Blu-ray versus Streaming

Some time ago we pronounced HD-DVD dead. This paved the way for Blu-ray to become the next format. I was sad to see HD-DVD die, but I was also very reserved about Blu-ray. While it was left to be the winner, I didn’t think that Blu-ray was the answer.


Read the full article here: Blu-ray versus Streaming

For more discussion go here: Blog Article Discussion

these are like apples and oranges--i don't see how you could possible compare the two. streaming hd won't be available until isps stop capping and throttling our internet connections.

I at first thought the same, 'how could they be compared as they are so different?'.

But I think it's the way both are striving to take their share in the media market that makes it so interesting. Newcomers but yet title contenders.

With technology changing so rapidly, it wont be long before Network speeds are able to accomodate streaming to it's full potential. But yeah ISP's will have to play their part too.

Nice article.

JKA is still one of our old-timer resident writers, and that shows. Great article, have read it in manuscript earlier.

And I'm quite sure that if some Japanese tech-junkie would be reading Sand Man's comment, they would be smirking all over. The past two years have brought so much in terms of fiber-optics, broadband, and connection speeds. As of lately, having at least 5-10 mbits is becoming pretty much a standard. I mean, I personally could stream multiple HD videos simultaneously without any problems.

Moreover, continous streaming does not necessarily require high bandwidth, rather just a seamless connection without significant packet loss and rather reduced latencies. That's all--technically, you should be able to download a HD movie at least 5-10 times during the time you spend watching it. Therefore, streaming is ought to be more relaxing--connection-wise.

you can't do that here where i live. the max cable offers is 12 mbps at like $100/month. i do stream movies in my house though; but, i'm using full gigabit for that and streaming movies i've already ripped. not really the same i guess. i would love to see iptv be developed more and become a replacement for cable.

Here in UK, only parts of the country have fast and reliable connections to allow for media streaming, most regions need to catch up.

But as Sand Man has said already the ISP's are holding back and to be honest so are the local exchanges.

Ya here in the US fiber connections are hard to come by... especially ones that let you use the full bandwidth available.

So many damn limitations here :/

I think it is a well written article but misses some fundamental issues in its contents.

Blu-ray to be of any use needs a full HD monitor. Comparing the uptake of Blu-Ray as a failure compared to DVD is not the same. DVD players plugged into existing televisions to provide a better picture on their current TV. That meant a significant improvement in picture quality by buying a new player only. The technology change from VHS to DVD was also a reduction in mechanical parts which meant a reduction in costs over previous players (execpt for the intital new technology price point).

Unfortunately the majority of people do not have full HD tv's yet, many do now have large screen TV that have very low pixel ratios compared to HD. So the cost to watch a Blu-Ray movie is the cost of a Player and new TV for the majority of people, it is not going to achieve the same market take up rate as DVD did.

The cost of the Blu-ray movie is higher but that needs to be weighted against the price point of new (hardware) technology (which will reduce over time for both the players and movies) and the fact that you have a physical copy of the medium (as mentioned in the article) for reuse or to lend to someone to watch.

The comment about lifetime of a Blu-ray disk is more about educating the customer who was used to throwing around VHS tapes and are slowly learning how to handle disc media better (as amazing as that seems to computer literate people).

In term of the real cost comparison, you need to have access to internet fast enough to stream full HD in your area (in order to compare Blu-Ray HD to streaming HD) and there is the added cost of an install and device for most people and cabling to the appropriate points (for TV viewing) but you need to add the monthly cost of the service and the fee for any movie you purchase online.

This all ignores the underlying premise of how a person currently wants to watch their movies. Blu-ray, online streaming and dowloaded content all have their pros and cons for price, reliability, convenience, etc.

I better stop before I end up writing an article about it.

I think this article provided enough information to mislead the poor consumer who does not know any better and not enough to present sufficient facts and total cost of ownership for people that do.

my ultimate goal in life is to be able to rip ALL my tv shows and movies and keep them on a server w/ some 40 tb of storage. this way i can stream anything in my house to any tv or computer. even better, the cable companies could switch to a primarily on-demand model and i could just watch everything from them.

You say that like it's a BAD thing. Given how well-written this post is, I'd personally have no problem with you writing an article about it...you could even check with James to see if we'd be interested in publishing it (I can see it'd be an easy edit for sure).