I was in WalMart yesterday and saw BluRay players with at least 5 different apps on them. There was no end to the number of video services you could stream programs from. You can no longer just buy a BluRay player; you are buying a miniature media center that allows you to stream YouTube, Vimeo, Vodu, Cinema Now, Netflix, Hulu Plus, I am sure I left someone out but that is all that I can think of right now.
On one hand this is good for consumers; if you have an Internet connection you can watch video without a BluRay disc, and in the case of YouTube and Vimeo, you can watch that content for free. But for discs themselves, this is not good news at all. How many people are actually buying discs anymore? A few televisions come with a DVD player built into them, which is odd, because a DVD player is a total waste of time on an HD television, but it is better than not being able to play discs at all.
BluRay, as a format, is pretty much dead in the water. Everyone that has a BluRay player, has an Internet connection to hook it up to. You are hard pressed to find a BluRay player that does not have an Ethernet connection, and you can even find Wi-Fi on models that retail for less than $100.
You can also find media servers that allow you to interface your computer with your television and bypass the BluRay functionality altogether. They do not offer as much value as a BluRay player does, but if you are not purchasing any discs, you might not notice the difference.
The average individual is not going to notice any negligible difference between BluRay and DVD at sizes less than 40 inches anyway. A 720p television is not very good at showing the differences between BluRay and DVD. A 1080i television is a bit better. Older movies can look better on BluRay, but do not always; it is better to use the actual film to create the BluRay from scratch than use existing digital copies.
Downloading has caught up with BluRay. With a decent Internet connection, you can just stream your content and forget about it. If you know what you are doing, you can save that content, put it on a hard drive and play it later; if you truly want to save it. It is so easy to get content when you want it, the impetus to actually keep copies of anything is non-existent.