I was just thinkin' about this the other day. With the advent of high-definition, I thought, what's the point of purchasing anymore DVD's? I should just save the dough and start on collecting Blu-Ray's (or HD DVD depending on which format you prefer). Similar situation happened when the DVD replaced the VHS. I used to have a ton of VHS tapes but now they dwindled to maybe 5 in total (titles which are also available on DVD anyway, but for whatever reason I still keep them). I had just bought the Widescreen Box Set of Indiana Jones, and I couldn't help but feel like I wasted $70 when I know it'll most likely be released on Blu-Ray/HD DVD in the near future. I wonder how much time will pass before HD finally phases DVD out. DVD's didn't take that long to kick VHS's butt out the door. Anyway...I was just wondering what your thoughts are on this. Have any of you started buying movies in HD?

This is a good topic. I also feel rather slighted when I spend so much money on DVDs and often wonder "what's the point?" Some movies that I has always wanted for DVD like Reds and [i]Bugsy[/i/ (the 2-disc SE) were just recently released in the transition phase from DVD to Blue-Ray/HD. There is no doubt that I will eventually buy a monstrous 60+-inch HD, flat screen TV when I get my own place and by then I would have to buy a Blue-Ray disc player and buy Blue-rays. I guess, I will start spending less and less, only buy movies that I really, really want and for others I will wait to buy. I think that this is one of the problems we face because of the era and time that we are living in. The technology is only going to get better and with that said, it will no longer gradually get better but rather at an increasingly faster pace.

I totally feel the same way, FragileKidA. I feel like we are at an endless quest chasing after the advancement of technology. The rate of progress now compared to, say, back in the 80's is like 10 times faster.

My goal this summer is to buy my own HDTV for my room (my dad has a 43" widescreen SDTV in the basement, but that's all it is, an SDTV lol), maybe a 26" LCD. That's about as big as I can fit in my small room. I already have cash saved and set aside for my future PlayStation 3, I'm just holding off a little more because I want Sony to fix all the bugs and glitches in their hardware. Plus, I'm still waiting for their library to further expand. When I finally get my PlayStation 3, then viewing movies in HD (Blu-Ray) would be a breeze.

You are dang right, good call on waiting for a PS3, I am doing the same. But just like you, I have to have one sometime this year, not only for movies but because they will release a Grand Theft Auto game for it this year!! Oh well, that's gaming talk.

I just hope that they give us at least five years with our HD TV's and Blue-Rays before they create something else, but who knows?

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
I just hope that they give us at least five years with our HD TV's and Blue-Rays before they create something else, but who knows?

I demand at least 20 years!!!

K, maybe that's too long. How's 10.

A buddy of mine actually waited in line at a store for 3 days to be one of the first to own a PS3. To his surprise, it came with "Talladega Nights: The Story of Ricky Bobby" in Blu-Ray. Now, he already has a HDTV with HDMI hook-ups so we got to see this movie in all its glory & it WAS beautiful! It also had previews of other Blu-Ray movies coming soon & it got us all excited! I especially want to see those bright bold colors on MY 52" widescreen HDTV!

However, while I do plan on getting a PS3(because of the fact that the $600 version is actually the cheapest Blu-Ray player out there by about $200), I'm curious to see which comes out on top: Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Sony makes one & Toshiba the other. I'm certain that both versions won't be available for long & one WILL overcome the other.

The other day another friend of mine was saying that HD-DVD will be the winner because the porn industry will be using that format. He was serious. I thought this was absurd but, he says that's why VHS beat BETA. I think he's nuts but, who knows?

I don't know if I'm ready to shell out 50-60 bucks a movie if it turns out I'm backing the wrong horse. I mean, I already have over 720 non-HD DVD's & I don't want to shell out even more cash for a format that will soon lose its steam. I think I'll just wait it out before I commit to a certain format.

Monkey_Boy, so far Blu-Ray is winning the race, so you have nothing to worry about for the time being, unless the market does an unexpected turn. Where did your friend get his information that the porn industry will support HD DVD? As far as the big movie companies are concerned though, the majority of them champions Blu-Ray. It's nonetheless important to know that some companies like Warner Bros. has announced their plans to make a hybrid HD DVD/Blu-Ray disc player. One side will play Blu-Ray and the other will play HD DVD. These hybrid machines would most likely put a stop to the format wars. So, in your case, you don't really have anything to worry about. If you've already invested on Blu-Ray's be glad to know the market is currently in your favor. In any event, the supposed release of hybrid players will make format war talk superfluous.

I must say, me & my friends are glad to hear this. They've already bought quite a few Blu-Ray movies & when the one brung up HD-DVD would more than likely win out, everyone got a little bummed. I haven't actually seen an HD-DVD in action but, having already seen the available features on Blu-Ray, that was one I was going to aim for. I do understand that movie companies are split & some are releasing Blu-Ray, while others are dabbling in HD-DVD. I will, however, checkout these Hybrid players you speak of. I can only guess these monsters will have one hell of a scary price! I am going to have to ask that boy where he heard the porn rumor. I don't know why I never asked what his source was in the first place. Shock, I guess, I mean, I don't know if anyone would want to see what those women really look like in high definition. They're probably a little worse for the wear & may not look that great in a hi-def format!

You Funny Man.

I just stumbled on some friggin' CRAZY NEWS concerning HD-DVD's that just may put them on top, in spite of the fact that they aren't as glorious as their competitor. Toshiba and Wal-Mart have been teamed up since November 3rd, selling HD players for only $98! Best Buy has, in fact, been price matching them and sold out of players THAT DAY! Circuit City has also joined in by lowering their prices to around 120 bucks! Inevitably, this will have more people owning HD players which will then pick up the sales for the HD-DVD's. So, they're willing to take a loss to sell as many as they can and hope to make their money back with the sell of HD-DVD's. At the same time, they're giving away at least 2 HD-DVD's for free with each purchase. At one of the places mentioned, you even get a mail-in coupon for 5 free HD-DVD's! Now that sucks! I doubt Sony will be playing the same game this Holiday season with their Blu-Ray players, but they better have some idea on how to counter this attack because those who were sitting on the fence between the 2 formats, are now jumpin' over to the HD side because the price is right! At the same time, I doubt they're sellin' nice ones for the price their givin'. These'll probably be like my very first DVD player, it was a bare bones little thing I got for 99 bucks. It crapped out on me after the first year.

I thought I should mention that you don't need to stop buying DVDs because you plan on one day owning a Blu-ray/HD player. They're backwards-compatible, meaning they'll play standard DVDs (even better than a regular DVD player; or at least, that's what I read).

Very true. My boy owns a PS3 and he has made remarks about how good his "regular DVD's" look on it. Personally, I only want Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy movies in Hi-Def quality. At least that's the plan. I had the same plan for when I first started buying DVD's, but now I own more Comedies than anything else! I think that's mostly 'cuz of my wife.

You mean "'cuz of your better half (whose movies I hate!)"?

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
You mean "'cuz of your better half (whose movies I hate!)"?

EXACTLY!

Does anyone have any experiences with the Up-converting DVD players? I was about to buy one since my dvd player (sony ) quit reading discs. I have a 1080i HD Widescreen TV and the Up-Converting DVD player would do 1080i, so it seems like a match. I'm holding off jumping on the HDDVD/BlueRay war. Anyone?

Check this out. It should answer a few of your questions and let you know what to look for when buying one.

This whole war, is so annoying, and completely unnecessary. I'm a complete home cinema freak, and got players for both, so I'm ok.

However, did you know that when DVD's first came to light, there were also rival formats back then. But Hollywood took a stand and said that both formats must combine, and so they did with the result being DVD's as we know them today. Now, with so much money and politics around, Hollywood decided not to intervene ( load of chicken shit's ). And without this threat, was the reason why Sony and Toshiba barely made it to the same table to try and combine their efforts, which was so widely reported
This is completely senseless, and what makes it worse, are the advent of dual format players. I know they make sense to the consumer, but you just cannot have two formats, and any delays to a final "winner" ie dual format players are just delaying the outcome and keep everything so divided still.

Also, any talk of no one will win and another format or downloading will end up on top is complete crap. It will be a cold day in hell, when I will download anything HD. No way on earth, is a download going to match 1080p, 7.1 ( and more ) uncompressed sound and a good player. Have ANY of you heard/read anything saying this PC can play DVD's better than anything else?

Plus I love having a physical collection for everyone to see.

Now my biggest concern with HD discs, is the flux of older films being released. I do have a few myself, but only few. Most of these wont of been filmed in HD. So, all that happens, is that they get upscaled. Granted, the chips used are top notch. In fact, Denon's top end DVD player has the very same chip that is used for a lot of these HD conversions. Only it costs 1000's. I have a £700 Yamaha which upscales to 1080i ( only got a 1080i TV for now ), and that does a fantastic job with my DVD collection. So for older films, for me it just's not worth re buying a lot of them on there respective HD format. Having said that, I got Unforgiven on HD DVD and it looks OUTSTANDING! But then Apollo 13 looks terrible.

Credit has to go to my PS3. DVD's upscaled played on it do look very very good, and give my dvd player a run for it's money

For me I just had to go HD, both discs and TV ( SKY HD ) so I dont really care who wins. But for those who are less bothered, and even dont have a HD TV, just wait a while. Forget the formats atm. TV technology is growing at a stupid rate, so waiting for a better/bigger one is more of a factor for you I reckon, than what format disc to side with. Only when you have the right TV, should you then look at HD playback. By then it may be a much easier choice

quote:

Originally posted by snige:
Plus I love having a physical collection for everyone to see.

I know what ya mean.

quote:

Only when you have the right TV, should you then look at HD playback.

How very true. I think the biggest problem is people just don't understand what you HAVE to do to get that perfect HD picture. It's more than just a television and hi-def player. I don't know how many times I've had someone come to me and say, "I have a better t.v. than you." When I get to their house, they have a BIGGER t.v. than mine, but it's in no way BETTER. My own sister has an HDMI ready HDTV and she only has a yellow coaxial cable running from her $90 DVD player! Not only that, she didn't even have her DVD player adjusted for a widescreen t.v.! The picture was all stretched out and (somehow ) nobody noticed! (I fixed it for her because I couldn't stand watching the flick all nasty. I couldn't do anything about the lack of color though. )

I have a friend who spends over $200 on Monster Cables for his picture and sound and he upgrades regularly, giving ME his "old ones". Yep, you're gonna have to spend a little more money than just what you bought your t.v. for if you truly want HDTV.

BLU-RAY WON!!!!!!!!!!

Well... sorta. On Friday, Warner Bros. announced that it was dropping HD for Blu! This puts the "score" at 5 studios backing Blu-ray and only 2 of 'em for HD. Still, they warn that we shouldn't run out and buy Blu-ray players just yet because: "Today's players can't take advantage of the features planned for future Blu-ray discs."

MY plan is to grab a PS3 for now and get an actual player once they've settled on what they can really do. That way I can at least play games on my "old player" rather than just junking it for the better ones that are sure to come.

quote:

Originally posted by Monkey_Boy:
BLU-RAY WON!!!!!!!!!!

Well... sorta.

No you are correct sir. Toshiba announced that they were ceasing to produce HD-DVD equipment, so barring a few stragglers, the war is over!