Comments on: Digital Downloads Are Not About To Kill Blu-Ray http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/ Startup and Technology News Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:59:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: UTO at ASU West Campus » Alas, we barely knew ye http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2070310 UTO at ASU West Campus » Alas, we barely knew ye Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:12:50 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2070310 [...] some suggest that digital downloads will soon replace optical media altogether, but others are skeptical. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I think technologists sometimes mistakenly think that [...] [...] some suggest that digital downloads will soon replace optical media altogether, but others are skeptical. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I think technologists sometimes mistakenly think that [...]

]]> By: None http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2014230 None Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:09:04 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2014230 The experts dont have a clue. I do not want to download movies. I want to be able to buy and have the DVD in my library. How can you compare people wanting to buy an MP3 vs. a full movie? MP3's are popular because people want 1 or 2 good songs and not 13 crappy ones (CDs). MP3's are listened to on the go (bus, gym, etc). Movies I want to watch and home and I dont want to download DRM'd movies. Experts=Idiots. The experts dont have a clue. I do not want to download movies. I want to be able to buy and have the DVD in my library.

How can you compare people wanting to buy an MP3 vs. a full movie? MP3’s are popular because people want 1 or 2 good songs and not 13 crappy ones (CDs). MP3’s are listened to on the go (bus, gym, etc). Movies I want to watch and home and I dont want to download DRM’d movies. Experts=Idiots.

]]> By: Blu-ray vs. downloads: war that wasn’t » Download Movies 101 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2003999 Blu-ray vs. downloads: war that wasn’t » Download Movies 101 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 10:45:56 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2003999 [...] Riley of TechCrunch listed his reasons online video downloads are not about to kill [...] [...] Riley of TechCrunch listed his reasons online video downloads are not about to kill [...]

]]> By: Shuan1210 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2003431 Shuan1210 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:19:32 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2003431 Blu Ray may have won, but i doubt the majority of people care about buying blu ray movies for the hd quality, almost everyone i know do not care. most people are upscaling dvd as they have a huge collection and most of them will not go and buy them again on blu ray. I myself upscale DVD and download HD movies off the net then stream them through my xbox 360 to my hdtv. Blu Ray may have won, but i doubt the majority of people care about buying blu ray movies for the hd quality, almost everyone i know do not care. most people are upscaling dvd as they have a huge collection and most of them will not go and buy them again on blu ray. I myself upscale DVD and download HD movies off the net then stream them through my xbox 360 to my hdtv.

]]> By: Vinyl Rules! http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2003151 Vinyl Rules! Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:35:26 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2003151 Mr. Riley, You need to acquaint yourself and understand "DWDM:" Dense Wave Digital Multiplexing. This is why Verizon is deploying fibre to the home - They understand DWDM and because they know how to use it and what it can do, they will be able to very easily upgrade their network with DWDM. This means they will be able to offer 1080p downloads to the customers long before 2010 whilst other Telco’s and Cable Companies can only dreaming about this capability. Verizon is the ONLY major Telco to understand why it was so important to bite the financial bullet and run fibre directly to the home. Virtually all the others are running fibre to a neighborhood switch, but the final connection from this switch is a really slow copper wire connection to a customer's home. What this means in a practical sense is that with DWDM and fibre to your home, Verizon will be able to send thousands of TV channels and multiple 1080p movies to your home whilst their competitors will be stuck trying to compete with Verizon using old, obsolete, outdated, really slow copper wire connectivity to their customer's homes. And in case you didn't know, Verizon's is the largest local telephone company in the US, and they now have, after their acquisition of GTE, almost as many customers as AT&T had before the DOJ broke up AT&T into seven different local telephone companies. So why is DWDM such a great technology? Rather than bore you here, go to www.wikipedia.org and first type in “OC-1” to understand how fibre networks function, then type in “DWDM” and your jaw will drop. The short version: Before DWDM, only one signal could be sent down a single strand within a fibre optic cable. Now, with DWDM, hundreds of signals can be sent down just ONE strand. Bottom line: If you have fibre connected directly to your home and your carrier is deploying DWDM (like Verizon is), Blue Ray downloads and Blue Ray VOD will be here in less than two years. Mr. Riley, please do a bit more research and fact checking before you try and scare your readers with such inaccurate information as you have written in this article I am responding to. I am disappointed in your lack of due diligence in researching your facts before you put finger to keyboard. Respectfully, Vinyl Rules! [A former SONET SME (Synchronous Optical Network Subject Matter Expert) for both GTE and Sprint] Mr. Riley,

You need to acquaint yourself and understand “DWDM:” Dense Wave Digital Multiplexing. This is why Verizon is deploying fibre to the home - They understand DWDM and because they know how to use it and what it can do, they will be able to very easily upgrade their network with DWDM. This means they will be able to offer 1080p downloads to the customers long before 2010 whilst other Telco’s and Cable Companies can only dreaming about this capability.

Verizon is the ONLY major Telco to understand why it was so important to bite the financial bullet and run fibre directly to the home. Virtually all the others are running fibre to a neighborhood switch, but the final connection from this switch is a really slow copper wire connection to a customer’s home. What this means in a practical sense is that with DWDM and fibre to your home, Verizon will be able to send thousands of TV channels and multiple 1080p movies to your home whilst their competitors will be stuck trying to compete with Verizon using old, obsolete, outdated, really slow copper wire connectivity to their customer’s homes.

And in case you didn’t know, Verizon’s is the largest local telephone company in the US, and they now have, after their acquisition of GTE, almost as many customers as AT&T had before the DOJ broke up AT&T into seven different local telephone companies.

So why is DWDM such a great technology? Rather than bore you here, go to http://www.wikipedia.org and first type in “OC-1” to understand how fibre networks function, then type in “DWDM” and your jaw will drop. The short version: Before DWDM, only one signal could be sent down a single strand within a fibre optic cable. Now, with DWDM, hundreds of signals can be sent down just ONE strand.

Bottom line: If you have fibre connected directly to your home and your carrier is deploying DWDM (like Verizon is), Blue Ray downloads and Blue Ray VOD will be here in less than two years.

Mr. Riley, please do a bit more research and fact checking before you try and scare your readers with such inaccurate information as you have written in this article I am responding to. I am disappointed in your lack of due diligence in researching your facts before you put finger to keyboard.

Respectfully,

Vinyl Rules!
[A former SONET SME (Synchronous Optical Network Subject Matter Expert) for both GTE and Sprint]

]]> By: michael http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2001075 michael Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:58:52 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2001075 2 words: data archiving. I haven't seen a music CD in years, or a movie DVD in months, but I constantly use DVDs for archiving. When Blue Ray burners get cheap enough, I'll have one even though I have no intention of ever watching Blue Ray movies. Discs are more portable than buying a new hard drive, and way cheaper than buying (yet) another flash drive. This important use of optical media is almost entirely overlooked. 2 words: data archiving. I haven’t seen a music CD in years, or a movie DVD in months, but I constantly use DVDs for archiving. When Blue Ray burners get cheap enough, I’ll have one even though I have no intention of ever watching Blue Ray movies. Discs are more portable than buying a new hard drive, and way cheaper than buying (yet) another flash drive.

This important use of optical media is almost entirely overlooked.

]]> By: Charlie http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2000859 Charlie Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:33:42 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2000859 One thing you're failing to see are current DVDs offering. BR offers an HD improvement to a media that for non-sophisticated users is still perfectly fine. If you don't own a digital TV of 50 inches or more with 1080p capabilities, why do you need a BR player? You will be perfectly fine with a 480p player or if you want some better image, buy an upconverting DVD player for 50 bucks and enjoy your old DVDs at 720p or 1080i resolution that will look about the same as a BR on a small TV Buying a BR player to watch it on a non-1080p TV smaller than 50 inches is a waste of money. Sony will tell you I’m wrong, but read around and you will see. Or do a test yourself and be convinced Unless manufacturers decide to phase-out the current DVD format and quickly push BR, it will be very slow to implement, and digital downloads will beat them in the process (5-10 years) One thing you’re failing to see are current DVDs offering. BR offers an HD improvement to a media that for non-sophisticated users is still perfectly fine. If you don’t own a digital TV of 50 inches or more with 1080p capabilities, why do you need a BR player? You will be perfectly fine with a 480p player or if you want some better image, buy an upconverting DVD player for 50 bucks and enjoy your old DVDs at 720p or 1080i resolution that will look about the same as a BR on a small TV

Buying a BR player to watch it on a non-1080p TV smaller than 50 inches is a waste of money. Sony will tell you I’m wrong, but read around and you will see. Or do a test yourself and be convinced

Unless manufacturers decide to phase-out the current DVD format and quickly push BR, it will be very slow to implement, and digital downloads will beat them in the process (5-10 years)

]]> By: lancedragons http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2000336 lancedragons Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:36:14 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-2000336 blu-ray may be the next standard for movies, but I could honestly care less. I don't watch enough movies to warrant purchasing a player, and I wouldn't for it's current price. I'm perfectly able to stomach a Screener until I can get my hands on a high quality digital copy. I'm a fi\ully informed user, and I download most the content I watch (majority of it being TV I don't get to watch when it's broadcast if I'm busy). And I'm sure the current young generation can stomach downloads. Unfortunately, the level of penetration there is still pretty weak. At 21, I can torrent perfectly fine, and fine anything mainstream quite easily, and download in a couple hours, unfortunately, ask my friends about it and while the majority might know what a torrent is, they probably don't know the routes around to get everything they want. My social circle drops into high school at the youngest, and the young'uns probably are still happy with physical media for at least another generation. No, my money is bet that blu-ray penetrates into the data industry as a whole, where people need to store their super high quality pictures, and I know I would love to burn 25 GB at a time for my constant need of memory. Datawise, there's still a need to backup large quantities of data and the like. Next, the gaming industry and the like are still large businesses ever hungry for room on their discs, and DVD will eventually phased out (likely they'll find a new home as installation discs or the like). Apart from the much discussed bandwidth issues about HD downloads, portability is the main problem. People want to be able to share their dvd collection, and while many people can easy transfer songs between iPods (actually, iTunes makes it a bit hard), watching purchased movies will still, for the most part, be a thing people do at the confort of their own homes. Right now, the penetration of Blu-ray players vastly outnumbers that of HD download set-ups, so at any rate, this war was won by Blu-ray (things look iffy next format standard though). The number of dedicated players out there make it much easier to bring over a blu-ray to a friends and watch it on their set-up (using PS3 perhaps). A possible stab at this might be the growing popularity of sd cards and the like. It's a bit more feasible to think of transferring the movie to a sd card or usb stick, and just plugging it into a TV for viewing pleasure. As far as I know, however, this is in no way supported by the TVs or the HD players, but is always something to ponder about. I will agree that blu-ray will not be quite as easily adopted as the DVD. There are more options out there, and the venturesome young teen will probably be able to illegally pirate the movie while the majority of us are still debating about which content to spring for. blu-ray may be the next standard for movies, but I could honestly care less.
I don’t watch enough movies to warrant purchasing a player, and I wouldn’t for it’s current price.
I’m perfectly able to stomach a Screener until I can get my hands on a high quality digital copy. I’m a fi\ully informed user, and I download most the content I watch (majority of it being TV I don’t get to watch when it’s broadcast if I’m busy). And I’m sure the current young generation can stomach downloads. Unfortunately, the level of penetration there is still pretty weak. At 21, I can torrent perfectly fine, and fine anything mainstream quite easily, and download in a couple hours, unfortunately, ask my friends about it and while the majority might know what a torrent is, they probably don’t know the routes around to get everything they want. My social circle drops into high school at the youngest, and the young’uns probably are still happy with physical media for at least another generation.

No, my money is bet that blu-ray penetrates into the data industry as a whole, where people need to store their super high quality pictures, and I know I would love to burn 25 GB at a time for my constant need of memory.
Datawise, there’s still a need to backup large quantities of data and the like. Next, the gaming industry and the like are still large businesses ever hungry for room on their discs, and DVD will eventually phased out (likely they’ll find a new home as installation discs or the like).

Apart from the much discussed bandwidth issues about HD downloads, portability is the main problem. People want to be able to share their dvd collection, and while many people can easy transfer songs between iPods (actually, iTunes makes it a bit hard), watching purchased movies will still, for the most part, be a thing people do at the confort of their own homes. Right now, the penetration of Blu-ray players vastly outnumbers that of HD download set-ups, so at any rate, this war was won by Blu-ray (things look iffy next format standard though). The number of dedicated players out there make it much easier to bring over a blu-ray to a friends and watch it on their set-up (using PS3 perhaps).

A possible stab at this might be the growing popularity of sd cards and the like. It’s a bit more feasible to think of transferring the movie to a sd card or usb stick, and just plugging it into a TV for viewing pleasure.
As far as I know, however, this is in no way supported by the TVs or the HD players, but is always something to ponder about.

I will agree that blu-ray will not be quite as easily adopted as the DVD. There are more options out there, and the venturesome young teen will probably be able to illegally pirate the movie while the majority of us are still debating about which content to spring for.

]]> By: t3h FrozenCricket http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1999148 t3h FrozenCricket Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:57:39 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1999148 @Duncan, "To be fair, HD on a 1080p 40″ TV set provides a better experience that on my 17″ Macbook Pro, although the TV set doesn’t easily come to bed with me." I see what you did there ;) What, you mean you've never hauled your 40" hdtv into your bedroom just becuase you can? what would that make me, if I had done that? Not that I have, mind you, I'm just saying... @Duncan,

“To be fair, HD on a 1080p 40″ TV set provides a better experience that on my 17″ Macbook Pro, although the TV set doesn’t easily come to bed with me.”

I see what you did there ;) What, you mean you’ve never hauled your 40″ hdtv into your bedroom just becuase you can? what would that make me, if I had done that? Not that I have, mind you, I’m just saying…

]]> By: jv seattle http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998509 jv seattle Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:00:13 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998509 Its going to take a long time for download content will compete with a full 1080p lossyless sound of blu-ray disk. Physical HD disk provide better picture quality than downloading or streaming HD content. It will be a long long rough road for downloads to equal the quality of Blu-ray disk. NOBODY CAN ARGUE THAT.... ALLOW ME TO RANT NOW... THE NEXT HD MEDIA WAR WILL BE ALL ABOUT QUALITY NOT SUB-PAR CONTROLLED DOWNLOADS. DO YOU THINK DOWNLOADING COMPANIES ARE GOING TO ALLOW YOU TO BURN OR COPY THAT MOVIE FILE GOOD LUCK, NOT TO MENTION THE SPACE HD MOVIES USE WILL EAT UP A HARD DRIVE SPACE QUICKLY. ITS CRAZY IF YOU EVER THINK I WOULD GIVE UP MY PHYSICAL MEDIA ITS THE ONLY THING THAT I CAN PHYSICALLY OWN/STORE/COPY. What is the point of HD downloads if the picture quality of that media is sub-par 720p, Another note once a movie is in a download form as a user you loose the freedom of what you can do with that file. You think these companies will allow you to copy or burn them to a disk hell no, even if you could it would still be sub-par to Physical media blu-ray disk. Its going to take a long time for download content will compete with a full 1080p lossyless sound of blu-ray disk. Physical HD disk provide better picture quality than downloading or streaming HD content. It will be a long long rough road for downloads to equal the quality of Blu-ray disk. NOBODY CAN ARGUE THAT…. ALLOW ME TO RANT NOW…
THE NEXT HD MEDIA WAR WILL BE ALL ABOUT QUALITY NOT SUB-PAR CONTROLLED DOWNLOADS. DO YOU THINK DOWNLOADING COMPANIES ARE GOING TO ALLOW YOU TO BURN OR COPY THAT MOVIE FILE GOOD LUCK, NOT TO MENTION THE SPACE HD MOVIES USE WILL EAT UP A HARD DRIVE SPACE QUICKLY. ITS CRAZY IF YOU EVER THINK I WOULD GIVE UP MY PHYSICAL MEDIA ITS THE ONLY THING THAT I CAN PHYSICALLY OWN/STORE/COPY. What is the point of HD downloads if the picture quality of that media is sub-par 720p, Another note once a movie is in a download form as a user you loose the freedom of what you can do with that file. You think these companies will allow you to copy or burn them to a disk hell no, even if you could it would still be sub-par to Physical media blu-ray disk.

]]> By: kaspario http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998458 kaspario Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:13:30 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998458 I live in Canada and I have a 20 Gb per month download limit. As of now, I regularly use 10 Gb per month for game demos and other computer related stuff. It seems ridiculous to me to even think I could fit enough movie downloads into that kind of package without going over my download limit. And then I would have to pay 7,99 CDN for every Gb over 20... Makes movie download much less attractive all of a sudden. Couple that with the fact that when I buy a movie, I can lend if to family members... Also, comparing music download to movie download seems like a very poor comparison. With a 5 Gb limit, how many songs can I download? With the same 5 Gb, how many HD movies can I download? I sure don't get the same entertainment value in both cases... I live in Canada and I have a 20 Gb per month download limit. As of now, I regularly use 10 Gb per month for game demos and other computer related stuff. It seems ridiculous to me to even think I could fit enough movie downloads into that kind of package without going over my download limit. And then I would have to pay 7,99 CDN for every Gb over 20… Makes movie download much less attractive all of a sudden. Couple that with the fact that when I buy a movie, I can lend if to family members…

Also, comparing music download to movie download seems like a very poor comparison. With a 5 Gb limit, how many songs can I download? With the same 5 Gb, how many HD movies can I download? I sure don’t get the same entertainment value in both cases…

]]> By: Hendra http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998453 Hendra Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:11:18 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998453 Not according to Toshiba: "There have been many reports in the media over the weekend, but Toshiba has not made a decision on the future of the HD DVD and we are currently assessing the market and reviewing future strategy," company spokeswoman Junko Furuta said. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i759fab371cec78730e23360ed09c2ca4 Not according to Toshiba:

“There have been many reports in the media over the weekend, but Toshiba has not made a decision on the future of the HD DVD and we are currently assessing the market and reviewing future strategy,” company spokeswoman Junko Furuta said.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.c.....0ed09c2ca4

]]> By: Charles http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998262 Charles Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:52:15 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998262 "To be fair, HD on a 1080p 40″ TV set provides a better experience that on my 17″ Macbook Pro, although the TV set doesn’t easily come to bed with me." I have come to realize that the angle of vision on my 17" MBP is wider (bigger) than my 43" Plasma TV.... But with my Plasma TV comes: - more comfort - 5.1 channel sound. Downloads will kill BlueRay, but network providers will go back to pay-per-gigabyte. “To be fair, HD on a 1080p 40″ TV set provides a better experience that on my 17″ Macbook Pro, although the TV set doesn’t easily come to bed with me.”

I have come to realize that the angle of vision on my 17″ MBP is wider (bigger) than my 43″ Plasma TV….

But with my Plasma TV comes:
- more comfort
- 5.1 channel sound.

Downloads will kill BlueRay, but network providers will go back to pay-per-gigabyte.

]]> By: Findlay http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998144 Findlay Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:07:27 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998144 Agreed Duncan, Though digital downloads do have massive appeal, there is still something about being able to hold the the media (your purchase) in your hand. Early last year I spent a couple months waiting for my "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" DVD to arrive in Aus from Amazon, when I could have downloaded the episodes from Amazon and watched them fairly instantaneously instead. What stopped me was wanting to have the unprofessionally produced media in my hand, rather than relying on my computer for viewing, or for that matter having to rely on my less-than-perfect knowledge to transfer those digital files to DVD, for flawless watching on the TV. Agreed Duncan,
Though digital downloads do have massive appeal, there is still something about being able to hold the the media (your purchase) in your hand.
Early last year I spent a couple months waiting for my “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” DVD to arrive in Aus from Amazon, when I could have downloaded the episodes from Amazon and watched them fairly instantaneously instead.
What stopped me was wanting to have the unprofessionally produced media in my hand, rather than relying on my computer for viewing, or for that matter having to rely on my less-than-perfect knowledge to transfer those digital files to DVD, for flawless watching on the TV.

]]> By: Bob http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998097 Bob Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:31:27 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998097 @Duncan - thanks for a reasonable piece of common sense journalism that is so lacking in todays media. @Ali - you should have bought a PS3 if you want to sling media around to different consoles. We have the same situation as your setup ..except we can download our games to multiple PS3 consoles. Like iTunes it's up to 5 machines .. with management capabilities to deactivate and reactivate consoles when you trade/sell/buy new PS3's in the future. The PSP downloads also work the same way .. so if you have multiple PSP's in the house (like us) you only pay once for the game but you get to use it on multiple machines. The Playstation is nicely thought out in regards to sharing your content. @Duncan - thanks for a reasonable piece of common sense journalism that is so lacking in todays media.

@Ali - you should have bought a PS3 if you want to sling media around to different consoles.

We have the same situation as your setup ..except we can download our games to multiple PS3 consoles.

Like iTunes it’s up to 5 machines .. with management capabilities to deactivate and reactivate consoles when you trade/sell/buy new PS3’s in the future.

The PSP downloads also work the same way .. so if you have multiple PSP’s in the house (like us) you only pay once for the game but you get to use it on multiple machines.

The Playstation is nicely thought out in regards to sharing your content.

]]> By: James Gardiner http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998039 James Gardiner Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:37:28 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1998039 Hello readers, this thread has turned into an interesting topic on digital media. I blog about many of the issues and reasons WHY a lot of this does not happen. Find it by clicking on my name above. On this topic, however, see my comments on why optical media will ALWAYS be needed, even in a download world. http://www.crafted.com.au/blog/2008/02/18/what%e2%80%99s-good-enough-for-digital-video-on-the-web/ Also, I recomend my post on what Adobe are up to, it is an interesting one. The post byline "Adobe's plan for world domination". http://www.crafted.com.au/blog/2008/01/31/adobe%e2%80%99s-plan-for-world-domination/ James Hello readers, this thread has turned into an interesting topic on digital media.
I blog about many of the issues and reasons WHY a lot of this does not happen. Find it by clicking on my name above.

On this topic, however, see my comments on why optical media will ALWAYS be needed, even in a download world.
http://www.crafted.com.au/blog.....n-the-web/

Also, I recomend my post on what Adobe are up to, it is an interesting one.
The post byline “Adobe’s plan for world domination”.
http://www.crafted.com.au/blog.....omination/

James

]]> By: Who needs cable http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997988 Who needs cable Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:53:59 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997988 Duncan, Actually I connect my laptop to my TV (using s-video) all the time to watch movies / tv shows I download via bittorrent. As a result, I have canceled my cable premium channels because I get a lot more and newer movies using bittorrent. Any movie I want, I can find it and usually downloads within 3 hours. I have even downloaded movies that are not yet released on DVDs and / or still in the theaters like Atonement, Alien Vs. Predator Requeim, etc. And they are DVD quality, not filmed with camcorder, how they do it I don't know but I gladly watch them. There is also a bittorent tv show finder, TED. It will automatically find the latest (or any) episode of popular TV shows, etc. Better yet, these tv shows have ZERO commercials. I will never go back to cable premium channels, there is no reason to. Duncan,

Actually I connect my laptop to my TV (using s-video) all the time to watch movies / tv shows I download via bittorrent. As a result, I have canceled my cable premium channels because I get a lot more and newer movies using bittorrent. Any movie I want, I can find it and usually downloads within 3 hours. I have even downloaded movies that are not yet released on DVDs and / or still in the theaters like Atonement, Alien Vs. Predator Requeim, etc. And they are DVD quality, not filmed with camcorder, how they do it I don’t know but I gladly watch them. There is also a bittorent tv show finder, TED. It will automatically find the latest (or any) episode of popular TV shows, etc. Better yet, these tv shows have ZERO commercials. I will never go back to cable premium channels, there is no reason to.

]]> By: ricky http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997804 ricky Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:12:23 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997804 Far too many factual or questionable errors in this piece. This seems to be happening often. Is there an editor to this, or can people just post items as will? Far too many factual or questionable errors in this piece. This seems to be happening often. Is there an editor to this, or can people just post items as will?

]]> By: Joe http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997790 Joe Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:03:31 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997790 Streaming will kill tangible media... For those who say downloading takes time ? THats news to me ... ever try sucking down a movie from a newsgroup or better yet just streaming it from one of those cool sites? Streaming will kill tangible media…

For those who say downloading takes time ? THats news to me … ever try sucking down a movie from a newsgroup or better yet just streaming it from one of those cool sites?

]]> By: Technology For The Masses http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997776 Technology For The Masses Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:50:50 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997776 For those of you curious about watching the movie on your TV instead of your laptop, I have written a post about it here http://technologyforthemasses.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/watching-a-movie-from-your-laptop-on-your-tv/ For those of you curious about watching the movie on your TV instead of your laptop, I have written a post about it here
http://technologyforthemasses......n-your-tv/

]]> By: JV http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997718 JV Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:00:15 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997718 Ease of connectivity is not the issue when it comes to hooking up a computer to a TV. Sure, it's as easy as buying a cable and doing it, but the Boomer generation ain't doing that, and actually, the VAST majority of my generation (Gen X) aren't either. That's the majority of the population. Most people want a dedicated product, not a hub, that's just a fact. Ease of connectivity is not the issue when it comes to hooking up a computer to a TV. Sure, it’s as easy as buying a cable and doing it, but the Boomer generation ain’t doing that, and actually, the VAST majority of my generation (Gen X) aren’t either. That’s the majority of the population. Most people want a dedicated product, not a hub, that’s just a fact.

]]> By: TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » デジタルダウンロードがブルーレイを消滅させるのはまだ先の話 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997716 TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » デジタルダウンロードがブルーレイを消滅させるのはまだ先の話 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:55:37 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997716 [...] [原文へ] [...] [...] [原文へ] [...]

]]> By: JC http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997655 JC Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:22:56 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997655 Download will replace physical media only when I can push a button on my remote, choose ANY movie I want, and have it on my HD TV (oh, and store it locally to see again whenever I want). Currently I can't have that, because, a full DVD movie is a 9 GB download, there's download limits (at least in this bit of Western Europe I live in), and there's not a decent VOD service (doesn't have the image quality I demand, and doesn't have the movies I want, only blockbuster crap). So, while I wait anxiously for that day to come, there's still quite a bit to go. Download will replace physical media only when I can push a button on my remote, choose ANY movie I want, and have it on my HD TV (oh, and store it locally to see again whenever I want).
Currently I can’t have that, because, a full DVD movie is a 9 GB download, there’s download limits (at least in this bit of Western Europe I live in), and there’s not a decent VOD service (doesn’t have the image quality I demand, and doesn’t have the movies I want, only blockbuster crap).
So, while I wait anxiously for that day to come, there’s still quite a bit to go.

]]> By: Blu-Ray Wins the Right to Get Slaughtered by Download Services | Bryan Bartow http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997654 Blu-Ray Wins the Right to Get Slaughtered by Download Services | Bryan Bartow Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:20:30 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997654 [...] Looks like Duncan Riley believes Blu-Ray will eventually give way to download, but not anytime soon. I failed to mention one very important issue in my original post and that is [...] [...] Looks like Duncan Riley believes Blu-Ray will eventually give way to download, but not anytime soon. I failed to mention one very important issue in my original post and that is [...]

]]> By: Matt_ http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997652 Matt_ Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:19:54 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/17/digital-downloads-are-not-about-to-kill-blu-ray/#comment-1997652 Duncan Lives in Australia and there the Data caps are tough but providers in the US already have "invisable' caps (Comcast) or investigating hard caps (Time Warner). The Reason Australia Lacks Unlimited Internet Plans http://forums.mactalk.com.au/showthread.php?t=32769 I'm an Aussie that will return to Australia this year after living 5 years in the US and I think its going to be a challenge to adjust to a capped internet . Duncan Lives in Australia and there the Data caps are tough but providers in the US already have “invisable’ caps (Comcast) or investigating hard caps (Time Warner).

The Reason Australia Lacks Unlimited Internet Plans
http://forums.mactalk.com.au/s.....hp?t=32769

I’m an Aussie that will return to Australia this year after living 5 years in the US and I think its going to be a challenge to adjust to a capped internet .

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