Blu-ray is doing well at the moment, however, it's mostly down to price cuts, which has allowed us to see under $10 movies and under $100 players this holiday season. The whole point of Blu-ray was to offer a premium (ie. more expensive) format so that the studios can reclaim the ever decreasing profit margin for DVDs, but at the current rate, Blu-ray pricing will be similar to DVD's by the end of next year, and with more expensive manufacturing and R&D costs yet to be recouped, studios might end up making less. And the more money people spend on hardware (new players, sound systems, TVs), the less there is to spend on movies, especially given the way the world economy is at the moment.
So Blu-ray is probably a good thing for the consumer, being able to buy movies with 6 times more pixels and better audio for only maybe 20-30% more in price, and to be able to take better advantage of their HDTVs, but I'm not sure as a whole, it is good for the industry in the long run. It's isn't bad, it's just it might not give the studios what they had wanted, although they would have had to make the evolution to HD at some point.
I think the truth is that video games are taking over from movies, what with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 selling 6 millions copies in the first couple of weeks, the biggest launch of any music, movie or video game title in history. At the cinemas, 3D is helping to recoup lost income, so something more than just HD is needed for home video to grow. 3D? Movies on demand? Who knows ...
So Blu-ray is probably a good thing for the consumer, being able to buy movies with 6 times more pixels and better audio for only maybe 20-30% more in price, and to be able to take better advantage of their HDTVs, but I'm not sure as a whole, it is good for the industry in the long run. It's isn't bad, it's just it might not give the studios what they had wanted, although they would have had to make the evolution to HD at some point.
I think the truth is that video games are taking over from movies, what with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 selling 6 millions copies in the first couple of weeks, the biggest launch of any music, movie or video game title in history. At the cinemas, 3D is helping to recoup lost income, so something more than just HD is needed for home video to grow. 3D? Movies on demand? Who knows ...
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