Right now high def video takes a monsterous amount of space. So does music on CDs. Now we fit it a thousand songs on our MP3 players, and don’t even think about it. Video compression gets better every year, and disk space gets cheaper. Can you imagine having a high def video player loaded with shows and movies that you can carry with you? I can.

Right now I get my TiVo HD content from my cable company, and it is 1080i, not 1080p, has 5.1 sound instead of 7.1, is more heavily compressed, and you rarely get any extras with the movies. The 8 GB/hr it uses is less than the 10-15 GB/hr on hi def discs (right?), but it still give me a stellar picture, and I can store around 100 hours on my 750 GB High Def TiVo, the rough equivalent of 50 movies or more than 100 TV shows. The ability to have that large a short-term library, in very good (although not excellent) quality video, is good enough for me, for now. I do miss the DVD extras, but I’m hardly feeling deprived, and neither would most other consumers. We will get better quality and extras with downloads down the road. This will take some time, but it won’t be long.

A big factor is that disc media doesn’t feed people’s appetites for immediate access to TV programming, and streaming video and video downloads do, so most people will want TiVo/Unbox setups like I’m talking about anyway. That’s what is getting streaming and downloaded video going right now, not movies. Once they’ve got the setup, why not use it for movies as well?

Regarding people’s compulsion for ownership, I agree that’s a big factor, and it’s enough on its own to keep hi def disc media around, just as it’s kept CDs around. I have suffered from the ownership ailment in the past, and as a result my apartment is absolutely overflowing with CDs and DVDs. In my last place I covered 2 walls with shelves, floor to ceiling, to accommodate them, but now I’ve got a smaller place so I had to leave most of my CDs in moving boxes. I don’t even miss them though, so I’ve gotten the cure on that one. I’m happy to continue buying more and more disk space for my music, and deleting movies and shows after I watch them, and I think most other consumers will feel the same way once they see this all played out. Look how many people are happy with Blockbuster, Netflix, pay-per-view and on-demand. I think the direction things are moving is pretty clear.

Why co-existence? First, DL technology won’t accomodate the massive capacities required by 1080p and loseless or uncompressed audio for a long time. Also, There is a natural need to “own” stuff. Mark my work, if we move to a all DL/Streaming, portals will have won and we’ll be taxed for anything we’ll want to see.

Sorry again, but I want to own my deluxe set of Close Encounter of the third Kind with collector booklet, and be able to watch it anywhere I want, and lend it to a friend if I want.

Portable DLs and Tivos /DVRs of course have their place, but VoD is nothing new, and it will not replace being able to shop for your fav. movie, or gift one.

Last, who said you had to re-buy your DVDs? Both formats can play DVDs, and then you can buy the latest movies in Blu Ray, no problem !

DL only = the future by Apple and M$ (my nightmare)
DL/ Streaming + Blu Ray HD = consumers win

as for your high def tivo’s. compare that vs a hd dvd/blu-ray movie. the cable hd show you think looks so great is highly compressed and presented in 720p or 1080i. and if you’re lucky you get 5.1 surround sound with no extras. on blu-ray’s you’re getting a much less compressed picture with up to 7.1 uncompressed audio, not to mention the normal extra’s that come with movies.

hd dvd is not going to win the war because of porn. blu-ray has porn also, thats a nonfactor.

if you want to know who’s probably going to win, take a look at the sales figures. almost 2:1 in favor of blu-ray. worldwide sales are an even bigger sign of the soon to be winner.

and if you’d listen to the poster above, waiting for a player to play both formats at 50 bucks, you’ll be waiting for many many years, because i assure you by that time, one of the formats will be gone.

for those of you who can’t notice a difference between blu-ray/hd dvd vs dvd. you obviously haven’t seen a side by side comparison. its like watching vhs all over again. don’t buy an expensive hd tv and not feed it hd content people. be smart

November 29th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
“Tony Rogers… come on man. Listen to yourself…”

You seem to think this is hackery, like downloading from BitComet or something. I can understand that, but it really is simple. Most of our grandmothers already have broadband, and many already have TiVo connected to it (that’s how TiVo works). If they don’t, their 15 year old grandchildren can set it up for them. Downloading from Amazon Unbox takes 15 minutes to set up. It’s no harder than ordering a DVD to be mailed to you. You enter your credit card number, TiVo account number, order, and it shows up on your TiVo’s “now playing” list right away. I was amazed how easy it was. After that you don’t even have to go to Amazon to order the movies and shows–you can do it using your remote, like “On Demand” on cable. This isn’t in the “someday” future, it’s right now.

What people here don’t seem to get is that there is no reason that downloadable content can’t be in hi def! Hi def doesn’t have anything to do with MEDIA (Blue Ray or HD DVD), it’s about video content complying with the 1080i and 1080p standards. Blue Ray and HD DVD disks are just file storage devices. Once you have the data on your TiVo or PC, it doesn’t matter what media you are using to store the files. Disk space is cheap, so hard drives are fine! I have room on my TiVo for 100 hours of hi def.

In terms of how to get the video files, so what if it takes an hour to download them from iTunes (to a PC) or Amazon Unbox (to TiVo) via broadband. Even now, with the broadband speed I have, when I buy from Amazon Unbox I can watch hi quality (although not hi def) video right away, as it downloads, on my TiVo. That will be true for hi def in a year.

TV stations, networks and DVDs are going to go the way of VHS. If you aren’t drowning in dollars save your money. Don’t buy Blu Ray or HD DVD until you can get a player that will play BOTH for $50. It will happen soon enough. You’ll only need the discs so that you can watch hi def in your car.