Perhaps we will need no "players" or "transports" sooner than we thought. This may happen quicker than expected!!

 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/technology/05bluray.html?_r=1&em

 I am already on board..... goodbye mechanicals, hello bitstreams

well, a living needs to be made, even if just dealing with 0's and 1's...

but... as has been mentioned here -there is a great deal to be said about the tactile feel of media: albums, tapes, and yes... discs! 

the reality is: i will certainly leap-frog BR, if i haven't already... hd on demand from my cable provider, and my good 'ol apple tv... why even bother?

Oh dear - what's my kids going to buy me for birthday/Christmas now??

It does seem however that Blueray sales are on the up in the UK

I think it's important to distinguish between the delivery medium and the format. HD-Ready and Full-HD (plus even higher formats) can be delivered via the net, just as they can be delivered on a disk.

The full resolution audio is actually what takes up the most space on a BD disk, which means that if you have a good full-surround system you might want to keep buying those (just as Laser-Disk enthusiasts got those instead of VHS-tapes.) But downloads are fast, convenient and of surprising quality, even when "just" HD-Ready, such as Apple's or Netflix'.

I haven't bothered with buying BD - have tried out some players, but I find the convenience of buying content over the net such that I can't be bothered with buying BDs. You'd be amazed to see what's available through Apple TV in the US, and this will be available everywhere now that the movie studios are catching on to the advantages.

While the BD and HD-DVD camps were busy fighting it out, they failed to notice the emergence of net distributed content. YouTube was launched as recently as 2005, and that's when people began asking: "Why can't I just get all my television like this?" Which they now can. Check out Hulu.com for what's happening.

i agree , i've got a ps3 and about 40 blu rays and god knows how many dvd's and over xmas spent most of my time watching videos on my mac that i either recorded via eyetv or d/l from the net , or even youtube !

it's the sheer convenience that does it for me

a. scrabble through a shelf full of films searching for a title ( in the dark is SUCH fun ! )

OR 

b. type into spotlight and hey presto ! 

 the biggest annoyance was upon finding a blu ray i wanted to watch , i had to clean it 3 times as a persistent fingerprint was stopping the useless thing from playing

imo bd will be the next laserdisc , a niche product at best and just a stopgap for the obvious replacement

once the infrastructure's improved and bt are going fibre optic as we post there'll be no more messing about up at blockbusters or indeed getting stuff from amazon 

BTW - from the article in the original post. I wish this was B&O:

On Monday, for example, the Korean television maker LG Electronics plans to announce a new line of high-definition televisions that connect directly to the Internet with no set-top box required. The televisions will be able to play movies and television shows from online video-on-demand services, including Netflix. 

The LG sets are hobbled, compared to what's really possible. B&O should put a Mac-mini inside their tv's. Preferably the new one that launches soon. In five years, all TVs will have this.

waiting for this macworld announcement of the new mini this afternoon (UK time) and will be off to get mine as soon as possible......

Then my ongoing conundrum of how I set it up with my avant!! 

maybe apple will go the whole hog and bring out a REAL apple TV ?

32-40 inch imac ??

 one can only hope 

soundproof:

"Why can't I just get all my television like this?" Which they now can. Check out Hulu.com for what's happening.

Problem in the UK is two-fold: most broadband providers now cap your bandwidth and it's often as low as 10GB/month. If you're a film buff, and you started downloading movies (or stream them), then you're soon going to reach your limit.

The other problem are the prices. Go to the iTunes Store and you'll find a downloadable version of Dark Knight is around £12.99. The prices don't seem to drop by much either. Go to places like Zavvi, HMV and others, and after 3 months the SD DVD is down to around £5. Remember that people are generally cheapskates - if they can get something cheap, they're not going to pay £12.99 to download a movie. People will stick with DVDs for a long time, for this reason.

Downloading HD movies isn't like downloading a MP3 audio file. Most people in the UK have a <2MB broadband connection. Again, if you're in to films, you're not going to spend time trying to download them to your computer.

The big problem with Blu-ray is it's too expensive. Even discounted retail Blu-ray discs are £14.99 and they are seen as 'cheap' in retail. No reason why an SD DVD is £3.99 and the same movie on Blu-ray is £14.99. The gap is too wide.

>>maybe apple will go the whole hog and bring out a REAL apple TV ?<<

I think the pressure for them is on. I hacked mine and I have Hulu.com TV episodes and Movies, CNN News, WB and Comedy Central. Netflix is coming soon, works already somewhat on the MAC version of the software. Hacking it added finally value for that box, besides the 2 movies I rented in a year. I can now stream movies straight from my NAS and it searched and found coverart, reviews and trailers automatically.

 I basically have a 1200$ (900 NAS & 300 ATV) Kaleidescape system controlled  through my Beo4.

That said, I think BR will be short lived but has its place. I live in the middle of Boston and can't get more then 1.5mbit DSL connection. Renting an Itunes movie in standard quality is a 15 minute wait. I don't expect a speed improvement in the next 2 years to be honest. In my Manhattan and Northern NJ Apartments I had similar issues by the way. For people with big screens, the content delivery over the net is years away I believe. And I don't expect that ISPs suddenly start pushing for more bandwith, at least in the US. Most I know offer TV as well, so Itunes Store and Hulu and Netflix are competitors that eat part of their market share and other content provider usually require much less bandwith.

Cheers

JK 

JK,

I am surprised that your bitrate is so low. I have numerous friends and colleagues in Boston (mainly Back Bay)  and the surrounding countryside and no one that I know has issues with download speeds. In fact it was a friend in Back Bay that convinced me to buy an Apple TV based on his nearly instantaneous downloads and ease of use.

I have never had a problem with downloading speeds in Boston, Phoenix, or in the very rural setting that I now reside in. Perhaps I have just been lucky.

As pointed out above, there has been significant discussion of additional charges for data above a certain threshold (the providers are after the high "bit users") as a tool (and, likely, as a profit generator) to extend the lifetime of the existing infrastructure. Clearly new infrastructure is needed to support the sort of data transmission envisioned.

I think it has to do with how far you are from the phone hub. I am using DSL Verizon. I signed up for 3 Mbits, but effectively I get 1.5 which is in line with their service agreement (I checked).

I might be able to get better speed from a cable company but since I am not using cable TV I didn't pursue that option ....... I think in general though from what I am hearing most people I know have similar restrictions. 6Mbits or more which I would think is suitable for HD content is the exception.

Cheers

JK 

moxxey:

Problem in the UK is two-fold: most broadband providers now cap your bandwidth and it's often as low as 10GB/month. If you're a film buff, and you started downloading movies (or stream them), then you're soon going to reach your limit.

Jee, my download speed is 24 Mbps. It only takes one hour to dl 10 Gb. There is no download limit.

If I upgrade my account with my provider I would get 120 Mbps.

 I guess some people live in the wrong country.

I dont think it has to do with the country, it's just that super high speed is not consistently available. But then again, I am 10 feet away from my 32" and whatever streams down from Hulu is acceptable. Sound could be better, but also OK.

 I am just waiting for the call from verizon complaining that I use too much bandwidth. 

DoubleU:

 I guess some people live in the wrong country.

No, I have a 24 Mbps connection too, here in the UK. However, the problem is that a) most people (not everyone can justify or own B&O!) can't justify the cost or requirement so choose a 1Mbs broadband connection (yes, choose..) and b) you can only get 8Mbps or higher when you are relatively close to the telephone exchange. Unfortunately in the UK, most people are too far from the exchange.

When we discuss consumers and their purchasing decisions, remember the majority spend as little as possible. Thus the average broadband connection is only 1Mbps.

Where I live in the UK the maximum ADSL speed I can get is 512Kb/sec, due to the distance from the exchange (any further and I wouldn't get "broadband" at all). As it's a small village there is no cable option and I have tried two different "mobile modems" (T-Mobile and 3) and the speed at my address is less than my ADSL connection!

To get a faster connection my only short term option would be to buy a new house - slighlty too expensive I think as I don't watch that many movies