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Editorial
Blu-ray vs iTunes is all Baloney
Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 3:00 PM - by John Martellaro
In an effort to create artificial tension for their readership or to cater to the RDFs of Apple and Microsoft, some are arguing that Blu-ray will now have to fight an uphill battle against Internet downloads. Thats all pure baloney.
First, its going to be many years before Internet downloads can compete with Blu-ray discs in terms of bit rate and video quality. Whats worse, were facing a unique problem these days in that some Internet providers may be working behind the scenes to make life difficult for their competitors. Unless net neutrality laws get some teeth soon, the days of free and open access to any video any time may be numbered.
So, until the day comes when I have a 100 Mbps cable modem or FiOS connection and the federal government has guaranteed me that I can download an HD movie from Big Time Competitor A on Big Time Competitor Bs network in a few minutes with no behind the scenes dirty tricks, I think Ill pass on the Blu-ray is dead scenario.
Next, I suspect most people have older DVD players that dont do much in terms of upconverting. Theye going to need a new player anyway. For those older players, the output is 480i and the HDTV its connected to does its best to convert that to native resolution. As time goes by, theres going to be less and less emphasis on that circuitry to save costs, and so a good upconverting DVD player will be required. Whats a good up-converting DVD player? A Blu-ray.
Ive personally seen the difference between an old but serviceable Sony DVD player delivering 480i and a Blu-ray player with modern electronics delivering 480p via HDMI from a DVD. There is a small but noticeable improvement for the same DVD.
Finally, while some people always have their preferences and try to get in on the latest trends, the fact is its very hard to get all the people to do just what you want them to do all the time. A lot of people have a nice DVD collection, and theyre going to keep right on enjoying those movies. If, every once in a while, a Blu-ray movie arrives via Netflix or they see an old favorite that just has to be upgraded to HD, theyll do it.
And dont forget, were still not very good at getting that content off our computers and into our HDTVs. HDTVs with an Ethernet jack are coming, but its going to take a long time for manufacturers and content providers to make that interface as good as Apple can make it. In the meantime, video box wars and customer "box fatigue" are at an all time high. Adults and their kids know how to operate DVD and Blu-ray players; theyre not considered hard to use.
Theres an old adage: "Under the most strictly controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, and humidity, the organism will do as it damn well pleases."
And so will millions of consumers who dont want to mess around with the Internet, wait for a movie to fill a buffer, mess with complicated video boxes, have a creidt card number on file in the sky, worry about net-neutrality dirty tricks, and backing up purchased movies at 2 GB per shot. They just want to plop a disc in the machine, grab some popcorn and enjoy. You can bet Hollywood will keep them happy with lots of selections at Wal-Mart for a long time.
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