I simply don't agree here. I own a Roku, it streams Vimeo 720p content and that stuff looks amazing on my 42" Panasonic plasma.
I have to agree with Chris, in that discs of any kind are a dead end road. All content via upload and download in developed countries is now and will continue to be commonplace every day that goes by. Hulu Plus went live today, I can get that as well with the Roku. I have had HD streaming with Netflix for awhile, which I love. I don't buy DVDs, I have no interest in buying Blu-ray for anything, movies or data. I have no interest in owning movies like we did with VHS, DVDs and so on. We have entered new methods of delivery which permit watching what you want, went you want, on practically any device you want, no need to own anything with such low subscriptions. Cable TV is dead. The sooner I can dump that the better. C0MCA$T just doesn't get it, $200 a month for an American household of internet, phone, digital TV with some premium stuff is a losing game, wasted money for consumers.
Streaming is the future and that future is now. You don't need a movie to be 40GB. There are optimal compressions that maximize image quality and minimize file size for streaming, only to improve with time.
The full HD video spec is 1080p. That's much better than 720p. For anyone who wants to view the maximum HD video quality, at present the only option is Blu ray, at least in most parts of the world.
The D7000 records video at 1080p at 24fps. That's the maximum quality the camera can deliver. Preserving that maximum quality on a Blu ray disc is more convenient for handling and distribution purposes than storing hours of HD footage on an external hard drive that needs to be connected to a computer. But it's not cheaper of course, and that's a pity. I'm surprised that blank Blu ray discs are still so expensive.
I still have movies on DVD discs, sitting on my shelves, that I bought from America shortly after the new medium was released about 20 years ago. The fact that I can still pop any of those discs into my Blu ray player and watch the material, uprezzed and interpolated, on my 65" Panasonic plasma HDTV, is amazing. I don't have a single hard drive from that era that's still functioning and usable.
Because I have a fairly large plasma HD screen, I am probably more sensitive to variations in image quality, whether from a broadcast or from a disc.
My impression is, the technical quality of standard so-called HD broadcasts in Australia is very mushy. It looks like highly compressed 1080i and 720p at best. There's no comparison to a good recording on Blu ray at 1080p, that one might get from the latest RED video camera.
When I watch a high quality Blu ray recording, I sometimes sit as close as 2 metres from the screen to appreciate the fine detail. When I watch the average mushy broadcast that passes for HD, I'm usually sitting on my ''chaise longue'' at the other end of the room.
Compression never maximises image quality. It minimises image degradation, at best. There's a difference.
Australia's not a particularly backward country. In fact we weathered the recent global financial crisis better than most countries. Yet I have friends in the city of Brisbane who don't have access to a cable broadband service (neither fibre optic nor copper). They have to rely upon a wireless broadband service which is slow at best and non-existent at worst. When many users are on the service at one time, it can slow to a crawl and even cut out completely, requiring the modem to be switched off and reset.
A typical download limit for such services is from 2-5Gb. My own broadband service is ADSL2 from a copper wire with a 12Gb limit before speed falls. I certainly wouldn't want to download 40GB movies, whether compressed or not.