I'm thinking that Blu-ray as not taken off because of the great price
difference to movies on DVDs and lack of stocks in the stores.
Joe Public also possibly happy with DVD quality, but for those of us wanting
the quality what is on offer for seeing movies?
Downloading is that giving extra quality over the DVD and is it as cheap as
buying a DVD?
How do you get cost effective HD movies?
Regards
David

On 22/01/2012 12:18, David wrote:
I'm thinking that Blu-ray as not taken off because of the great price
difference to movies on DVDs and lack of stocks in the stores.

I think it's because most people can't tell the difference or, if they
can, it's not enough of a difference. At least 3D is noticeable.

Joe Public also possibly happy with DVD quality, but for those of us
wanting the quality what is on offer for seeing movies?

Some of the online streaming services offer streaming HD, such as
Acetrax, but they only offer it on compatible TVs and STBs and, unless
you have a buffer or the ability to download to disk first, it's prone
to freezing making it unwatchable. When you rent, you only get 24 hours
to watch, which is pretty much useless if you want to split a film over
a couple of nights.

Downloading is that giving extra quality over the DVD and is it as cheap
as buying a DVD?

In the end, it depends on whether you wish to have a film to hand that
you can watch over and over again or you're happy to watch once and move
on to the next. Acetrax offers you the chance to "buy" but that only
means unlimited streaming and it's also very expensive.

How do you get cost effective HD movies?

Blueray is probably the cheapest. You can get reasonable films
second-had for as little as a fiver in places such as CEX. Of course,
you'll pay for the privilege if you want the latest releases.

In article ,
Silk wrote:
On 22/01/2012 12:18, David wrote:
I'm thinking that Blu-ray as not taken off because of the great price
difference to movies on DVDs and lack of stocks in the stores.

I think it's because most people can't tell the difference or, if they
can, it's not enough of a difference. At least 3D is noticeable.

Afraid I don't know the figures for sales of BD video players or discs. And
I don't use either, so can only speculate based on two factors.

Firstly, the above may be correct, people don't really have that much
interest in 'HD' images expect for a minority. (Perthaps a parallel here
with HiFi where only a minority of people think it worthwhile to spend a
lot, and rearrange their rooms to suit what gives best results.) FWIW
Personally I have no real interest in 'HD' for films or sport. Only content
that might tempt me would be things like 'wildlife'/'natural world' types
of documentary, or something like 'Antiques Roadshow' where seeing things
in more detail might be good.

That said, it does annoy me that many classial music DVD downconvert 'PAK'
source material to make discs in 'NTSC' format. i.e. losing a lot of
resolution. Because the companies are too lazy to make a 'PAL' version for
those in UK/Europe who might prefer it. USA companies thinking only of USA
audiences.

Secondly, I do wonder if people are deterred by feeling it is inconvenient
or a rip-off. I've heard people object to all kinds of aspects of BD video.
From the 'Java' taking ages to load a disc and then blocking your choices
over how you can view it. Or the 'content protection' being more of a PITA
than for DVD. The general air that the companies 'allow' what they choose
you can do with you money - inc the risk that at a later date they will
decide you have been 'naughty' and the player ceases to play discs that it
played before.

Again, personally, I find it a PITA that so many commercial DVDs force the
paying customer to sit though 'warnings' that treat them as being likely to
have 'criminal intent' before they can simply watch what they paid for.
Amd/or try to show you loads of 'adverts'. But I can't say if BD is any
better or worse. Given the attitude of many big meeja companies to the
people who pay their salaries, I can only suspect they are no better!

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Its not so much blue ray has failed, I think joe public has finally woken up
to the scam.
We all know that when they sell everyone a blue ray player, some other
format will miraculously appear, probably solid state. They really want it
to be via DRM downloads, a kind of rental of bytes rather than anything they
need to share profits with the unwashed retail sector on of course, but I
do feel that nobody really likes the idea of having to pay to see stuff
every time you watch it.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Silk" wrote in message
...
On 22/01/2012 12:18, David wrote:
I'm thinking that Blu-ray as not taken off because of the great price
difference to movies on DVDs and lack of stocks in the stores.

I think it's because most people can't tell the difference or, if they
can, it's not enough of a difference. At least 3D is noticeable.

Joe Public also possibly happy with DVD quality, but for those of us
wanting the quality what is on offer for seeing movies?

Some of the online streaming services offer streaming HD, such as Acetrax,
but they only offer it on compatible TVs and STBs and, unless you have a
buffer or the ability to download to disk first, it's prone to freezing
making it unwatchable. When you rent, you only get 24 hours to watch,
which is pretty much useless if you want to split a film over a couple of
nights.

Downloading is that giving extra quality over the DVD and is it as cheap
as buying a DVD?

In the end, it depends on whether you wish to have a film to hand that you
can watch over and over again or you're happy to watch once and move on to
the next. Acetrax offers you the chance to "buy" but that only means
unlimited streaming and it's also very expensive.

How do you get cost effective HD movies?

Blueray is probably the cheapest. You can get reasonable films second-had
for as little as a fiver in places such as CEX. Of course, you'll pay for
the privilege if you want the latest releases.

On Sunday, January 22nd, 2012, at 13:28:22h +0000, Jim Lesurf wrote:

Secondly, I do wonder if people are deterred by feeling it is
inconvenient or a rip-off. I've heard people object to all kinds of
aspects of BD video. From the 'Java' taking ages to load a disc and then
blocking your choices over how you can view it.

and paying for

QUOTE

the inclusion of the Cinavia technology from Verance Corporation
will become mandatory for all Blu-ray Disc players as of
February 1, 2012.

UNQUOTE

http://www.verance.COM/AdminSavR/news/news_item.php?news_id=66

"David" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking that Blu-ray as not taken off because of the great price
difference to movies on DVDs and lack of stocks in the stores.

Eh?
It *has* taken off nicely and there's plenty of stock.
Now that players are starting to be sub-£50 expect this to increase.

There's a couple of quid difference between blu ray films and DVD at pretty
much every price point.

Joe Public also possibly happy with DVD quality, but for those of us
wanting the quality what is on offer for seeing movies?
Downloading is that giving extra quality over the DVD and is it as cheap
as buying a DVD?
How do you get cost effective HD movies?

A cheap subscription to lovefilm, and rent them.

--
Alex

In article , J G Miller
wrote:
On Sunday, January 22nd, 2012, at 13:28:22h +0000, Jim Lesurf wrote:

Secondly, I do wonder if people are deterred by feeling it is
inconvenient or a rip-off. I've heard people object to all kinds of
aspects of BD video. From the 'Java' taking ages to load a disc and
then blocking your choices over how you can view it.

and paying for

QUOTE

the inclusion of the Cinavia technology from Verance Corporation will
become mandatory for all Blu-ray Disc players as of February 1, 2012.

UNQUOTE

http://www.verance.COM/AdminSavR/news/news_item.php?news_id=66

Yup. Worth mentioning reports that 'watermarking' turned out to be
audible the last time they tried to impose it on people. Despite the suits
claiming no-one would be able to hear the effect it had. And this time
around it could also disable your ability to watch/listen to things which
you are actually entitled. FWIW Barry Fox was warning about this in a
recent Hi Fi News column.

If you want to know what Barry wrote, get a copy of the Feb 2012 issue
of HFN and read page 97... erm, sorry, page 93. (Some other bloke
wrote page 97. ;- )

From a meeja company POV Blue Ray hits two marks. One is being able to
churn out new versions of the old products yet again - at a premium price.
The other is to extend their ability to control the paying customer. Not so
much the old "Your money or your life" of the highwayman as "Your money
*and* (control of) your life" for the modern suits. Progress, eh?... :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On 22/01/2012 13:28, Jim Lesurf wrote:

Secondly, I do wonder if people are deterred by feeling it is inconvenient
or a rip-off. I've heard people object to all kinds of aspects of BD video.
From the 'Java' taking ages to load a disc and then blocking your choices
over how you can view it. Or the 'content protection' being more of a PITA
than for DVD. The general air that the companies 'allow' what they choose
you can do with you money - inc the risk that at a later date they will
decide you have been 'naughty' and the player ceases to play discs that it
played before.

Again, personally, I find it a PITA that so many commercial DVDs force the
paying customer to sit though 'warnings' that treat them as being likely to
have 'criminal intent' before they can simply watch what they paid for.
Amd/or try to show you loads of 'adverts'. But I can't say if BD is any
better or worse. Given the attitude of many big meeja companies to the
people who pay their salaries, I can only suspect they are no better!

A pet hate of mine also... Just seems to be another of those counter
productive actions that ends up hurting legitimate customers. It also
smacks a bit of a bait and switch... remember when DVD first came out
and one of the much marketed benefits over VHS etc was the "direct
access" nature of it - go straight to the bit you want, no need to wind
through trailers etc. These days its quite common to find DVDs that
actually force you to watch not only the insulting / stupid anti piracy
segment, but also trailers for other films before you even get to the
main menu.

I had a hired film the other day where it took 10 mins to get to the
menu, which was particularly irritating. Even more so when I had to
eject the disc half way through the film to clean it since it was
continually restarting a chapter, and then had to sit through all the
crap a second time. I was very tempted at that point to go make a
repackaged copy of it just get rid of all the dross.


--
Cheers,

John.

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John Rumm wrote:

These days its quite common to find DVDs that actually force you to
watch not only the insulting / stupid anti piracy segment, but also
trailers for other films before you even get to the main menu.

mythTV ... YKIMS

On 22/01/2012 18:34, Andy Burns wrote:
John Rumm wrote:

These days its quite common to find DVDs that actually force you to
watch not only the insulting / stupid anti piracy segment, but also
trailers for other films before you even get to the main menu.

mythTV ... YKIMS

;-)

Quite often I would watch it on my PC anyway, and AnyDVD will usually
have away any content restrictions... However I thought I would treat
myself and go use the proper TV since for once the kids were not
cluttering up the space in front of it!

--
Cheers,

John.

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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/