu-Ray than their DVD releases.

For example, Judy Garland's "A Star is Born" is being restored again but in 6k resolution... the reason this is important for this movie is because of the fact that it was shot on CinemaScope. To make a long story short, today the CinemaScope has been squeezed onto 35mm negatives and the DVD transfer looks grainy because there are limitations due to the CinemaScope format. The Blu-Ray transfer will look stunning, in a way that wasn't possible with DVD.
Blu-Ray has much more room for data and thus is capable of a great increase in image quality.

Also, I can "assume" that due to the extra space on Blu-Rays, studios don't have to be as aggressive with compression, can add more extra features, more languages, etc. on fewer discs than was possible with DVD.

However, this is all with the best-case scenario in mind. This doesn't mean a studio can fail with a blu-ray release's transfer. But there are more possibilities.

It's been hinted in the past that eventually "I Love Lucy" will see a Blu-Ray release because of the very fact that when it was remastered, it was remastered in high-definition.

Now, in terms of improvements in actual image quality, I'm not sure, but there could certainly be fewer discs for the series and thus less room to store the series.

In addition, due to the digital nature of Blu-Ray, subtitling is used rather than closed-captioning. This helps in setups where HDMI is used because HDMI cannot pass-through closed-captioning... subtitles are viewable since subtitles are decoded by the player, not the TV and thus do not need to be passed-through from the TV to the player.

HDMI is one of the main standards for blu-ray hookups... HDMI also can upconvert traditional DVDs as well, depending on the player you get and the DVD's quality).

So, in the best case scenario, movies and TV shows which just have been closed-captioned for their DVD releases will be subtitled for Blu-Ray and "I Love Lucy" was just captioned for the DVD release (they are "subtitled" in Spanish).

Thus, I am forced to have two different hookups with my player; one HDMI for DVDs and Blu-Rays with subtitles and another composite one for closed-captioning.

However, with a Blu-Ray release of "I Love Lucy," subtitles would have to be included for English because Blu-Ray discs don't have the capability for closed-captioning, just subtitles. I doubt the studio would choose to leave off English subtitles for the Blu-Ray release.

I doubt Paramount will release "I Love Lucy" in Blu-Ray anytime soon as they are still releasing "The Lucy Show" and they don't like to have two Lucy releases going on at the same time. MPI Home Video is behind the Here's Lucy releases and so they don't have the same policy; thus the reason Here's Lucy is being released at the same time.

Sorry to get so complicated, but technology is complicated ;-).

What I like is the fact that many Blu-Ray movies, especially new movies, have been subtitled in so many different languages: Portuguese, Chinese, etc. I think this is largely to do with all the extra space Blu-Rays allow. I'm always an advocate for more languages as it increases accessibility to those who don't speak English as their first language.

[MrCleveland]

Only if an entire TV Series from the 50's can be packed onto one Blu-Ray...then yes, the DVD will be gone.

[Liza]

You guys seem to forget HD DVD. Remember when that was going to be the "next big thing"? Then blu-ray shot it out of the water. I'm holding off on the whole digital-tv-blu-ray-thing. Personally, I don't have a high definition TV and I don't particularly want one. Mine works fine and I really don't see any difference between dvd and blu ray when I go to the stores. One just looks a tad brighter than the other. Yeah, people go on and on about how great the image quality is, but I don't see it. And I don't really care.

I'll move into blu-ray when and only when it becomes the standard. I'm glad I didn't invest in the HDDVD players when they first came out. Youch!

[Liza]

On contraire................

First there were 33 RPM records
45 Records
78's
Cassette tapes
That other one ...... I can't remember the word after cassette tapes...
CD's
VHS
DVD
Blue rays


Oh, but you left out 8-Tracks, Laser Discs, and HD DVDs. People did invest in those. Poor suckers!

[HuntingtonM15]

I don't have any plans to switch to blu-ray in the near future. I know the quality is a lot better and a lot of people are into that, but I'm not. It just really doesn't interest me. I better understood the switch from VHS to DVD, because VHS can be a hassle. You can't easily skip to a scene, and it takes forever to rewind. Not to mention the tapes getting eaten by the VCR.