Anybody else starting to feel ennui setting in? (1 Viewer)

[Jamie Cole]

Last night I walked into Best Buy and bought the entire first season of Murphy Brown on 4 little discs for ~$23.

No, I am not getting bored. Sometimes I can't believe how good we have it. We've already won one of the toughest "format wars" in HT history (widescreen vs. fullscreen)... if you don't believe that, check the DVD sales charts or peruse the shelves at any store.

I'll upgrade one day, I'm sure, but how long will it be before, say "Wicker Man" in on HD-DVD? I still get giddy when I look at my collection of 600 or so titles, most of them costing less than $20 and many of them less than $10.

Y'all can stop buying DVDs if you want... I'll be watching Murph and smiling.

 

[ChuckSolo]

Kevin, as you have probably noticed, the price of a HD TV set is rapidly going down. You can buy rear projection HD CRT TVs now for under 1k bucks. You can be sure that the more affordable the HD sets get, the more they will be bought, however, it's gonna take a long time for "joe average" to plunk down 700-1000 bucks for a player; recent history tells us that.

 

[Heinz W]

There was a thread here a few weeks ago where someone posted that a company (I believe it was Toshiba) was releasing a HD-DVD drive for PCs this Fall priced around $300 at launch. If they can do that they could also release a stand-alone player at or below $500.

I guess I'm hoping they take the razor/razorblade approach. If a company like Sony can sell a Playstation 2 for $300 at launch why couldn't Toshiba launch an HD-DVD player at a similar price point?

It is, of course, very possible that regardless of what it costs to manufacture, package, and ship they will still sell them for $750-1000 simply because they know people like us will still buy.

The only way I WON'T buy in is a $1000 price point.

 

[Jonathan Carter]

Because Sony's PS2 is one of only 3 consoles on the market. They can sell at a loss because they sell the software at such high prices and high volumes and get a cut of every game sold on the system. This is not the case for DVD players manufactured by companies.

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

I've bought fewer films on DVD recently, particularly when it comes to double-dipping; I figure I can hold out for a while on these, and see what hi-def versions are around in a few years' time.

TV product, though, I am still buying into, as long as it's older video-based stuff that looks as good as it's going to.

 

[Kevin Deselms]

Chuck,

I agree with the statement that it's gonna take the players getting down around $300 or so for "Joe Average" to buy into HD DVD - but I'm saying the definition of "enthusiast" has been changed somewhat, in recent years...to include a much broader swath of consumers. I think DVD turned a lot more people into "enthusiasts" than any other format...I was one of them. So that's why I think there will be a higher adoption rate of the HD DVD players than the first wave of DVD players - because DVD actually converted so many average movie customers into collectors or enthusiasts.

Of course, I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again - but in this case, seeing the activity in most places' HDTV sections during the Christmas season last year, I feel like the time's ripe for an HD DVD format. So I'd say that while maybe my enthusiasm for SD DVD has waned, it's only in light of HD DVD's impending release.

I'm not sure my wife will let me buy one when they are released, though.

 

[ChuckSolo]

Kevin, I hear where you're coming from and I still say that at 1K, not many players are gonna be bought. While you are correct in saying that emerging technology makes "enthusiasts" out of some people, I believe it is "affordable" technology that does so. More people are willing to pay 2K+ for a HIDEF TV than they will 1K for a DVD player; the main reason for this is gonna be the aforementioned format dilemma. Those of us, pure enthusiasts mind you, are gun shy about the competing formats. That is the main reason that I am going to wait. Yes, I could afford 1K for a Hi Def player, but I won't pay that for the first generation because I will not get stuck with a "Betamax" again. Watch and see that as soon as both formats debut, a year or two later, a winner will be declared and the prices will begin dropping like a hot rock. That's when I plan on taking the plunge. By that time I will have traded my CRT RP HDTV for another type of TV too. Believe me, I can wait.

 

[WillardK]

It's been said elsewhere, but to put it simply...
DVD became the phenomenon it did because of
- a clear advantage visible on existing equipment
- affordability

The absence of the former removes the advantage of the latter with HD discs (matters made worse with copy protection).

So it will likely be the above average enthusiasts who buy into what will for some time be a niche market. Though it'll take those above above average types to ignore the format war in doing so.

question: does 'average' refer to (a) enthusiasm, (b) consumer knowledge, (c) income or (d) shoe size?

 

[PeterMano]

When I'm in a store, and I see a high def sports broadcast and a wall of plasma tvs, some ED and some HD, yes, I can see a difference up close. When I take a few steps back, the differences aren't as great.

DVD vs. VHS for me, was always a no brainer or DVD vs. laserdisc for that matter. HD-DVD vs. DVD isn't so cut and dried, so I think the adoption rate will be far slower, not to mention unresolved issues with competing formats slowing down acceptance.

I think it's great that these formats are on the horizon. I just don't think they're going to sweep dvd into the corner. Unlike videogame consoles where developers essentially stop making games for the old consoles, forcing consumers to upgrade, I don't see the studios abandoning DVD.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I personally hope that HD-DVD will NOT go mainstream. I really want it to be like another LaserDisc.

 

[Edwin-S]

So are these players not going to be compatible with older HDTV-ready sets? If so, that pisses me off more than a format war. I bought a set a couple of years back on the basis that I would be able to view high def material when it became available (and I don't mean high def TIDE laundry commercials during TV broadcasts).

Blu-ray sounds like the way to go, but if SONY operates true to form then the format will probably be dead within two years.