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So what happens now? HD-DVD ponderings (1 Viewer)

Scott Hall

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I would like to introduce myself, my names Scott Hall and im obviously new to these parts. I really have taken a liking to your site and hope to be a productive member in the future.

This is my first post so forgive me if im not posting in the correct place as im just learning the ropes.

Being a movie collector/enthusiast/snob/nerd i have not sold my hd-dvds as seems to be the conventional wisdom among most, cause well if it aint broke...

I have been to BESTBUY recently and seen they have gotten rid of all their hd-dvds as well as many other B/M retailers who are phazing out or have phazed them out completely.

So what happens to all these wonderful movies?
Where will they end up i guess is what im getting at.

Being a movie junkie i see no reason to just get rid of what i currently have and dive into a format that isnt fully realized yet (bluray) when these movies are high def and play just fine.

So where will they end up?
I doubt the studios will destroy them all that just doesnt make any sense and being someone who loves a deal im curious of other then Amazon.com do you think they will start showing up in places like BIGLOTS and stores of that nature cause there are still a great many hd-dvds i would like to buy in the future.

Thanks for having a look and if there is already a thread like this let me know and i can shut this one down to cut down on the clutter.



Scott
 

alan halvorson

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I believe they will be destroyed. They could have held a fire sale but didn't. I believe those in control want us to convert to Blu-Ray as quickly as possible to reduce the desire to hang on to HD-DVD. There have been some sales but not as many as I expected and wanted. Perhaps Amazon and some others will hang on but I expect them to dump their inventory also.
 

Cees Alons

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Welcome to the forum, Scott.

There may still be a fire sale at a few places, because the "official" day when HD DVD will no longer be produced, even by Warner, is May 31st.

Exactly. I enjoy my current HD DVD library as much as I will like my growing BD collection.

My first DVD player (Toshiba) is still playing fine, even if I had a new one in my HT until recently, and I see no reason why my HD DVD players (Toshiba) wouldn't go on playing those HD DVDs and SDVDs for a long time as well.

(Next purchase might be a combo player, hopefully, or else a European BD player so my scarce R2 DVDs can be played in my HT too.)

Currently, I find myself buying several HD DVD titles at prices (e.g. The Pianist $9.95) at Amazon that are a steal whatever way you look at it.
In fact, I'm buying a few more titles than I would have done if the format wasn't going away, because this looks like a "last chance".


Cees
 

Stephen_J_H

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I was just thinking about this. In Canada, Universal has already gone into "fire sale" mentality, with some titles (Hot Fuzz, Balls of Fury) selling at $8.99 and up. Warner is taking a somewhat more measured approach, with some combo titles dropped down to $19.99, but I suspect this may change after the 31st. Paramount/Dreamworks titles are fairly solidly at $14.99, with more recent releases (into the Wild, Beowulf) in the mid $20s. I don't honestly believe that prices are going to drop significantly until after May 31st, but I still intend to enjoy my relatively small library of HD titles for years to come, as well as my DVD collection upscaled.

CORRECTION: It's actually Alliance Atlantis who has gone into fire sale mode, with the other studios (Universal, Paramount/DreamWorks and Warner) taking more of a half-price approach. Alliance Atlantis was actually both BD and HD, but depending on the studio they distribute in Canada. FTR, AA distributes New Line, Focus Features/Rogue Pictures, Miramax, Weinstein Co., Dimension and some other independents that aren't coming to mind right now.
 

Scott Hall

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It will be interesting to see what happens and to be honest im a bit antsy to find out what will become of all the hd-dvds cause im a cheap bastard and if i can get a great deal on hd movies then im all over it.

ive been keeping a close eye on amazon and a handful of other sites like deepdiscount.com and they are having some good deal but i imagine the day when i walk into a biglots and find hddvds for like 4 bucks a pop and go f-in crazy buying them up.

I mean just cause SONY/bluray won (bought) the format war doesnt mean that hddvds are magically going to stop working all the sudden haha.

so yeah i look forward to getting more as time goes on cause hell there are at least 130 movies i would like to own and if i can get an hd version for under $10 then hell yeah im all over that action
 

Sam Posten

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Hi Scott! I can't get rid of most of my HDs cause they are screeners and technically belong to universal, but I'm doing my best to forget I have them and get the HD deck out of my rack as soon as possible to make room for other HDMI sources since I am kinda tight on inputs and havent had good luck with switches =) The sooner the better IMO...
 

Jari K

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When the review is done, those titles belong to you.. And when you put an X amount of hours to each review (meaning it´s hard work), they should. ;)
 

DaveF

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Like financial records, you have to keep them in your possession for seven years in case Universal audits you?

Otherwise, why not give them away? Or put them in the trash? Or ship them, postage-due, to Universal? :)
 

PaulDA

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Well, I thought I was pretty much finished buying HD DVDs (though I have no plans to sell the ones I have) but yesterday I wandered into a Best Buy (needed some blank storage media and they were having a sale) and I expected all the HD DVDs to be gone (as they apparently are in the US). However, I stumbled on a stack in an overflow rack and emerged with six titles: Eastern Promises (7.99$--it was 39.99$ at Future Shop last week), MI I and II, Ray, King Kong and Pride and Prejudice. Total cost--75$ (give or take a few pennies). Two weeks ago, those same titles were all at retail of 25$ or more EACH. Will keep looking for more bargains (with combos like Eastern Promises at ONE THIRD of the in-store retail for SD DVD, I'd have bought it even if I didn't own an HD DVD player).

I also, in another store, picked up American Gangsters for 19.99$. Not a rock bottom price, but still cheaper than the in-store SD DVD version. I know it doesn't have the "extended cut" in HD, but I don't mind. At the 39.99$ it was selling for a few weeks ago, I would not have bothered.
 

Jerome Grate

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Welcome to the forum, and if you can get a HD-DVD player I say get it for various reasons.
One, to at least have HD material even though it's discontinued, 1080 is 1080.
Two, hopefully you'll get some of the HD-DVDs cheaper until their all gone.
Three, for the scaling capabilities of standard DVDs. I tell you one thing if you go through the forum and you'll noticed that the highly rated Upscaling players like Oppo and Zenith are being sold or moved over because of Toshiba's abilities to scale standard videos to 1080i or 1080p.
Four, at some point down the road the player would become vintage and overall a good player to have.
All the above for about 75.00 or slightly more depending on what you get and where you get it from.
I have a post in regards to my purchase and I simply love it.
 

Jeff Swindoll

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What I learned from HTF is that "elitist bastard" is a badge of honor ;). [correction] I need to learn to spell elitist :P [/correction]

Oddly, I've bought more HD DVD since the format died than when it was alive thanks to the 2 fer $10 at Hollywood video.

I'm keeping mine (until it or I dies I suppose) because it's a good upconverting player if anything and I don't think that standard DVD is going anywhere for a long time.

Cheers.
 

Scott Hall

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being a cheap bastard i too have been buying the hell out od hddvds lately and when you can get a combo hd/dvd disc for less then a new disc or even in some cases less then or as much as a used regular dvd then youd be stupid to not grab it!

hell i picked up BABEL and AMERICAN GANGSTER today from moviestop for 12 bux used and AG is a combo so thats was a huge steal!

And dont get me wrong im not a bluray hater per say but until they get that shit standardized im not gonna bother with it.

I mean if you look at what they are doing now with re-releasing a ton of BD movies cause they arent compatible with newer players and dont have the feature sets that newer disc have then there is something wrong and im just gonna wait it out til they fix all the hickups and enjoy my hddvds from here until when my player and my backup player eventually die or i score some more players on the dirt cheap which im sure im gonna at some point.
 

Scott Hall

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I dont have the list but something came up on i think it was formatwars.com or some other site that was talking about how there are somewhere around the ballpark of 100 disc being re-released with updated feature sets and so they work on new players that some of the older titles dont work on.
 

ChristopherDAC

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Em, I think you must be misinformed there. The incompatibilities are all of the nature of new features which don't work on old players, although the movies will work. If there were anything else, we would have heard about it here.

There are people here who like to keep up with that kind of thing, & you can bet there would be "cross-compatibility" threads all over this area.
 

Jari K

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Pure FUD. There´s nothing wrong with the films (discs).

Only issue is, that if there are some Blu-ray-releases with profile 1.1/2.0 EXTRAS included, these won´t work in some of the older "profile 1.0"-only Blu-ray players (where you can´t use firmware update to upgrade them to 1.1/2.0 like with PS3).

Sure, they probably release some title along the way with new 1.1/2.0 extras, but the "original" version works just fine in every player.
 

Paul Beck

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As a neutral movie addict, my collection consists of about equal numbers of each format, and there is no way I will buy those titles again because the BD has taken over. I own the Toshiba A35 and Panasonic BD30 which will last me for a long time.
I am NOT a gamer, and my feeling it that the gamers and the heavy advertising by the Blu-ray Association turned the tide. Note that the replicators have stated that they would have preferred HD-DVD because it used existing equipment. The new equipment will cost a huge amount and will be coming on line SLOWLY - they say probably not until the end of the year of beginning of 2009. Also, from the same goup, the yield is not anywhere near what the DVD and HD-DVD lines accomplished. I realize that the Blu-ray fanboys were always griping about the size (sounds somewhat sexual, doesn't it?) when they are frequently producing two disc sets! What happened to all the space?
At any rate, my Toshiba actually plays my DVDs uncomverted slightly better than the Panasonic, and contrary to what I thought until I experimented, the sound is better. By the way I am a musician and hear real instruments daily.
There certainly is no reason to throw out the movies you own now as long as you have a player - and that player will play your DVDs, CDs and other formats depending on what you copy to CD and DVD.
 

Jari K

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Paul, we´re kind of past this "fanboy-this-fanboy-that" phase.

And yes, there are cases when "size does matter". ;) :D

I would say that you don´t *have to* sell anything, it´s 100% up to you, but if you want to get at least some of that money "back" from HD DVD (both software/hardware), you probably have to sell them more "sooner" than "later". No new hardware/software is coming afer this summer..

But of course, you don´t *have to* sell anything, if the player is still working etc. And we all know that many HD DVD-titles are in great quality.
 

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