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FM
Former Member

Prepare yourselves to explain what "The Cloud" is to all your elder family members because DVDs are going the way of the dinosaurs.

Variety has alerted us to PricewaterhouseCoopers's new study that shows box office and digital revenue is projected to rise steadily over the course of the next five years, while the sales of DVDs--as well as other disc formats--are predicted to fall drastically. This study posits that the sale of streaming video titles will exceed the sale of physical DVDs as soon as 2016. Which means, DVD's days are numbered.

DVD sales saw a 28% drop last year, making $12.2 billion. This total only is expected to reach $8.7 billion by 2018, a time at which electronic home video (streaming titles or digital downloads) are anticipated to be the highest-earning element of filmmaking. Within five years, digital video profits are expected to leap from 2014's projected $8.5 total to $17 billion. Basically, PwC projects that by 2018, digital video will be earning distributors more profits than movies' theatrical box office will.

However, PwC isn't calling theatrical releases obsolete--not just yet, anyway. Despite some doomsayers insisting the rise of digital video is luring people away from movie theaters, PwC's study declares ticket sales will climb 15.9% over the next half decade, but that will be in part because of ticket prices rising. By their estimate, the cost of a movie ticket will rise from an average of $8.89 to $9.81 by 2018. Notably, both distribution to China and 3D releases were meant as ways to bolster box office performance, but both are being met with challenges.

As far as China is concerned, studios are confronting several obstacles, including censorship, a cap on American films accepted annually, the rise of China's domestic film industry, and rampant video piracy. Regarding 3D, Hollywood's obstacle is essentially that audience enthusiasm for it is dwindling. So, studios are now responding by offering 20% less 3D titles than they did in 2011.

While the way consumers buy movies is changing, the desire to buy versus rent is still a strong one in this digital video climate. And the plus side from those producing titles is that there is far less overhead that goes into making a movie buyable on digital services as opposed to printing and publishing scads of DVDs and cases

Ultimately, we're by and large investing differently in our love of movies. Now instead of rushing out to get an adored movie on DVD or Blu-ray, more and more are just buying a digital file with a click of a button on iTunes or Amazon. As I write this, I look up at my personal collection of DVDs, which fill nearly a whole wall in my living room. To think, five years from now this will be as laughable a site as the walls of discarded VHS tapes found at any thrift store.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/

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A Replacement for Blu-ray Is Coming: Does Anyone Want It?

blue Ray Disk Illo

Sony and Panasonic are jointly developing a new optical disc that holds more data; would debut by the end of 2015

As Hollywood figures out ways to make its DVDs and Blu-rays more attractive to consumers who are gravitating more toward digital platforms for their TV shows and movies, Sony and Panasonic are about to give studios yet another disc to embrace and promote.

The two companies have paired up to jointly develop a next-generation standard for optical discs that will be able to hold at least 300GB of recorded material (a typical Blu-ray disc for a film holds 50GB). Sony and Panasonic hope to release the first version of the discs by the end of 2015.

The new discs are designed for the professional community looking for a new long-term digital data storage solution to archive their materials — and not for the general consumer. It sees its core customer base as studios, TV networks and post production houses, as well as cloud data centers.

But given the trickle-down effect of new technologies as prices eventually fall, it won’t be surprising if Sony and Panasonic eventually try to come up with a way to market their new high-capacity disc format to consumers.

It’s clear that the entertainment industry will need discs that hold more information. That’s especially true as more studios produce movies in the 4K format, and as the video game biz releases two new next-generation consoles this fall that require a lot of data to take the animation featured in the games to a new level. Sony is behind the PlayStation 4. Its PlayStation 3 currently plays games with high-end graphics. The electronics industry is also developing films that display images in the even higher 8K resolution, which will require even more data on discs to play on the screens.

Sony already is promoting Ultra HD movies in the 4K format that require more than 100GB of space on a disc.

Sony and Panasonic will work with the technologies owned by each company to develop the specifications of the new disc standard. Both companies essentially developed Blu-ray and were key in getting the studios to embrace it as the latest standard for home video releases.

The two companies are high on optical discs, given that they are dust- and water-resistant, can withstand temperature and humidity changes when stored, and are compatible with different data formats as they evolve.

Sony had previously commercialized a file-based optical disc archive system in 2012 that houses 12 optical discs within a compact cartridge as a single, high-capacity storage solution. Each disc within the cartridge holds 25GB capacity, offering a total range of storage capacities from 300GB to 1.5TB.

This summer, Panasonic launched its own line of optical disc storage devices that hold 12 100GB optical discs in a single magazine. A maximum of 90 magazines can be stored, providing a total storage capacity of 180TB.

“Both Sony and Panasonic recognized that optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage in years to come given the expected future growth in the archive market, and responded by formulating this agreement,” the electronics giants said.

FM
asj posted:

4K Blu-ray discs arriving in 2015 to fight streaming media

Those who want movies with the very highest quality will be keen on 4K Blu-ray's better resolution, color, and dynamic range. Yet millions seem happy with streaming video, despite its shortcomings.

Netflix streams 4K also some other players is on board.

8K coming soon,Japan broadcast the recent Rio Olympics in that format.

In the US not sure how soon they will broadcast 4K.

Django
Django posted:
asj posted:

4K Blu-ray discs arriving in 2015 to fight streaming media

Those who want movies with the very highest quality will be keen on 4K Blu-ray's better resolution, color, and dynamic range. Yet millions seem happy with streaming video, despite its shortcomings.

Netflix streams 4K also some other players is on board.

8K coming soon,Japan broadcast the recent Rio Olympics in that format.

In the US not sure how soon they will broadcast 4K.

They do have us all confused by now. When we really thought that Blu-ray will be here, then now we are hearing replacement

FM

Are cassette tapes making a comeback?

Mainstream acts are re-embracing decades-old format, says co-curator of new exhibit

CBC News Posted: Mar 14, 2016 2:49 PM ETLast Updated: Mar 14, 2016 2:49 PM ET

Ariel Sharratt, co-curator of an exhibit celebrating the cassette tape, says the decades-old format has survived despite the rise of CDs and digital downloads.

Ariel Sharratt, co-curator of an exhibit celebrating the cassette tape, says the decades-old format has survived despite the rise of CDs and digital downloads. (CBC)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

They're old, big and clunky. The right equipment is hard to find. And rewinding them — unless you do that trick with a pen — is a quick way to drain your batteries. 

'The cassette tape never really went away.' — Ariel Sharratt

But even though they've been considered obsolete for decades, cassette tapes appear to be making a comeback with some music fans. 

Discogs, an online music database, recently reported a 37 per cent rise in tape sales in 2015. Meanwhile, a number of high-profile Canadian artists have recently released music on cassette, including Nelly Furtado and Arcade Fire.

"We see, more and more now, young bands who don't want to digitize their music, who don't want put it online, who are resisting that impulse to put everything on SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Pandora, Spotify, what have you," said Ariel Sharratt, co-curator of Musicworks: The Cassette Years, an exhibit that celebrates the cassette tape.

Sharratt says cassettes, which are cheap to produce, have remained popular with punk, experimental and other underground music communities since their heyday of the 1980s — despite the rise of digital music. 

Cassette tape

The online music database Discogs recently reported a 37 per cent rise in tape sales in 2015. (PhotoGraphyca/Shutterstock)

"The cassette tape never really went away," she told Metro Morning.

Lately, the format has been rediscovered by more mainstream bands. 

Cassettes offer artists a chance to put out their music in a physical format, without the expense of recording on vinyl. For fans, they offer a way to connect with artists that's harder to get with a digital download. 

A lot of people, Sharratt says, want a token to take home from a concert, even if they don't have a tape deck at home. 

And who does, these days? Even the well-equipped Metro Morning studio lacks a tape deck. And Sharratt concedes that finding and maintaining the necessary equipment is one of the biggest hurdles for cassette fans. 

"It's a challenge to find a cassette deck these days. Unless you have a really old car." 

Musicworks: The Cassette Years runs at OCAD's Open Gallery at 49 McCaul St., through March 18.

cain
asj posted:
Django posted:
asj posted:

4K Blu-ray discs arriving in 2015 to fight streaming media

Those who want movies with the very highest quality will be keen on 4K Blu-ray's better resolution, color, and dynamic range. Yet millions seem happy with streaming video, despite its shortcomings.

Netflix streams 4K also some other players is on board.

8K coming soon,Japan broadcast the recent Rio Olympics in that format.

In the US not sure how soon they will broadcast 4K.

They do have us all confused by now. When we really thought that Blu-ray will be here, then now we are hearing replacement

Home Entertainment Electronics is ahead at a fast pace due to Digital Electronics,manufacturers trying all sorts of ideas to trap the market,the business is not so profitable like the olden years,the Chinese and Koreans killed the Japanese Home Entertainment Electronics Industry.

Django

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