Will you be rushing into the new Hi-Def formats in 2006? (1 Viewer)

[Leo Kerr]

1. Cost. Tell me why these machines cost more than a reasonably well customized PC for performance gaming? In fact, tell me why they cost more than, say, $600?

2. DRM. Need I say more?

3. Format war. Actually, because of reason #2, I kind of hope that both formats fail.

4. Infrastructure support. My projector doesn't even have DVI ports, and an HDMI->Component adapter still looks to cost, what, about $500 right now?

Leo

 

[Ron-P]

I recently had to buy a new FP as my nearly 3 year old Panny started to die. I wasn't planning on going HD this year but now that my new FP has an HDMI input I just might.

I'll wait until I read feedback on the players and see if they're bug infested, if there not I'd imagine by Q4 of this year I'll have blu-ray in the house.

 

[Jeff Whitford]

No HD DVD thru component NO SALE! Unless they want to package it with a free projector to replace mine.

 

[Citizen87645]

I admit with the announcement of titles and dates firming up I am excited and tempted to purchase, but I'm looking to get a new dislay in 2007 and that will probably be the time to jump in. There's a slight chance of my picking up a PS3, but certainly not at launch and given the supply pattern for consoles that means at least a few months down the road from launch, which will be close to 2007 anyway. Of course, like all of you, I will be keeping eyes and ears open the whole way.

 

[Patrick McCart]

The only pull for me to get into HD at all are titles. Fantastic Four, Wild Wild West, and Catwoman, even in high definition, are still crappy movies. In fact, seeing them in even clearer quality will probably make them even worse.

However, I do like how the first wave of titles from the various studios are decent.

WB/New Line will have Dark City, North by Northwest, The Music Man, Goodfellas, Blazing Saddles, and Full Metal Jacket. Columbia/MGM will have The Last Waltz and The Bridge on the River Kwai. Lion's Gate will have Reservior Dogs and Terminator 2. Paramount will have Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (sad that they're pretty much the only studio to not have any pre-1990 films on the slate). Fox seems to be sticking to recent bad movies... kind of a pity since The Abyss would be a GREAT film to bring out early. I'm sure their recent tripe like Fantastic Four will be popular for showing off displays and sound systems. :rolleyes

I'll start thinking about HD seriously when Lawrence of Arabia, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Vertigo, Around the World in 80 Days, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Yellow Submarine, and Amadeus are available. Also, I hope it doesn't take long for us to see Academy Ratio films in HD. Metropolis (1927), Gone with the Wind, Fantasia, and The Adventures of Robin Hood would look stunning!

There's also the issue of affording an HD display, player, and the titles...

 

[Will_B]

I will be supporting the new formats in the form of massively curtailing my purchases of regular DVDs. I didn't expect to do this, but just today as I browsed through the aisles at a DVD store, I found myself saying "No, can't buy that hit film - that film is definately going to be in the first waves of hi-def!". I expect I'll continue to buy tv-on-dvd for awhile longer, but I'm not going to buy blockbuster films on DVD any more.



That's exactly why I can't be an early adopter this time. Even if the players are $200 by Christmas 2006, I'd have nothing to view it on! I have a projector, but it takes a componant signal. (And my projector has only a "1024x768" resolution, not the new formats' "1920x1080p" resolution touted in today's press releases). I fear I'll need a new projector specifically made to work with the new formats.

As I learn more, perhaps I'll find that my existing projector will work in some fashion with the new formats. Then, if the players are $200 by Christmas (particularly if the players play both BluRay and HDDVD), then, maybe.

 

[Kain_C]

That poll is incomplete. I do not plan on upgrading to HD anytime soon, unless I suddenly get rich, which probably won't happen. I finally have a nice DVD collection and like an overwhelming percentage of consumers, do not plan on spending money to start a new collection.

I'd add a "not interested in HD at this time or in the near future" or "do not plan on upgrading" to the poll options.

 

[BarryR]

2013!

By that year Blu-Ray will be established like DVD is now, with tons of catalog titles.

Then again, what new wrinkle will be looming then?

 

[Brian]

To avoid rebuying as many titles, I haven't bought any new movies for almost a year now (except Sith) so there are a fair number of movies that I'm ready to pick up when they hit Blu-ray, like Spider-man 2 (which I don't think has been announced yet, but would expect to see this year). I also plan on getting a PS3 this year, and I can't imagine having a Blu-ray player and not having any titles for it.

-B

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

I will not be adopting these formats anytime soon for these reasons:

1. I do not have an HDTV or surround sound equipment of any kind.

2. The players will be unproven.

3. It took at least a few years after DVD's inception for great DVD editions of movies to come out, and I exect no less with the high-def formats.

4. The things I care about most are watching the movie and seeing cool supplemental material. Regular DVD does this very well.

5. Initial prices of hardware and software are more than I am willing to pay, especially with DVDs being so affordable.

I do think that HD formats are a good thing in the long run, but I think the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray people jumped the gun a bit, especially with even more promising technology being developed right now.

 

[RodneyT]

This, for me, is the key reason why I shall also be waiting for the dust to settle. bring on HiDef, but bring on the lower pricing and reliable software/hardware. Plus, most average consumers have only "just" come across to DVD, and VHS is still being sold in stores here in Australia!

Maybe in a year or so, but not right away.

 

[ChristianB]

Perhaps I'll give in and purchase a Blu-Ray player when Sony releases Spider-Man 3 fall of 2007...

Does anyone know if a combo player is coming, say, this summer?

 

[DanR]

There are still some unanswered questions, but I think the smart move is to buy a BD player. Here's why:

1.)BD will have more exclusive titles and as a result more titles overall, and is not going anywhere unless Sony basically pulls the plug (which ain't gonna happen anytime soon). So you'll get your utility out of the BD player.

2.)If it turns out after a bit that HD-DVD is not going away and has some good exclusives (which is basically only Universal at this point), it looks like it might be cheaper (based on initial price points announced at CES) to go buy a HD-DVD as a "2nd player".

Regards,
Dan

 

[Dave H]

I have an HDTV with HDMI, but I am going to wait it out. My HDTV is only a year old and as Ron stated, DVDs look fantastic on it. I still want more time to enjoy my regular DVD collection. (I recently had it ISF calibrated and tweaked by Chad Bilheimer who did a great job, so now it adds even more value to regular DVD watching for me.)

With that being said, I know I may be tempted at some point this year, but I will hold off. I might just do quite a bit of window shopping.

 

[CraigF]

No rush for me. Will wait for the industry to get some experience, see what floats that isn't just a turd, was way too much of that with DVD. Do I think the industry has learned from DVD? Yeah, right! They're still trying to figure it out. Some transfers are gorgeous (few enough), some are crap...as though I need that in hi-def at a higher price.

And like I really need 2006 hi-def DVD's, I don't forget those first DVD's. There's no reason why the first hi-def discs won't be quickly surpassed once people learn how to make the transfers. And get decent equipment to make those transfers. Like I always say, the sooner a title comes out in a new format, the longer it'll take for a GOOD version to come out in that format.

There are very few current titles I'll rebuy in hi-def just because it's hi-def. I'd still like even a decent DVD transfer of plenty of stuff. Doubt those'll come out in hi-def any faster. Eventually I expect to buy everything in hi-def, if it works out and doesn't just become a niche. Hope it does work out, and the industry doesn't kill itself. I'm not displeased with standard def, wouldn't have bought so many titles if I was, but sure don't mind a decent upgrade *if it doesn't come with too many restrictions*.

My experience is second gen gear is the best deal. Still decently built because it's not a commodity yet. First gen gear is usually flashy and built like a tank, but performance and reliability quickly surpassed once everybody has a clue -> gen 2. By gen 3 it's a disposable commodity and built like it. Performance may surpass gen 2 and it's cheaper, but some people don't like flimsy.

 

[LarryH]

Since my 1080i RPTV has only component inputs and since upconverted SD DVD's look pretty good on my 768-line FPTV, I don't see any current appeal to spending a bundle on any format until the format thing is wrung out. If a PS3 becomes available at a reasonable price, I might reconsider. At least it should have plenty of software until the PS4 comes out.

 

[RobertR]

Definitely going to wait and see. I do NOT trust Sony at ALL with how it will handle the BR format, including copy protection, HD over component, or giving us mediocre transfers so they can sell them over again. I won't buy into the hype from any websites, and will sit back and watch how ordinary users react to these machines (reliablity, overall quality, etc.).

 

[dailW]

roberts right this is a company that put nine eps. of barny miller on one disc.

 

[Max Leung]

I will wait:

1) The first discs will likely have subpar PQ compared to what the format really offers. Want to bet that if they released 2001: A Space Oddyssey now, it will only take half of the full 25 gigs of Bluray, wasting the bandwidth available? Or even worse: excessive filtering and edge enhancement because: a) the compressionist is still doing his work on a 25" low-resolution CRT monitor! or b) The software that is used to master the disc does the bad filtering by default because the software programmers have no clue what good video looks like. Grrrrr.

2) The players will have stupid video processing defects like crushing blacks and crushing highlight details, improper refresh rates that cause stutters and tearing on the display device (which may also be an issue with the display device since HDMI is so recent).

3) The drives will very likely be unreliable: Lasers burn out after moderate usage, scratched discs, premature mechanical wear, excessive fan noise, etc.

I am still undecided if I should get a set-top Bluray player or wait for the HDMI-enabled videocards, get a Bluray drive, and upgrade my PC...

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

No HD for me since my RPTV does not have HDMI.

When I can get new HD transfers of Zardoz, The Swimmer, Why Shoot the Teacher and Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, then I'll have to seriously consider it. Until then, I've seen T2 more times than I ever need to, and HD isn't going to make it any better.