Who Cares about Blu-Ray?

After the dust settled between the two relatively similar formats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray, it seemed like Blu-ray was the official winner. This seems contrary to conventional logic because adult film companies, by far the largest sellers of home video discs, almost roundly accepted HD-DVD as the new standard. So the only way Blu-ray could possibly have won without the support of porn companies is by bringing their product to a new market—but was that market really looking for another physical video format?

Watch Mediocre Movies in Unmatched Quality

When the PlayStation 3 was first announced, it seemed like it would be the industry’s behemoth. Keeping in mind the PS2’s initial failure to impress, Sony made sure that the PS3 came fully loaded. One of the additions was a Blu-ray player, which, if bought on its own, would cost almost as much as one of the less expensive PS3 packages. When the PS3’s final price was announced, it seemed more than appropriate, because it promised to be the “all-purpose” integrated home entertainment device. Now the question really arises: Does the Blu-ray player actually matter to our current market?

It obviously has a synergistic effect between the two technologies (Blu-ray and PS3) and helped both jump into the lead of their respective markets. But is that nasty PS3 price tag still justifiable since the tech behind each is pretty simple? Blu-ray’s popularity has been narrow at best and its development has been dramatically slow, especially compared to the quick catch of DVD during its early years. The backlash seems to come with integrated devices like the iPod Video, as well as video game consoles that have hard drives and video playback abilities. The natural progression in audio production from tape, to CD, to MP3 was assumed by many to be reflected in the home video field; we had VHS for many years, moved up the ladder to DVD, and now we are likely going to take a final step into complete digital data storage and distribution. Since all of our entertainment and communication devices are integrating and watching videos from our computers, and cell phones have become so prevalent, this would be the next logical step.

Unstoppable 13 Years Later

Since the recording industry was so dramatically hurt by MP3 piracy, film distribution companies saw this digital shift as a threat and created a format that would slow down the eventual change to complete digital data distribution. The mass population of video consumers has already made this next step, and Blu-ray just does not have the resources to satisfy all their needs. Since DVD had such a rapid growth, most people who made large purchases for home video collections do not want to upgrade and now they are simply waiting for video files to go high def. When gamers are looking for a system that will offer more than just gameplay, a quality video distribution system will take precedence over gimmicks like the Blu-ray player. Microsoft’s E3 display of streaming video rental options should have much more of an impact than a disc format, and will eventually help the Xbox 360 to be cemented at the top of the market. Blu-ray has not sufficiently positioned itself as a format that will match DVD’s functions, like providing titles that hold large amounts of special features, and this slow development in the format will likely lead to its quick demise.

If you ask the average gamer, or even most consumers in general, they are going to tell you that Blu-ray is not a high priority on their list. The next step in video turned out to be the empty Trojan horse, and if Sony banks their success on this technology, they are going to be left in the dust.