Digital downloads vs. Blu-Ray to be next format war
The physical high-def format war has been won by Blu-Ray but its opponent will be high-def digital downloads. Digital downloads will make things easier but by the same time are not exactly a substitute for a nice high-def physical disc.
One of the problems is bandwidth. High-def content needs lots of it and few high-speed Internet providers are currently up to the challenge. They’re getting there but it will be a few years.
Then there’s the issue of having a digital-only copy of your movie(s)/show(s). These would likely be stored on a media box of some sorts, like a TiVO, Apple TV, Vudu, etc, there will be others, I’m sure.
These boxes make use of hard drives. Hard drives tend to fail. What would happen if all of a sudden the hard drive failed to the point of no recovery? Would there be a system in place so you could re-download all your content? Or, would you be able to burn a backup copy of your content from a PC?
That, could also be a problem. High-def content requires lots of space on optical media. Current DVDs are dual-layer holding of about 8GB of information. To burn a backup copy of a DVD to a standard DVD-R requires it to be compressed to half its size, resulting in somewhat degraded picture quality. This is not a problem if you have a burner that is dual-layer capable but only if you have DVDR DL (dual layer) discs.
Content that is 720p could be made to fit on a standard DVD-R but 1080i or 1080p high-def media is another story. Almost assuredly that would have to be burned to a Blu-Ray disc. Would the downloaded content included all the special features of the retail discs?
The AppleTV has content available in 480p (standard-def) and 720p (high-def), the Vudu media box offers 480p, 720p and 1080 high-def content. What’s the point of having an HDTV if all you do is download standard content. Granted, it would download and play faster but that negates the purpose of your HDTV.
All anyone should be interested in is 720p or 1080 definitions. This content loves bandwidth, the more, the better. The current infrastructure is barely capable of handling it. Unlike Cnet, I don’t believe digital downloads will be the downfall of Blu-Ray but rather, they will coexist for sometime, hopefully until the next better thing comes along.
There’s no substitute for holding an actual physical disc in your hand, it won’t go anywhere and it won’t get corrupted (provided you’re not a “butterfingers” and scratch it to the point of being unreadable).
As long as the media download providers allow you to burn a physical backup copy, they may win against Blu-Ray but if not, oh well, game over, try again.
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February 23rd, 2008
HD Movie Downloads vs. Blu-Ray Movies
written by: Gregory Leone (Superdynamite)
See Here: original article
OK, lets’ look at the “Movie Download vs. Movie Disc” subject a little closer. We will dissect it in a way that will allow us to try and determine the future of the digital HD Movie Download.
These are some of the Freedoms that I am able to enjoy because I own a Blu-ray player (Playstation 3) and Blu-ray Disc collection:
I watched my Blackhawk Down Blu-ray about 8X during this past year. I watched my Pan’s Labyrinth Blu-ray 4X since it’s release. I watched the Simpson’s Movie on Christmas Night and then again last night, almost 4 weeks later, with my little cousin. I also let my brother borrow my 300 and 28 Weeks Later Blu-ray discs. My friend Mike let me borrow his Ghost Rider Blu-ray and I lent him my Casino Royale Blu-ray. I brought my TMNT Blu-ray to my friend Jay’s house to see how it looked on his new Samsung DLP flat screen and PS3. It looked and sounded amazing. I bought Pathfinder on Blu-ray for $29.99, watched it, then sold it on eBay for $26.00 + $2.00 shipping.
Ok, that’s what I’ve done with a few of my Blu-ray movies.
Now let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of the Digital HD Movie Download:
1. Does the HD Movie Download allow me the same freedoms in portability that the Blu-Ray Disc does? No. You can only view a Downloaded movie on the device that it was downloaded to.
2. Can I borrow and Lend downloaded movies with friends and family? No. You would have to lend or borrow the whole device or console that holds the download.
3. Can I watch a Downloaded Movie numerous times over the course of a Year or the course of a month for that matter? No. Digital Download Movies are only good for a predetermined term or limited length of time. Usually 24 hours.
For example, Microsoft offers Digital Movie Downloads on their XBoxLIVE (XBL) service. The Downloadable movies vary in price on the XBL service. Movie Downloads from XBoxLIVE can be viewed an unlimited amount of times for the first 24 hours. Plays after that period will cost the same as the initial download. The downloaded Movie files are in Windows Media VideoHD (aka;VC-1,WMVHD) format at 720p resolution, 6.8Mbps video with 5.1 surround sound. The average Movie download is 4 – 5gb.
4. Are Digital downloadable Movies available in Full HD, 1080p with lossless Audio? No. Not yet. There is no date for the availability of full resolution Downloads.
The only advantage or benefit, that I can see, in Downloading Movies would be, it saves you a trip to the store. If you are home sick, the weather is bad, it’s after 10pm and all the Electronics stores are closed or you’re just feeling a little bit lazy, downloading a movie is fine.
To me, downloading a Movie is no different than purchasing a movie from your Pay-Per-View service. In some cases Pay-Per-View might even have more of an advantage because you don’t have to wait the download time and if you have TiVo you can watch it until you delete it. Pay-Per-View is also available in 1080i.
The DVD vs. VHS Comparison in relation to The Blu-ray vs. DVD Comparison:
Standard DVD replaced VHS, Blu-ray replaced DVD and Digital Downloads will replace Blu-ray, right? Wrong. Here is why:
While compiling information about a subject or subjects, in order to complete a proper hypothecation, you will need to make sure that the variables that you are using are in accordance with one another and can be related to one another.
So the question is, “Can we compare DVD’s replacement of VHS with Blu-ray’s replacement of Standard (STD) DVD?” The answer is No. DVD ultimately rendered the VHS Tape useless. Blu-ray is not replacing DVD or rendering the DVD format useless. Blu-ray is simply an expansion of DVD.
If you own a Full HD Home Theater with Blu-ray player, the Standard DVD format can and will be integrated into your Movie, Concert or VideoGame collection in some way. The standard DVD can not only be viewed using a Blu-ray player, but the STD DVD can be viewed at a higher resolution using a process that most Blu-ray players feature. This process is called upscaling.
VHS and DVD are in no way interchangeable, which was the reason for the subsequent discontinuation and elimination of VHS.
Not only are the STD DVD & VHS forms of media non-interchangeable with one another, but the gap in technology between DVD and VHS is far greater then the gap between Blu-ray and DVD. The reason there is such a large gap between DVD and VHS is that DVD is a completely different technology than VHS, where as Blu-ray evolved from DVD and is of the same technology.
Here’s another way to look at the DVD vs. VHS Comparison in relation to The Blu-ray vs. DVD Comparison:
1.What came first, the chicken (Blu-ray) or the egg (DVD)?
2.What came first, the chicken (Blu-ray) or the Elephant (VHS)? You can’t ask that question because it’s not relative to what we need the answer for.
This is why “The DVD vs. VHS Comparison in relation to The Blu-ray vs. DVD Comparison” cannot be used to determine an answer to our question, which is, Will Digital Downloadable Movies replace Disc media?
The Downloadable Movie vs. Downloadable Music comparison:
I think this is where analysts and columnists make their biggest mistake when trying to evaluate the future of digital media.
You can not compare downloading movies with downloading music. A full catalog of Music does not require a large amount of Hard Drive space. One single HD Movie with 1080p resolution, 7.1 lossless Audio and Bonus Features could, in some cases, require 20gb to over 50gb of space depending on the movie. Just think of how much space you would need to retain a downloaded version of the Godfather Box set in Full HD.
Music Downloads are portable via an MP3 device such as the IPod. Downloadable Movie content is not portable. HiDef Home Theaters are not portable either. Music Downloads are permanent and do not incur future costs on the owner. Movie downloads have a limited viewing time.
As a consumer, I do not want to spend money on a movie that I am only able to view for a limited time. In that case, I might as well go to the movie theater and get my money’s worth. I’d much rather order something from Pay-Per-View which I can TiVo. I want to watch my movies when & where I feel like watching them. I want to lend movies to my friends and family. I also want to borrow movies from my friends and family. To me, that is a small part of what makes owning a movie collection fun.
In my opinion, Movie Downloads is an option that is loaded with restrictions and costs to the consumer. Digital Movie Downloads, Pay-Per-View and Divx are more comparable to each other than Movie Downloads and Disc Media are to each other. For now, the Movie Download is a very long way from replacing Blu-disc/DVD media.
Movie Downloads have their place in the industry, but they will never take over as the industry standard. For now it’s just another option to Pay-Per-View.
February 23rd, 2008
Great post, Superdynamite. I completely agree. Downloads have their place but they aren’t going to be replacing DVD or Blu-ray any time soon.
February 24th, 2008
While digital downloading won’t replace Blu-ray today or even next year,I believe it is the future.With internet connectivity to TV’s becoming more commonplace websites will probably offer personal websites like a myspace page that stores your entertainment files in HD Format.This would eliminate having to let someone borrow your copy,as all someone would have to do is log into your account as guest/friend user or get a link in your email to download the file from your personal account.This would also eliminate the need for a Blu-ray player or having to store Blu-ray discs.
August 14th, 2008
You guys are really thinking inside the box, aren’t you? You are assuming that digital downloads are not going to get faster, and that digital storage will not get cheaper. You are assuming that the digital download services of today are all that we will have tomorrow. Bandwidth is going to grow. Download speeds will increase. Hard drives will get exponentially larger and cheaper. What’s more, you won’t store them on a single hard drive. You will store your HD movies on multiple hard drives in a RAID configuration, so if one hard drive fails, you will still have 100% of your data retained, and you can simply replace the bad hard drive. Not only will you be able to watch any of your movies whenever you want, you will be able to watch them simultaneously in different rooms at different points in the movie; multiple, independent streams of the same movie, whenever you want. You can do this today with Kaleidescape, the top-end media server. An entry level system costs $15K, but in ten years, you’ll be able to purchase a comparable system for less than $1K. How many DVD’s/Blu-Ray’s do you own? 300? 500? Imagine, instead of having a whole wall of shelves to hold all those discs, now you have all of those movies in a box, just twice the size of a set top box, and you watch them on a player half the size of a set top box. No more having to visually scan a wall of movies for the needle-in-a-haystack you want to watch or alphabetizing 500 boxes every time you buy a new movie. No more finally finding the movie you want and realizing you forgot you loaned it to a friend. But who? All your movies, in one place to watch in any room in your home whenever you want. The ability to rent and watch any movie or television program ever made at the push of a button. That’s what digital storage and digital downloads will do for you. You think there’s still just something about holding a physical disc in your hand? That’s terribly short-sighted.