Rumour or Fact

[houser]

You are of course correct in the big picture and long run.

However, Bluray sales are still going up...and there can't be _that_ many enthusiasts (like myself) to make that happen. Why?
Bluray is just one of those "see it and there is no going back" kinds of deals.
Bluray to iTunes HD movies is a different ballgame to 96k to 44.1 audio.
Most people will really notice the difference and people like myself will pay for that difference.
Blu-Ray has alot better options, extras, picture quality, sound quality.

Yes digital downloads have their place. I use them too, but Blu-Ray is just so much better.
Hands down waaay better and that will probably mean it will survive for a good while. My 2 cents YMMV etc..

best
Janne A.

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

Nobody's going to invest another dime in assembly lines related to physical media.

Software dictates all hardware demand. Only the most avid movie collectors want to see a film more than a few times. It's a far more disposable medium than music recordings.

[Henchman]

What will keep physical media alive, is Gaming.
Just as Gaming has pushed computer specs, especially on the pC side.

[sunburst79]

While I would agree that the days of physical media are numbered one only needs to look at NetFlix and RedBox to see that physical media is alive and well. Its going to take a big shift in bandwidth to kill physical media and most places just dont have the bandwidth yet to stream full HD - or at least at an affordable level that Joe Shmoe is willing to pay for.

[necjamc]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

While I would agree that the days of physical media are numbered one only needs to look at NetFlix and RedBox to see that physical media is alive and well. Its going to take a big shift in bandwidth to kill physical media and most places just dont have the bandwidth yet to stream full HD - or at least at an affordable level that Joe Shmoe is willing to pay for.

Considering cable HD is 1080i (at least in the north east) and runs at 80 MBPS, and cable internet is 25 Mbps at most, I would imagine that for FULL 1080p broadcast, we are a while from that. I like my blueray. And on a 720p Plasma, Blueray kicks cable but 10:1, even at the same level.

[Gary Nattrass]

Full broadcast HD on the BBC is only 12mbs and that is bouncing off the sat and transmitter system, for internet I am doing tests at 1920x1080p 5mbs and the quality is very very good.

[whitecat]

Originally Posted by Henchman

What will keep physical media alive, is Gaming.
Just as Gaming has pushed computer specs, especially on the pC side.

Really? Even with services like Steam making inroads into the delivery world?

[Dism]

Originally Posted by Henchman

What will keep physical media alive, is Gaming.
Just as Gaming has pushed computer specs, especially on the pC side.

Gonna have to disagree on both sides.

First off:

We have things like the Playstation Network and XBox Live, just for consoles, which is very quickly eliminating the need to actually go out and purchase your console games. The Wii has picked this up, and I'm sure handhelds are going to follow suit very quickly. Devices like the iPhone/iPod/iPad are entirely download only for their games, and software development for those devices is rivaled by none.

Second:

The difference between a gaming computer and a professional audio/video computer has never been more apparent. Multi-core processors are prime examples of this. I've been reading up on several gaming forums those who call the new hexa-core i7 as a "waste of money" because it does nothing to improve frame rate. Games are highly dependent purely on CPU and GPU speed, and do very little to take advantage of multiple cores and mass amounts of RAM. Plugins, tracks, bussing... these all demand more resources rather than speed alone. Running a DAW by itself is multitasking, while running a game isn't really.