Goodbye, FireWire 400

We'll miss you.

[Timothy @ Nov 17th 2008 3:05PM]

Whats this about? USB 3.0?

Next on the Agenda of deaths, Blu-Ray!

[loocas @ Nov 17th 2008 3:06PM]

Blu-Ray?

[Timothy @ Nov 17th 2008 3:08PM]

Blu-Ray is just a passing fad, it's to overpriced, something will come out and kill Blu-Ray, watch.

Working in Retail, we average about 2 Blu-Ray movies a WEEK, and about 1 player a month, if even that.

[KeatMP @ Nov 17th 2008 3:09PM]

Where do you work? RadioShack?

[Timothy @ Nov 17th 2008 3:11PM]

I actually work at the biggest Wal-Mart in my county.

[NeoDarkSaver @ Nov 17th 2008 3:13PM]

did u not count the PS3s???

[Timothy @ Nov 17th 2008 3:14PM]

No, that's all PS3, no one buys the standalone players at my store, just the PS3.

Sorry for the low-ranked stuff, but I seriously just dont see Blu-Ray lasting to long. Most people ask where our Blu-Ray section is, I show them, and they say something about it being to expensive, and they end up just buying the Regular DVD

[dbam987 @ Nov 17th 2008 3:16PM]

Blu-Ray indeed is way overpriced. Buying a Blu-Ray copy of a movie is too pricey compared to a DVD. I view digital distribution of HD content as the immediate replacement for it.

[Danny F. @ Nov 17th 2008 3:17PM]

Oh my God!! Your right!!

$25 bucks for a blu-ray?!?!

$5 more for a higher definition crystal clear picture and pure crystal sound over its lower definition obsolete format introduced over 10 years ago!!!

That is overpriced!!! ..........*sarcasm*

[BlurMagic @ Nov 17th 2008 3:21PM]

Well... You do work at a Wal Mart.
It's not like people are rushing in there to buy high quality products.
No offense.
I just don't see that happening.
Everyone I know that shops at Wal Mart... Cheapskate!

[Scythe @ Nov 17th 2008 3:21PM]

I just bought a Blu-Ray at the Walmart in Northern VA, and they said they can't keep them fully stocked they sell out so quickly. They now have 2 full rows of Blue-Ray disks where DVD's use to be.

So, Blu-Ray will live on, just it takes awhile.

[Timothy @ Nov 17th 2008 3:22PM]

Well, see the Digital Version would be better, I actually forgot about that, I just dont think the Blu-Ray DISK will be very popular.

Also, The new release Blu-Ray ares $29.88, and the new release DVDs are $15.96.
After 3 days the DVD goes back up to $19.96, and the Blu-ray stays the same. So
it's not $5 more, it's $10 - $15 more.

[Matt @ Nov 17th 2008 3:29PM]

It would probably help if they weren't locked up requiring the would-be purchaser to come find the single Wall-Mart employee who actually has the keys.

When I went to go pick up Iron Man, the whole process took about 20 minutes. Five minutes standing in front of the cabinet that is right behind the cash registers with two employees standing there waiting for help, another five standing in line at the register waiting for the asshole employee to finish chatting about nail polish with the customer, then only to be told that they don't have the keys and to go find "bill", finding Bill resulted in being told to find the other Bill, waiting for Manager Bill to finish up with another customer, and then finally having him walk back and unlock the cabinet.

Douchebags.

[Timothy @ Nov 17th 2008 3:32PM]

Matt, our Blu-Rays, aren't locked up...?

They're on the shelf just like other DVDs, the only things we have locked up are Games, Consoles, Laptops, GPS, and MP3 Players.

[Johnny @ Nov 17th 2008 3:40PM]

I'm willing to take some low ranking with you for the truth. Blu-Ray is not here to stay and will never be the new DVD. Digital distribution will catch up in quality too soon. In the interim, I'm fine with upscaled DVD or even internet 'HD'. This isn't to say that you shouldn't get Blu-Ray if you want it. The quality right now is the highest available, but not for long and not worth the price IMHO.

As for FW 400... goodbye, good riddance. FW 800(+), you're next.

[Eric H @ Nov 17th 2008 3:42PM]

I remember paying $25 and $30 for DVD's when they first came out, its just t he name of the game guys, when dvd dies BR Movies will go down to $15 and $20 bucks.

[Eric H @ Nov 17th 2008 3:47PM]

Currently it will cost consumers too much to store their files digitally. hard drive prices are indeed falling, but it will take some time before they will be cheap enough to support 30 to 50gb per movie. Not to mention how much will they cost digitally? $5 bucks less? And what about if you hard drive crashes? Do you get to re download (like xbox live) or do you have to repurchase? Not to mention many people will not initially want to buy a download, they will want to have a tangable product they can hold, and loan out. Digital downloads are comming, but its much further off than people think.

[andy @ Nov 17th 2008 3:59PM]

By far, the longest conversation with a Walmart employee discussing the future of Blu Ray and nothing to do with Firewire. Real nice.

[Michael Scrip @ Nov 17th 2008 4:06PM]

Why don't people rent Blu-Ray? You don't have to BUY every Blu-Ray movie!

I remember buying DVDs when they first came out. How often do I watch Big Daddy and Happy Gilmore now? They were the low low price of $20 each! I'd say 99% of the time I just went to the video store to rent DVDs. And for the last 4 years, it's been Netflix all the way.

I don't need a shelf full of movies. Even $5 DVDs aren't a bargain to me. I'm happy with Netflix. I watch it, return it, and get more.

You can't walk out of the theater with the reels... so why do you have to own every Blu-Ray?

[Timothy @ Nov 17th 2008 4:22PM]

Lol, Yeah, the mention of Blu-Ray's death threw this article off course, I'm sorry.

Forgive me.

[From My Cube @ Nov 17th 2008 4:46PM]

i am replying to add my name to this massive list of replys

[KillaChaos @ Nov 17th 2008 4:47PM]

Death of blu-ray and rise of digital distribution in a country where 60% of its 80% of internet users are still on dial-up, and yet all of them own a TV.

And with Analog TV being phased out?

AND the insane amount of DRM being placed on downloaded movies?

AND the fact that a downloaded movie costs about $20 even though manufacturing prices were cut?

Oh yeah, Blu-ray will gone by this time 2009.

[TVGenius @ Nov 17th 2008 4:52PM]

Yeah, the downloaded version would be great. I'll get back to you in two weeks when Hulk finishes downloading to my PS3 in HD.

[Boo Radley @ Nov 17th 2008 5:01PM]

If you talk about where you are located based on your county it's probably a fair guess that you live in a backwater area where people can't afford a modern television much less a Blu-ray player. Those of us who live in the "Fake" areas of America have jobs that pay above minimum wage and we can therefore splurg on these so called passing fads. Let us know how you're doing on Feb 19 when your rabbit ears stop picking up the rodeo in Tupelo.

[Boo Radley @ Nov 17th 2008 5:05PM]

and don't forget about nearly every broadband companies bandwidth caps. I'd use up 150 gigs in a week if I downloaded the HD versions of all the movies I buy. I'll stick with Blu-ray till the tel-coms get their heads out of their asses.

[Timothy @ Nov 17th 2008 5:11PM]

Boo Radley, why be so harsh? I live in Buford, Georgia, about 10 minutes above Atlanta, it's not some Backwoods place, even though you probably haven't heard of it.

Sorry to make you get all pissy.

[The Number 1 Cubs Fan @ Nov 17th 2008 5:21PM]

10 minutes? By plane? Whenever I go to Best Buy, the Blu-Ray players are flying off the shelves and the DVD players are collecting dust. I got a PS3.

[Timothy @ Nov 17th 2008 5:28PM]

Thats 10 minutes via I-85

[prateeko @ Nov 17th 2008 7:14PM]

Why are people low-ranking him for working at Wal-Mart? He's on Engadget and his question about USB 3.0 is legit (as are concerns for Blu-Ray considering the cost of entry/economy).

Also, Timothy, the FW400 death has to do with Apple abandoning it, which is huge considering how much they've pushed it in their computers...

And I sure hope you don't have "E-mail me when someone replies to this comment" checked because we got ourselves an epic thread going here...

[rv @ Nov 17th 2008 9:28PM]

Rofl. 2 weeks for an hd rip? More like 1-2 days for 720p, 3-6 for 1080... 2 weeks? What do you have, 56k???

[cooljoe57 @ Dec 4th 2008 4:18AM]

I can't believe I read all these replies...

[Matthew C @ Nov 18th 2008 1:21AM]

faster than that, rv.

im not encouraging anyone to download pirated movies, but there are legal things to download via bit torrent, and a 720p rip usually comes through in about 4 hours for the equil=valent of a full length movie (~1:45). High quality ompression (divx or h.264 can bring the file size down to around 5 gigs, and with enough seeders, around 750k dl speed average is possible.

[prateeko @ Nov 18th 2008 4:40AM]

Also, I want to add - what I meant by "he's on engadget" is that although he works at Wal-Mart (not a specialty electronic/gadget store) he is on engadget, a website that targets geeks and gadget aficionados, so clearly he enjoys this and is bettering his knowledge of the matter.

To rank him down simply because he works at Wal-Mart (again, because of those connotations and the fact that Wal-Mart isn't a specialty electronic/gadget store) seems unfair and based largely on stereotypes that he seems to defy.

Timothy, if you want to know more, check the links below the story (i.e. this one has things like firewire), these link to all stories tagged with certain subjects so you can read up on previous/related articles on engadget.

[Tom @ Nov 19th 2008 6:13AM]

When DVDs first came out they were a lot more expensive compared to Videos so no-one bought them. Then they went cheaper and everyone bought them.

At some point in the next couple of years they'll reduce blu-ray in price and it'll take off.

[Engadgetier @ Nov 19th 2008 12:58PM]

Screw USB, BlueRay, and although i like firewire, Firewire..... I use Infiniband biatches!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infiniband

[Roofus @ Jan 23rd 2009 7:36PM]

I would like to point out that the mere fact that you refer to your Wal-Mart as the "biggest in your county" means you live in a rural area. People who live in or near large metropolitan areas do refer to their county as much as those in rural areas, another clue is that if you lived in a populated area, you would have more than one Wal-Mart in your "City" or "Town." So yes, I'm sure Blu-Ray sales are hurting in rural areas, where incomes are lower, less HDTVs are purchased, and almost nobody owns a Blu-Ray player.

All of that aside, Blu-Ray sales are not meeting expectations.

[loocas @ Nov 17th 2008 3:06PM]

That damn Jobs was right, again, not to put any FireWire slots on his new laptops.

Damn! What a crystal-ball must he have?! :)

[Konstantin @ Nov 17th 2008 5:12PM]

If crying is wrong then I don't want to be right.

[Nick @ Nov 17th 2008 5:48PM]

.... Crystal balls.. have you gone bloody mad?.. stop sucking on his crystal balls.. when Jobs said Blu-Ray is a "bag of hurt" he doesn't realize that eventually Blu-ray will become available on Macbooks and Macs.. which is basically shoving all his words back down his throat... I have no clue why Apple is "no to Blu-ray" but then again its the main reason why I stay away from them for the time being..

[joshua @ Nov 18th 2008 12:21PM]

The pro models have firewire 800, they just removed the 400. Firewire is still better than USB in that it doesn't use CPU to handle the data, and you can daisy chain devices.
I think I saw adapters to plug a fw400 device into an 800 port. Then you can at least use your older devices.

[George @ Nov 17th 2008 3:06PM]

Hey, i.link is Firewire 800; the small ports you see. If that's going goodbye too you should at least say so in the title..

[Stop Changing Back! It! @ Nov 17th 2008 3:20PM]

i.link is firewire 400.

[Francis @ Nov 17th 2008 3:06PM]

It's ok.
Don't cry because it's over.
Smile because it happened.

[N3XuS @ Nov 17th 2008 3:22PM]

wow engadget's taking the death of firewire kinda hard ain't it...

[Vivalashay @ Nov 17th 2008 3:37PM]

Dr. Seuss

[Eric R @ Nov 17th 2008 3:06PM]

People use Firewire?

[DBrim @ Nov 17th 2008 3:12PM]

Yes.

[Brian @ Nov 17th 2008 3:32PM]

I've never used firewire. The only person I know who does uses it for a camcorder. I have a hard drive that supports firewire or usb 2.0. the drive came with a usb cable not a firewire one. Guess which plug I use.

[Patriks7 @ Nov 17th 2008 3:22PM]

Well it definitely is not very fast to back up a machine with 250+ GB through USB..

[Sin @ Nov 17th 2008 3:30PM]

I am using mine right now..