Blue-ray usage in the storm chase community

Blue-ray usage in the storm chase community

  • I have a Blue-ray player

    Votes: 19 43.2%

  • I don't have a Blue-ray player but will buy one in the next year

    Votes: 6 13.6%

  • I don't have a Blue-ray player and don't plan to buy one in the next year

    Votes: 19 43.2%

  • I only have a Blue-ray capable player on my computer

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    44
  • Poll closed .
Bill Hark

Bill Hark

EF5
Joined
Jan 13, 2004
Messages
1,353
Location
Richmond Virginia
The 2009 holiday season and post Christmas sales have passed and I was curious about the extent of Blue-ray usage in the storm chase community. Blue-ray prices have decreased over the last couple of years. On the attached poll, I am lumping together any Blue-ray capable device that is designed for connection to a television including Sony PlayStation 3.

I bought a Samsung last year and have been very happy with the device. It also nicely upscales standard DVD's. My collection of chase highlights from different chasers looks awesome.

Bill Hark
 
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I don't see a point in buying a Blue-Ray DVD player. In 2-5 years there will probably be something better than a blue ray and in 10-20 years the DVD could be phased out by something even better or more technologically advanced. I am going to wait for something better than HD or when they phase out the normal DVD players and switch to Blue-Ray.
 
I don't have a Blue-ray player and don't plan to buy one in the next year

I asked this question a little bit ago, although long enough to likely be different now. I personally don't see the point for myself. Although getting any sort of DVD product commercially is getting harder and harder. Of course the real market will be in the download, non-physical poducts likely before BluRay gets a good foot hold in the market. I've actually explored the idea of selling weather related videos in downloadable format. Even discussed this with some (not all) of the group of us that did the Hurricane Charley product. After seeing our documentary on the big movie screen made me want to see it in the best quality possible. But the time and expense didn't seem worth it....certainly wasn't worth producing actual disks.

I'm sure if you can get near to or higher sales of 10,000 disks (discs), then it is worth it. But you have to advertise to a much wider market than chasers. Especially now that $20 is the norm for BluRay (versus $30 per disk last year).
 
MatthewCarman said:
I don't see a point in buying a Blue-Ray DVD player. In 2-5 years there will probably be something better than a blue ray and in 10-20 years the DVD could be phased out by something even better or more technologically advanced. I am going to wait for something better than HD or when they phase out the normal DVD players and switch to Blue-Ray.
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Matthew, I used that logic for a while but then realized that there is always going to be a technology turnover and I had better get used to it and deal with it. Figure out a price point and when the technology falls within that price, go for it. You basically have three choices: 1. Get it when it's the latest greatest and pay a premium, 2. Get it mid cycle when the prices moderate, or 3. Get it for bargain prices when the new technology is introduced. I tend to fall somewhere between 2 and 3. I'm not wealthy by any means, but I can enjoy a few toys by buying yesterday's technology. It's newer than what I had, so I'm stoked. I've got my $35 Blackberry 8830, $500 Nikon D200, $400 Toshiba Notebook, etc... And I'll get a Blu-Ray player once I find one for under $100. I do have to save some money for chase season!
 
MatthewCarman said:
I don't see a point in buying a Blue-Ray DVD player. In 2-5 years there will probably be something better than a blue ray and in 10-20 years the DVD could be phased out by something even better or more technologically advanced. I am going to wait for something better than HD or when they phase out the normal DVD players and switch to Blue-Ray.
Click to expand...

I'm not advocating blu-ray or anything, but you'll be waiting awhile for that. 2k and 4k are the main resolutions movies are shot in but it'll be awhile before you can view that at home. Also, you have to realize that HD hasn't completely saturated the market. Although, it is growing rapidly.
 
Blu-ray players have fallen below $100, I actually got one last Christmas (08) as a Christmas present. As for new technologies, I dont think blu-ray will be replaced for a while, at least on the disc medium anyway. The only thing that threatens blu-ray his perhaps a transition to an online medium like Netflix, iTunes movies, and others. These are also growing in popularity but at a slower rate.
 
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I've had a Blu-ray player for over a year now. All of the 2009 chase video has been rendered to Blu-ray disc because of HD acquisition. Gone are the days of pointing to your muddy tornado video (circa 90's 8mm) and saying " Do you see that shadow behind that row of trees there? Yeah, thats the tornado." I can finally put my video to disc in all its glory.
It also nicely upscales standard DVD's. My collection of chase highlights from different chasers looks awesome
Click to expand...
I have to agree with Bill on that one. My Sony player upscales nicely and made watching all the old highlight DVDs a new experience.
 
I have a blu-ray player that came built-in with my Sony VAIO laptop, which I've had less than two years. I have used the blu-ray player exactly once, when I went out and bought a blu-ray movie, at what I considered a ridiculous price, just to see what all the fuss was about. Frankly, I was quite underwhelmed. I'm usually a fan of hi-def video, and the HD stuff I've taken the time to download looks spectacular on the Sony... But the blu-ray movie, while absolutely crisp and stunningly detailed for still shots, looked jerky and in general lacked smoothness during action scenes. Now, I have only seen the one film ("Forbidden Kingdom" w/Jackie Chan & Jet Li, if anyone cares), and I suppose it's possible I just got a bad copy... But I think a more likely scenario is that the player in the Sony just wasn't ready for prime time, but they threw it in anyway to entice buyers... Still, blu-ray is a standard, and anything calling itself blu-ray has to be up to certain specs, no? Sony generally knows what they are doing when it comes to video tech, so I have to assume that my player faithfully implements the blu-ray standard... As such, alas, I have to give it a definite Fail.
 
Have no plans or needs for one. IMO, there are very few movies that truly benefit from the increased resolution.

That said, I'll likely 'back into' the capability when computer drives and recordable media prices float down to a practical level.
 
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