Blu-Ray vs HD Downloads

Just read an article in the new Home Theater magazine about the upcoming War between Blu-Ray and High Definition Downloads (HD Video-On-Demand). Now that the format war is over with Blu-Ray the winner, it was quite interesting reading different scenarios threatening new champion. It is fair to mention that even those new HD Video-On-Demand (VOD) services are promising (with secret negotiations happening at this moment between Microsoft and NetFlix), they all depend of your broadband connection. It means that they will need to overcome bandwidth limitations when downloading these movies before becoming mainstream. In addition, one of the main issues that those companies are facing is pricing and availability. If you go to a Blockbuster or use an online rental service, you can rent any Blu-Ray without worrying about late return fees. This is great for people like us who loves to watch our movies even more than once In fact, some of us even have a personal collection of these Blu-Rays already in place. In the case of HD VOD, you will need to have a PC hook-up to your HDTV (not so easy for regular people), use one of the cable/satellite providers or buy a Xbox 360, Apple TV or Vudu Unit. The main disadvantage of these technologies is that you are entitled to watch your movie for a period of time. Once the time has expired, you are not longer able to watch the movie nor even to be download it or RIP it (I could get killed only for mentioning this here).

In conclusion, if you put all these things on a balance, I thing Blu-Ray has a clear advantage (and we didn’t mention picture quality and interactive features). The great majority can buy a Blu-Ray player, hook it up on their HDTVs and watch their favourite titles without internet, PC and time limitations. Perhaps in the near future, when broadband connections become world-wide available and affordable then we can think these type of services as a true competition for Sony’s baby.

No related posts.