Blu-ray vs DVD

Every once in a while I will rent a Blu-ray disc from Netflix to compare it to a DVD that I already own.  The idea is if the Blu-ray quality is significantly better I might replace the DVD.  For movies that I truly treasure, I might want to evaluate the Blu-ray extra features for the same reason.  Well, I have yet to find a single title that I would plunk down $20 to upgrade.  Every Blu-ray disc is better than DVD — better picture, better sound and sometimes even better extras — but they are not significantly better.  That is why it is going to take Blu-ray a little longer to replace DVD than it did for DVD to wipe out VHS, or CD to push vinyle out of the mainstream.  To dislodge an established technology the new technology must be several orders of magnitude better, not just a little better.  Compact discs provide the best example  – music fans went out immediately and replaced their extensive vinyl catalogs with new CDs.  Not so with Blu-ray — my old Godfather DVD isn’t going anywhere for now.

Incidentally, I the motivation for this post was that I rented Stop Making Sense on Blu-ray this weekend — it is a great, great movie on DVD or Blu-ray.  In fact, it was the first DVD that I ever bought.