Blu-ray is dead – heckuva job, Sony! | Storage Bits | ZDNet.com

Robin, what gives?  Ok, it’s been 8 months since the format war ended, but jeez did you really expect the price to match those of DVDs already?  Seriously?  Eight months ago, BD players were $500.  Now you can get them for $270/$300 on average, cheaper if you look around.  Yes, BDs cost more now, but so did DVDs when they came out.  I bought my first DVD player, a Toshiba when prices hit the $250 mark.  That was close to 10 years ago.  (wow, has it really been that long?)  DVDs weren’t exactly cheap back then either.  It will take time, but the prices will eventually come down.  And about it not being worth it, puh-leeze!  Even if you’re not an AV snob, the picture is amazing.  Something a DVD (upconverted or not) certainly isn’t.  Don’t get me wrong.  DVDs are still great, but they’re from a different era.  480i is still going to look dull and blurry no matter what you do to it when compared with even 720p.  Robin makes some good points about the high price of production, but get real; this isn’t going to last forever.  A year from now, BDs will be a lot more mainstream.  DVDs are already on their way to the bargain bin and once the switch to DTV happens next year I think you’ll see a lot more people looking seriously at HD sets and media players.  I just have to add one last thing, HD content streaming in the U.S. is going nowhere.  As long as providers keep holding people back with their bandwidth caps and limited connectivity options, internet-based HD streaming won’t become a true alternative to disc.