On Sun, 2008-03-02 at 16:36 +1300, Jinx wrote:
> So HD-DVD is a gone-burger. With Blu-ray left as the standard,
> it "will" become popular

Popular yes. The only physical HD format? Yes. The only way to get HD?
Not by a long shot.

The time for physical media is coming to an end. It's already happening
in music (there was a recent study on the purchasing patterns of CDs for
younger people. Turns out many hadn't purchased a SINGLE CD in the last
year. Most reported buying the majority of their music at places like
iTunes).

It can be argued that broadband bandwidth isn't anywhere near fast
enough for the video market to follow the same path as music. Today that
is true. 5 years from now? Heck, with solutions like FIOS in the states
the bandwidth is there today for at least some.

Most people are of the opinion that while BluRay will certainly be
popular, it will be nowhere near as successful as DVDs have been, for
the simple reason that fewer and fewer people will be getting their
movies/tv shows through physical media.

A friend of mine recently got digital cable. With his subscription to
the movie network (eastern canada's pale clone of HBO) he gets
on-demand. The selection of movies available on demand is VERY
impressive. Not HD yet, but that will come. He hasn't rented, or even
purchased a movie pretty much since he got on-demand.

As on-demand/downloading type services become more and more commonplace
the urge/reason to go out and rent/purchase a physical disc will become
less and less IMHO.

BluRay may have won the battle, but I don't think there is as much
territory left as when the battle began, and the territory available is
getting smaller every day. 

TTYL


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