Blu-ray
Blu-ray reached an interesting milestone last Tuesday; the release of it’s 1000th title. For me, it is only appropriate that a Walt Disney film marked the occasion as I grew up watching Mickey and friends and have always been fond of animation (especially on the big screen, especially on my big screen). The landmark release was Pinocchio and we are starting to see Blu-ray finally pick up some respectable market share as it continues to fight against DVD and Internet downloads for customer dollars. When the format war with HD-DVD was finally decided, I only assumed that Blu-ray would quickly become the go-to format. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been the firestorm I thought it would and, in fact, it’s created some confusion among consumers. There are even some who think the format will fail or be replaced (I can’t say I completely disagree with this possibility). Although the format war with HD-DVD was certainly the most obvious obstacle, I think there are a couple of underlying problems Blu-ray has to overcome to be hugely successful.
The Players: Manufacturers can’t seem to get their head around what features they want on their players and at what cost. At CES 2009 I could not even count the number of new players being released this year with the focus on Internet connectivity and online content over quality disc playback. I think we need to check the expiration date on the sales and marketing research. Although most of the people I talk to are pleased that the players are inexpensive, they would still pay more for higher quality playback. An interesting side note is there are only a few “high-end” players currently on the market as several elite manufacturers are holding Blu-ray at arms length to make sure it’s something they want to invest substantial amounts of R&D money into.
As far as all the “new and cool” interactive disc features and BD Live - I haven’t actually met anyone who takes advantage of these. As a matter of fact, most of the people I know have never seen nor want to see the special features on DVD’s either.
Video Display: There is a lot of customer confusion as to if they even need a Blu-ray player. They’ve seen the ads, heard about the quality but are not sure how it will work with their system. My take on this so far is, if you don’t have a quality 1080p display then you can hold off on buying a Blu-ray player for a while. Although the new players will do a nice job of scaling DVD’s to match your displays native resolution, there’s just not enough difference to warrant a new purchase - especially if you already own a decent DVD player.
Audio: Simple - does your receiver decode the new audio formats? If not, can it accept analog inputs from a player which does on-board decoding? Wait, actually that’s not as simple as it first sounds. This is one of those areas where customers can really use some advice. Good news is more and more equipment is handling the new HD audio formats so soon this will become an obsolete question. In the meantime, speak with your personal a/v consultant to see if your system is ready as this problem goes beyond what the player and receiver can do, it includes connectivity which can bring HDMI into the mix.
Content: Here’s where I have a big problem with Blu-ray. It’s not the number of titles available, it the quality of the titles. Where is Lord of the Rings, or Gladitor or Star Wars or the dozens of other big-time-big-hit-blockbusters? I simply do not need Groundhog Day or Pretty Woman on Blu-ray. The once in a decade viewing those movies get when there not being run back-to-back-to-back on broadcast TV simple does not warrant all the fuss, I am perfectly happy with a DVD copy. Especially when you consider the next point…
Price: The cost for these movies is borderline. Yes, I’ll pay a little more for high quality video and audio but I fear that I am paying a lot extra for special features that I may never watch. I wouldn’t mind a smaller price tag for a “Movie Only” version. (ps: and I don’t need 20 minutes of trailers or advertising telling me how good Blu-ray is. I know it is, I’m watching it…or at least trying to).
So, although this post may seem negative on Blu-ray, I assure you it’s not. I’m simply trying to point out a couple of reasons why I feel the format has not taken full flight yet. Here’s my positive points: Blu-ray video can be just awesome, it’s that simple. We’ve done a number of installs with terrific results and some very happy homeowners. The more I tweak my own system and try different settings on both the projector and player, I am constantly amazed at the clarity, color depth and dynamic performance of the picture. The same excitement carries over for the new HD audio formats. Even if the soundtrack is just seven channel PCM it’s a big improvement over normal Dolby Digital and DTS. Of course the new gems, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA, are very engaging and a significant improvement. Together, with the right equipment, blu-ray can be a truly immersive experience.
More and more Tuesday releases are being done on Blu-ray which is great. Some of the new movies either recently out, or coming out, definitely deserve the format, I only hope that we start seeing more older movies re-issued.
My most desired Blu-ray titles:
Star Wars
The Lord of the Rings
Braveheart
Gladitor
Blade
Heat
Tombstone
X-Men Triology (Good news here…April 21st!)
My favorite released Blu-ray titles:
The Dark Knight
Pirates of the Carribean Triology
Casino Royale
The Matrix
300
Planet Earth
The Police: Certifiable
Cars
