Posted by WinField on 03/23/07 18:16

def456 wrote:
> "def456" <def456@none.none> wrote in message
> news:NhPLh.16222$bb1.4210@newssvr17.news.prodigy.net...
>
>>I ignored it but obviously it's the coming thing because Netflix is
>>offering BluRay discs now. So how long before it gets as cheap as DVD...?
>>(BluRay players/burners under $50 each, and blank BluRay discs under $2
>>each)
>>
>>I'm willing, so long as I can rip & burn movies to BluRay discs. It's like
>>three DVD DL discs which would hold like 3 full-length movies with full
>>DVD quality, and a significant space savings.
>>
>>In the meantime I'll continue with DVD.
>
>
> I read most of the replies and the concensus seems to be about 5 years. That
> means the DVD format probably still has a long lifetime to look forward to,
> another 5 years, at least, which is fine with me. That was actually the
> reason for my question since I'm planning on investing a lot in DVDs. Or, am
> I...?????

High-definition (HD)content makes standard DVDs look soft and blurry.

HD is just getting started. It's expensive and has bugs. You're
waiting for HD hardware/software/winning format(s) to get really cheap
so you can archive 3 double-layer soft & blurry movies to one disc.
Good luck with that.

>
> A little birdie tells me the future is not in DVDs or BluRay or HDformat
> discs, but in external portable hard drives. Have you noticed how cheap they
> are lately? I picked up a 250G external USB drive at Staples for $80 (US$s,
> of course) recently. That will hold 32 movies at 8G per movie, resulting in
> a cost of about $2.50 per movie. Wow! Did I calculate that correctly? That's
> already as cheap as DL DVDs. :)
>
> So maybe what we really need is TV sets which can accept a connection to
> these little portable USB hard drives, each of which can old 32 or more
> movies. Of course our computer monitors can already do that, but many of us
> prefer the theatrical experience of watching movies on our big screen TV's
> from the luxury of our easy chair while stuffing ourselves with popcorn and
> soda pop (or whatever). :)

Your external, portable hard drive needs to be plugged into something
like this ... http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/gadgetfreak/8e50/

and it should be ready to play on your HDtv.

>
> So will I be putting my money into DL DVDs or a shelf full of portable
> external USB hard drives? I'm not sure yet, maybe the latter. Hard drives
> have a long lifetime too, I imagine.


Once I get my hi-def T.V. I also will be looking for ways to play my
HD-computer_files with popcorn and soda. =)

- winf

[Back to original message]