The end of DVDs?

Now that is one thing I won't like to see anytime. I have a huge shelf with a bunch of movies and I love it, really I have like 300 movies or more. I just love my movie library, and if movies go digital I can't buy dvd's anymore. Now that is simple, you could easily tell me to get myself a laser printer and a dvd printer, but the thing is that I can't work on photoshop to make my own custom covers and there are some covers that I probably won't find, so I don't want that dvd's end. And you, what is your opinion?

Movies will never go all digital.

^ This is true. There is way too much invested into DVD's. The digital movement may get bigger, but not a complete take over.

The end of DVDs is on its way. I don't know how long before they are gone, but the movement is in that direction. I hope to god everything doesn't go digital. I still like buying dvds/blu rays and having a physical copy. I've double dipped a few titles from DVD to Blu Ray. Some title you needs to.












But picture aside, the scratch resistant surface, better audio, more space for special features and small casing all help.

The jump from VHS to DVD was huge, the jump from DVD to blu ray is small. So expect the jump to digital to be even smaller. Not everyone in the world can go digital. There will always be some form of physical media for us.

At least I hope.

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Suspect's Reviews

Agree completely. Blu-ray's adoption rate is a product of the fact that the jump is much smaller. And at some point we get beyond what's detectable by the human eye from a reasonable distance, anyway. Better formats are only going to make sense on massive screens, and there are physical limitations to how large people will want their TVs to be, so I think we're rapidly approaching the point of diminishing returns.

It won't be cost-effective to continue to develop dramatically better formats that we can only get the fraction of the benefit of, and even then only if we have a huge TV.

But are Blu-rays really the end? What format will people be purchasing in the year 2035? I can't imagine Blu-ray being the #1 thing at that time. I would like it to be since I own so many of them (although, they better improve their delicate, anorexic cases, 'cause mine keep breaking) but I don't see the standards of now being the same then.

Personally, I would like to see the move towards everything being small and compact disappear and let's go back to things being big and hefty. Big and heavy makes me feel comfortable in that it'll be strong and last longer. I suspect that it might happen -- for nostalgia's sake. My guess as to what might happen is that older movies (such as what we're watching now) and maybe even some new films of the day -- will all be put onto a thing that you can purchase that is kind of like a drive full of movies. A thing you stick into your machine and it has 100 movies on it - for $20 or more. It might even have a 1,000, I dunno.

For example, instead of going into Target and finding individual movies on sale - or maybe sets like "20 Westerns You've Never Heard Of" for $5.99 - maybe they'll sell discs that say, "Every Movie from 2011!" and so on and so on. All in 1080p (or better, if it's possible by then.) Music could be the same way.

Every Foreign Film from the 20th Century!

Every Comedy from 2000-2020!

I don't know what they'd do to new movies, though. Perhaps everything will become digital and you'll be left to perhaps purchase it yourself over the internet or something (or TV or phone) but maybe they'll be cheaper. I also don't know if what I imagined with the big bundle things of old movies is possible since different companies own all of the movies (maybe something could be arranged?)

But... yes... a complete takeover of the digitalization of things is possible, I think. I imagine people will still be able to sell individual movies (old ones) but how much interest is there going to be in the future if everything becomes smaller and digital? I mean, you can now put hundreds of films on a hard drive -- why not someday put something like a hard drive filled with movies out for sale? It would be a way to conserve things, free up space.

No, I'm not saying Blu-ray will still be the format. I'm just saying the improvements will be marginal beyond a certain point and thus become more specialized. Which means they'll cost more. Some people, to be sure, will desire physical films and many will not go completely digital. But a lot of people will go at least largely or mostly digital, which will have a similar effect. The combination of this shift to digital media along with the inevitably diminishing returns of visual technology will mean less invested in these newer technologies, and less widespread adoption of them. They'll become specialty items for the uber-dedicated, like LaserDiscs were once upon a time.

The real problem is that things can't look realer than real. Beyond a certain point they can only look equally as real on a larger screen.

Was in Costco today, they are still sellen VHS/DVD combo players.

DVD isn't going anywhere anytime soon imo

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"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo.

When the day comes where everything is only avaliable via digital, I'll kill myself.

But thankfully, that day will probably come way after I'm gone.

Having got a new 16inch HD ready TV, I appreciate Blu Ray a little more than I used to. But I can't see DVDs being replaced anytime soon. At least I hope not. Blu Rays are cool for certain films, but this whole digital thing won't be for everyone.

Which is why there's a unit-shifting push on 3D technology.

Getting away from Blu Ray for a moment, HDTVs will no doubt be around for a while at their present resolutions and people who feel they're worthwhile have either got one or want one. Even those who don't care one way or t'other don't really have a choice.

Personally, I'm not convinced by 3D but am a zealous, preachy, manual-bashing convert to HD. I agree that the quality difference between DVD and Blu Ray isn't as big as between VHS and DVD but it's appreciable and the price has fallen to such an extent that it's also approachable to damn nearly everyone who's in the market for a new TV and who's DVD player has seen better days.

But.

There are still millions of people who just want 'a film' and as long as it's of watchable quality they'll buy the DVD at (new release money) £8-10 rather than the Blu Ray at £12-15.

But.

And I'm taking the example here of my dear old mum who's about as tech-savvy as a Tolpuddle Martyr. She's got a HD TV and a BD player but bought nothing but DVDs for ages until I got her a few Blu Rays for Christmas.

She buys nothing else now and is far from a 'serious' movie fan.

I've gone round in so many circles here that I'm dizzy...

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

i sure hope thats a typo and u mean a 60 inch TV Prestige.

I will say that I definitely make a distinction between Blu-ray and HD television. That is to say, I'm hooked on HD channels and am seriously bummed if something I want to watch doesn't have an HD channel equivalent, but that's because the alternative, on a newer TV, looks less than DVD-quality, at least on my end. And of course, it doesn't utilize the wider TV screens the way HD does.

And I agree, about the 3D stuff. I think we might have gimmicks like that crop up for a few years as some of these companies start to wonder what to do with their time, before they realize the business is more around the margins now.

Yep, I don't have a HD TV signal yet because the free-to-air HD system won't reach my dusty backwater of a town until 2012 and I ain't buying Sky.

The BBC, though, does stream some of its High Def stuff through its website and I agree that the quality difference seems to be more immediately better than DVD -> BD and I can't wait until I get that HD goodness through my aerial.

Different TVs upscale with different results though. You don't necessarily need an upscaling DVD player - the HDTV will automatically do the job, the alternative being watching a DVD at its native resolution in a small box taking up a third of the screen - but the good ones (and the best I've experienced is the PS3) definitely ramp up the quality.

Lol, I wish it was a typo, mate. 16 inches. It's not as bad as it sounds though. It's a nice little LCD screen. I will upgrade after i've earnt some more money though. I think I could stick with 22 inches for awhile before I go for the inevitable 40 inch

must be weird that your pc monitor is larger than your Television. I can't imagine tbh in this day and age.

LCD's are soooo darn inexpensive, a 32 inch can be had virtually anywhere for under 500 bucks.

Well here anyway, different in your country perhaps.

I could probably get a LCD 32 inch for about £180 in even the most commercial retail stores, but believe me when I say that I have to make as much money as I possibly can last me for a bit. Maybe I will treat myself to a 32 inch for Christmas, we'll see. I'm happy with the small little thing, though. Probably because it's my first ever HD TV

My first HDTV was a 19" cheapo no-name brand out of Argos with one HDMI slot and really dodgy colour. Even then I noticed the quality was far superior to my 28" SDTV.

It's still in the bedroom.

Blu Ray just seems like a marketing scam to me.

VHS was around for a long time and the jump to something better was gradual and a long time coming.

DVD however has really only been around for a short time and yet we are now being told to ditch DVD for slightly better picture in Blu Ray. Re spend all the thousands of £££$$$$ most of us have invested in our DVDs for something a teeny weeny bit better. I don't think so.

So now that I have re invested in BLU Ray movies what will happen? They will bring out Red Ray with a slightly enhanced picture and so on and so on....

All these tech companies like Sony/Apple etc already have warehouses stocked with gadgets and better TVs/PCs etc that we will be using in 5-10 years time. It's all just a marketing ploy to keeps us hooked on the latest thing. Look at all the losers camped outside Apple shops for IPad 2 when in reality IPad 3,4,5 are all ready and waiting on a shelf.

Well I'm quite happy with my DVD's for now thankyou very much.

I don't see it as a scam at all. Blu-ray players play dvds, so you have a choice if you want to upgrade your dvds to blu-ray. So really, it's your own fault if you 're-invest' and replace all your dvd collection with the blu-rays...

I've only replaced a few of my dvds to blu-ray, and it's worth it. But the rest of my collection I'm keeping. I mostly just buy blu-rays of films I haven't got/new releases, every now and then I'd pay to upgrade certain films to blu-ray if it's one of my favourites. After all, as a film fan, I want the closest to cinema quality as possible - and blu-ray is.

And if you haven't got an upscaling dvd player, it's hardly 'slightly better'. Compare Avatar - the difference is immense.