The Letter Box
By Greg Robinson
About Greg
Greg Robinson is an E-Gear contributing editor with a penchant for all things home theater. When he's not busy spinning the latest Blu-ray Discs, you'll probably find him thumping volleyballs or bemoaning the cancellation of "Firefly."Silver's Screen
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The Thin Blu Line
In my last post, I talked about how wonderful it is to see the long-overdue marriage of Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy in one packaged unit at retail. As it turns out, I have more to say on the subject. Thanks in large part to the internet-enabled Blu-ray Disc format, the distinction between home entertainment content and its respective delivery platforms continues to blur.
Confronted with a growing number of entertainment platforms and options, tech-savvy and budget-concious consumers want their media collections to adapt and grow with them. Consider the scene in Men in Black, where Tommy Lee Jones' character is giving Will Smith a tour of the latest future tech. Holding up a miniature optical disc, he says:
"These are gonna replace CD's soon. Guess I'll have to buy The White Album again."
Although it was good for a laugh, the joke's on us if we end up buying MIB seven times in as many different formats. There are signs of hope though. The fact that an increasing number of Blu-ray Disc titles are including both the DVD and Digital Copy versions is a glorious sign of things to come.
Another interesting indicator of these changing times is the recent re-structuring by the industry's nonprofit advocacy organization, the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG). At a meeting last month, the DEG announced several committee changes, the most notable of which was the combination of its technology and content committees. Here's a snippet of Variety's coverage of the event:
“The old distinction between physical and digital gets washed away in the future,” said Ron Sanders, president of Warner Home Video and DEG, using the examples of such packaged media as DVD and Blu-ray carrying digital files and digital downloads that can be saved from some form of physical media. “The [new] structure kind of reflects that,” he said.
Obviously there's no such thing as a future-proof technology or purchase, but these multi-media bundles present a solid value for the consumer, especially in this economy. I don't know about you, but with no shortage of new content pouring out of Hollywood, I'd rather focus on buying the exciting, new stuff instead of re-buying my old stuff again and again.
What do you all think? Is the combination of packaged media and digital downloads a good thing? Or would you prefer to buy The White Album a few more times?
