BluRay DVD players versus digital video players?

Question

My wife and I are thinking of buying a BluRay DVD player because we enjoy watching at least one movie per week on our HDTV. However, a friend of mine suggested that BluRay players aren't worth the investment now because the rental industry is trending towards digital distribution of movies. He suggested to to hold off and instead buy a cheaper digital video player ($100.00) from Netflix or Amazon in 6 months or so when HD digital movie distribution by Amazon and Netflix is expanded.

Any opinions from BluRay or digital video player users?

I'm pretty much a cheap bastard and if a $300 - 500 BluRay is past its prime or will be in three years or less I might as well buy a $100 digital video player and use the savings on rentals.

Answer 1

Some Blu-Ray players from LG and Samsung already do streaming Netflix HD if you have a fast enough internet connection (3.5 Mbps). Or you can stream Netflix though your PC, or purchase a separate device for about $100 to connect to your TV.



That is streaming video (not downloaded video like Blockbuster), so you can stop or resume at any time (even days later). The disadvantage is that backing up to review something does not quite work the same as a real disk (you can jump back a chapter, but not go in reverse), and streaming video does not have the extras that would be on a disk. Quality is excellent unless your internet connection is not quite fast enough, which could degrade the resolution.



Other brands do YouTube and will do Amazon when that becomes available.



I don't have cable or satellite, so I like the streaming video if I am out of fresh mail rental disks and there is nothing on broadcast TV but junk programs and infomercials. However, real Blu-Ray disks are best.

Answer 2

People keep saying digital distribution is going to kill blu-ray, but that's not going to happen - at least not any time soon (like, in the next decade!)



The big problem with digital video players is they rely entirely on your internet connection. If you don't have a fast internet connection, your video is going to look awful - way worse than VHS. You really need, at least, a 3mbps connection - and that's just for DVD quality. For "HD" quality you need close to 6mbps, or higher. I put "HD" in quotes because this isn't quite true HD. Yes, it's at 720p or even 1080p, but it uses a compression algorithm so the video quality isn't going to be any where near as good as even a real blu-ray at 720p.



If watching DVD quality video is all you want to do, then maybe - that's MAYBE - digital distribution is the way to go. But with so many internet providers unable to do anything better than 1.5mbps, not to mention other high speed providers (like Comcast) slapping fees on users who go over their 300GB/month cap, it's just not going to be feasible any time soon.



By the way, Netflix's streaming is only at 480p, and is compressed. It's not HD at all. Same with Amazon. While there are some HD streaming services out there, they cost almost as much per movie as if you just bought the blu-ray disc in the first place - and they still don't come close to blu-ray's quality.



Just get a $150 blu-ray player (yes, they exist!), and update your Netflix subscription to send you blu-ray discs. If you want the best of both worlds, I think Sony has a new blu-ray player coming out that also lets you stream from Netflix or some other sources, for about $300.



Trust me, blu-ray isn't going anywhere, until you start seeing things like ubiquitous, affordable, >30mbps internet connections to every house in the nation, and we're a good decade away from that. At which point, I fully expect some new format to come out (3D?) which will still make digital distribution an impossibility.

Answer 3

Do you have a fiber optic connection to your home?



A blu ray disk is up to 50 giga byte. Do you know how long it would take for a typical DSL or cable connection to download 25 - 50 giga bytes worth of a movie?



Just to keep the math simple and since I have no idea how fast your internet connection is, try 10,000 to 20,000 minutes. Even if I am pessimistic by 4x on your internet download speed, you are still talking about a long time. Not to mention maxing out your internet connection in the mean time so other things are more or less unusable.



I have no doubt that in another decade most of us will be doing exactly as you describe, but I'd like to watch a few movies between now and then and I hate to wait. LOL!!



Sony blu-rays are available now for a little over $200 and they are hardly know as the cheap brand. Last Christmas season, there were brands selling for $125. Are you really that cheap?

Answer 4

Yeah but any rental downloaded will have to be viewed in a certain amount of time. Plus you have to wait for it to be downloaded. And when that happens, there's likely to be a certain amount of data that will inhibit your playback. You may get some lost audio or video. At least w/ a BR player you have everything. I'm just concerned about compressed data that will limit playback full potential. I buy only newly released movies on BR that I have not seen & even those have to be worth it imo. Plus the DTS-HD and DolbyHD is great if you have the right equipment.

Answer 5

wait till Christmas and then get a blue ray that does digital video playing too there are several on the market my best guess is they will be in the 200 to 250 range this Christmas