Home Video: Where it has been and where it is going

[amirm]

As I had mentioned last year, I wrote an article for the Widescreen Review Magazine regarding future of home video. I just finished updating it and am making it available for all to read.

The article starts with a business intro with little known industry facts that drove the evolution of formats from VHS to DVD, Blu-ray and now, online streaming. The second half gets technical, contrasting how video is created for Blu-ray relative to the Internet and challenges it creates regarding video fidelity. It ends with a hopeful recommendation to the industry on a way to sharply increase the quality of movies going even past Blu-ray.

Enjoy and do let me know what you think of it, including any spelling errors . http://www.madronadigital.com/Library/FutureHomeVideoDistribution.html

 

[Steve Williams]

Nice review Amir...thanks

 

[Audioseduction]

I just replaced my dedicated BDP with a HTPC and a external RAID 5 storage unit. It works for me as it’s on PAR for video & audio playback as my BDP.

 

[amirm]

I also did away with my stand-alone Blu-ray player and use by media center for both. That nicely simplified my set up as it is just a PC going to my AVR. Better yet, I can control the PC using the network with my automation system whereas controlling the PS3 that I was using for BD playback was a pain as it has a Bluetooth remote, and not IR or serial.

 

[Audioseduction]

Sweet setup Amir!

 

[LenWhite]

Thanks for a very informative article Amir.

I hope the video industry ultimately decides to use the download business model instead of streaming as you suggest. But I am concerned video content may follow the current path of audio content by focusing on cost and portability rather than quality. I realize I may be in the minority, but I don't want to watch low resolution video anymore than I want to listen to low resolution audio.

I canceled my NetFlix streaming and opted for DVD (blu-ray) content only awhile back. The streaming never worked well for me probably because of the inevitable buffering interruptions in the movie due to either ISP bandwidth and/or the wireless connection to the blu-ray player. The enemic availability of newly released video content was also a huge turnoff.

I would be very content to download video content to some type of HTPC device overnight. While the movie storyline is vital, PQ and SQ are also a very important part of the immerse video experience.

I suspect this new video content business model may significantly increase the cost/movie over my current NetFlix plan. We're able to watch on average 2 movies/week for a cost of $16/month - a real bargain! I am willing to pay for content, but if the cost increases dramatically for the comparable content I'm now watching, I will be even more careful about not only wasting my time, but money as well.

 

[NorthStar]

... I'm still waiting for 48 frames per second (much more important and beneficial than 4K).
...Till then Blu-ray is still a low quality medium with a major flaw.

And streaming is way behind Blu-ray.

That's just my own