I just figured I'd put a thread out here about those services. No sure this is the right place, but seemed like a good spot.

So, I've rented an HD 3D movie from the PS store (Bolt 3D) and was impressed by the overall quality. It was perhaps a smidge less quality than a 3DBD, but still very good. I was actually more impressed with the fact that the full 3D movie w/5.1 sound was only 4.6GB. That's just barely too big to fit on a single layer DVD!!

I loaded the VuDu client on the PS3 (which gives you a $5.99 credit, which is enough for an HDX rental, so enough for a 3D 1080p rental) but I haven't rented anything just yet. (The boys want to rent Chicken Little 3D.) I have watched all of the 3D trailers on there in HDX, and just like with the PlayStation Store rental, HDX 3D looks great, just a noticeable notch down from Blu-Ray but still very good. I'll post back once I've rented a full-length 3D HDX movie from there.

I'd be interested in hearing anyones experiences with online or otherwise for 3D HD movies....

I'm wondering why Netflix and RedBox aren't carrying 3D BD, since most all 3DBD can also be played back in 2D. So it seems it would just be a value add for them to carry 3DBD for any movies they could....

GC

Well the actual Bolt Blu-Ray is a little over 30GB, so I'm sure they had to cut some corners somewhere. Quality is probably still OK, but certainly not the full quality. But moving forward everything is going toward instant streaming download. Blu-Ray is probably the last disc-style format we will ever see.

Agreed all around. I wonder how much of that 30GB is for extras, and alternative soundtracks (other languages, commentary tracks, etc)..... But yes, the quality wasn't quite that of BD, but still good....... plenty enough for you to realize it's HD......

I agree that BD may be the last disc-style format we'd ever see....... but I bet there's something that both consumers and producers aren't able to match without that "physical media" aspect....... but that could be a memory card/cartridge......

I remember years ago when Playstation came out and Dreamcast, and folks were saying that cartridges were a thing of the past..... disc was where it was at. Now here we are ~15 years later and it looks like the total opposite is true now........ how discs could be a thing of the past.

GC

Well people will still want to go to brick & mortar stores (at least for the foreseeable future) and also buy gifts and things like that. So physical media will still survive for some period of time. But just look at what has happened with CDs. They came out 30 years ago and nothing else has replaced them. They have tried a few times even (SACD, DVD-Audio) but everything has failed big-time. Now we have MP3 downloads which by all accounts is worse quality, but most people can't tell the difference. Just like the 4GB downloaded movie probably looks good enough that most people can't tell the original Blu-Ray was 20GB (ballpark estimate if we cut out extras).

So you reach a point of diminishing returns. I mean, we already have hi-def, 5.1+ sound and now 3D. How much further can they real push it without a huge paradigm shift in technology (aka real holographic projection, direct-link wetware, etc.). I mean, we can go to 4K and they already have prototypes. We may be able to get better 3D displays, with no glasses, no ghosting, etc. But they are just incremental steps. What we have now is going to last a while, just like CDs are still the standard after 30 years. Sure they might try to push Blu-Ray XL, or move to 4K, and stuff like that, but I just don't see it taking off.

Blu-Ray has been around for like 5 years, and 3 years since it killed HD-DVD (RIP, I was a huge supporter). And among the tech circles (like AVS, etc.) everyone of course has a Blu-Ray player. But many mainstream consumers don't. In the US, only about half the households have an HDTV and only a third of those people have a Blu-Ray player. Meaning the vast majority do not own Blu-Ray players (over 80%). Granted, it took CDs many, many years to kill tapes, but this still seems low by today's accelerated pace of technology. I hardly even want to know how many of those people own a 3D HDTV and a 3D Blu-Ray player. So the CEMs have a lot of room for growth here, they don't need to bring out anything new.

If anything, the new thing is going to be boxes like the Google TV, Apple TV, or just services built-in to the TVs. Before streaming services can really dominate, there does need to be better broadband connections, but they are gaining speed. At that point B&M stores like Best Buy would become hardware only outlets, all software would be digitally distributed. I imagine there might still be some physical media sold, even just as collector's editions with bundled extras. And they do still sell vinyl records, so I guess there will always be a market for stuff like this. But in terms of mainstream consumption, it will all be digital.

There's a 3D BD trading threat at cheapassgamer.com if anyone would care to join in. It may be a better alternative to renting.

I do wonder when Netflix or Blockbuster (or redbox) will get into the game. I'm sure it's more of the studios not giving them access to them (as a lot of rental discs are gimped in some way now) than those companies not having interest.