When do you expect Blu-ray collections to start gathering dust?

[TheVrolok]

I can absolutely tell the difference between the two. It's very noticeable if you are watching on a big screen.

However, the majority of people do not care. I have friends who just watch everything on their laptops and are perfectly content with it. D:

KT

This. I have a fairly sizeable BRD collection because I like watching pretty movies with good audio on a nice home theater. Streaming isn't even close.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I use XBMC for all my movies so they're all on my file server.

When DVD came out I could have seen myself build up a collection, then Bluray came out right after, then I figured, what's the point, if they're going to keep changing the format. When 4k takes mass adoption they'll probably change the format again.

Movies should just come on flash as a regular file on a USB stick, stop it with all the disc format changes. Most people have a HTPC or a TV that takes USB anyway. Of course they'd never do that because they think the current formats somehow stop piracy. :awe:

On the other hand, I kinda do miss the old days, going to the rental place with family, picking up a couple movies on VHS, inserting them in the VCR and sitting back as it played, then having to rewind when done. Or if you had one of those newer fancy VCRs it would do it for you. But times have changed, and probably for the better. 😛

 

[PieIsAwesome]

What alternative is there currently? Blu-Ray looks way better than streaming Netflix or Amazon.

 

[Pheran]

DVD was such a drastic improvement over VHS. As long as you don't scratch it they will last a very long time, you didn't have to rewind them and they took up a lot less space.

While Blu-ray is an improvement over DVD, it is no where near the improvement people got from going from VHS to DVD. 4K has the disadvantage of people needing very large screens to even notice a difference.

Exactly this. I'll keep purchasing Blu-ray discs as long as every online means of digital movie distribution are either DRM-infected crap and/or low-bitrate compressed all-to-hell video. The Blu-rays have DRM too but it's usually easily breakable for ripping.

 

[zinfamous]

While Blu-ray is an improvement over DVD, it is no where near the improvement people got from going from VHS to DVD. 4K has the disadvantage of people needing very large screens to even notice a difference.

I..disagree. DVD to BD was the same leap from VHS to DVD. if not greater for me.

I think it's important to consider that with VHS to DVD, there was not a substantial adoption of new display tech, so this might color that perception a bit. Meaning, DVD was the standard many years before LCD or Plasma broke out of the niche market. DVD was great, but still primarily limited by the previous 4 decades of display technology.

Of course, HD breaking in was the real killer. This is also something that didn't become mainstream until BD/HDVD. Probably not until HDDVD was dead and buried, to be honest.

So, when I think of those transitions: you're looking at most people moving from VHS to DVD on their old 37" 480i or whatever Magnavox sets from Walmart. By the time BD hits the market, people are moving from DVD to BD on their 780p or 1080p Plasma/LCD...or even projection screens.

In a way, it's very hard to compare that transition, because you really have another part of the technology factoring in to perception. DVD added a crispness to the image and removed the obnoxious tracking lines you get with magnetic tape, and of course additional audio options. It didn't do all that much for color depth, in comparison to VHS on the same display.

On HD displays, BD did all of that and much more (especially color depth and contrast, and of course 3x+ ther resolution) compared to what DVD was capable of on the same display.

 

[Fingolfin269]

From a picture/sound perspective I felt about the same from VHS to DVD as I did from DVD to BRD.

From an everything else perspective VHS to DVD was amazing. No more rewinding, no more putting in a movie to find out the previous person didn't do their duty to actually rewind, and of course the ability to skip straight to a chapter.

Anyway, not sure when BRD will die but not sure it ever actually lived. I have some discs, maybe 30 or so, but nowhere near what I had with DVD. Problem is I can't exactly fully move away from discs because I do notice the quality difference between BRD and other options. Guess that depends on if you think laserdisc ever lived or not.

 

[Imp]

Mines have been doing that for years since I got rid of my PS3.

The BDs were beautiful, but such a pain in the ass to switch between discs and keep them in pristine condition (i.e. put them back in the box) -- compared to streaming or playing off hard drive. Too bad iTunes never puts movies on sale for like $10 or less. I'd be scooping them up if they did. Ease of access is worth more than the quality for me.