What's new

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

JohnPhi

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Messages
195
I know we have had threads in the past about this, but since christmas has come and gone, thought it would be ok to revisit this topic.

I am still not willing to give either side a dime as long as I am forced to buy two pieces of hardware to enjoy all the movies from all studios. Also, prices on hardware and software are still ridicculous.

Also content is still VERY weak. I have a set list of must haves and although a couple are out, most are not. When titles like Jaws, Jurrasic, Park, star wars and other start to be announced, I may cave, but for now it is just not that appealing

I am very pleased that at least this forum is still active on SD, places like DVD file or AVS are a ghost town on regurlar DVD, even though it still holds 99% of the market. I understand these new formats require a lot of press, but hey, lots of us are still buying SD. Where are the reviews for those titles? That has dried up to near nothing of late, even here

After Warner's chat, I am still excited about new titles.

Perhaps in another year, the war will be over and I will finally be ready.
 

Qui-Gon John

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2000
Messages
3,532
Real Name
John Co
Agree with you. In fact, I am perfectly fine with SD-DVD. I still do not think I will change to another format until too many title I want are no longer available in SD. And I don't think that will happen anytime too soon. The SD market is just too big for the studios to turn their back on it and try to force HD/BD.
 

Eric Peterson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Messages
2,959
Real Name
Eric Peterson
Agreed 250%

As long as multiple formats exist, I'll stay with SD. I don't care how much picture improvement there is.
 

Jay E

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 30, 2000
Messages
2,483
When I recently upgraded & bought my new 40" HDTV, I was worried that I might be disappointed with the quality of my DVDs. But with my Oppo DVD player that upconverts to 1080, I am very pleased to see that most of my DVDs look great, especially the DVDs released over the past few years.

I have no problem waiting until Hi-Def decides on one format and prices come down on both hardware & software, especially since most of the catalog titles being released are only on regular DVD.
 

Matt Czyz

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 5, 2003
Messages
902
Real Name
Matt Czyz
I have almost an anti-desire to upgrade to HD/BR at this point. I'm very happy with standard dvd, and I simply don't want to get bogged down in a format war. I don't rewatch the dvds I currently own enough to warrant spending hundreds of dollars to be able to play some of the same movies in a higher resolution. Wake me when players are sixty bucks and there's only one format left.
 

EricKA

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 22, 2006
Messages
84
I agree 1000%! I have no intention to upgrade to either format. I am happy with SD DVD and I don't think it's going to disappear anytime soon. I too am frustrated that so many sites (i.e. DVDFILE) have practically abandoned
SD DVD reviews. I have no desire in the near future to re-purchase
the same films again for $30-40+ a pop. In my opinion. These new formats, like so many new generation game consoles, have been pushed on us too quickly. I can live without them.
 

Joseph Bolus

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
2,779
I still find myself purchasing SD-DVD's with wild abandon, even though I own an HD-A1. The SD-DVD's still look and sound *great* on my equipment (Infocus SP-4805 projector), and they're dirt cheap compared to the HD titles. I've only purchased four Hi-Def titles, and I only owned one of those (Apollo 13) previously on SD-DVD.

The Superman Box? Bought it on SD-DVD. Ultimate Bond boxes? SD-DVD ('Course thanks to MGM being a 'Blu-ray' exclusive studio, it's not like I had - or will have - a choice anyway.)

I had never gotten "into" Stargate SG-1. When it was announced recently that it will be cancelled at the conclusion of this (it's 10th) season, I decided to get caught up on it. (My thinking here was that any Sci-Fi series that can last 10 years has got to have some decent attributes.) At the same time Costco started selling Seasons 1-8 in the new slimlilne packaging for $29.95/season. I tried the first season and discovered that all the transfers were in the 16:9 Widescreen aspect ratio and were anamorphic to boot! And the quality of the transfers (both video and audio) improved with every subsequent season. I've really enjoyed catching up with this series via SD-DVD - but can you imagine how long it'll be before they're released to HD; or how much they'll command on a per season basis when they finally do come to HD? In the meantime, the SD-DVD transfers from Season 4 on (they switched to 35mm film at the end of Season 3) look and sound fantastic on my equipment!

The bottom line is that I'm still having too much fun with SD-DVD to totally commit to High-Def. Properly mastered DVD's can still look *great* on certain equipment and they're currently dirt cheap. I'm gonna' ride this wave for as long as I can!
 

WillG

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2003
Messages
7,563

I agree with this. I do seem to find a lot of emphasis on HD over SD on some sites I visit. I don't necessairly blame some of these sites for reporting what's going on. But it can be frustrating to me trudging through all the HD stuff when I have no intention of upgrading at this point, unless I buy a PS3, but that probably won't be for awhile.

I definately wouldn't mind seeing separate sections for HD and SD on websites
 

BrettB

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Messages
3,019
After getting my first hdtv in October I thought I would be happy with DVD and hold off on BD for a while. That didn't last very long. :laugh: After minimal exposure to hd (mostly NFL games) I had to buy into BD.

Bought a PS3 in early Jan. and at this point my interest in DVD is almost non-existant. Buying shiny discs is exciting again. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

serenapowell

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
110
Real Name
Serena

My sentiments exactly! Then there's also the fact that almost all the DVDs I buy are classic movies, and older films tend to not have the best surviving elements anyway, so I imagine very few will be considered good enough quality for an HD release.

And even those classic titles in excellent shape, or the ones that are considered important enough to get expensive restorations - I figure the difference between SD and HD wouldn't be very noticeable (at least, not to me, with my terrible eyesight) ;) (I'm not winking at you, really, just squinting 'cause I can't see!) ;)

I haven't read up on all the HD news and capabilities of the format, so pardon my ignorance if I'm wrong about this. :) But I imagine the latest CGI & special-effects-driven blockbusters with eye-popping visuals would benefit the most from HD, and since I'm not really into those kinds of films, why bother splurging on a high definition TV and so on?

There are so many wonderful classic titles that I'm waiting for, and I'd rather buy those for the first time, than upgrade stuff I already own.

I'm a bit worried that if the studios focus on pushing HD/BluRay, they'll just skip over all those movies that are OOP on VHS and never made it to standard DVD... and keep re-releasing the same movies over and over...on standard and HD DVDs.

Even though I'm not that old, I feel like a fuddyduddy sometimes. The world's changing too rapidly for me. It does seem like technology and new inventions are progressing faster than they used to...faster than I can process and adjust! (I expect to be laughed at for this, but I don't even have a cell phone...or an ipod... ...I just don't feel the need for 'em)

So when it comes to HD, I feel like yelling, "waaait...I'm not ready to move on to something new... I'm fine with things the way they are and just want more of the same, 'kay?" Alright, enough rambling from me. Someday I'll learn to make concise posts. :)
 

Ira Siegel

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 28, 2004
Messages
163
Real Name
Ira Siegel
I have an HDTV and I, too, can wait for the High Def disc player format war to end before jumping to that format. SD DVDs from good source material have been and continue to be wonderful.
 

kenNew

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
80
I agree with all the above correspondents, especially on the point about other websites covering more HD than SD news which is very frustrating when one has no intention of jumping into the middle of a format war.

I have been waiting nearly 10 years for many catalogue titles, especially the Samuel Bronston epics. Now there are rumours they might be on their way so I'm not foregoing those so I can wait another 10 years for HD etc. Yes, I know they could appear on HD before then but what about all the other catalogue titles? I can't see studios investing time and money releasing pre-1980s movies when they're trying to hook the public with current stars and titles. Can you?
 

TheBat

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 2, 1999
Messages
3,117
Real Name
Jacob
I have the 360 and the HD add on. I use the HD add on for playing my standard dvds. they look very nice.

Jacob
 

Jeff F.

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 31, 1999
Messages
288
We are upgrading to an HDTV in May - along with an HD-DVR - but are staying away from the HD-DVD/BD war until it's resolved. Simple as that. If this battle isn't sorted out soon, they may both just cancel each other out - DVD-Audio/SACD anyone?
 

Ravi K

Supporting Actor
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
707

I don't know about that. There's probably a lot more demand for HD movies than for multichannel music.
 

Jeff F.

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 31, 1999
Messages
288
True about the demand for music being less than for DVD content. But along the same lines - and I don't mean to digress - while that battle was brewing, it turned out that the consumers became interested and suprisingly satisfied with highly compressed and inferior MP3 files and the like, which totally came out of left field. With a new generation growing up watching content on iPods, mobile phones, etc..., I begin to worry that this could have some sort of negative impact on the future of how TV/movie content will be delivered. But that's just me...
 

Bruce Morrison

Supporting Actor
Joined
May 16, 2001
Messages
545

I think both HD formats are going to be around for some time yet, but I also think there will be a clear winner of the format war by the end of 2007. Once Universal realise that they are losing out on a growing market and announce support for Blu-ray, I think that will be the decisive moment. Then I will definitely invest in Blu-ray. For now, I'm quite happy to hold off because the current Blu-ray players don't have lossless audio decoding, and unfortunately the next Sony player (just announced) won't have it either. So it seems that the player I will be looking for won't be available until near the end of 2007 anyway.
 

Yumbo

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 13, 1999
Messages
2,227
Real Name
Chris Caine
I can't stand regular DVD anymore (unless it's on a SD screen), sorry. HD it is for me. The excitement only dies when it looks like SD, lol.
 

Michael Elliott

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Messages
8,054
Location
KY
Real Name
Michael Elliott
I don't see how any movie fan could be against SD especially considering how much stuff is being released this year that won't hit HD for God knows how long. Just look at all of those recent Warner announcements for 2008. That's enough of a reason for sticking with SD and I don't have the cash to support three formats so I'll continue to buy the one that's seeing the most classic releases.
 

Mark Cappelletty

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 6, 1999
Messages
2,322
Between four HD movie feeds (HBO, Showtime, Starz & HDNetMovies) and my upconverting Oppo SD DVD player, I'm pretty happy right now. I was tempted by the HD add-on for the Xbox-360, but held off.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,810
Messages
5,123,571
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top