blueray / HDDVD -

[brettw22]

At what point do you quit buying the older standard DVD's? I know the obvious answer is "when you buy a new compatible player"

I haven't really gone through a big format war type thing, and I know that players will be backwards compatible, but with almost 400 dvd's in my collection, I have to question whether I'm buying new movies that I ultimately shouldn't based on the fact that they're being dual-relased.

Price-wise, I'm not paying 20-30 for a movie, and I know the prices will eventually drop, but still the question remains............

What have y'all decided to do/not do in terms of new releases?

[Demiurge]

I buy the real good movies in HDDVD (in my case) format and NetFlix the ones I'm not sure about. It's actually been cheaper for me this way, and I don't have a bunch of movies I don't want. Not to mention NetFlix will send you standard or Blu-Ray/HDDVD movies at no additional charge.

[McLoki]

The other way to think about it is this - you spend $25-30 / movie getting HD-DVD's and the blueray format ends up winning...

Until the format wars declare a victor, I will be purchasing standard DVD's but only ones I really want. There is a good bet that whatever format wins - they will be compatable with standard DVD's. It is much less certian that they will be compatable with the losing format.

Michael

[millerman 3732]

I buy the real good movies in HDDVD (in my case) format and NetFlix the ones I'm not sure about. It's actually been cheaper for me this way, and I don't have a bunch of movies I don't want. Not to mention NetFlix will send you standard or Blu-Ray/HDDVD movies at no additional charge.
Same for me.

[scottvamp]

I am buying just a few Blu-Ray movies, just the ones a really want. S DVD is not over for me by a long shot.

[wingnut4772]

I quit buying DVDs (with the exception of some HD titles) when I got Netflix. My wallet is much happier.

[Refefer]

I'm an upconverting type of guy. With a decent upconverting player, my DVDs look pretty darn good. Sure, HD and blue ray look slightly better on my smallish tv, but certainly not enough to warrant jumping the gun and potentially buying a dead media.

I'll wait for the prices for HD to drop to $15-$20 before I pick up a player. No real point until then in my book.

[Demiurge]

The other way to think about it is this - you spend $25-30 / movie getting HD-DVD's and the blueray format ends up winning...

Until the format wars declare a victor, I will be purchasing standard DVD's but only ones I really want. There is a good bet that whatever format wins - they will be compatable with standard DVD's. It is much less certian that they will be compatable with the losing format.

Michael

Thing is, that doesn't matter too much if you already own the player, ya know? If HDDVD loses to Blu-Ray, someone like myself doesn't really lose anything. I still have my HDDVD player, and then I'll just buy a Blu-Ray player.

Not to mention, there's still chance of a supported multi-format player if one of the two gets really desperate.

I don't know, not a big deal to me since mine was the $200 add-on for the XBox 360. I wasn't going to get in this fight at all, but it was a gift. I love the Blu-Ray and HDDVD equally so far. :D

Movies are just entertainment for me, good PQ and SQ are a bonus. I don't consider buying DVDs an winning investment no matter how you slice it. It's just cheaper than going to the movies with a date when you can watch it on a better home system, and hell, you own it when all is said and done. :)

[ND13]

I'm not worried, I've got both.:p

[shack]

I'm not worried, I've got both.:p

I'm not worried, I don't have either one.

[ND13]

I'm not worried, I don't have either one.

I only have both, because I have only about a grand wrapped up in both. That's what the Tosh I have retailed for.

[shack]

Right now I would rather spend $1,000 in new software for my current plain DVD format than upgrade to either one. I have excellent PQ now and while I'm sure the high def formats are better, I'll wait until the price drops substantially for both the hardware and software. PQ in my HT is not as important to me as SQ is in my audio system.

[McLoki]

PQ in my HT is not as important to me as SQ is in my audio system.
I am in the same boat. (but it is PQ vs SQ both in HT for me though.)

Anyway - the big sale to me will be when I hear the SQ of the new HD-DVD's vs standard. I have not seen nor heard HD-DVD so I dont' know what I am missing. For now - I can justify not upgrading because I do not have a projector and do not see that much increase in DVD over HD programming.

I sit 14' from a 50" screen and SQ is more important to me than PQ. I do not have an optical cable running from my TV to my preamp so no surround sound for me in HD - and the only thing I watch weekly in HD is heroes.

Anyway - I look forward to seeing HD on a good set with a nice home theater just to see the differences. Until then - I can wait. I may want to get a nice upconverting player in the next 6 months or so though. Any brands other than Oppo I should be looking at?

[Sherardp]

I have both also. My DVD collection stands about 436 strong, with about 20 being blu-ray/hd dvd titles. If theres a good movie that I would like to see in Hi Def then I buy it. The PQ/SQ of both are awesome. So regardless of which format loses, I will have a good upconversion player, both players I own do superb jobs at upconverting S-DVD. I ended up spending 700 even to get into blu-ray and the Toshiba/PS3 (on the way) were presents.

[Sami]

I'm an upconverting type of guy. With a decent upconverting player, my DVDs look pretty darn good. Sure, HD and blue ray look slightly better on my smallish tv, but certainly not enough to warrant jumping the gun and potentially buying a dead media.
That is true. Once you get to big screens the difference more than justifies the cost. I'm thinking of picking up PS3 with some of the tax refund but not sure yet. I already have two HD-DVD players, and the only title I have purchased so far is Grand Prix, the rest have been Neflix'ed. Once SW and LOTR series hits HD then I will be buying more movies, I'm more of a movie watcher than movie collector.

[Ron-P]

I don't buy SD-DVDs at all anymore. I only buy Blu-ray / HD-DVD titles now.

[polksda]

I don't buy SD-DVDs at all anymore. I only buy Blu-ray / HD-DVD titles now.

Ditto. The only exception to that are some obscure music DVDs that most likely see release on HD-DVD for many years.

[Sherardp]

I agree, Hi Def rules, I plan on checking out the National Geographics title, relentless enemies. That should be very fun in Hi Def even though its not a movie.

[mantis]

It's like anything else. Buy your software for the best wya to display it or replay it.

I believe Blue ray is going to win anyway not to mention there is now talk of the 2 formats coming together so.................

Dan

[Sherardp]

I believe Blue ray is going to win anyway not to mention there is now talk of the 2 formats coming together so.................

Dan

This should have been done from the start, ole well , I'm covered.

[powerlord]

My SDVD collection is now like my old vinyl stack,my HD DVD collection will probably become like my cassette collection,and so on.I still listen to all and I still collect all.

[millerman 3732]

I don't know if this has been posted already but is anyone checking ot there local video game store of used BD and HD-DVD's. I picked up a copy of X-Men 3 today for $17.99 (retails for $34.99) they also had several other at this price or less. I'm going to have to start stoping by there more often, at those prices its hard not to.

[danger boy]

as soon as more people jump onto Blu Ray or HD-DVD.. i'm waiting it out.. and the regular DVD's we now buy.. will prob be discounted to like $9.99 each once that happens..
I'm just going to sit back and see how things play out between the two formats... it's silly really to have two formats.. it's the electronics industry that always has to modify their players to be able to play alll the different formats of video discs and audio discs. why can't the high def industry settle on one or the other??

[millerman 3732]

repost, sorry.

[cheddar]

I don't know if this has been posted already but is anyone checking ot there local video game store of used BD and HD-DVD's. I picked up a copy of X-Men 3 today for $17.99 (retails for $34.99) they also had several other at this price or less. I'm going to have to start stoping by there more often, at those prices its hard not to.

A lot of blu-rays are already $19.99 at retail. Pretty good for such high quality titles as BHD. I missed out on the 2 for 1 at frys tho'. Dang it. That put older titles at under $10 each. Heard it was a little crazy with all the people elbowing their way to snap them all up.

[polksda]

A lot of blu-rays are already $19.99 at retail. Pretty good for such high quality titles as BHD. I missed out on the 2 for 1 at frys tho'. Dang it. That put older titles at under $10 each. Heard it was a little crazy with all the people elbowing their way to snap them all up.

With the exception of HD-DVD combos (and even those have slowly started coming down in price), I find most BR titles to run $4-5 more than their HD-DVD counterparts. Fox titles especially are priced stupidly.

Given that most BR titles are devoid of extras compared to HD-DVD, it's annoying. I don't mind buying Blu-Ray... but I'll be damned if I'll pay a premium for the privilege of buying the format.

[cheddar]

That's why a little attention to the deals can really pay off.

There was the google check out deal at buy.com over Christmas, $20 off EVERY $50. That allowed you to build up a nice cheap collection of titles. And now BB and Frys with 2 for 1 deals. In the past few months, if you shopped smart, it was possible to get all your Blu-rays at only $10-$15 dollars. And that doesn't even include the $10 off coupons with the Sony players. :D

Also, to be fair, one of the latest Fox blu-rays, Flyboys, was packed with extras (almost more interesting than the movie itself) and they have DTS-MA as their standard audio format.

[polksda]

Trust me, I went to town at buy.com with the GCO $20 off $50. I think I bought 15 HD-DVD titles and about 20 BR titles with that deal. Too bad it's gone. :(

No Fry's or Costco here in Illinois. The titles included in the B1G1 deal at Best Buy were extremely lame.

No, I'm talking about everyday retail pricing. I normally comparison shop Amazon (with the 10% off), DeepDiscountDVD.Com, and DVDEmpire.com. By and large the BR titles are more expensive than HD-DVDs... not happy. :(

The best deal on the Fox titles is approximately $25.15 net shipped from Amazon. IMO that's about $5 too expensive...

[cheddar]

I pretty much agree that it hurts to pay $25 on new releases when you can get new release DVDs for $14 or so at CC. But this is the one area where I think the format war has actually helped consumers as the intense competition has actually dropped prices on both players and software faster than when other formats were released. It seems to me that prices for video tape and dvds for both hardware and software were much higher at release, especially when inflation is taken into account. +$5 for a good feature set and DTS-MA? I only hope that Fox continues to put some thought into quality mastering and extras. The price should work itself out in short order as economies of scale kick in.

[polksda]

Actually, I'm not comparing BR to SD-DVD. I haven't purchased a single movie on DVD since HD-DVD came out last April.

I just don't like paying a premium for BR titles over what the majority of HD-DVD titles sell for, that's all...

[cheddar]

Like I said, I think HD-DVDs are cheaper because of competitive pricing pressures. When a $25 HD-DVD fish tank disk rounds out your top 10 at DVDEmpire for weeks, you've got no choice but to go low.

Edit: Oops, it's only $21 and it dropped to #16 this week...but that's still pretty sad when that's the competition you have to outsell...

[Emlyn]

Like I said, I think HD-DVDs are cheaper because of competitive pricing pressures. When a $25 HD-DVD fish tank disk rounds out your top 10 at DVDEmpire for weeks, you've got no choice but to go low.

Edit: Oops, it's only $21 and it dropped to #16 this week...but that's still pretty sad when that's the competition you have to outsell...

HD-DVD's (but not the combo discs) have been less expensive all along because they are less expensive to produce than Blu-Ray discs. The DVD Forum supported HD-DVD because manufacturing of the discs is easily accomplished on the same production lines as standard DVD's. Blu-Ray manufacturing processes require an entirely new production line, which is why the format was slower to get off the ground than HD-DVD and why production difficulties cause Blu-Ray title release dates to be pushed back lately. Likewise, HD-DVD players are cheaper to produce than Blu-Ray players because HD-DVD drive mechanisms are less complicated to produce and have fewer failure rates during the manufacturing process. The price of discs may equalize further down the road as more production capacity comes on-line for Blu-Ray discs. Or it may not. If one format "wins", it's likely the price for the discs on that format will be at a hefty premium compared to current prices because standard DVD will continue well into the future.

Fewer than 2 out of every 10 of my friends and co-workers even have TV's that take advantage of the improved resolution of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Without a display larger than 40", DVD is perfectly fine. To most people the "format war" never even got started and likely never will, just as the SACD vs DVD-A conflict was a non-event for most people.

The studios, regardless of which one, are interested only in selling the same product over again as many times as they can. They've run out of reasons to persuade buyers to dip into their wallets for the third of fourth time to buy the same "Ultimate Edition" movie, hence the "need" for another format. As long as they are making money for their studio, the two high definition formats will co-exist.

[cheddar]

HD-DVD's (but not the combo discs) have been less expensive all along because they are less expensive to produce than Blu-Ray discs. The DVD Forum supported HD-DVD because manufacturing of the discs is easily accomplished on the same production lines as standard DVD's. Blu-Ray manufacturing processes require an entirely new production line, which is why the format was slower to get off the ground than HD-DVD and why production difficulties cause Blu-Ray title release dates to be pushed back lately. Likewise, HD-DVD players are cheaper to produce than Blu-Ray players because HD-DVD drive mechanisms are less complicated to produce and have fewer failure rates during the manufacturing process. The price of discs may equalize further down the road as more production capacity comes on-line for Blu-Ray discs. Or it may not. If one format "wins", it's likely the price for the discs on that format will be at a hefty premium compared to current prices because standard DVD will continue well into the future.

Fewer than 2 out of every 10 of my friends and co-workers even have TV's that take advantage of the improved resolution of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Without a display larger than 40", DVD is perfectly fine. To most people the "format war" never even got started and likely never will, just as the SACD vs DVD-A conflict was a non-event for most people.

The studios, regardless of which one, are interested only in selling the same product over again as many times as they can. They've run out of reasons to persuade buyers to dip into their wallets for the third of fourth time to buy the same "Ultimate Edition" movie, hence the "need" for another format. As long as they are making money for their studio, the two high definition formats will co-exist.

You make some interesting points. I certainly agree with you that studios will follow the maximum profits wherever they may be. Which is why I think the format war has artificially pressed HD movie prices very near their DVD counterparts considering what happened in the past with video tape and DVD at launch.

As far as HDTVs, they continue to sell well and with prices coming down and video signals going all digital in a few years, I'm not too worried about HDTV penetration in the US. Probably more to worry about as far as europe is concerned, but not here.

And it's the format that wins that will eventually bring down the costs of the players not an initial slight advantage at the beginning. When costs of components were added up, Toshiba was losing money on the first players they sold. If they are really so easy to produce, why not sell into as many markets as they can as blu-ray is doing? Instead of diverting your production here.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/home-theatre/hooray-for-bluray/2007/02/15/1171405337968.html?s_cid=rss_technology

That's how to get economy of scale.

And your primary point of the cost differential is just not the case for large bulk orders:

http://wesleytech.com/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-replication-costs-revealed/111/

The more prevalent 30 gig dual layered HD-DVD disks are actually more expensive to produce than the 25 gig single layer Blu-ray disks and the dual layer blu-rays are actually quite close. Definitely not enough to be such a deciding factor on price. It's more likely that the blu-rays are priced higher because in the current market they can be. Much more in line with your last point about the studios only being in it for the profits...;)

And as far as I know, only Fox has pushed back a few of their titles for release. My guess is that they are getting out of the way of the Casino Royale release date and using the extra time for features and mastering on their titles. I think Fox pushed back about as many as all the new hd-dvd titles in the pipe. Again, economy of scale seems to be on blu-ray's side.