29 Million Blu-ray Homes Expected This Year

[film11]

Take a look at the Netflix on-line catalog for Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray versions obviously started with the most visually spectacular blockbuster movies, but they're rapidly filling in the blanks. For example I wanted to see two old movies in HD, "Road Warrior" (1981) and "Robocop" (1983)and they were there in Blu-ray. "Road Warror," was especially impressive in HD. It was like watching a whole new movie.

You should also take a look at recent press about sales of the PS3 which show a 120% increase in sales over the last year.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_i ... tory=17876

Henry

If BR can only rely on the game console, it's still a niche format. And I've seen ROAD WARRIOR and ROBOCOP in HD as well. Didn't need Netflix or a disc for that. In addition, I've also seen MAD MAX, MAD MAX III, ROBO II, and ROBO III in HD. See if those are on BR.

[film11]

that is still a couple hundred more than an equivalent HD-DVD player would have cost.

Here we go again. You can't compare Toshiba HD-DVD player prices with anything - they were subsidized to win the war. If HD DVD had won we'd still be looking at $400 players, or close to that.

Early DVD players were $1,000. Now they're $20. There is absolutely no reason to believe that BD won't see similar progress. If anything the competition from HDTV and downloads should hasten the price drops.

We'll see. And as far as players were concerned, I wasn't referring to the $99 sales, etc. I am referring to the standard pricing at retailstores (including the store where I worked. They were always priced anywhere from $100 - $200 less than BR. For people who don't own 1080p sets, the A3s at $250 was a better intro to HDM than a $400 BR player. (Not even taking into account sale prices.) Now...it's "bye-bye" to the masses.

P.S. I know 3 people who've purchased HD sets in the past month. Not a single one of them has any intention of getting a BR player. They're quite thrilled with the HD options and costs provided by satellite or cable. I expect most of the general public feels the same.

[hharris4earthlink]

Right now Blu-ray does rely on the PS3, but 63 percent of the US population now plays video games, hardly a niche market. See first link below. And yes, there are movies still not available on Blu-ray, but my experience with Netflix shows that the number of movies not available is shrinking dramatically every day, what you would expect given the recent winning of the HD war with HD DVD. Besides, Netflix has announced it's phasing out HD DVD and stocking Blu-ray. See second link.

Henry

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20 ... games.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssCons ... 8420080211

[film11]

Henry, you're missing the point. It's not about what's on BR or HD-DVD, it's about content (or more precisely, lack of it) that is available on them. The films I mentioned were not on either format! I have HD movies archived that people are constantly wondering "When will there be a BR of....? I won't need BR to see, say, DARK KNIGHT for example...because it will be available in HD OnDemand the same day it appears on DVD. The content and release schedules of BR films just isn't there for most people.

Yes, people who already play video games will buy PS3...but the entire 63% won't necessarily be using them for movies either. Believe it or not, there are many who could care less about movies. And some only want to play the games. So I'm not impressed by how many PS3s are sold because the majority of those sales are not necessarily for BR (though it's certainly a nice option).

[hharris4earthlink]

Well, I guess I'm confused. Some of the movies you listed I want to be available too, so we have solidarity there. But you realize that eventually NO new movies will be released on HD DVD and if there are no plans to realize the movies you mentioned on HD DVD now, it's very unlikely they ever will be. That's not true for Blu-ray.

To be fair, the 63 percent number I mentioned applies to all three consoles, so that's not a good measure of how many people are watching Blu-ray. I was arguing that video games have become a staple of American life, so we shouldn't discount Sony's selection of Blu-ray as a standard for games. But we do have direct numbers. According to High-Def Digest, about 9 million Blu-ray movies have been sold since mid-2006. While it was once true that some studios were releasing on DVD only because they didn't know if Blu-ray was going to take off, that is no longer true according to Tom Adams of "Adams Media Research." See link below.

Henry

http://www.blurayfreak.com/

[Richard]

the signal coming down the cable to the monitor or display must "Shake Hands" with each other. Therefore, if any device in the signal path is non-compliant a 1920 x 1080 HDTV picture will not be displayed.

That relates to SD DVD being limited to 480p output and the lack of 1080p output with Blu-ray.

Component video such as Y, Pb and Pr, does not suport the HDCP Hand Shake so what you get, As I understand, is a 960x540 picture so that the image is less than adequate for HD copying.

You are referring to the image restraint token which has not been used as of this time. On top of that, if it is used, then Blu-ray packaging is supposed to clearly denote that.

At this time you can get up to 1080i output from Blu-ray via analog component but with SD DVD it will be limited to 480p.

As an example, I don't think anyone at this time (March 2008) has a digital projector that can project an HDTV image from a Blu-Ray Player onto the screen because of this HDCP protocal requirement. At least not on any projector I know of yet. I'm sure the consumer electronics manufacturers are addressing this problem.

100% incorrect. All kinds of projectors and one piece displays support 1080p60 or the most important one for Blu-ray, 1080p24.

Bottom line for those seeking maximum performance with Blu-ray is you have to be 100% HDMI compliant for both video and audio.

[akirby]

At this time you can get up to 1080i output from Blu-ray via analog component but with SD DVD it will be limited to 480p.

I can verify that - I'm doing it right now. I get 1080i BD movies, games and downloadable content over component on my PS3, but I only get 480p for standard DVDs.

As Richard also pointed out, HDMI supports all resolutions whether you have HDCP or not. And while the capability exists to limit the resolution over analog component video - it's not currently being used. I get full 1080i (my display doesn't do 720p so it's converted to 1080i) on all DirecTV HD channels over component.

IF they ever turn on the image restraint token on individual broadcasts then that would limit non-HDCP outputs to 480p but that hasn't happened yet and given the number of component only displays still in use it's not likely to happen soon, if ever. The whole idea is that you can't just record the digital HDMI output from a BD disc or broadcast show and save it for reproduction or other illegal uses. A device with a HDMI input must be authorized or it won't work.

hdtvjim - if you're using component video then it's 100% analog. There is no digital signal to process or down-res. The only control is by the sending device (DirecTV receiver, PS3, DVD player, etc.) but that has nothing to do with HDCP.

[akirby]

We'll see. And as far as players were concerned, I wasn't referring to the $99 sales, etc. I am referring to the standard pricing at retailstores (including the store where I worked. They were always priced anywhere from $100 - $200 less than BR. For people who don't own 1080p sets, the A3s at $250 was a better intro to HDM than a $400 BR player.

I was also referring to the $250 sets. Those, too, were being subsidized by Toshiba. The problem is we don't have any non-subsidized HD DVD players for comparison. At least with BD players we had LG and/or Samsung selling them, not just Sony.

A Samsung BD player is $400. A combo player is $800. That suggests to me that the true cost of a HD DVD player is closer to $400 than $250.
If HD DVD had won the war the price would have gone up on those, too. I'm sure HD DVD is somewhat cheaper, but not hundreds cheaper. It's all moot now anyway.

The reason BD players haven't dropped much is simple: no commitment by all mfrs and no significant volume outside of the PS3 due to the uncertainty over the format's future. Now that it's settled I expect all major mfrs to have BD players out within a year (including Toshiba) and that will cause a slow but steady price drop as the mfrs start to compete with each other (and the PS3).

Yes, there are other options available and BD may never be as popular as DVD is now, but it will continue to grow.

[hdtvjim]

I have a Dish 622 receiver and am using the HDMI output converted to DVI with an adapter. My 50" DLP HDTV display only has a DVI input. I do not yet have an HDTV DVD player so I don't have hands-on experience with the Bu-Ray Player.

As I said earlier HDMI and HDCP are two different things. HDMI can carry an HDCP protocol and do the hand shake if needed provided the destination can respond and is HDCP compatable. I don't disagree with you that component is "analog only". I used to view analog component when I had the EchoStar 6000 as that was all it would output. The Dish 622 has both component and HDMI (it also has composite and RF which do not output HDTV). My Denon A/V receiver has two channels of component which I no longer use. Denon now has a new receiver with HDMI inputs and will support, if need be the HDCP.

I also stated earlier about projectors not being HDCP compatible. I know that there are a lot that can accept HDMI signals and can display true HD signals but I don't know of any yet that can handle the HDCP protocol.

We need a an article explaining some of this new terminology.

[akirby]

I also stated earlier about projectors not being HDCP compatible. I know that there are a lot that can accept HDMI signals and can display true HD signals but I don't know of any yet that can handle the HDCP protocol.

Sorry, but I think you're wrong again. I just checked on the Optoma HD80 since I'm considering buying one and this is directly from the user's manual:

HDMI & DVI support HDCP function

I believe MOST if not ALL displays with HDMI inputs today are HDCP compliant. I believe only the very early models with HDMI (3-4 years old) don't have HDCP.