Stopping DVD purchases or upgrading dvd library to High Def. (1 Viewer)

[John H Ross]

Nope, business as usual for me on SD too. In fact just this week I received a box of 9 titles from Amazon and I'll be enjoying them for a good long time.

One of those titles was "The Big Bus", a movie I've loved for donkeys years. How long d'ya think it'll be before THAT hits HD, if ever?

So tonight it's Just Like Heaven, tomorrow it's Corpse Bride, then Flightplan, then Red Eye, then I'll give the original UK cut of Pride And Prejudice another spin .

With SD, and my layer-change free Denon 2900, life is good!

JR

 

[Jack _Webster]

Not me. I personally don't have interest in anything beyond DVD. I can get the movies I want with great PQ and sound. Don't really see the need to upgrade.

 

[Scott Wong]

I'm sticking with SD-DVD for now, too. Once HD-DVD is settled, I know it's unlikely to be affordable anytime soon...? 'til then, I'll continue purchasing SD-DVD's as time goes on and then add to my continuing collection with HD-DVD titles. For now, I'm enjoying SD-DVD all the same...

 

[Brent M]

I'm still buying DVDs, but not at the rate I used to purchase them. However, that has less to do with the impending HD-DVD/Blu-Ray formats than it does with finally having most of the films I want on DVD. In the past, there were big releases like Star Wars, The Godfather, Indiana Jones, etc. to get excited about finally having on DVD, but now that most every film I've ever wanted is in my collection the purchases have decreased somewhat. I'll still buy the big upcoming releases like King Kong, Munich, etc. as well as special editions I've been waiting for like Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State and Kingdom of Heaven. I certainly won't stop buying DVDs altogether just because of the new formats because until all studios release their films on one format or a universal player is made I'm not buying in anyway.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Microsoft WMV HD
Toshiba HD-DVD
Sony Blu-ray HD

As far as holding out for movies on video goes. I will only by dvd's if its an older movie I will not care if its in hd or not. Or if I really want it bad enough before buying a Blu-ray HD player. I have no plans to purchase a seperate or dual format HD-DVD player for any reasons.

There are certain titles I am not purchasing at this point and am waiting for them to be released on Blu-ray. I will most likely start buying blu-ray hd titles as soon as they hit the shelves, even if I dont own the player right away.

 

[Jon Martin]

Whatever format wins the format war, won't all the old DVDs still play in the new machines? I don't see why you would stop buying DVDs, waiting for a format war that will take a couple years to be sorted out, and hoping that the public catches on.

And all the smaller titles, DVDs that have gone out of print, companies that no longer exist, many of those may never turn up on the new format in the next decade, if ever. Look at all the titles people are still waiting to come to regular DVD from VHS.

So, I'm still buying.

 

[JackKay]

It seem that both new formats will Hi-Res Standard Definition DVD's to 720 and 1080 over HDMI connection. I think we will start seeing fire sales of up converting players real soon, as CE manufactures want to get rid of the inventory and push the new format at us. Still, both good reasons to hold on to your current DVD's and buying obscure/older classics as they come out that may never see HD light of day.

 

[FrancisP]

I plan to go full speed ahead with SD. HD does not enter into it for 3 reasons.

1. Format wars. I still think both HD formats could lose with one becoming at most a niche.

2. There are no guarantees that the movie will ever show up
on dvd. Poor SD sales would likely doom any HD release. Also a film could require more extensive work for a HD release that could make it uneconomical.

3. Will a older film look that much better? Will Stagecoach or Black Sunday(1960) look that much better in HD? Many
classic titles were not shot with any idea these films would be seen in HD. The extra sharpness may bring out more problems. Cleaning up War of the Worlds made the wires on the martian ships stand out even more. I do think that high budget films like Cleopatra and Ben Hur will will be enhanced but I'm not sure of lower budget pictures.

 

[Stan Rozenfeld]

Older movies definitely will look much better if they do a proper restoration job on them. Anything from 35mm film will look much better on high def dvd. Let's not forget that high def dvd player is also backward compatible with regular dvds, so it's not a question of quitting one format for another.

I am ready for high def dvd... both formats. I only buy movies that are of personal significance to me, otherwise I rent. Those that I think will be out on high def dvd soon, I will not buy on sd dvd no matter how much I like them. Examples are Batman Begins, Apollo 13, Serenity. On the other hand, movies whose high def dvd release is way down the line (Queen Christina, Captain Blood), I will buy now.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

If you saw this film in theaters with a quality print then you saw the wires. The problems is that folks were comparing it to the previous video releases which were not only very poor transfers but were also low resolution, many times less than the original theatrical prints.

Bottom line: Older titles will benefit by a quality HD treatment, and will look more like their original release then ever before.