Any advice is helpful

[...] and they’re trying to make a big deal of that in their advertising. (Whatever they can do to stay relevant, [...]

Mail-based, physical stores, on demand from satellite/cable, online streaming, I’d like to see all these different distributions methods co-exist because they all offer different advantages that might suit me depending on my situation at any given moment.

“For the record, a majority of the Blu criticism I see is usually couched in a way that suggests those of us who adopted Blu are just dumb suckers.”

I meant to state I do not get this impression from yourself, Johanna. Just some of the criticism I see online (and some folks responding here) have left me feeling like I have to prove *i’m* not stupid…so I over compensate. :)

Not dumb…but a definite, “Eh, whatever” attitude. For the record, a majority of the Blu criticism I see is usually couched in a way that suggests those of us who adopted Blu are just dumb suckers. I am presuming it is truly stupidity at play…but convenience is. I think streaming video appeals to convenience… and I don’t think “convenience” is as solid of an argument for stuff as people make it out to be.

I realize often streaming is free, and as I said, I use Netflix streaming myself. But given a choice, I would rather watch the Blu-Ray or DVD.

As far as the difference between VHS-DVD and DVD-Blu-Ray goes… in the VHS days I tried those arguments…most people didn’t care. They thought my reasons (better picture, chapters, menus, etc) were not any good as well. They still basically believed it was a conspiracy to get more money out of people. Hence my skepticism. I think people *believe* the difference is truly lesser…but I tell ya, the ability to check chapters or see what the special features are on the disc without leaving the movie is pretty swell. Picture in picture is really nice on Blu-Ray. The capacity is that of nine DVDs? The potential there is great.

I know plenty of people who don’t care about sound…I know a lot of elderly folks who appreciate the finer sound options of 5.1/7.1 surround. I think that people forgot, stereo sound can be muddled for some viewer, the crisper surround sound is a boon for such viewers. This is not an issue with DVD, as most DVDs are in surround sound…but streaming video? Not so much. I actually can only think of two people in my life that have no surround sound system…if you have one…why not use it to it’s full potential?

Of course, in the end…is blu-ray a way for corporations to get our money? Yeah…that’s kind of the point of entertainment companies. It is not evil. And I hate to break it to folks… if Blu-ray fails and streaming really takes off? You think it’s going to be free? When they get a better quality of download? When they get it up to DVD quality? Is it really going to be free? Hell know, they will fine a way to demand your money-new and special streaming machines that require large bandwith, you will have to pay higher cable fees to get bigger bandwidth and fast download speeds so your movie is not pausing to buffer every so often? There’s already talk of charging people if they go over a certain amount of bandwidth each month… streaming video of a good quality would likely cause people to get shocks on a monthly basis. I think people are being a tad short sighted in their pro-streaming video. It’s the existence of Blu and DVD that keep streaming cheap right now. If that were to become all there is? Believe me…people will think of the good old days when we had copies in HD that we could keep. And they had special features and other cool stuff.

Then, when they were old enough to enjoy the occasional family movie night, I was shocked to find Blockbuster carried no VHS tapes at all.

Having largely learned to amuse themselves with those antiquated woodpulp-based thingees, the kids rarely have an itch to watch a movie and we have found that our cinema desires are largely sated by our local library (who has kindly not trashed all of their VHS tapes… yet).

Your friendly neighborhood luddite,
Scott

Personally, I think there were more arguments for upgrading from vhs to dvd than from dvd to bluray. With vhs chapter selection and special features were non existent. DVDs were physically smaller (though not by a lot) and didn’t degrade from multiple viewings. VHS had been the dominant format for around twenty years compared with less than ten and the upgrade in video and sound was more pronounced than from dvd to bluray. Just my opinion.

Maybe it’s just my experience, but the streaming services I’ve used are comparable to dvd video-wise. Audio is not terribly important to me, while the lack of extras are. I expect those will be available given time.

It’s really not so much streaming that I expect to be the next step as much as online delivery in any form – buying and downloading a specific movie a la Amazon, iTunes, etc.

I think assuming that people who are streaming are dumb and must not like movies is not conducive to discussion. It’s the whole “not a true fan” fallacy.

Really, if you can’t find it anywhere else in Austin (including online and Netflix), you will definitely find it at one of those two stores.

But the truth is, Johanna? The arguments I see against Blu-Ray are the exact same arguments I heard against DVD back when it was new. Okay, the “it’s another disc” is new…but otherwise? There is not a complaint against Blu-ray that was not made against DVD. Personally, while I will watch stuff online or through streaming, it a step back from VHS most of the time. Streaming tends to artifact (pixelate) a lot, older films look fuzzy (my mom states that watching Gone with the Wind on blu-ray was superior to having seen it in the theater when she was younger), sound quality tends to be limited, there are no extras. Seriously, I have 30 year old VHS tapes that look better than some of the streaming video out here. Right now, I would say if you don’t care about how a movie looks or sounds, or if it is blurry and pixelated, then yeah…streaming is awesome. But people who really like movies, and aspiring creative people who might study movies or see film as more than a brief diversion? Streaming is a terrible option. Truthfully, people’s willingness to jump on streaming video over a better product (DVD or Blu-Ray) is a sad fact in favor of those critics that argue America keeps “dumbing down”. Streaming video is easy, so why not?

No matter who you rent from there are caveats to be aware of:
* Brick and Mortor-Store locations not convenient for everyone. Limited selection. Travel time and fuel costs considerations. Next online rental from queue will not be shipped until in-store exchange is returned.
* Online-Long wait for new releases. In order to receive your next movie at a desired time, you must factor in US Postal Service travel time and be cogniscent of weekends and holidays when there is no postal service.
* Online Movie Streaming-Video and Sound Quality not on par with that of a physical disc. No special features. Movie interruption when internet network is down. Not currently for videophiles. Offers the best future potential.

I feel the video rental business will be around for the forseeable future. Instead of allowing the movie studios to dictate our behavior, we need to become more vocal with the rental companies so they can take the appropriate action to configure their business to meet our needs. If they let the movie studios dictate what they can purchase and market as a rental, and fail to offer their customers the quality of movie medium we desire, they will surely fail. If enough people complain, things will change for the better.

I quit using Blockbuster when they started censoring movies for me. I want to see them the way the directors made them.