So a few weeks ago I asked readers to help me better understand how they viewed opera on video via a short survey. The results follow though heavily caveated by the fact that only 22 people responded.
Most people use multiple methods to watch video with 86% using Youtube, 82% DVD, 59% Blu-ray, 50% free video streams and 28% subscription streams. but only 14% (not very surprisingly) using 4K video.
The primary method results are more interesting: 45% use the Internet, 54% use some kind of disk. The former is dominated by Youtube. On the latter DVD tops Blu-ray 2 to 1.
Question 3 should have been a check box not a radio button so the results aren’t helpful. The primary technology for viewing splits out at 37% on some kind of computer with another 5% on phone while 59% primarily use a TV or Home Theatre set up. This is pretty much what I would have expected given the Internet/disk split.
For people using a TV/Home Theatre the median screen size is around 50″ with 80% > 40″.
Only 26% of responders can play 4K disks. This is not a big surprise. Only a handful of operas have been issued in this format.
For sound 37% are using earbuds or built in TV/computer speakers. May we call this lo-fi? 55% are using stereo or surround speaker systems and 10% are using over the ear headphones.
There are a handful of people using technologies like Chromecast to send Internet streams to TV/Home Theatre.
So what do I conclude? It seems to me that we have a bimodal split (albeit with some crossover). A modest majority are primarily watching disks on equipment that has a decent sized screen and at least external stereo speakers. DVD still dominates Blu-ray which surprises me a bit. A substantial minority are consuming Internet delivered product primarily via computers with smaller screens and less hi-tech sound.
What does this mean for me? Well basically I review disks and Blu-ray when I can get the recording in that format and I don’t plan to change that. The preponderance of DVD watchers does suggest that I should continue to consider how well a recording might work in the lower resolution format. Clearly there’s a niche for someone focussing on Internet streams and Youtube. That isn’t going to be me!
So thanks to the 22!
I responded to your survey and while I prefer Blu-ray the vast majority of disks I own were dvds before I had Blu-ray. Could this account for the numbers? I’m not tossing the dvds and buying them again on Blu-ray.
So hard to tell from such a small survey. Most of the stuff that was released pre Blu-ray wouldn’t really benefit from a Blu-ray release anyway. Though I guess there are odd exceptions.