But fast forward 39 months and now you find me considering my options. Specifically, you find me considering whether I should invest in some physical DVD successor, such as some Bly-ray Disc player, or look to some digital delivery option, like Apple TV.There are certain appeals to the physical solution, most notably that it requires no massive hard drive to store purchased content and isn't subject to Internet hiccups or down time. And the gamer in me can't help but notice that the PlayStation 3 plays Bly-ray Discs.
Still, the digital delivery option is enticing as the space investment to content gain ratio is fantastic. When your apartment is limited to one bedroom, the importance of such things cannot be overstated. Besides, isn't investing in some Bly-ray Disc player foolish? As quickly as we're moving to digital delivery of TV shows and movies, aren't such players soon to be obsolete? On the other hand, the PlayStation 3 now streams Netflix movies, so it offers both the HD disc upgrade and the steaming content option.
I'm as frazzled on this as poor Two-Face in the photo above. Your counsel would be much appreciated.
3 comments:
http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20091102/apples-itunes-pitch-tv-for-30-a-month/
I'm still, personally, mush more in favor of a disk, as it means the movie, tv show, etc, is mine in a very physical way. Hollywood wants you to pay-per-view everything. They don't want you to own a disk (or tape, etc). Right now, I'm worried that Hollywood might have a bit too much influence on commercial digital media, just like the record industry does with music. This could be, and I do hope it is, just my own paranoia, but it involves money and control, so I feel I'm justifiably worried. And with all the issues there have been with transferring digital media from one place to another, or one user to another, I'm still not ready to trust it.
With a show on a disk (or tape, or whatever), I can let a friend borrow it. I can rent it from Net Flix, I can sell it to Half-Price books or gift it to a friend if I don't like it, etc. Also, as I get more, I don't need another hard drive, just another shelf (or at worse, some space to stack them). I have more control over it.
I'm not saying this will always be the case, and I'm love the convenience of having a large library of digital media on my very portable external hard drive. For now though, I'm eying up some sort of Bly-Ray and realizing that Super HD Bly-Ray (or whatever) is probably only 10 years (if that many) off.
Some thoughts (two-faced comments):
1. Not sure what kind of TV you have, but getting a Blue-ray player might make you want to upgrade your TV - so there's a potential hidden cost.
2. Netflix does a Blu-ray plan, so that might not be a bad option if you want hi-def AND a lot of media and streaming potential.
3. Then again, if you're not on Netflix already, simply joining that might satisfy your urge for new media. If you have an old PC you could hook it up to your TV to access the streaming content on the big screen.
4. Most Blu-ray movies are still overpriced, I think that $30 is too much.
5. One of my friends with a PS3 loves the upscaling that it does to his DVDs - so in a sense, it makes your existing DVD collection look better.
6. Have you looked at a lot of blu-ray /upscaled content? I think it makes movies look like a video game cut scene...I can't get into it that much.
7. PS3 does have some cool-looking games scheduled to come out later this year and next year.
8. Apple TV has a newly re-vamped interface...but until the rumored subscription thing comes along, that box is really focused on either streaming your existing content from your PC/Mac to the TV, or buying stuff from the iTunes store...too bad that it does not do netflix presently. (A mac mini, however, would...)
Personally, I'd wait...but part of that is that my home TV is 720p -I don't think I could take full advantage of a Blu-ray player.
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