| Today I would like to address the many video | | | | screen size is smaller than ≈ 50″ then |
| enthusiasts who may be considering buying a Blu-ray | | | | it simply won't be able to take full advantage of the |
| Disc player and/or the Blu-ray discs to go with it. As | | | | color and detail information that's on the Blu-ray disc. |
| you can see by the title of this post, I'm not | | | | In my opinion it's not worth the expense. |
| convinced by Blu-ray and I advise you to "tread | | | | B) Up-scaled DVD's look fantastic on a smaller HDTV |
| carefully" when considering investing in Blu-ray. I firmly | | | | screen. Any decent up-conversion DVD player (much |
| believe that Blu-ray is not going to have the same | | | | less expensive than a Blu-ray player) will convert the |
| awesome impact that DVD did when it first came | | | | DVD 480p to 1080i and it will be hard to tell the |
| out and ever since. Optical discs will soon be a thing | | | | difference in image quality with the Blu-ray. DVD also |
| of the past as many netbook and notebook PC | | | | looks very good on any non high-definition TV (digital |
| makers opt for disc-less designs in their computers | | | | SDTV). |
| (less weight, more room for a bigger battery). Let's | | | | C) DVD's have been around for 12 years and |
| investigate further: | | | | consequently are more numerous (1,900 Blu-ray |
| 1) Some quick history: | | | | movie titles available compared to 105,000 DVD |
| In 2006, a format war began between HD DVD and | | | | movie titles available). In addition, there are only 7 to |
| Blu-ray Disc. These two high-definition optical disc | | | | 8 new Blu-ray releases per month compared to 900 |
| formats were incompatible with each other and were | | | | new DVD releases each month. Many times you can't |
| attempting to improve upon and eventually replace | | | | find the movie that you're looking for in the Blu-ray |
| the DVD standard (high- definition video resolution of | | | | format! |
| 1080p compared to DVD's 480p). Two years later in | | | | D) Do you really want to start another video disc |
| February 2008, Toshiba, the main company | | | | player collection again? First I bought a VHS player |
| supporting HD DVD "raised the white flag" and the | | | | and built up a nice collection of movie titles in VHS |
| format war was over - Blu-ray was the victor! | | | | format, then I bought a DVD player and amassed a |
| Blu-ray would now set the new standard and | | | | good collection of DVD's videos. Am I now going to |
| become the high-definition "king"! Blu-ray all the way! | | | | start yet another collection of expensive Blu-ray |
| Right? Well, read on!! | | | | Discs and player? I think you know the answer! Just |
| 2) Some revealing facts: | | | | Say Nay To Blu-ray!! |
| In 2009 (fully three years after the advent of | | | | E) Last but certainly not least: The future of |
| Blu-ray), digital movies and TV shows generated | | | | accessing and watching video is by delivering it |
| more income than did Blu-ray. Digital movies | | | | digitally through the Internet. Very soon all TV's will |
| generated almost twice as much income as Blu-ray, | | | | come with ethernet jacks or wi-fi in them allowing |
| while DVD's generated nine times as much income as | | | | you to buy, watch, and stream video content directly |
| Blu-ray! | | | | from the Internet. Right now Microsoft's Xbox Live |
| 3) Some key points to consider: | | | | instantly streams from Netflix over the Internet to |
| A) Without a doubt if you have a large screen HDTV | | | | your TV and the incredible Roku box instantly |
| (≈ 50″ or bigger), then a Blu-ray | | | | streams high quality movies from Netflix and Amazon |
| player will give you the best picture and sound quality | | | | Video On Demand. This is just the beginning. Online |
| on the planet. You will sit at home and say "wow"! | | | | digital download of movies on Internet enabled TV's |
| You will think that you're actually in the theater - | | | | will soon make discs and disc players practically |
| which of course is the point! However, if your HDTV | | | | obsolete. |