I don't think any of this is gonna be a huge wave of change. I think the Blu-ray player is better...technically anyway.
I believe it was an article posted on this site some time ago...the skinny of it being that it takes a monumental shift in technology to sway an entire buying public.
Vinyl records - huge technological leap for the public to have/store/listen to music in their own home. 8-track...whatever, cassettes...whatever. Both dead.
CD - the next big leap in technology allowing significant improvement over vinyl records (settle down you audiophiles...I mean on the convenience side of things here) small, easy to use, quick to load, portable. SACD...barely a blip.
VHS - notwhithstanding the whole Beta fiasco, it was a huge leap for much the same reason as vinyl...personal media in your own home...a library of your choosing, convenience, compact.
DVD - Again, a big enough leap in technology that warranted a huge shift in purchasing...same reasons as the CD's success...VHS is now toast.
Blu-ray/HD DVD...sure, more storage, high-res, but a dog with different fleas no? Same size disc, you still have to load it into a player, it's digital etc, etc. It's basically DVD on steroids!
I've read, and I agree that the next big jump will be downloaded media across the board (for film in this case) You purchase your selected titles...uploaded to a server...high res, full digital audio etc. Like a Blu-ray without the actual disc. Apple is already doing this no?
I think those of you who have hundreds of titles already on DVD will be hesitant to replace them all on Blu-ray. Fellas like me who don't have a massive collection and mostly rent, will sit back and wait for a bit I think.
Replacing disc for disc doesn't seem to be enough incentive to cough up the large $$$. Maybe I'm wrong.
