Okay, just about a year ago I ventured into investing in high-def optical media. Unfortunately, I went with HD-DVD. Last time I checked, you could buy 9-month-old HD-DVD titles at Fry’s for less than $5 each.

The industry went the other way, with Blu-ray Disc (BD). The cascade of manufacturers and BD content providers became an irresistible force for this format, and its rival vanished rather quickly.

Technically, there are good things and not-so-good things about BD. From a viewing aspect, BD is as good, if not better, than HD-DVD, and generally better than any cable or satellite-based delivery. It can carry 25 Gigabytes of data per layer, for a maximum of 50 GB. This allows for extraordinary image quality, full 1080 grandeur. It beats cable or satellite in image quality (there are always going to be some compression artifacts as broadcast) and capability (all the fun bells and whistles from standard-def DVD are available).

What is not so hot about BD is really of concern at the front end, with content producers and distributors: How they’re made. HD-DVD were designed to be “super-DVDs,” utilizing a toolkit very similar to standard def DVDs. The format used to author Blu-ray Discs is radically different: Most professional BD authoring is controlled by Sony, who developed an extraordinarily expensive program for creating them.

Another feature of BDs is AACS. This is basically an anti-piracy content protection scheme. The tough part is that EVERY Blu-ray Disc HAS to have a unique AACS license. And for the time being, AACS licensing ain’t cheap.

Because the public chose Blu-ray Disc format, the path to making truly cheap HD discs is hamstrung by serious content-control by Sony and others. This is a big concern for the future of the format: the market needs more titles to keep up public interest, and it especially needs specialty titles (stuff like documentaries, indie films, and even self-help and exercise videos) to help consumers justify the purchase of a BD player. More titles means the cost of producing BDs will go down, and that means the retail cost will go down as well. I don’t think anyone wants BD to the exclusive domain of the studios– You, the independent filmmaker, and you, the indie and specialty distributor, need to get your stuff out there in 1080 HD as well, for the good of the industry and the format.

The other thing that has to happen is the players have to get less expensive– and that is happening. Daniel just got one for less than $200!

All a content owner, producer or distributor can do to control the initial cost of producing content in BD is to get the authoring done inexpensively.

Gee, what a coincidence: Inexpensively authored Blu-ray Discs are exactly what my company offers!

I don’t mind making the rest of this blog entry a blatant advertisement for SB Digital LLC, because we can actually author replication-ready BD– Inexpensively. Seriously, we’re less than half the cost of our local competitors, and we’re less than the Los Angeles post houses that offer it as well. (our secret: Low overhead and deep experience. Over 3000 DVD titles so far!) So if you’re thinking of taking the plunge, go for it: now is definitely the time. And if you want to go Blu-Ray Disc affordably, drop us a line: We can help.

As blatant an advertisement as this is, there is a Higher Purpose at work here. The Blu-Ray Disc format needs to succeed. It is the best way to watch movies at home yet invented, and can offer the depth of content (extras, outtakes, etc) that made DVD such a resounding success. This depth of content is part of what makes movies exciting for people, what makes them look forward to new releases, and piques their interest in the beauty and artistry of cinema. Cable and Satellite can deliver movies, but only optical discs can deliver them in a package that you can own, and truly explore.

–Skot C.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 11:19 am and is filed under Copyright, DRM, General, Hosts, Marketing, Motion Pictures, Publishing, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.