On Newsvine, AP writer Ryan Nakashima asks us, ‘Can Blu-ray save Christmas for Hollywood?‘
Answer: No.
Blu-ray just isn’t relevant. This isn’t the switch from VHS to DVD we did about 10 years ago. This is a move from high quality digital to higher quality digital with higher capacity discs. For the average consumer this step up is not that important.
The DVD-to-Blu-ray upgrade is going to take a lot longer than the VHS-to-DVD one. It will be indirect upgrades, such as gamers who buy the PS3 for the games, not for the Blu-ray format.
The other big reasons for a slow adoption are convenience and portability brought to us with the advent of iTunes. Sure our downloaded music and movies aren’t nearly as high in bitrate and quality as our CDs and DVDs, but I can get them right when I want them. And when I’m traveling I don’t have to carry discs along with me for my laptop or as the case is now, my iPhone.
When you live in the world of iTunes, Youtube, Hulu, Amazon Unbox, Netflix ‘Watch Instantly’, Vimeo and Blip.tv adopting a new physical storage format seems silly.
If everything else in my life lives ‘in the cloud’ on servers, like my email, social network and my photos – why not my video entertainment? At least put it in a format I can carry on my computer without the need for discs.