Netflix to raise prices for Blu-Ray (HD) subscribers.

[Mr. Tangent]

Netflix to raise prices for blu-ray subscribers.

This is crap. I love Netflix but I think a lot of people (myself perhaps) are going to jump ship if they do this.

I've been a member of Netflix since '03 but lately I've had a lot of movies shipped from other distro centers (which takes a LOT more time) and the annoying LONG WAIT times. Granted I do watch a lot of obscure titles but still. And now having to pay more for Blu-Ray is getting close to breaking the camel's back. Not to mention I STILL DO NOT HAVE Mac support for the Watch Now feature!

[Mr. Tangent]

You think it'll only be $1 a month? I would have absolutely no problem with that but I was thinking it'll be $5 or more. I recant everything I've said (minus the Mac support for Watch Now) if it's like the figures you mention.

[Dominguez]

Blu-Ray discs break twice as often as normal dvd's. Cost about 4 and a half dollars more per disc. Rental stores charge much more for Blu-Ray rentals. There will be a "Minimal" price increase that we do not yet know the number, which will help increase the Blu-Ray stock.

[Movie Man Andrew]

That's why they have the extra protection

[Sher]

What's Blu-Ray? ...just tryin' to keep up. When you're 60, technology moves more quickly than a prize-winning thoroughbred chasing an award-winning filly with his tail on fire. :-)

I have Mac's, too, and can't view films on-line through Netflix either. :-( I'm waiting now for a film that I ordered some while ago to come from a different distribution center. It won't be available until Friday. Why doesn't Netflix send the next film in your queue in lieu of the one that we're waiting for until the ordered film arrives? That seems to make more sense to me.

BTW, in defense of Netflix, I understand that Macintosh is the reason that we can't view films on-line, rather than the fault being that of Netflix.

[Spindaddydad]

When you're 60, technology moves more quickly than a prize-winning thoroughbred chasing an award-winning filly with his tail on fire. <---Now that's funny

In a teeny-tiny netshell, Blu-ray is a high-definition version of a movie. The movie is clearer, cleaner and crisper than standard DVD. But you need a Blu-ray DVD player and hi-def TV to realize the difference.

[Sher]

Spindaddydad,

THANK YOU for supplying information in a manner in which even a novice can understand...got it, Dear One; however, until I have to purchase another new TV or DVD player, the "low" definition televisions and DVD players will suffice. This Mamaw had rather spend money visiting grandbabies! ;-)))

BTW, don't know if you can do this in this format, but if it's possible, and you would like to smile awhile, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9T8i4FkNVo
Tim Conway, The Dentist

...laughter is like a medicine for the body (and soul!); so, giggle! ;-)

Sher

[Movie Man Andrew]

Not to mention the sound is the same, and you need HD connections. AND the advanced but still simple to use features.

[Mr. Tangent]

The sound is not exactly the same. DVD does not support lossless codecs like Blu-Ray does. On most systems and to most people's ears it might not make a difference but lossless audio *is* superior to DVDs lossy codecs.

And, Sher, lossless means that the audio is uncompressed and unaltered. Lossy means that it is compressed and there are certain frequencies that are removed in order to fit the data on the disc.

[Mr. Tangent]

Blu-Ray is an optical format like DVD. The physical disc looks exactly like a DVD (or CD) but holds a lot more information and as a result offers high definition picture and audio. DVD is what they call SD or "standard definition" and Blu-Ray is HD or "high definition". Blu-Ray is the next generation replacement for DVD (much like DVD replaced VHS). Blu-Ray players are backwards compatible with DVD and CD, meaning if you buy a Blu-Ray player you can also watch your old DVDs and listen to your CDs on it. The Playstation 3 is a gaming console that also is a fully featured Blu-Ray player.

Blu-Ray was created by Sony, but also has support from dozens of technology companies (Apple included) who make up the Blu-Ray Disc Association. There was a competing, next-generation HD optical disc format called HD-DVD (high definition dvd) that Toshiba was spear-heading but it got beat by Blu-Ray (much like VHS beat Betamax in the eighties). Blu-Ray is called this because of the blue wavelength laser used in the players (DVDs use red wavelength lasers). The players and movies are a little more expensive but the quality is exponentially greater. However, to really get the benefits, you must have a high definition television set and preferably a surround sound system.

Lastly, I don't buy the Netflix blaming Apple argument. I'll not get in to it in too much detail, but I felt like Netflix was passing the buck on Apple when in reality they were the reason why it got held up. What happened basically was that Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings is a board member of Microsoft and because of this (although they'd say otherwise, I'm sure) they adopted Microsoft's Silverlight technology instead of one that is cross-platform (although Silverlight Mac support is supposedly coming). They tried to blame it on DRM (digital rights management) but there is a multitude of DRM/codecs for both Mac and PC that would have worked. I think Microsoft is really at fault and Netflix -- in an attempt to shift the blame and save face -- took the easy way out and blamed Apple. What does Apple have to do with it? Apple provides a framework (SDK - software developers kits, APIs - application programming interface) for third party developers such as Netflix to design applications (in this case, web-based) to work with their systems. Since the "application" in this instance is web-based, it shouldn't have even had to use an SDK or API but rather used industry standard web tools and codecs. And as such, it should have (if it were created correctly) been viewable on any browser on any OS (Linux included). I'm somewhat trivializing the issue for simplicity's sake, but that's my take on it in a nutshell.

I'm tired so I'll shut up now. :)

Hopefully I explained things okay.

[Spindaddydad]

What are the cost differences these days between DVD players and BD players and DVD discs and BD discs? Have the players come down in price lately since the death of HD-DVD?

[The Real Uncle Bob]

A quick cruise of Amazon shows BR player prices ranging from 350 to 750, certainly no lower than when HD-DVD first collapsed.

Juno (Single-Disc Edition) $15.99 for standard DVD (list: 29.98)

Blu-ray $27.95 (list: $39.98)

34 used & new from $17.75

Video Download $14.99

The whole replay of the Mac versus PC IW argument is tiresome -- aren't the old threads still around somewhere? Apple's drm is obviously fine with all the IP holders whose wares are sold through Itunes -- just as widely accepted as Microsoft's PC-only drm. Bottom line: MS shares, Apple doesn't.

[Mr. Tangent]

Blu-Ray players are still quite expensive. The media is expensive too. Economies of scale will kick in as adoption increases. If I were you, I'd personally wait a year or so before buying a Blu-Ray player. And if you are going to buy one, I'd highly recommend looking at the PS3. Even if you're not a gamer, it's arguably the most impressive Blu-Ray player out there and one of the best values (especially if you're a gamer). It is constantly updated by firmware updates to include all sorts of the latest features. The upsampling/upconversion is really quite nice even if you're watching normal old DVDs. I am very happy with my PS3 and it's DVD/Blu-Ray capabilities.