A war: Blu-ray vs. IPTV

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17 Mar 08 14:20 by Timmie in category Uncategorized To news archive

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Now that Blu-ray is the high-definition format, and prices of Blu-ray content and hardware are still high, we can expect a showdown between the HD format and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). Both are new formats that focus on home entertainment since they allow users to watch movies and other offered content. The main reason why this could be ‘the next war’ can be found in their difference in image quality and customer convenience.

IPTV is easy to use after a set is installed. By one click on a remote a movie will be loaded and you can start watching right away. IPTV basically allows Video on Demand, something that Blu-ray isn’t offering at all. You always have to go and find yourself a movie at a shop or local rental store… Secondly you need one hell of an investment to actually enjoy Blu-ray. First you need to have an HDTV, followed by a Blu-ray player and a couple of movies.

Blu-ray’s advantage can be found in its superior image quality. IPTV offers image quality that’s four to five times poorer than Blu-ray’s high definition, but the high costs could kill Blu-ray in the long run. Many on this website openly say that they will never buy a $300 high-definition player, and think that the prices need to go down. I think IPTV could push Blu-ray into a different strategy, since the content that IPTV offers is more consumer-friendly and apart from the quality you enjoy exactly the same at a lower price.

What do you think? Could IPTV help us by causing Blu-ray to lower its price?

14 Comments

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 17 Mar 08 15:00

Many in here would never pay the price the laserdiscs had. Not to mention the players

Let Blu-Ray be for us REAL HIFI ppl. DVD is good enuff' for ordinary ppl

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 17 Mar 08 15:09

I'll take x264/MKV BluRay rips over IPTV ANY day. Yeah, I'm a dirty, dirty pirate :S

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 17 Mar 08 17:09

3-4 time poorer quality that Blu-Ray... This articles is a joke. You don't buy Blu-Ray for the On-Demand content, just like you don't use IPTV for its Superior Video/Audio Quality. To even say that these 2 might someday compete in the same market is a pathetic expression or your understanding of the market, and the technologies!

Bekali: Posts: 10; Posted on: 17 Mar 08 17:15

BD is just a very expensive optical media. Even the ancient 8.5GB disk is not capable in providing a decent price/GB rapport. Seems to be the end of optical media, probably too much money to royalties :S RIP optical media, viva p2p, errrrrr, i mean HDD & IPTV :g
This message was edited at: 17-03-2008 17:17

CDan: Posts: 3463; Posted on: 17 Mar 08 17:26

Who says BD is THE hi-def format? Certainly not movie consumers, at least not 99% of them. As for IPTV, it's a joke and has nothing whatsoever in common with hi-def of any kind, let alone the ability to compete.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 17 Mar 08 19:01

Apple TV is your answer. Remember AudioDVD and SuperCD versus mp3/aac/Ipod. Get modern people. I love my Apple Tv and I had a LaserDisc player once. Marek

neo1918: Posts: 259; Posted on: 17 Mar 08 19:10

If you're looking for quality, bluray is the only format worth looking at. There is a real danger of it losing to IPTV, too. Consumers have consistantly chosen quantity and convenience over quality. They chose MP3s over CDs, SACD and DVD-Audio. They chose digital cable over analog cable. We not want them to choose highly-compressed postage stamp sized videos over bluray. And we don't want them choosing DVD over it, either.

Dr. Who: Posts: 4500; Posted on: 17 Mar 08 23:56

IPTV won't make blu-ray not happen why would one want to just get the movie to watch and let's say they want to watch it again? Guess what they have to pay again. HDTV isn't a big concern as it will be the norm in every house as of Feb. 17th 2009. I want a physical copy so I won't buy into the IPTV crap.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 18 Mar 08 02:10

Yes, let Blu-ray be for those stupid people who bought those crappy LCD TV\'s and NEED to have all the rest HD equipment because their TV looks like total Crap compared to an average CRT TV with a regular DVD player.

FidelC: Posts: 987; Posted on: 18 Mar 08 02:23

Wake up and smell the coffee. There is no war. The industry has won the battle but is gonna loose the territory to the old good DVD. HD-DVD could have become the successor with similar production costs. There is no way Blu can match DVD pricing unless of course they sell movies at non existing profit margin and overprice DVD movies at the same time, just to help ppl switch. I didnt buy many DVDs and surely not gonna bother with Blu. However it will be a new niche format for geeks freaks and philes of diff kinds. I will invest in PC hardware to be able to check it out but to purchase movies I already have. . why? Tomorrow they will start upscaling 1080p to higher rez and will come up with better formats. For now renting will do the trick for me just fine, besides I have a few HDDs but I'm not gonna tell what I will use them for :B

old3eyes: Posts: 96; Posted on: 18 Mar 08 06:56

As much as I was disapointed at BD winning the disk wars I still want the option to own the media. HD Download will be good for the rental model where usually you don't really want the disk but just want to watch the movie. The problem also with downloads is that in 5 years time will you still be able to rent a classics or a movie released 5 years ago..??

morbius 57: Posts: 16; Posted on: 18 Mar 08 20:46

(Many on this website openly say that they will never buy a $300) BS how much do you all pay for cell phone fees cigarette's star bucks??? going out to dinner.... you will

Zod: Posts: 438; Posted on: 19 Mar 08 02:05

Even if you could save them to your hard drive, and watch them whenever you wanted, how much is it going to such if the HD crashes. Even if you could redownload them all, which isp's and such, you'd be screwed. I'd prefer to own the media, but maybe younger generation, will be more happy to adopt downloaded movies packed with drm.

beamdump: Posts: 14; Posted on: 20 Mar 08 09:57

Several years ago, I had sufficient funds to buy a Sony HDTV 1080p rear projection). At 5 feet away, the picture is phenominal. I added an upconverting (1080p) DVD RW box and I've yet to see the need to upgrade to an expensive format like Blu-ray. I was pondering HD DVD when they (Samsung and Toshiba) quit. Since only the BR is being persued by the movie studios and the encoding on blu-rays have been hacked, I think it will just be a matter of time before prices will plummet. With the US in recession, it would be Sony's best interest to get the boxes out there before no one is willing to purchase them, considering the hardware requirements. Upconverting just DVD is a sensible and pleasant solution for near 1080p resolution. Does anyone envision the moviehouses not publishing only on blu-ray in the near future? I doubt it. :g

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