Consumers prefer iTunes movies to Blu-ray and HD DVD?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 21 January 2008 17:17

Opinion and Analysis

Yes, 720p is a far cry from the full 1080p resolution offered by Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. Blu-ray discs hold 50GB and HD DVD holds 30GB. Why? Because more space means less compression for a higher quality image. And because video quality is all about the final frontier... space.

Ok, so I'm mixing my space metaphors, but more space means higher quality video encoding, higher quality audio tracks, and more space for enhanced versions of the usual extra features.

But imagine downloading a 30GB or 50GB file! That's more data than most consumers’ monthly download limit. Of course this varies from country to country, with the number of gigabytes you can download dependent on how much is paid to the ISP each month, but for most consumers on today’s Internet, even downloading just one movie in ‘true’ HD is simply out of the question – and for most, would take days.

That’s the simple reason why we have Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, beyond the battle for royalties over formats. It's a simple way to get the highest quality video to consumers.

Now clearly, Microsoft and Apple are using compression to deliver what is still a 720p high-def image in much smaller file sizes so they download faster. But even these smaller downloads add up very quickly, especially if you're on a plan with a small download limit.

Consumers wanting to download a lot of movies, whether legally or illegally, need an account that lets them download at least 20GB per month, with 50GB and even more highly recommended.

Unfortunately, these kind of high download plans are naturally the most expensive, and as such aren’t the standard type of connection that every single Internet user enjoys. If that were the case, downloads would be a no-brainer.

Until ultra high-speed broadband with a download limit allowing hundreds or even thousands of gigabytes becomes the baseline standard, optical discs are still the easiest and cheapest way to get 1080p HD content to a worldwide audience.

So, while Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and others try to gain the upper hand in direct downloads of movies and TV shows, with even Sony set to compete against itself in providing downloads against its own sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs, the move towards more downloads than ever is irreversible and unstoppable.

So while it’s true that reports of the death of the optical disc are most premature, reports that the future is Blu aren’t quite true either.

All that we do know is that DVDs and high-def discs will be with us for some time yet – just as video tapes, LPs and audio cassettes are still part of the lives of many.