Echo Screen #3 : The Inevitability (or not) of Blu-Ray
July 20th, 2009 | 
Commodore128
Commodore128We've all seen the buzz and heard the talking heads. Blu-ray is the heir to the throne of video and storage because of all of its amazingly superior specs... rrrrrright!
The Commodore, Roo, and Boomer talk about the hits and misses of the HD format, the future of storage, and whether not they (or any of us for that matter) should switch to Blu-ray in the foreseeable future. This is NOT a "bash the PS3" podcast... well mostly it's not.
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Is there a mp3 for this?
Yeah, is there an MP3 version of this or what?
So I finally watched this.
I don't think that flash media or digital distribution will kill the BluRay.
Companies like Disney will keep some sort of disc media alive simply because there is more money to be made on a collectible item that people can hold in their hand. The people that collect the Disney movies, for example, like to have something they can show off on their shelf.
Flash media has the best positioning to unseat BluRay there because you can incorporate it into something collectible (I do have specific ideas).
Depending on how that is handled, it could defeat the purpose of being more compact than a disc.
However, discs are still cheaper to produce than any device, and the profit margin is larger for a disc than for any flash media.
And what happens when your media crashes, that online storage site goes out of business, or the site you bought your movies from gets bought out and they don't allow you to redownload?
You could just be out all of that money you spent on your games, movies, etc.
What about Holgraphic media? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc
Yeah, it's terribly expensive, but it allows for an incorruptible storage media. Sure it (and any disc for that matter) can be scratched if you are careless with it, but the disc and the info on it could be stored in a safe place where it could not be damaged. Bank lockbox or fireproof safe for especially important data.
Hard drives and flash media can have fatal hardware or software errors resulting in loss of data.
In short, optical discs, in my opinion, are best for "hard" copies.
I will say that I like flash media for portability and the online options for accessibility. Just not as permanent storage options.
You guys should have actually bought a blank BluRay and tried to scratch it compared to a DVD. BluRays are MUCH more durable. I work at a GameStop, and even the BluRays in the "worst" condition are better than DVDs/CDs in moderate condition. You guys shouldn't have tried to shoot that down without any knowledge.
I've had a PC internal CD-ROM/DVD/HD-DVD/BluRay player, CD-ROM/DVD/BluRay burner for years, and it only cost like $300 when I did buy it shortly after the PS3 came out. It's a great drive, too.
I don't like solid state that much because it can only be written to a few hundred thousand times. That might seem like a lot, but for many applications it isn't. And I really like permanent solutions, not decade-long solutions.
bluray is king and will stay that way for a loooong time