Do You Really Need a Blu-ray Player?

·         Different kinds of discs are obsolete quickly. They are replaced by a new wave of digital media services crashes into the living room. Streaming video from the Internet and other means of direct digital delivery are going to put optical formats out of business entirely over the next few years.

·         In 2008 Amazon rolled out its Amazon Video on Demand video streaming service. Today you can instantly watch over 50,000 hit movies and TV shows through the service on your laptop, XBOX360, TIVO, and even directly through select HDTVs.

·         Netflix has partnered with several hardware companies in an attempt to make its service more or less ubiquitous. One cool feature is in addition to streaming movies instantly, you also continue getting Netflix DVDs in the mail at no extra cost!

·         Apple has a seemingly infinite amount of portable devices on which consumers can beam down movies and shows for instant gratification. Among them are the iPhone, the iPod (many flavors), and any the very portable Mac Book laptops.

·         Monthly cable modem bills haven’t decreased much over the years; however, internet download speeds have come a long way since the early 2000s. These days it’s not uncommon to have a 10Mbps pipe (that’s FAST for you non-geeks) in your living room! This means with a VUDU box you can stream crisp 1080p video (with digital surround sound) nearly instantly.

So do you really need a blu-ray player?