After almost a year, still glad to be sitting out format war (1 Viewer)

[Simon Howson]

But is the average Joe going to actually SEE it on their small or medium TV? I don't think so. Many can't even tell the difference between interlaced and progressive DVD, which I think is a significant difference.

 

[Yumbo]

The perceived improvement in picture resolution from SD to HD is actually inversed.

The smaller the screen, the better it looks. Same goes for SD when one stops to think.

Have a look yourself, and then comment, rather than spouting unfounded theories.

 

[Stephen Orr]

All I've done is purchased an upconverting DVR and hooked it into my Sony HDTV using HDMI. My SD discs look great, and I have about a thousand of 'em. I do not see purchasing an HD/Blu machine or disc anytime in the forseeable future.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Yumbo, your info is based solely on numbers. That does not take into account the poor grainy and otherwise negative degradation of most VHS content vs. the sharp pristine SD-DVD. True enough, the numbers may indicate a greater jump in resolution from SD to HD than VHS to SD, but that is not the perceived improvement by the viewer.

It's like with a computer. Jumping up to 1GB RAM drastically improves Windows XP Performance. Than a person can add an addtl 2 GB, but they don't really see as much of a performance jump, because most of the time Windows doesn't need to use all that extra RAM. It's the first jump that really frees up space for the OS.

 

[Simon Howson]

Hahhhahahah I'm really sorry my opinion upsets you so much.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Back to the OP:


I asked about the very subject of SD reviews on the HTF just a coupla months ago.
It seems as if a couple new reviewers have been brought on-board and things have picked up some. Does it still seem like things are skewed a bit in havor of HD content? Yes, but I suppose that is to be expected considering the novelty and impact of the new format.

Even with an HD set and HD-DVR thru my cable company, I, also, am waiting on the end of the format war for most of the reasons posted above. Cost, lack of content, etc.

Even though my set is small...28" HD Samsung CRT...I'm sure the new format would look awesome. But, I'm waiting.

 

[JohnPhi]

Yes Yumbo, please quit trolling on here and making some of us feel stupid for our decisions. I do not mind anyone who has posted saying how wonderful HD is for you on disk, but Yumbo has made it seem like not picking a hd format is stupid.

Again, let me clear things up.

I know the new formats have better picture, that is not the issue. It is the fact that in order to enjoy all the content I want, I have to buy two machines. I was hoping for a swift end to the format war, but that is not to be I fear. That being said, when the war is over and one format is there and actually has a decent share of the market, I will jump in. In the end, this will mean that I will be able to buy a better machne and more movies than those that paid the higher cost on a particular side in the war.

Here is a funny story from a thread on another forum. It was about the new James bond sets that came out recently. One poster said he was not upgrading because he was fine with what he had. Someone then accused him of not being a real bond fan because he did not want to upgrade for the improved pq and audio. That is way I think a lot of people feel now

 

[JohnPhi]

To answer your question, it is still very unbalanced. New releases like the prestiege should be reviewed on both HD and SD I remember when almost all new releases got a review. Yes the new formats have an impact, but it is less than 1 percent of the market. SD is still king, yet on many sites, it is already dead to them

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

A better format is better, obviously. Whether or not it's worthwhile to upgrade at this time is up to every single one of us to decide for ourselves - and nothing to quarrel about...

 

[Eric Peterson]

I knew this thread would start to get ugly sooner or later. Luckily it was a little later.

For my two cents, I personally don't see near as much of an improvement between HD-DVD & DVD as there was between DVD & VHS. You can throw all the numbers that you want at me, but I still don't see it.

My primary reason for waiting is the format war and the titles. Right now, I'd have a REAL hard time finding five titles on HD or Blue Ray that I'm interested in. I had to wait for 5+ years into DVD before it started getting interesting, and it keeps getting better every year.

For the record, I have a 55" Mitsubishi HDTV and a Yamaha SD-DVD player with an Axiom surround system. Even that is overkill for most of what I watch (Pre 1960 B&W Films with Mono or 2-Channel Stereo Sound).

 

[Mike Frezon]

Out of 49 titles listed, that's 34 SD titles. 15 HD/BD titles. A couple of titles (Babel & Stranger Than Fiction) stand out as having both SD and HD reviews.

 

[PaulP]

The Digital Bits' coverage lately has been really skewed toward HD, and SD is mostly an afterthough, like "oh and by the way, on the SD front, here are some news surely no one cares about..."

 

[JohnPhi]

Well a lot of the a list titles are getting reviewed in HD and then the more obscure titles for SD

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Eric, you stated in a straight-forward way, what I was trying to see. Numbers are great, but they don't tell the whole picture. And, as for me, I still don't see it either. And neither will the majority of the people who make up the SD market. Especially with no gain in other features, as I mentioned, and a lot of down side in the area of costs, I think the vast majority will hold out and stay with SD-DVD for a long time. True, the studios could force the issue by stopping releases in SD. But would they do that, especially at this point? That'd be turning their back on a large market to try and make the much smaller one grow. And they gotta realize a lot of people will still not go into HD, buying just SD titles that are released. It'd take a collaboration of all studios to stop all SD releases. And they couldn't come together on the next format, splitting between HD & BD.

In fact, it really shouldn't matter much to the studios whether you buy their title on SD or HD, unless the profit margin is much higher on HD. If so, that is the very thing that will keep the market from busting out. As a matter of fact, it probably makes more fiscal sense for the studios to keep things status quo. A very large market with small profit margins, SD. Then the HD/BD niche market where the customer has to pay a premium to get the added value.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Re: reviews

To be fair, a lot of the sites posted here were always tech sites so their reviews of movies isn't anything I'd take too seriously. If it wasn't a new release with DTS 6.1 then I wouldn't take their reviews seriously. IMO, this forum has always had movie fans reviewing for the most part. Herb and various others brought film knowledge to the table and their reviews could be trusted in terms of the V/A and the actual movie.


A lot of HD people keep falling back on these numbers and I honestly don't think many of them understand that most people don't care about numbers. You take any online HD message post, print it out and take it to BB and I'd bet 98% of the people shopping in the store would have no idea what they were talking about.

 

[PopBodhi]

Whenever I'm in Target or Best Buy I just shake my head and keep walking when I see the HD DVD and Blu-ray section.

 

[Yumbo]

Guys,

All I'm doing is explaining the facts for those who aren't sitting out and actually trying HD, that's all.

If you don't see it, that's cool. There are more important things in life.

Quite a few people will recall this place around 1999 when people were saying they couldn't see much difference between VHS or LD and DVD, players were expensive, one had to get a new amp to decode 5.1, and titles were lacking, studios weren't all there, DIVX was around...

It's all relative.

No one's trolling - just understand there's always another perspective, that may or may not be helpful.

Simon - no one's upset with your opinion, just trying to keep things straight for those who may be interested.

How's Hindley Street these days?

And of course there's a minimum screen size required to fit HD content. Only certain people may think otherwise.

It will always be about numbers.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Which is precisely why the format war has no end in sight. The average consumer doesn't care enough to investigate the claims, much less question the expertise of the people selling the equipment. At this point, I have only seen HD DVD and BD on display in various outlets. I have been much more impressed by the VC-1 encoded HD DVD material I have seen than the MPEG-2 BD material I have seen. I am aware that VC-1 encoded BD material is out there, but until the format war is over, my next likely player puchase will be an upconverting player, because I am not willing to throw my support behind either format @ this point. I lean more towards HD DVD because the DRM isn't as scary as BD+, but I'm still not going to buy until the war is sorted out.

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Years ago I was following quite closely what "laserdisc people" had to say; and some of them would for quite a while tell that - and explain why - DVD wasn't and couldn't be better than LD, or even as good as LD. Soon it became obvious that these guys were in denial... I don't think that's quite where we are now. The question now seems to be: How much does it matter anyway? Is the perceived improvement big enough? A lot of people have built large collections during these good DVD years, and does it make sense to "start over again" replacing "everything"? And there still seems to be that "format war" going on.

 

[Jace_A]

I'm sorry, but I completely disagree with this. How does the enjoyment of "Superman" and "Spider-Man" make one less of a movie buff than someone who watches "Rashomon" or "Written on the Wind". A movie is a movie is a movie. You talk as if the two are mutually exclusive. I have DVDs from all walks of cinema, from "Canterbury Tales" to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". From "81/2" to "Edward II" to "X-Men". And I have both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Why? Because there are some great films available on both formats, which are available in HD now and which I can buy now without having to repurchase 2 years down the track. Four of the five films nominated for this year's Best Picture Oscar are going to be available in Blu-Ray this year. These are fine films, and not ones that are likely to attract videophiles. For me, HD is the optimum medium for watching films. It is distinctly superior to SD DVD in every way. You simply cannot ignore this fact. As good as SD DVD can look, it just can't compete with the beautiful images produced by the HD formats. Far from being a videophile format, it is, in my view, the ultimate format for film buffs. But, hey, if the enjoyment of Babel, The Queen, The Children of Men, Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Excalibur, Casino, The Departed, Unforgiven, La Haine and The Pianist makes me a technology fan and not a film buff in your eyes, then more power to you.