Posted on by Dunc

Weekend poll: DVD vs. Blu-Ray vs. the internet

I’m not generally an early adopter when it comes to this sort of technology, so the recent focus on Blu-Ray has kind of thrown me for a loop. DVDs were certainly a vast improvement over VHS, but what’s so wonderful about Blu-Ray? (My TV is okay, but mere DVDs still look fantastic on my parent’s giant flat-screen.) And while I prefer to watch TV from my couch, I can’t deny that I’ll head to the internet if it has the shows I really want to see. (Though only if I really want them… I still haven’t watched any classic Star Trek.) So I was wondering about you guys… What are your preferred formats? Vote for as many that apply on the sidebar or beneath the cut.

[poll id=”60″]

8 Replies to “Weekend poll: DVD vs. Blu-Ray vs. the internet”

  1. We have a couple of movies on both DVD and BluRay (picked up specifically for comparison). I must say, BluRay is made of win. New things I will, no doubt, be getting on BluRay.

    On the other hand, we have a very large collection of things on DVD that I won’t feel motivated to upgrade (TV shows, Anime, etc). Our PS3 upsamples the DVDs and the quality is more than sufficient.

    I am watching a lot more online these days via Tivo. In fact, almost all my TV watching is pre-recorded or Netflix downloads. The problem is that some stuff just isn’t out there to be downloaded as part of a “per month” fee from the cloud. When they finally start getting enough stuff I want to watch out there, I will probably move to 80-90% downloads (since the majority of stuff I won’t want to watch more than once).

    As for the ST:OS on BluRay – OMG! Best buy I made all damn year. I can’t wait for the next set to come out.

  2. Right now it’s a tough call between DVD and digital download. Streaming will win out in the end, when our internet connections are fast and ubiquitous. But for now, we need physical (or at least permanent digital) copies of our content. I am a big fan of sites like Hulu, because I don’t need to store the content myself — which would take up gigabytes of space. The content on Hulu is also high quality, and there is a growing number of HD footage on the site.

    I recognize that some people will stick to the old model of needing a physical copy. But the fact is that in thirty years, we will all have high-speed Internet connections that will give us access to all of our content from anywhere. It’s the same thing with computer operating systems. Mac vs. PC doesn’t matter; in a relatively short amount of time, we’ll have low-cost boxes that send and receive data completely “in the cloud.”

    So in short, I am a big fan of streaming, but I still have DVDs, but I am trying to move to digital download as a bridge between the two.

  3. I don’t like to digital download only because I prefer having a physical copy that can’t be taken away. iTunes only allows a certain about of re-downloads and you can’t (at least the easy way) burn copies of what YOU purchased onto your own damn DVD/CD.

    I’ve seen blu-ray in comparison to regular DVDs and while the quality is super good, it’s really only relevant to certain movies like WALL-E, Transformers, etc.. Stuff with CGI in it, basically. But I don’t care enough, and blu-ray isn’t enough of an improvement on DVDs to make me want to go out and buy a player and replace my entire collection. Add to that the price of a blu-ray compared to say, a $5 DVD and the answer is a no brainer to me.

  4. I think Blu-Rays are gorgeous. And since most of the players can play DVD’s, I am not experiencing that much heartburn over it.

    As a matter of fact, to my bad eyes, anyway, I think Blu-Ray players make DVD’s look better.

    Of course, I am so nearsighted I’m blind without glasses. So take that for what it’s worth. :)

    I’m also with JawaStew. I like having the physical copy of something. My preciousssss…

  5. When considering DVD vs. digital, I find it depends. If I’m catching up with a TV show, for instance, I don’t mind not owning a physical copy. Am I really going to want to watch Heroes S1 again? Probably not.

  6. Standard def looks worse and worse to me the more I get used to HD. As for physical media vs. digital download, the latter is so much more convenient that if not for (a) the limited (and time-sensitive) selection and (b) overly-restrictive DRM, I’d be all for it. Soon enough, though, video will reach the point where music is today. The question is whether Blu-Ray will ever be as popular as DVD was at its height.

  7. Time-sensitive selection is right. Up through yesterday we were burning through S3 of 30 Rock at Hulu. Now we are forced to stop at ep. 15 out of 22 because NBC only had the eps online through yesterday. So we’ll have to wait for the DVDs to be released in September and watch on Netflix.

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