Even with Toshiba?s entry into the Blu-ray biz, Rob Enderle can?t see a reason to abandon DVD.
Toshiba just embraced the Blu-ray standard. I’ve often been accused of being an agent for Toshiba, even though I’ve never had any financial connection to the side of Toshiba that made the drives, and initially supported Blu-ray. (I switched to HD-DVD when I saw how much the Blu-ray technology cost, and how it destroyed the price structure of the PS3). Sony bought the market, and if you look at their financials you can likely see why that still looks, in hindsight, like it was a really bad idea. The current rumor is they’re rushing the PlayStation 4 to market because the PS3 did so badly.
One of the interesting parts about revisiting this every few months is what changes, and how little the changes actually have to do with making Blu-ray more attractive. I currently own two LG Blu-ray players, four desktop computers with Blu-ray drives, two laptops with Blu-ray drives, a PlayStation 3, and I still can’t recommend this format for most people. The problem isn’t that Blu-ray doesn’t look better. It clearly does, and for the money, the Oppo’s newest Blu-ray player is a technological marvel. But for once, even I’m not tempted to buy it. (This is because I can get the same scaler this product has for less from Oppo, and Oppo doesn’t yet support streaming or Web-based content.) I still agree with Steve Jobs that Blu-ray is a bag of hurt.
Let’s revisit why Blu-ray remains a bad value.
Blu-ray is Still Not Done
One of the things I find really annoying about Blu-ray technology is that from the moment it was brought out, it hasn’t been complete, and that wasn’t adequately disclosed. I’m kind of surprised there weren’t more large class-action lawsuits (there was at least one, but maybe there were some quiet settlements). The first Blu-ray drives weren’t network connected, and couldn’t be effectively updated.
The latest tacked-on wonder is the BDLive feature – the only one so far that I think has real value – which allows you to look up an actor’s background while watching a movie. This often drives me nuts, because I can’t seem to remember where I’ve seen him or her before. However, this wonderful feature won’t work on any discs shipped before October of this year, effectively obsolescing my entire existing library of Blu-ray discs.
Before watching a movie, I constantly have to flash my player, because the AnyDVD folks have broken the security, and the Blu-ray folks have had to update it to counter so new discs can’t be copied for another week. Of course, then they can be, and goodie goodie, I have to do another five to 10 minute software update before a movie will work. I tried just watching a Blu-ray movie without doing the update last weekend, and sound didn’t work. I can actually watch a streamed HD s movie more quickly most of the time. A Blu-ray disc already takes friggin’ forever to load, so the update process adds insult to injury.
Content
If you do get Blu-ray, you’d be smart to subscribe to Netflix, because buying Blu-ray discs is just, well stupid. They tend to get updated over time, making the ones you bought potentially obsolete.
I currently have 44 movies in my active queue on Netflix, only one of which, Green Lantern (and given it is tagged “very long wait” I’ll likely get it after I die of old age) is in the Blu-ray format. Forty three are only available in DVD format. To be fair, two out of the four movies I either have at home now or have in the mail are on Blu-ray, and new movies are increasingly coming in this format. But the massive majority of existing content is still only on DVD, and there is more of the old stuff being offered steamed from Netflix (17 movies) that I want to watch, than on Blu-ray format at the moment.
You should likely check this out yourself, though as my taste in movies runs decidedly towards action, sci-fi and comedy, while your tastes may be different.
Portability
There is now one $800 portable Blu-ray player (this is the Panasonic DMP-B15, and it is currently discounted down to $672 on Amazon) on the market, and you can get a large number of laptops with Blu-ray drives in them. However, I have yet to test a laptop with a Blu-ray drive that will make it through a movie on battery power. They tend to die at between 75 and 90 percent of the movie played, which is really kind of annoying. My laptops with DVD drives can generally now make it through two movies with a few minutes left for e-mail at the end.
Now, it is kind of cool to bring one of these laptops and an HDMI cable to your hotel room and watch a Blu-ray movie. But I’ve only once been able to do it, because getting all of the components together at the same time has proven vastly more problematic than I thought. Most laptops also lack remote control options, making using the result kind of annoying. The laptop sits across the room, and you get to experience what it was like when TVs didn’t have remotes again. (I think every laptop that ships with a Blu-ray drive should have a remote control option.)
Blu-ray discs still don’t work in any car media systems. Panasonic showed one in 2007, but apparently it never shipped and would have been a pain to update. Finding one built into a TV is also difficult, (Sharp and Magnavox make them), and not smart either, given that the technology could change again, requiring you to connect the damn TV to a network to make it work again.
Streaming
There are players with streaming capability, and I do have two LG Blu-ray players that will connect to Netflix. However, I also have four Tivo boxes with this same capability, and the Tivo does a vastly better job. Try fast forwarding and you’ll see what I mean. The Tivo does a smooth fast forward, but the Blu-ray does an annoying key-frame fast forward, which is similar to how it fast forwards Blu-ray discs. It makes it really hard to find a specific scene, because what you’re looking for may fall between key frames.
There is a new scaler technology from Marvell called Qdeo which should significantly improve the streaming capability of these players, and even significantly improve the overall quality of the Blu-ray movie-watching experience, but it is only available in a few very expensive players at the moment.
DRM
If there were ever a company that should say no to DRM, it would be Sony. Sony had an MP3 player that looked better than an iPod, and entered the market before Apple did. However, it was so wrapped with DRM, not only was it incredibly difficult to get music on to the damn thing, if you lost your hard drive on your PC or got a new PC, you had to re-purchase all your music. Needless to say, they didn’t sell well.
Sony was also so concerned about music theft that it put a rootkit installer on its audio CDs, which lead a number of us to drive an effort to boycott the company because of the massive amount of damage that could have done to every person who unwittingly installed it. The resulting litigation and liability could have put Sony out of business.
With Blu-ray, Sony’s rabid concern about people copying discs means that most people can actually play a DVD more places than the more expensive Blu-ray disc. In effect, thanks to DRM, you generally can do less with a Blu-ray disc you pay more for (because it will play in fewer places) than a discount DVD you buy used. In fact, if you have a first-generation Blu-ray player, it likely will only play new DVDs now, and is no longer able to play new Blu-ray discs properly, if at all. That is just insane to me.
This furthers the insanity of a movie industry which continues to make pirated media more valuable than media you legitimately bought, and then complains because people buy pirated media.
Wrapping Up: Still Not a Good Value
Don’t get me wrong, a Blu-ray movie looks great on a HDTV, it just doesn’t look enough better than a regular DVD on a good upscaling DVD player to justify the extra price in the movies and players yet. If you do go Blu-ray, get a Netflix subscription so that company can deal with the disc obsolescence risk. And really, how often do you watch a movie enough to justify buying a Blu-ray movie? Once is generally enough for me anyway.
Now, when a more affordable player shows up with this new Marvell Qdeo technology in it, the combination of a next-generation scaler that could work on regular DVDs, YouTube content, and streamed video content would be very attractive. My best guess is that it won’t show up until next year, though, and even then I’ll likely buy it more for the cutting-edge scaler than the Blu-ray capability.
To net this all out, look at two top-of-the-line players. The Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player sells for $500, but has the same strong scaler (unfortunately not the Marvell ) as the $169 Oppo DV-980H upscaling DVD player. You could buy three of those players for slightly more than the price of one BDP-83, and you’d enjoy your existing DVD collection and the majority of Netflix movies, which are still mostly standard DVDs, and do it more rooms.
If I’m insanely rich, maybe I buy Blu-ray to impress my friends. But then again, if I want to impress them with how I save my money, I’d still buy the regular DVD with a scaler and talk about the money I saved. In these times, few can afford to not be smart with their money. Even with Toshiba entering, I’d wait until this makes more sense than it currently does.
Showing 52 comments
RSSI just don't get why people are so passionate about a product that they would verbally attack someone who writes something against it.
Common man, I had to delete your post because you used your Amazon affiliate number in the links.
You had a good argument, stop trying to make money off of the others posting here too.
What?
I haven't had to update my player in months and haven't had playback issues. Is this exaggeration on the part of the writer or are there other people out there having to go through this by-movie basis update routine?
WOW, did this actually come out of your mouth? You are seriously claiming that Sony is the only company to do this?
Hey buddy...you bought into a new format way early. And you weren't smart about it by not buying the best blu-ray player (PS3) on the market at the time. Not only that, but you ended up buying like 8 more of them. Whaaa?
The biggest reason blu-ray will succeed is disc space. Eventually DVD will not be big enough...CD/DVD/Blu-Ray...
Enderle = Robin Hariss = @sshat
The best and most legitimate response came from Jason above, but was in part wrong...
He said: "1) early blue players, ie non-network players will become obsolete because they can't be updated to meet newer blueray specs"
>Yes, this is true that Ethernet and BD1.1 can't be added, but the player never could do 1.1 or Ethernet features. It can still play movies, which is what people who bought it for were promised. This has not changed and doesn't make something obsolete.
He said: "2) the blueray spec is not done. When it is, how many players/movies will be obsolete? Who knows.. we don't know what will happen when it is completed."
>Windows Vista is STILL not done, yet my XP computer still works. How is that possible? The current world is full of ever changing, always improving specifications. The addition of new hardware features does not make any single player obsolete at this point, and crying wolf about it doesn't make it true.
He said: "3) Have you gone to your local Target to look for blu-ray movies? The one by my house has maybe 100, with more than half of them being pretty old movies."
> Best Buy and Amazon are some of the biggest sellers of movies, not Target. In fact, Target is pretty well known for NOT being one of the bargain stores. Yet, you are right, BD titles need to be more readily available and need lower overall pricing.
He said: "4) Daaaaaamn, they are expensive. The average joe is not going to shell out $25 - 30 for a movie"
Yet, with almost 100 BD titles to my name, I've averaged LESS than $15 per title. If people care about quality AND money, they do have options. Don't confuse normal MSRP pricing of a hot product during a recession with what can be had if people want to look.
He said: "5) It's still early adopter. Other means of getting movies are starting to crop up. If prices don't start going down sharply the format is going to die."
>BD is almost at a point of no return with adoption and consumers. It's sitting over 10% regularly for title sales compared to DVD with some titles doing better. When BD hits about 20% market saturation is basically will mark a major milestone for product acceptance and the DVD player will start to disappear from store shelves.
Already this is starting as there is no call for more expensive DVD players when the cheapest BD player with a decent disc will outperform the best DVD player on the market.
An informed consumer I believe will read both sides and ask questions if they have any. But, many people are complaing about BD and NOT buying in. Those who have bought in are mostly speaking the joys of the format. So, who to believe? Those who own it, buy titles, and enjoy them, or those who complain about something they don't actually own?
Considering the EXTREME bias Enderle has shown for several years with this format I don't think it is wrong to strong question any opinion he puts forth. But, considering the complete lack of factual information he has presented this go around, it is evident that he is just starting to realize that no matter what he says, it is incorrect.
Yes, I welcome the informed consumer who actually wants to read and hope they wonder why you (Enderle) completely have ignored the actual questioning of your statements.
Several reasons were given - did you read the above comments at all?
From his prediction that HD DVD would win to him saying that the iPhone would "not benefit" Apple, he has just been flat out wrong.
His article also contains a factual inaccuracy regarding the Oppo players.
For those reasons and many more, I think we can say he sucks at tech. analysis/predictions. And also just so happened to be an "advisor" for Toshiba and Microsoft at the time of those predictions...what a coincidence that Enderle was predicting the failure/demise of the competitors of the people giving him $$$.
In Enderle's world, forget about the content of this article, the truth is he believes Blu-ray remains a bad value because those who sign his paycheck want him to say Blu-ray remains a bad value. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Rob enderle, seriously just give it up man. Move on. Your predictions have failed. Your theories have been proved wrong so many times and now you just look like a jackass by regurgitating same old talking points that has been debunked over and over again.
Get a life and move on. Blu ray is just an optical format. It's not lucifer's handiwork tool
I also see you failed to address the factually inaccurate Oppo comparison you made. Maybe you should go back and correct that, because you were WRONG. That is, if you were at all interested in providing an unbiased analysis. Which has never been the case.
And I will learn from your mistakes. I will do the opposite of whatever technology prediction you make. Since you are always wrong. This is a fact. Something that anyone can search for on the internet. So if anything your articles are indeed a good reference. Whatever you say, the opposite happens. You may look like a fool (yet again), but I will have made a technology purchase that will last. Unlike HD DVD.
Funny that you call someone else a shill, when you have to make it known of your allegiances to both Toshiba and Microsoft. Is it any wonder then that you are anti-Apple and anti-bluray. You are being paid by their competitors.
Though your world must have been turned around by Toshiba going blu.
Just face it - you suck at technology analysis and harbor animosity towards anyone that points out how bad your track record is. Your hyperbole in the above article is clear as a newly Windexed window. Your bitterness shines through said window.
Bluray is not going anywhere. It will grow along with HDTV penetration. It gives me great joy in knowing how much this must get under your skin.
Until your next failed article, I bid you farewell.
Seriously even to some of you Blu-Ray shills and fanboys; doesn't much of this look like BS. Much is just personal attack, only the folks on my side seem to actually talk to the points, and the rest looks like either a grade school level personal attack or something left over from the last mudslinging election.
It is your choice, but wouldn't you rather buy something from folks who assured your purchase, attacked problems and made the product better rather than a firm or group that attacked critics, covered up problems, and constantly made you feel stupid by making what you purchased prematurely obsolete? It's your choice, I've simply been clear on the one I would make. And yes, I've bought a lot of Blu-Ray stuff, I think I was stupid to do so, I'm suggesting you learn from my mistake.
I think the term you are looking for is "double dip" and it was created for the DVD format. Not a new concept to blu-ray. Nice try though.
1) early blue players, ie non-network players will become obsolete because they can't be updated to meet newer blueray specs
2) the blueray spec is not done. When it is, how many players/movies will be obsolete? Who knows.. we don't know what will happen when it is completed.
3) Have you gone to your local Target to look for blu-ray movies? The one by my house has maybe 100, with more than half of them being pretty old movies.
4) Daaaaaamn, they are expensive. The average joe is not going to shell out $25 - 30 for a movie
5) It's still early adopter. Other means of getting movies are starting to crop up. If prices don't start going down sharply the format is going to die.
If you have to wait "5-10 minutes for a download" or have trouble with playing a disc, try to buy another player. I have over 320 Blu Ray discs in my library (and I am not worried about any them going obsolete) and I have NEVER had a disc that wouldn't play because of encryption.
The fact that you are still taken serious by any website on the internet shows what the web has become. A haven for misfit, know it all's that have no business typing.
You sir are an idiot........
Who's paying you to produce this FUD-encrusted tripe, Mr Enderle? Netflix certainly should be.
You know, myself and a bunch of friends in IT (both industry and research) have a saying - "If Enderle says so, believe the opposite."
I've hated Sony's behemoth approach to new tech/standards, but they won (rightly or wrongly) here. And I can't believe Enderle hasn't cottoned on to why there's a lack of portable Bluray devices - what's the point? Bluray (& Hi-Def) were invented simply because as screens got larger, regular 480/576 looked like ****. Why would you want HD on a teeny screen?
How can this guy call himself an 'analyst'?
This is from Oppo's website:
* The DV-983H features "VRS by Anchor Bay" video processing technologies. The VRS technology suite includes AutoCUE-Câ?¢, Progressive Cadence Detectionâ?¢, Precision De-interlacingâ?¢ and Precision Video Scalingâ?¢. The VRS video processor also handles frame rate conversion, aspect ratio control and video zooming.
* The DV-981HD features video processing with "DCDi by Faroudja" technology and video chipset by Genesis/Faroudja.
* The DV-980H uses a customized Mediatek "System-on-Chip" for video de-interlacing and up-conversion.
* While all three players produce excellent picture quality and the difference is subtle, the "VRS by Anchor Bay" technologies cover more areas of video processing and enhancement, and can handle more tricky video contents. "DCDi by Faroudja" technology is also capable of handling some tricky video contents. The "System-on-Chip" solution featured in DV-980H delivers excellent picture for properly mastered video contents.
* On very large TV or projector screens, the difference could be noticed by experts or videophiles. When benchmarked with contents designed to test video performance, the DV-983H will usually score the highest, followed by DV-981HD and DV-980H.
No more HD-DVD lovers around to make you look good anymore is there?
A couple of movies have suggested without a firmware update some features will not play but I have yet to see anything not play.
I am projecting my Blu-Rays onto a 2.5 meter screen and they look stunning in 720p.
I believe I am like most people and do not delve into all the extras on the disk (or at least rarely) so will not come across problems like those you mention.
So far as looking up an actor mid movie? Who cares, I want to watch the movie not ogle over celebrities.
Andrew
Whereas in 2000 we had old, cheap VHS on the way out and new, expensive DVD on the way in, we now have old, cheap DVD on the way out and new expensive bluray on the way in. You guys act like this pricing pattern has never happened before.
Go ahead and compare the price of VHS:DVD in 2000 to DVD:bluray now and see how much they are the same.
Why did people pay more for DVD over VHS? Could it be they perceived greater quality/value, etc?
I fail to see how this is any different than someone buying bluray now instead of DVD.
The situations are analogous.
This is NOT a good article. Good articles point out the good AND the bad. This article only points out the negative. Obviously he has a hidden agenda.
@James
I will buy blu-ray movies for $10 more. You wanna know why? Because I have thousands of dollars invested in audio/video equipment and $10 more for a hi-def movie is worth it to me. DVD looks like crap on my setup. AGAIN, this article is so subjective. We are all arguing over OPINIONS!
Right on brotha, who the hell is going to pay $10 more for the Blu-ray version? And on top of that you know a newer version will come out like Enderle says.
You have the regular version, directors cut, extended version, special features version blah blah. At the premium prices they are already charging, who will buy multiple versions!?
Unfortunately I could care less about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid for $9.99. Show me some NEW movies for that price.
I didn't think so...nice try.
My PS3 has been a faithful gaming, media center, email/browser, Folding client and blu-ray player. Thank you Sony.
"Say No Way to Bluray: Even with Toshiba's entry into the Blu-ray biz, Rob Enderle can't see a reason to abandon DVD."
Yet admits to owning not 1, not 2, not 3, not 6, not 8 but 9 bluray devices. I guess he doesn't follow his own advice, huh?
Also, in regards to pricing, Target this very week has blurays at buy one get one free, or $15/disc. Walmart has several players at $200 and under. Best Buy just had a profile 2.0 player for $99 on sale. The name brand entry level players are typically $249.
Best Buy this week has blurays as low as $9.99.
These are not imagined prices folks. They are real. Look it up. Maybe Mr. Enderle could do the same.
Regardless, it is still WAY too expensive. In the local paper, every single new release is EXACTLY $10 more than the DVD counterpart.
Sony appears to be used to the price gouging, and slower growing market share, as seen in their stubbornness to reduce the PS3 price, despite ailing sales..
Hopefully someone at Sony will grow a brain, or market will force their stubborn hand to reduce BluRays to market pricing ($10-20).
I have not bought a blu-ray player for the same reasons Mr. Enderle wrote about.such as cost and video quality difference between Blu-Ray and DVD. I was not aware of issues with Blu-Ray discs not being compatible with all Blu-Ray players.
Mr. Enderle sounds like he is quite familiar with the format based on all the equipment he has with Blu-Ray drives. What is wrong with pointing out the faults of a product in hopes that a better product will be produced.
IMHO Blu-Ray will eventually be replaced by streaming online video anyway.
Mr. Enderle I found your article informative.
"youfailatlife on Aug 13th, 2009 at 9:11 AM:
the entire piece is full of anecdotes and other biased misinformation."
I LOVE how he has the nerve to call a comment by John Carmack a rumor that the PS4 is going to be rushed to the market.
See:
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/dv980h_comp.asp
The BDP-83 uses the same scaling as the DV-983, as noted by OPPO: "DVD Up-Conversion - The BDP-83 uses the same VRSâ?¢ by Anchor Bay (DVDO) de-interlacing and scaling technology as in our award-winning DV-983H DVD player."
This is different from the DV-980H.
From OPPO:
DV-983H = BDP-83:
Chipset: VRS FPGA (ABT102+ABT1018)or VRS ASIC (ABT2010)
De-interlacing: VRS by Anchor Bay
DV-980H:
Chipset: Customized "System-on-Chip"
De-interlacing: by MPEG decoder chip
You could at least do some basic fact checking before posting this nonsense you know.
Both this article and the comments from Greg, Peter and YouFailAtLife have been completely bias, but these comments are so self-riteous and personal!
heres the way i see it: BluRay, just like DVD before it is being sold at almost extortionist prices, but this is going to get cheaper in a few years, JUST like DVD.
but move on HDDVD nerds! bluray won the format war! live with it.
Regarding BD Live, Enderle says: "However, this wonderful feature won't work on any discs shipped before October of this year, effectively obsolescing my entire existing library of Blu-ray discs." - Um, this makes 0 sense. BD Live is a network feature that can be updated. Your discs are not obsolete, no more so than the day you bought them for 1080p and lossless audio. And this feature is being implemented on a studio-by-studio basis. It is not a standard feature, it is more a value added feature.
Says Enderle: "Before watching a movie, I constantly have to flash my player, because the AnyDVD folks have broken the security, and the Blu-ray folks have had to update it to counter so new discs can't be copied for another week. Of course, then they can be, and goodie goodie, I have to do another five to 10 minute software update before a movie will work. I tried just watching a Blu-ray movie without doing the update last weekend, and sound didn't work. I can actually watch a streamed HD s movie more quickly most of the time. A Blu-ray disc already takes friggin' forever to load, so the update process adds insult to injury." - Really? Which movie was that? Care to get specific? This is pure hyperbole and you know it.
Enderle - Toshiba has moved on, you can too (unless Microsoft is still paying you for this trash). This constant bashing is just...unbecoming. We all know you got your rear end handed to you in the format war. Be a little bit more gracious on our eyes and minds and don't insult our intelligence with this continued biased, shill ideology.
And to top it all off, after all the drivel above, after all the recommendations to NOT buy, since bluray is "still no bargain", Enderle admits "I currently own two LG Blu-ray players, four desktop computers with Blu-ray drives, two laptops with Blu-ray drives, a PlayStation 3". WTF??? That's a lot of bluray devices for one to have if you are so opposed to the format.
I guess you must be "insanely rich" since you have so many bluray devices "to impress...friends." I didn't realize one had to be rich to buy a $199 bluray player and $14.99 bluray movies which have become readily available online and in stores.
But anyway, this "article" has more holes than a sinking ship. Something doesn't add up here. But it never has with Rob Enderle - king of failed predictions. The most inaccurate "analyst" in modern times. Still waiting for Apple to die? For that Zune to overtake the iPod? Give it a break.
Aren't you the guy that once said ""Apple will not benefit from iPhone". Holy hell, how can you consistently be so....wrong? Like...all the time?
Worst. Analyst. Ever.
Besides, more studios seem to be following Disney's lead in packing a DVD+Digital Copy with the Blu Ray, which can be played in readily available portable devices. The DVD can also be given to friends or relatives who do not yet have blu ray.
Downloads are a pain and in any case are not legally available to those living outside the US/Canada. Moreover, I want to own a movie, disc art, cover art and all. It is something I can cherish and play again if I wish.
Like Toshiba, I too wanted HD DVD to win. But it didn't. Blu ray won and it is the future. Toshiba has made the correct call. Let us support blu ray and physical media, for a world without physical media will indeed be dull. According to the latest statistics, Blu Ray is growing really fast with disc sales going through the roof. Pessimism is not going to work.
HD DVD is making a comeback with Microsofts help. We are releasing a HD DVD add-on for the Zune HD September 1st at an amazing value price of $199.
Experience fantastic upscaled 480i resoultion with max bitrates of 4mb per minute and steller 3 channel sound.
Please do not be concerned with red rings, we have a new donkey chip that in theory should eleviate any previous error codes. At the minimum it is programmed to randonmly assign new error code that does not fall under warranty covered errors.
HD DVD is good. Chinese HD is even better. We outsell in China 3:1.. with a whopping 3,000 units sold to population of billions :D
Remember, please bow at the alter of Toshiba and Microsoft.
Yes folks, you are hearing it here again. Rob Enderle, the self proclaimed industry analyst who has been poo-pooing the BD format for over three years now comes up with a new way to ignore reality.
BD players? $200 from Panasonic, today... and dropping. BD players this holiday season may be available from major manufacturers for near $100 on sale. This was the magic price that Enderle wet his shorts over with HD DVD when heavily subsidized ($1,000 a player!), but makes profits for BD at $200 a player these days.
How does the article fail?
1. PS3 as a BD player is excellent, regardless of your gaming preferences. Yet, BD playback is completely ignored by Enderle.
2. Enderle's not interested in the Oppo player because he can get the scaler for less from Oppo. Ah, the Oppo is less than Oppo. ???
3. You shouldn't buy movies because they are updated? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the final update to the movie done when it was released in the theater? Updates are for special features perhaps, but most people really care about movies - not the actor you can't remember - that's what IMDB is for genius.
4. Portability? Are you freakin' kidding? BD is an infant product and may be a good bit away from having readily available portable content. But, half the movies have DIGITAL copies you can put on your iPod and take with you anywhere. Included... With the movie. No scratched disc, no skipping.
5. Streaming? Blu-ray Disc is a disc. A disc Enderle. It's not a download, it's not extras, it's not special features. It's the best HD video in the world, bar none. If you want streaming, get a box designed by a decent manufacturer for it. There are plenty out there.
6. DRM? What DRM? Every movie, since day one... Hundreds of movies through my first generation PS3 without an issue. Stop trying to promote piracy Enderle and realize that most people don't actually have DRM issues, and firmware updates from most players happen quickly and easily.
7. Renting? Sure, people should rent. Most people only own a couple dozen DVDs in 10+ years of the format. Here we are a few years into BD and you are crapping on the format?
Well, at least you are consistent.
Let's not worry too much about Rob Enderle, shall we? He obviously has some kind of hidden agenda against Blu-ray or, perhaps, he is on the payroll of a company that opposes the format.
Or, even more likely, is he an "analyst" in search of a story that can sell?
After all, why write another *boring* (but true) article detailing the successes of the format, when you can attract much more online readership with an article trying to detail the exact opposite? (It doesn't *really* matter if such articles are one-sided, misleading, or perhaps flat-out wrong. Does it?)
Let us turn away from trying to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt over the future of Blu-ray. Instead, let's channel our energies into producing some good out of it. Let us come to support Blu-ray, a format that can *very* well bring about a profitable future for the Hollywood studios, the actors, the directors, the producers, and the movies we have come to know and love. Finally, but perhaps most importantly, let us support Blu-ray, the format that brings about an incredible and increasingly affordable movie-watching experience in the home for consumers across the world.
Excellent all around players like the S360, BDP 1600 or BD60 can be found in the 200s if not lower.
Need to be rich?
And between amalgaming Sony with Blu Ray (the BDA, an association with dozens of CE makers is behind the format), or rehashing stories about the DRM rootkit, you still aren't afraid of spinning things around, are you?
Well, I don't know if your paycheck comes from MS or storage drive Makers (who try to push the digital on demand), but I hope for you they'll keep the checks coming.
Because as far as journalistic credibility goes, you have 0.