Yeah Fox seem to be the main studio putting out region locked releases though. Nice that most of them are region free.

Yeah. The theory I seem to recall was that new releases would be region locked but catalog titles wouldn't. This obviously isn;t the case, as WB locks nothing (but there is a fear this will change now that HDDVD will be dropped) and Fox locks pretty much everything. Add to that both Disney and Sony seem quite random about which tiles get locked to a single region and which ones don't..

Of course on the PC at least there are apps to bypass it all. AnyDVD (or whetever the HD version is called). Given region mods are legal here (and the ACCC frowns on region lockouts), hopefully we'll see them appear. I am doubtful about it though given the constant firmware updates on these formats.

*cough*

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/05/n...blu-footsteps/

You're "real" chart is looking more incorrect with every new day

Very good news. I've committed to not buying a DVD again - it's Blu-ray only from here on. Standard DVD just looks blurry and blotchy in comparison, even when upconverted over HDMI.

im with you, the effect of downloads I think is extremely overstated . We are so far from where we need to be with internet speeds ,capacity, limits and infastructure for this to happen within even five years. Australia would have to build a completely new network with extreme speed and near unlimited bandwidth and limits at a decent price for the average consumer to want this.

My prediction is this, I think sd dvds will be around for a long while yet. There cheap consumers feel comfortable with them. Most average consumers ask themselves this question. If it aint broke why do I need it. For most standard def dvd's are more than enough. Most average consumers cant even tell you what hd is or recognise hd when they see it.

The studios, television networks and retailers just havnt educated well enough. The previous poster is 100% correct there is a heap of evidence to back up that the larger community want something physical in there hand. Its a security blanket its a comfort factor. Most who say they believe downloads will rule ignore these issues raised, as in the end downloads are what there after not the broader community. For myself I dont care as long as we as consumers get high quality hd at a decent price. I may go blueray midyear but that depends if the amount of titles increases. The evidence I have seen is that thats iffy so time will tell which way I go.

LOTR on Blu-ray? Cool!

these studies would say otherwise......

http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Study_..._Illegal_Films

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2...ad-061027.html

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/322/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ic/4155385.stm

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...B9FCB64F3AC%7D


there are many many more, as I say, and say again, Australia dont matter, and the rest of the world downloads music at a fantastic rate, the same WILL happen for Video.

5 years ago, having anything above a 256k or 512k connection was unheard of (in Australia), yet I had colleagues in the UK, USA and Canada in 2002 enjoying 8 MB connections, those same people now enjoy 100MB (or greater) connections. While I struggle with 8MB connections (lucky if I get 5MB on a good day), many of my colleagues, overseas download movies in minutes (not hours).

The overseas market will drive this very quickly, the same reasons for profit over physical media will dictate this delivery format, just as it did for music, this is undeniable. Look at 2005 stats where downloads overtook CD's sales, yet if one looks at Australia on its own, that didn't happen till 2007. The world stats will reflect downloads overtaking DVD sales (SD OR HD) by 2011, it may not happen in Australia till 2015, but it will happen.. maybe sooner. What will happen for sure is the same as music, where some companies dont even release on CD anymore or limit production, as it costs too much next to digital distribution, the same WILL happen for Video, THUS to come back full circle to the original debate HD DVD OR BLU-RAY wont matter, and will look as dated as Tapes/vinyl and CD's do now!

The whole issue of download speeds and storage will NOT be an issue. Ie, if I had said to you in 2000 I could have 1 million songs OR 1000's (SD) of movies on a hard drive that cost 300 bucks you would have said I am a complete nutter, yet in 2008 that is a complete reality. in 2011 you will have 1000'S HD movies on a device that costs 300 or so dollars... all in on place, all indexable, searchable... and you may well laugh... well you have the same on your computer now for music you can take it all with you, with an ipod, the ipod of the future will easily be able to do the same (or iphone or other device.. insert future name here) for HD movies, or maybe will will just pay a subscription service fee and download on demand any movie in existence via our wireless 200MB connections.... you may think this is all fiction, or impossible, but I think to a paper written in 1992 that said any connection above 56K on a telephone wire would be impossible... that says it all. it will happen... sit back and watch.. it will be quite a ride!

Mine certainly wasn't, which is in fact one reason why I returned it.

Normandy - You've backed up your argument with some good source material, but I'm not sure that I agree with your math: 1000's of SD movies on a $300 hard drive? Most movie DVDs are around 6 to 8 GB - I'd like to know where I can buy 8 TB of disk for $300.
And 1000's of HD movies at 40 GB a pop is going to stack up to a LOT of TB - I'm not convinced that your average home user will be buying that for $300 in 2011.

Sure the price of storage will come down, but I still argue that many people will want to buy a "thing" rather than just bytes.

I also expect that the movie studios will only offer their downloads with all sorts of "rights management" overheads (to prevent you from porting them), and as a result that many people will remain deeply suspicious of the format. The movie industry is not quite the same as the music industry, in that there is no direct equivalent of the music "single" in the movie world - although I will grant that a single episode of a TV series is somewhat similar (although less able to stand on its own merits that a music single).

Furthermore, if you have downloaded 25 HD movies at $20 a pop onto your 1 TB disk, and the hard disk later fails, are they going to offer you a refund on the $500 of content that you can no longer use? Somehow, I doubt it.

Yes, it will be quite a ride !!

Its not my maths thats flawed, you have not accounted for compression and the better types that exist already and will continue to be developed over the coming years!

TODAY For example I can put a 8GB DVD (which is MPEG 2, which BTW is a 16 year old compression technology) into a 500MB format that is highly compressed with the latest h264 codec, and best multipass compression tools available, and you will NOT be able to tell the difference between the old MPEG 2 version and the H264 version (H264 is already a 4 year old compression technology... see where this is going?).... ALREADY a massive saving in space, the same with BLU-RAY I can get the 40GB versions on Blue Ray and compress them down to 20GB and thats today.. with 4 year old technology.....

In 2-3 years that same video file with h266 or the new 268 or something else that will exist by then, into 1GB! As better mutlticore processors are developed better compression will exist to decode it, thus require less storage space, thus less bandwidth to transmit, this has all happened with music, this is happening with video now too.

As for backups, who compensates you now if you HDD fails and all your music from ITUNES goes by bye.??.. no one.. its called a backup.... and backing up your 1TB of data in 2011 will be the cost of a mcdonalds burger in 2011

40GB into 1GB? h.266 or h.268... sorry, you are pulling these figures out of your arse.

That 40GB into 1GB statement is almost as big a call as that dude from Godfrey's that said on the Chaser "You can pick up a bowling ball with a straw if you have the right equipment".

I agree that a full SD movie compressed well with H.264 are small (about 700MB) and about the same quality.

I'm not sure that compression will get *that* much better though. I think it's faster internet and cheaper hard drives that will make the difference. I definitely think people will have libraries of movies the way we all have libraries of music right now though. Won't be long at all. iTunes already does it... we just need the drive space and an easy/quick way to buy.

If that's the case, a full HD movie compressed well with H.264 should fit onto a standard dual layer DVD (10x the size of your 700 MB SD movie). Does it? If so, why aren't we seeing them in the stores?

High def TV episodes downloaded from dodgy sources are typically twice the size as the standard def equivalent.

Why don't we see them in stores? Blu-ray and HD DVD can both use H.264 amongst other codecs. But what movie studio is going to put loads of standard def content on a new generation high def disc? It doesn't show off the tech well and there's no advantage in them cramming lots of content on one disc... that's not going to make them lots of money and it's not how they roll (have you ever bought a VHS tape with only 2 episodes of a TV show on it? It's not because more episodes don't fit.

blue ray won Just like i predicted it would all those years ago. HD-DVD is dead.