Has America not moved on to Blu-Ray yet?

[DesiPower]

I wanted to watch Thor, the new one on blu-ray over the past weekend, they were all rented out, they would briefly show up in far away places but would go away again soon. During this time I also searched for DVDs and they were even less available. Like right now when I search by zip, I see 4 locations that are carrying Buy-ray but none of them have DVD, nearest one is like 10 miles away...

So Redboxes carry more BR then DVDs or are the DVDs still wayyyy more popular then BR? Which one is it?

Poll question, between you and your friends and family, which one in your experience is viewed more?

 

[Kaido]

In America, we skipped Bluray and went straight to streaming: Netflix, Vudu, and Redbox Instant. I'm pretty picky about video quality; Vudu's HDX is frankly amazing in terms of picture quality.

Every single person I know with a Bluray player complains about it - difficult menus to navigate, slow, updates required, etc. They botched it. It's all about streaming now.

 

[DesiPower]

In America, we skipped Bluray and went straight to streaming: Netflix, Vudu, and Redbox Instant. I'm pretty picky about video quality; Vudu's HDX is frankly amazing in terms of picture quality.

Every single person I know with a Bluray player complains about it - difficult menus to navigate, slow, updates required, etc. They botched it. It's all about streaming now.

They actually new DVD releases at 1080p with 5.1 sound? I doubt it. Even if they do, how much does it cost for individual movies? I know for a fact none of the monthly subscriptions cover them.

 

[JManInPhoenix]

In America, we skipped Bluray and went straight to streaming

This.

 

[darkewaffle]

I would say most will just stream stuff. I love blu-rays though but I'm more selective to not needlessly accumulate them though so I don't end up with a bunch gathering dust (a la my DVDs).

 

[mikeford]

We, cough cough, stream, dual netflicx

We have bluray capability, but own maybe ONE bluray mostly to test with. I don't need DRM issues with my entertainment media, so no plans to buy more.

 

[mrrman]

Have to intention to buy blueray, DVDs, CDs, mp3's, blueray player

 

[Geosurface]

I've got about 200 blu-rays. I enjoy having a physical medium with a case and artwork.

I don't watch them often, unfortunately. I guess for me it's about collecting and showing my respect to movies I've enjoyed.

 

[Markbnj]

Are you talking about some process of retrieving data from plastic disks with an embossed inner metallic reflective layer that encodes bits?

Why?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Honestly I have a hard time seeing any difference between an up-scaled DVD and a Blue Ray disc. Only time I can consistently notice a difference is animated movies.

 

[purbeast0]

yeah man last week i tried to rent thor from redbox. you would have thought they didn't even have any in stock at redbox because it simply wasn't in stock at any near my job or home. it was very odd. i've only seen this one time before with a game on xbox360, and i contacted them and they told me my area didn't get the game.

i didn't check dvd though, no way i'd watch that movie in dvd. i rarely stream too because it doesn't come close to the quality of bluray.

 

[vi edit]

Honestly I have a hard time seeing any difference between an up-scaled DVD and a Blue Ray disc. Only time I can consistently notice a difference is animated movies.

What size TV and how far away?

Blu Ray is on of those things that starts to pay off hugely once you start getting past that 40" mark in TV size. Also won't make much of a difference if you are sitting 15 feet away from a 40" screen either.

 

[vshah]

I watch a decent amount of blu rays cough cough

 

[purbeast0]

Honestly I have a hard time seeing any difference between an up-scaled DVD and a Blue Ray disc. Only time I can consistently notice a difference is animated movies.

the sound is a bigger difference and more important to me than the picture.

 

[dank69]

Have owned 3 different blu-ray players by three different manufacturers. All three shit the bed after less than a year of light use. Not going to be buying any more any time soon.

 

[JackBurton]

In America, we skipped Bluray and went straight to streaming: Netflix, Vudu, and Redbox Instant. I'm pretty picky about video quality; Vudu's HDX is frankly amazing in terms of picture quality.

Every single person I know with a Bluray player complains about it - difficult menus to navigate, slow, updates required, etc. They botched it. It's all about streaming now.

lol, no we didn't. The people with crap systems that can't take advantage of what BD has to offer, skipped BD. Let's be clear. Streaming is for people that don't put an emphasis on video and audio quality.

I actually never have problems finding BD's. I just go to Amazon and hit "add to cart." Never had any issues. 😉

 

[purbeast0]

Have owned 3 different blu-ray players by three different manufacturers. All three shit the bed after less than a year of light use. Not going to be buying any more any time soon.

i've had (have) 4 and have never had an issue with any of them. granted, 2 of them are the current gen consoles and i've only watched 1 movie on either of them heh, but i used ps3 it's whole life span (since 2006 or whenever) until late 2012 when i got a standalone because my ps3 version (the fat one) couldn't do hd sound + 3d video at the same time, only one or the other. and my stand alone will not be replaced by the xbox1 or ps4 because the interface is much better than either console.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I bought a few blu-rays and decided it wasn't worth the hassle so skipped and stream everything. Sure it looks nice, but it is so inconvenient and slow it just ruins the enjoyment. What do you mean I can't skip previews when I own the disc? Yeah, no. Who would have thought they'd make a format that was actually slower than DVD?

And as for the tradeoff? WELL worth it. And no, I don't have a crap set up.

 

[JackBurton]

Have owned 3 different blu-ray players by three different manufacturers. All three shit the bed after less than a year of light use. Not going to be buying any more any time soon.

Instead of buying 3 crappy BD players, get one good one. You'll be happier that way. I have 3 different BD players, not counting 2 PS3's and one PS4, and all perform flawlessly. Well, my launch PS3 died. But that was a PS3 issue, not a BD issue.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

What size TV and how far away?

Blu Ray is on of those things that starts to pay off hugely once you start getting past that 40" mark in TV size. Also won't make much of a difference if you are sitting 15 feet away from a 40" screen either.

Possible point, 46" about 10 feet

 

[JackBurton]

BD is expensive to do right, that is the reason people move to streaming. You're not going to take advantage of BD with a 40" Walmart special TV, and some goofy HTiB. For those people, BD probably wouldn't be that appealing. BD is just more expensive all around, and for those that are happy with "good enough," they'll most likely just move to streaming. It's more convenient and the picture and audio quality is "good enough."

 

[destrekor]

Blu-ray is the only way to go if you want picture and audio quality.

Even with something like Vudu HDX, where the picture quality is frankly amazing for streaming, you get a shitty lossy sub-300Kbps Dolby Digital+ track. With Blu-ray, you get lossless audio tracks. There is truly no comparison, unless you're speaker system is integrated into the TV or using a sound bar.

That's why Blu-ray exists, and I still prefer it.

I'll utilize streaming for shows and movies where I don't mind losing detail, but it will never, and can never, replace the full Blu-ray experience for the content where I want to have it all.

We have a very, very long ways to go before our backbone network in the U.S. can truly handle dishing out BD-quality streams. And it'll be a while after that before even a single provider actually offers a lossless audio stream to complement whatever video encoding and compression method they use.

Y'all who are having Blu-ray Player problems need to reevaluate your purchasing decisions - you buying some cheap Magnavox, RCA or JVC player? You get what you pay for, seriously.
Even today, when Blu-ray players are quite affordable, actually more so now than ever, I highly stress looking into professional reviews to see which players are getting praise. It often means looking at models with MSRP above $100, though you can usually find them on sale for less.

I also stuck by my launch PS3 as a BD player, seriously, since launch until this past September. I was starting to get afraid I'd kill the PS3 eventually, but more importantly, it had limitations with Blu-ray, especially 3D, compared to the modern players or later model PS3s.
Also, for you greenies, using the PS3 as a BD player is actually more expensive in the long run. She's a power hog, especially the earlier gens. Even with a movie, I'm fairly certain the old PS3s still climbed over 100w, if not 200w, while playing video content. Modern BD players will sip on 10w or thereabouts during playback. Also the reason I went with a Roku 3 instead of using the PS3 for streaming, like I had for awhile: high wattage v. 5w? Pretty easy choice there.
For heavy streamers, you owe it to yourself. Even with cheap electric rates, it adds up fast.

 

[Kaido]

lol, no we didn't. The people with crap systems that can't take advantage of what BD has to offer, skipped BD. Let's be clear. Streaming is for people that don't put an emphasis on video and audio quality.

I actually never have problems finding BD's. I just go to Amazon and hit "add to cart." Never had any issues. 😉

You are an exception! 😉

I've found that Vudu's HDX quality rivals Bluray. In fact, my copy of Hanna looks better than the Bluray does...not quite sure how that's possible with streaming encoding, but they have some kind of voodoo magic that makes it look great! I'm sure not everything that is encoded in streaming media looks that good, but I'm pretty happy with the quality. I do buy Blurays from time to time, but either to rip with MakeMKV/Handbrake or to add the UltraViolet code to my online collection.

 

[dainthomas]

I bought a few blu-rays and decided it wasn't worth the hassle so skipped and stream everything. Sure it looks nice, but it is so inconvenient and slow it just ruins the enjoyment. What do you mean I can't skip previews when I own the disc? Yeah, no. Who would have thought they'd make a format that was actually slower than DVD?

And as for the tradeoff? WELL worth it. And no, I don't have a crap set up.

I rip blurays from redbox using DVDFab and either watch them on my computer or burn them to a recordable bluray disk (stripping out the previews/ads). It also gives me the added benefit of converting it to a digital copy so I can throw it on my tablet so my daughter can watch it on road trips or at night when we're camping or something.

 

[Kaido]

BD is expensive to do right, that is the reason people move to streaming. You're not going to take advantage of BD with a 40" Walmart special TV, and some goofy HTiB. For those people, BD probably wouldn't be that appealing. BD is just more expensive all around, and for those that are happy with "good enough," they'll most likely just move to streaming. It's more convenient and the picture and audio quality is "good enough."

Another good point. The majority of Americans simply want a big, thin television - and they want it cheap! Bluray looks better, but there was a study a few years ago that said something like 80% of people didn't even have HD hooked up to their HDTV's (but thought they did). I hate running across people's setups that have composite cables hooked up, SmoothMotion left enabled, etc. Eek!

I think Blurays will live on for people who appreciate the highest levels of video & audio quality available. But that's not your average consumer. Plus, it's really hard to find a movie if you want it TODAY. If you don't mind waiting, Amazon is a great resource, but half the time our local Redbox is out of whatever we want and there are simply no video stores locally, so you can hunt around at Walmart or Best Buy for a movie and pay to own it instead of renting it. Streaming is winning because of convenience and because we're at the "good enough" level for the majority of consumers. But it's the same with anything, like cars - 600-horsepower Mustangs exist, but only a select few who care actually buy them.