# Why hasn't blu-ray caught on more? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922 "2015-10-28T00:45:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/141 "2015-11-03T16:53:39Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > If you’re lucky. 50 GB is a ridiculous amount of data even over a broadband connection. Yeah, and I was thinking of single layer BD (25 GB)…dual layer might take a week. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/142 "2015-11-03T21:23:47Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I can’t attest to that since I’ve never even viewed Blu-ray, legitimate or otherwise. But odd as it may sound, there are “honorable” pirates over here whom one can trust, and I would believe them. Hell, the pirate stands in MBK Center alone have been operating for decades. > > But how big are the real Blu-rays? I see real ones for sale in the legitimate chains such as Mang Pong, and from the packaging they just look DVD size. It varies - 50gig is not unusual. The downloads I’ve seen are always way, way smaller than the real Blu Rays I own. The shops where you are are probably better than pirating sites, of course, but I’m still sceptical that they’d bother ripping a real Blu Ray quality disc. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/143 "2015-11-03T21:46:54Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > Try downloading a BD over a DSL connection - might take a day. That all depends on how fast your DSL download speed is. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/144 "2015-11-03T22:51:09Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > That all depends on how fast your DSL download speed is. In my case, about 3 Mb/s. If I paid more, I could get 6. And that’s as fast as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/145 "2015-11-03T23:01:05Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Because the standard price for a BluRay was much more than the standard price for a DVD. In a word: greed. > > Myself, I cannot grasp people who say they are happy with streaming. Every single time I’ve thought to myself “I want to watch X”, I searched Amazon and Netflix **and it’s not there**. Seriously, I have never been able to find any particular title. And the whole idea of “renting” a title for streaming for double to triple what I used to rent DVDs is even worse. “Buying” a title is even worse, as you “own” it only until they shut down that service. > > Nope, I won’t pay for a specific movie via streaming until it costs less than a dollar. You probably live in the UK or Canada. In the US Netflix have most movies and TV shows from the 90’s to now. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/146 "2015-11-03T23:05:03Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > It seems to me like Blu-ray is still very much a niche product. Some of the stores I go to have a very large DVD section, but have one shelf of blu-rays in a corner. You can buy a portable DVD player at any electronics store, portable blu-ray is still quite hard to find. I get that with portable hard drives, there isn’t much use for expensive blu-ray burners in a computer. But it is a great format for movies. Why isn’t it more popular? The only time I ever see people actually buying movies on blu-ray is out of the $5 bin at Big Lots. People spent a lot of money going from VHS to DVD and people don’t want to spend that kind of money to blu ray. Problem is blu ray came out too soon after DVD. People don’t like spending lots and lots of money every 10 years for new better thing just because it better sound and picture. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/147 "2015-11-03T23:49:06Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > In my case, about 3 Mb/s. If I paid more, I could get 6. And that’s as fast as it gets. I hope your ISP didn’t try to sell you that those are broadband speeds. Even the FCC wouldn’t agree they are. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/148 "2015-11-04T00:06:47Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > I hope your ISP didn’t try to sell you that those are broadband speeds. Even the FCC wouldn’t agree they are. Nope, but aside from satellite, it’s the only data service available in my county. Not happy about that. One company has locked out all other competition - especially cable competition. On the plus side, I would rather buy Blu-Ray discs than watch downloaded but highly compressed video. I wouldn’t download even if I had a wide data pipe. Some movies deserve Blu-Ray and are stunning on a large, high-quality television. As others have said upthread though, I have gotten pretty selective about which movies that I’ll pay extra for BD quality. For the movies that deserve it, I won’t hesitate. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/149 "2015-11-04T00:16:27Z")
For those that do download or stream movies/video: does your ISP limit or “throttle” your data? If so, how many movies or tv shows can you get before you get throttled or penalized? ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/150 "2015-11-04T01:34:41Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > On the plus side, I would rather buy Blu-Ray discs than watch downloaded but highly compressed video. I wouldn’t download even if I had a wide data pipe. > > Some movies deserve Blu-Ray and are stunning on a large, high-quality television. Why wouldn’t you download movies even if you had the bandwidth? The HD movies from iTunes, for example, might be highly compressed, but they are not poorly compressed. In fact, they are virtually indistinguishable from what you’d see watching a blu ray movie. Push the “buy” or “rent” button and it’s ready to watch in seconds. ---
**Author:** ![fc1114](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@fc1114](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fc1114)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/151 "2015-11-04T17:31:58Z")
When you watch streaming services, do they allow you to see all of the special features and hear the commentary tracks? Commentary tracks are \*\*VERY \*\*important to me and that is why I still buy blu ray movies. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/152 "2015-11-04T22:26:28Z")
I just did a real quickie check. The largest _Jurassic World_ BR-rip torrent I saw was almost 10GB. 1080p. Clearly not the maximum quality. (Hmm, _Satyricon_ is 32GB. Must be more Fellini fans out there than I thought.) Yeah, there are 20GB+ movie torrents out there. I have no idea who is tossing bandwidth at those. Blu-ray is basically seen as a videophile’s format. There are many videophiles. But not as many as regular folk as in the heyday of DVDs. Most people don’t give a rat’s posterior about extras, commentary, etc. These are the same people who were fine with VHS. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/153 "2015-11-06T14:26:36Z")
> [@fc1114](#): > > When you watch streaming services, do they allow you to see all of the special features and hear the commentary tracks? Commentary tracks are \*\*VERY \*\*important to me and that is why I still buy blu ray movies. Few streaming services offer much of anything in the way of extra content. [Netflix generally even abjures alternate versions.](http://www.stuff.tv/features/netflix-there-really-isnt-case-different-versions-film) ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/154 "2015-11-06T21:30:03Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I just did a real quickie check. The largest _Jurassic World_ BR-rip torrent I saw was almost 10GB. 1080p. Clearly not the maximum quality. It’s not the size of the file that matters, it’s the quality of the compression. As an example, the iTunes HD version of Jurassic World is 5.6 gigs. I haven’t compared it personally, but if it’s like other iTunes HD movies vs Blu-ray comparisons I’ve seen, they are largely indistinguishable. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/155 "2015-11-08T20:09:49Z")
I own about 200 movies on DVD. I have no cable, no computer (aside from my tablet) and most of my movies are pre-1950’s. So Blu-Ray is meaningless to me. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922/156 "2015-11-09T15:30:26Z")
Another one here who thinks DVDs are good enough. I don’t feel like spending the money to replace my entire collection, as most likely I will also move to streaming. Can I stream everything I own? Nope…but I can stream a lot of it, and eventually probably at least 75% of it. I have about 200 movies on DVD. Maybe more. I don’t care about any extras: no commentaries, no nothing. I just wanna watch the movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-blu-ray-caught-on-more/735922.md?page=7)