I'm all the above and I love my Blu-Ray player. Netflix Watch instantly is full of mediocre B-rated movies. Good for background noise on a saturday afternoon, yet too boring for night time viewing.
DVDs are decent but all my movie purchases or netflix rentals these days are Blu rays. I refuse to purchase drm time bombs from itunes or amazon.
Netflix Watch Instantly is full of mediocre B-rated movies. Even the foreign film selection isn't as good as I had expected it to be, considering how horrible it's A-rated movie selection is.
And about BluRays vs. DVDs. There is no comparison if you care about picture quality & movie experience, while trying to own the movie. Try watching the first 20 minutes of Dark Knight on BluRay on a decent quality screen at 120HZ, then watch it on DVD. You will buy a BluRay player.
DVDs are OK, but Blu-Ray players and discs are finally getting affordable, and they are a real improvement.
I'm particularly interested in Blu-Ray disks for data because I do projects today that involve burning 10-30 DVDs and my life would be easier with fewer disks.
Someday I'm going to replace my old PPC Mac Mini, and once choice I'd consider is a new Mac Mini -- it's in a wonderful form factor that fits right under my HDTV. Although I live in an average sized house, I'm very sensitive to the volume that my possessions take up, so it would be sweet to have a Blu-Ray player inside a Mac Mini, rather than having to find a spot to stash a bulky Blu-Ray player next to the game system and other paraphernalia that's around the TV.
I'm trying not to sound like a troll here but: why are you comfortable buying DRM time-bombs in fragile plastic form? I think Apple or Amazon's DRM servers are equally likely to be viable 10 years from now.
My bet is that in ten years, today's Blu-ray DRM schemes are pretty much as busted as dvd-css is today. It sure shows cracks already, and the bittorrent scene certainly seems to have no problem having high quality bd-rips.
Of course, if these online services become big enough for anyone to bother cracking the DRM, they are likely to be headed for a similar destiny.
Because at least a Blu Ray disc is a standard that is playable by a wide range of devices and vendors. You're right that Apple and Amazon aren't dying any time soon, so I should've said I don't want a single vendor determining how I play their videos.
The real question is simply whether the estimated longevity of a Blu Ray disc is greater than the estimated longevity of one of the major online video vendors. I'm not sure I'd bet against the physical media deteriorating or drives requiring replacement or upgrades before then - and since it's usually cost-neutral across the form-factors, there's a temptation to bet on software lasting longer than hardware.
While NetFlix Watch Instant definitely does have a large amount of B-rated (and lower) movies, I've still been able to find a huge amount of things that are really interesting for me to watch. For those that really enjoy blockbuster and big name titles, there really isn't much selection, but there are great films to be seen, so I wouldn't be quick to categorize what's available as junk.
DVDs are decent but all my movie purchases or netflix rentals these days are Blu rays. I refuse to purchase drm time bombs from itunes or amazon.