THX says Blu-ray is dead, an interesting possibility

[namehater]

this doesnt sound to far fetched to be a reality

THX says Blu-ray is dead. Does that mean no Star Wars in HD?

* Written by Peter Ha
* March 26th, 2008
* 4 Comments

thx_logo.jpg

Guess what? One of THX’s chief scientists says Blu-ray is toast. Laurie Fincham was recently interviewed by Home Cinema Choice Magazine and when asked about HD DVD’s recent death he commented with this,

“Personally, I think it’s too late for Blu-ray. I think consumers will only become interested in replacing DVD when HD movies becomes available on flash memory. Do we really need another spinning format?” he told the magazine.

“In the future I want to be able to carry four to five movies around with me in a wallet, or walk into a store and have someone copy me a movie to a USB device. Stores will like that idea, because it’s all about having zero inventory. I don’t want to take up shelf space with dozens of HD movies.”

“By the time Blu-ray really finds a mass market, we will have 128GB cards. I would guess that getting studios to supply movies on media cards, or offer downloads, will be a lot easier than getting them to sign up to support a disc format.” he concluded.

DVD Town brings up a good point regarding Star Wars, though. We may not see the epic intergalactic love story on a HD format. That would suck. Big time.

SOURCE

[Rhino Chaser]

I have to agree, as a viable media format for home entertainment the event horizon for both HD DVD and Blu ray were in the the forseeable future.

It will be a question of storage, bandwith, and download speed.

And solutions are already being developed....

[BiffCo]

Then again, I don't think THX has any clout in the format war. They aren't a production company. THX is simply a set of standards for audio and video, which doesn't mean squat most of the time unless you're buying components. Has anyone seen The Phantom Menace on DVD? How that passed through THX certification is beyond me. The video was/is atrocious.

-Brad

[Jon Liu]

Most THX certified DVDs were a wash. I agree with Brad - I don't think many will care what THX has to say about it.

Flash memory? Really? If that's the way of the future, they better ensure viable options for a cheap price, first off. Flash memory ISN'T cheap right now. Nor do I think 128GB drives will be that cheap in a couple years. Just think how much you can get flash memory for right now compared to 5 years ago. The numbers aren't absolutely drastic.

I could care less about Star Wars in HD as well. How long did it take for George Lucas, Mr. Naysayer himself, to finally put out the first three on DVD?

Seems his anticipation for DVD to flop was a little off-base.

[lovekeiiy]

Not to knock THX, but I don't think the future is flash memory. I think it could become an option. I think we'll see that future when stores start selling music on or to be placed on flash cards.

Personally, I think the future is download content such as Xbox Live. High speed internet just needs to get faster and, hopefully, cheaper. M$ is making some nice money off of the video market place, which means M$ has shown it can make money.

With all that said, I don't think anything on a hard medium going away. We have plenty of PGLers who like having those disks. Me, I would rather have some kind of media center setup at each TV and have a media server to that's I've stored all my purchased movies/shows, and recorded items.

[Crippler]

This dude makes a good point. One which I never even thought about. Shit, I'll take my HD movies on tiny ass SD size flash cards over discs anyday. No question about it. Right now a 4GB SD card is around $15 if you look around. Still too expensive when you start to extrapolate out to say 64GB to beat Bluray capacity. But flash memory has been dropping like a rock over the past few months and will easily be cheaper than any optical disc in the coming future. I would be happy with flash mem over digital download too. Hell, SD and download can work hand in hand. Simple to take your movies with you when we have flash storage to save HD content to. Much more convient than optical too. There could be a entire ecosystem based on digital download and large storage SD cards. Maybe even xD cards. Hot.

[ZoomZoom71]

One of the downsides to Flash memory is that it isn't very reliable. I know I've had a handful of 'em just quit working, for no apparent reason. If they can make it so it isn't susceptible to static electricity damage, etc, then maybe it'd be an option.

[lovekeiiy]

I had stop working, but that's because one of the solders broke, and no longer got power the card from the USB plug.

[BrewCityUpstart]

Originally Posted by Jon Liu

Most THX certified DVDs were a wash. I agree with Brad - I don't think many will care what THX has to say about it.

x's 3

[Gordon]

The interesting thing about buying them on flash memory will be how they are registered as being purchased in case the flash memory card is lost. Hell they may even make upgrades to the flash memory to make sure it checks online to verify that a purchase has been made. One step above that is a little frightening, but no sense getting into that since it gets away from the core point of the thread.

Is blu-ray dead? With those terabyte discs coming out who knows...?

[GoatMother]

After having blu-ray in my home which is simply the best experience possible right now. Flash memory or any other tech is going to have deliver something insanely better to make me consider upgrading again. If it delivers the same picture and sound quality I'll pass and I doubt studios will jump on it as well. Then again I don't see people bring USB sticks to rent movies when they can just download HD lite movies off the web or us VOD services from Comcast, Apple TV, MS's Live, etc.

Blu-ray is taking off quite nicely from all the stats I've read considering how early it is in its life.

edit:

"9 mil. Blu Discs Sold To Date; 3 million Already This Year"
Hollywood In Hi-Def


With HD DVD out, Blu-ray sales on the rise

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment's "No Country for Old Men" realized 9.8% of its total sales from Blu-ray Disc its first five days in stores, according to an analysis of Nielsen VideoScan First Alert numbers conducted by Home Media Magazine's market research department.

Fox's "Hitman," also released March 11, fared even better, generating 12.6% of its total unit sales from Blu-ray.

"That one hit the sweet spot," said Steve Feldstein, Fox senior vp marketing and corporate communications. "It's a great action title that looks beautiful in high-def -- and it's right in the cross hairs of Blu-ray's target demographic of young adult males."

By comparison, while the format war was raging, unit sales of high-definition discs, either Blu-ray or HD DVD, generally accounted for no more than 2%-3% of a title's sales.