Best Buy Prepares For Post-DVD Era

[Shawn Hopkins]

Looks like another media giant is soooo over DVDs. Best Buy has partnered with another company to deliver content without DVDs, another step toward eventually making downloads the primary delivery method for content.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/1...-post-dvd-era/
Best Buy sells a lot of DVDs, but it is taking another step to get ready for the day when that business shifts online.

The giant electronics retailer on Tuesday is announcing a partnership with Sonic Solutions‘ Roxio CinemaNow service to deliver first-run DVDs streamed online directly to consumers. The idea, said Chris Homeister, senior vice president for entertainment at Best Buy, is to let consumers pay once for a DVD and then eventually be able to play it on any device: television, Blu-ray disc player, personal computer, handheld media player or smartphone.

The new service will be a Best Buy-branded offering, available starting early next year. “We’re going into this business in a big way,” Mr. Homeister said. “Our goal is to have broad availability in the marketplace, across multiple devices.”

Last month, Best Buy announced a deal with Netflix to stream its movie library to Best Buy’s Insignia-branded Blu-ray disc players. And in September, Blockbuster announced it was working with Sonic to offer Blockbuster’s streaming movie service on consumer electronic devices starting with TiVo DVRs and Samsung high-definition televisions and Blu-ray players.

“All these guys — Best Buy, Blockbuster and Netflix — realize is that the era of the boxed DVD is about to end,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology consulting firm. “They all have to make the transition to the next generation of movie distribution, streaming directly to the consumer.”




See the rest at the link.



So that's Best Buy, Blockbuster, Microsoft, Netflix and Disney that are making plans for a post physical mediafuture that could come sooner than you think. The only major company really keeping its hand in physical media is Sony because of Blu-Ray, but even Sony has the PSN store and is offering Netflix streaming on PS3.


The interesting thing now will be to see if consumers will accept this.

[GWOtaku]

The way I see it this is pretty similar to digital copies on Blu-Ray discs, except you can use your digital copy on just about anything. What's not to like? As a concept, this is good.

Of course, note the "eventually." And it won't take over the world if it's only limited to machines made by the Best Buy brand.

[EinBebop]

It'll be like music... they'll try to control it until they can't control it anymore.

[Michael24]

Best Buy is my favorite place to shop for DVDs, so it'll truly be a sad day for me if and when I can no longer buy them there. At least, at this point, that is still a long ways off.

[Martianinvader]

Originally Posted by EinBebop

It'll be like music... they'll try to control it until they can't control it anymore.

Yeah, the more fluid you make any medium, the bigger a problem piracy becomes, since at that point there's almost no difference to the consumer.

You can also kiss special features and digitally remastered editions of lesser films goodbye. But progress is progress!

In other news, rock is dead:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/mus...e-over-saysu2/

[EinBebop]

Originally Posted by Martianinvader

You can also kiss special features and digitally remastered editions of lesser films goodbye. But progress is progress!

I don't think so. First of all, I think there will always be a market for the hard copy with a bunch of extras, you still have these big cd box sets. Secondly, even for the more casual fan that stuff will be available for download, either free to promote the movie or as an incentive to buy the movie... that kind of stuff is harder to come by through piracy.

In other news, rock is dead:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/mus...e-over-saysu2/

I thought it died in the last decade and is just now making a comeback.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Originally Posted by GWOtaku

The way I see it this is pretty similar to digital copies on Blu-Ray discs, except you can use your digital copy on just about anything. What's not to like? As a concept, this is good.

Of course, note the "eventually." And it won't take over the world if it's only limited to machines made by the Best Buy brand.

Oh yeah, I know what struck me funny about this. No, it's not going to be limited to Best Buy branded machines, it'll be a Best Buy branded service that they hope will one day be available on any machine.

The idea, said Chris Homeister, senior vice president for entertainment at Best Buy, is to let consumers pay once for a DVD and then eventually be able to play it on any device: television, Blu-ray disc player, personal computer, handheld media player or smartphone.

[Mikintosh]

Yeah, these are the same people who said that Blu-Ray would put DVDs out of business, too.

[Kouji Tamino]

Originally Posted by Shawn Hopkins

Oh yeah, I know what struck me funny about this. No, it's not going to be limited to Best Buy branded machines, it'll be a Best Buy branded service that they hope will one day be available on any machine.

The idea, said Chris Homeister, senior vice president for entertainment at Best Buy, is to let consumers pay once for a DVD and then eventually be able to play it on any device: television, Blu-ray disc player, personal computer, handheld media player or smartphone.

That... actually sounds pretty awesome. Physical and virtual media should supplement each other, not compete.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Originally Posted by Kouji Tamino

That... actually sounds pretty awesome. Physical and virtual media should supplement each other, not compete.

It would be nice, but I'm not 100 percent clear, from that quote, if there will still be a physical disk, though. It could be you just buy a download card or something. If anyone can find a reference that clarifies this it would be appreciated.

Blu-Ray probably won't get a chance to put DVD out of business, even though it is a superior format, because the push to all digital distribution is too strong. That will happen first.

[GWOtaku]

Well, that depends. Consider: anybody anywhere can get a Blu-Ray player and a reasonably priced HD television. Not everybody has a broadband connection fast enough for a stream to hit HD or near-HD quality. So, while digital freedom could be big for the convenience it offers, discs are going to last as long as they can offer reliable superior quality. With a disc, you aren't out of luck if your network goes down. There will be plenty of incentive to include disc-based media in the deal for quite awhile yet.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Originally Posted by GWOtaku

Well, that depends. Consider: anybody anywhere can get a Blu-Ray player and a reasonably priced HD television. Not everybody has a broadband connection fast enough for a stream to hit HD or near-HD quality. So, while digital freedom could be big for the convenience it offers, discs are going to last as long as they can offer reliable superior quality. With a disc, you aren't out of luck if your network goes down. There will be plenty of incentive to include disc-based media in the deal for quite awhile yet.

That is the rub. Maybe Blu-Ray will get to kill DVD first. I think it will go mostly digital before the holographic technologies have a chance to be widespread, though, but those will be useful for archives and massive files.

[CartoonCrazy]

Well, I'm glad to see you can download movies onto your televi-

Wait a minute! How do you download movies onto your TV?

[Anarky]

I wonder how many jobs will be lost and how many consumers will be priced-out after the conversion. This is the side of the big picture they dare not mention.

[Mikintosh]

Originally Posted by Shawn Hopkins

That is the rub. Maybe Blu-Ray will get to kill DVD first. I think it will go mostly digital before the holographic technologies have a chance to be widespread, though, but those will be useful for archives and massive files.

Not to get side-tracked, I just don't see holograms making a big splash anytime soon, either...

[sdp]

Companies are jumping the physical media ship before its too late like it was with music. The technology is already here and its quickly being adopted and if companies don't embrace it they'll be left in the dark just like the music industry saw before itunes came along. Even before Blu-Ray won against HD-DVD analysts were saying BR had won the physical HD format but it hadn't won the HD war.

Originally Posted by EinBebop

It'll be like music... they'll try to control it until they can't control it anymore.

No, this is entirely different, it took years for the music to start embracing the digital medium, the movie industry is trying not to do the same even though they have been making the same mistakes as the music industry up until now.

Originally Posted by Martianinvader

You can also kiss special features and digitally remastered editions of lesser films goodbye. But progress is progress!

Actually itunes just introduced itunes LP which is basically special features.

Originally Posted by GWOtaku

Well, that depends. Consider: anybody anywhere can get a Blu-Ray player and a reasonably priced HD television. Not everybody has a broadband connection fast enough for a stream to hit HD or near-HD quality. So, while digital freedom could be big for the convenience it offers, discs are going to last as long as they can offer reliable superior quality. With a disc, you aren't out of luck if your network goes down. There will be plenty of incentive to include disc-based media in the deal for quite awhile yet.

maybe in the US, and still adoption for HD is not really as high as people were expecting. Its really not accurate that you can't get a good broadband connection. I lived in a small town and even we had broadband by 2002. The HD I get digitally is less compressed than the one I get on my TV, without buffering.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Originally Posted by Mikintosh

Not to get side-tracked, I just don't see holograms making a big splash anytime soon, either...

The holographic disc technology can potentially hold one terabyte.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc

It's the natural successor to Blu-Ray, which itself will soon for the most part replace DVD because the space available on a DVD is simply insufficient for HD resolution content.

[Mikintosh]

Originally Posted by Shawn Hopkins

The holographic disc technology can potentially hold one terabyte.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc

It's the natural successor to Blu-Ray, which itself will soon for the most part replace DVD because the space available on a DVD is simply insufficient for HD resolution content.

Oh, I thought you were talking about 3D holographic displays, which is a bit more outlandish. Still, I just don't think HD resolution storage is the number one concern of the vast majority of DVD-buying Americans, though of course it's always nice to have options.

[Blackstar]

Well, I'm not entirely clear on how one is supposed to purchase downloads from a retail store, but there's no stopping progress. VHS went the way of the dinosaurs, and soon DVDs will be a thing of the past. Once I learn how this new system works, I should be fine. As long as I'm still able to record programs at home, i won't complain.

[GWOtaku]

maybe in the US, and still adoption for HD is not really as high as people were expecting. Its really not accurate that you can't get a good broadband connection. I lived in a small town and even we had broadband by 2002. The HD I get digitally is less compressed than the one I get on my TV, without buffering.

All well and good, but not everyone is in the same situation. Not everyone has amazing internet access, not everyone wants to pay for broadband, not everyone can afford broadband. My wireless DSL connection is usually very good but it does have temperamental moments, and if given a stark either/or choice I'm not at the point where I would be willing to leave access to all of my movies and TV shows completely at the mercy of any network's stability.

For streaming video to literally replace Blu-Ray, it needs to work flawlessly 90% of the time at the least. That means no buffering, no hiccups, HD video, and load times that are not annoying. For most of the country. And that's the U.S. How long will it take the world at large to get on the same page? Everyone will be on HD long before broadband is commonplace in every home.

Mod Note: Post edited.