High Definition DVD: What is Holding You Back? (1 Viewer)

[MikeH]

For me it is title availability. I was set to join the blu-ray camp until I realized that Batman Begins and V for Vendetta were hd-dvd only. If Warner is truly moving to being a neutral company, meaning catching blu-ray up on previously released hd-dvd and same day releases in both formats for all future releases (all 3 Matrix and Shawshank specifically) I will then make the move to blu-ray.

 

[Humphrey]

Have you looked at some of the figures on sales of hi def formats? After the release of the PS3 from Sony it took less than 1 month for BluRay sales to eclipse HD-DVD. DVDEmpire.com has a few quickie figures showing 2007 sales are 33% higher for BluRay than HD-DVD so far. I think this has bigger implications as the UK launch of the PS3 is just a few weeks away and demand for movies as well as games will spike again.

I know if it were not for the gaming AND hidef features of the PS3 I wouldn't have spent the money at all on a hd player. Now my preferred format on NetFlix is BluRay.

 

[prizm4]

I don't understand some of the posts in this thread - saying that they couldn't notice a difference between HD and SD?? What?

And also how old movies can never benefit from HD because they weren't shot in HD? The original 35mm film of old movies has at least two-three times the resolution of HD. If transferred properly they will look amazingly better than their DVD counterparts. The only problem is when it comes to TV shows, etc that were shot on tape, not film. They can never be higher than DVD quality.

I'm personally waiting a year for these HD formats to sort out. Chances are we'll end up with hybrid players. The price is also restrictive. The odds of me getting a player and then having it drop $200 the next week is probably likely

Prizm

 

[Chris Moe]

I am waiting a bit longer for the format war to settle down. I also want to wait and see if a drive comes out for computers so I can just add a new drive to my HTPC.

 

[Colin Dunn]

I've been holding off for several reasons...

- The format war. Tech specs give the edge to Blu-Ray but Sony has a pathological history of introducing short-lived formats.
- New format(s) require new hardware - not just players but also a pre-pro that has HDMI 1.3 and can decode the new formats

That said, I'm very tempted to buy into HD-DVD because the prices are more reasonable than Blu-Ray. I don't see a visible improvement in video quality with Blu-Ray over HD-DVD despite the higher bandwidth / storage capacity.

 

[Collin.R]

I have been waiting for one or the other to win so that we can buy a unit when the price comes down (which it inevitably will). I have a Samsung DVD player that upgrades to 1080i (supposedly) that I am very happy with and will have to do until I am able to justify upgrading to HD DVD or Blu-ray.

Collin Fieguth
Vernon, BC

 

[Stephen_J_H]

It's getting harder to resist, now that the Toshiba HD-A2 is below $400 Cdn, meaning I can have 1080p HD in my home for under $3K, including audio.

 

[Dave Moritz]

While I do own an HD-A1 HD-DVD player currently I am waiting on the Blu-ray player. I am saving up the money to buy the player and more importantly I am waiting for HDMI 1.3 to be incorperated into the Blu-ray players. Money is way to tight and there are to many things to update and upgrade in my HT.

 

[Bob_Wilson]

I have a respectable collection of regular DVD that I would replace with HD's if I were not retired. (Retirement has a way of curtailing profligate spending.) Since retirement income discourages me from replacing my current DVD's with HiDef versions, I am not in a hurry to jump into the market. I will buy an HiDef player when one or more of following things happen:

1. There is a clear winner of the format wars.

2. There is a reasonably priced player that will play both formats.

Until that time, i will satisfy myself with regular DVDs and HDTV.

 

[Cees Alons]

Bob,

As a retired DVD collector too (retired from work, not from collecting ), all I can tell you: the Toshiba HD-A1 I bought some months ago (now very reasonable priced, even compared to the price I payed, and there are newer machines available) will preserve your existing DVD collection in a wondrous way.

My only problem is: it's a region-1 machine, so my R2 DVDs don't play on it.
But of those SDVDs I happen to have very little, most are R1, and the sheer quality of the upconversion by that HD-player is unbelievable. You only need to replace films you really want to have on HD format!

Some people seem to claim that the upconverted image is "as good" as an HD image. I understand why they say that, but it isn't true. However, if your TV can handle full-HD, your SDVDs when played through one of those Toshiba machines will never have looked so good!


Cees

 

[Dave Moritz]

I have to agree with Cees on the HD-DVD player. I own an HD-A1 and it does a very good job at upconverting standard DVD's. Obviously some DVD's look alot better than others and really good SD discs will look really good. And poor quality transfers will not look much better than they did before. But HD with a HQ HD transfer looks so film like and prestine. I to am on a budget but I love my HD-DVD player and it works very well. Even after I start buying more Blu-ray discs I will still be buying HD-DVD titles as well. But I have to say that HD-DVD has impressed me and if I had to do all over again I would still buy the HD-A1. If HD-DVD is still around with Blu-ray in 3 years I might be looking at upgrading my HD-A1 to a 1080p model. I will defenantly upgrade quicker if HD-DVD wins the format war over Blu-ray.

 

[Tim Glover]

If Blu-ray is still around with HD DVD in 3 years I might be looking at upgrading.....

 

[Bob_Wilson]

That's a problem for me as well. I currently have a Malata DVP 520 region free player which will play my region 2 disks. Obviously I would jump at a HiDef region free player, especially one with the Malata's features. I suspect that when the Chinese get into producing HiDef players for the mass market that some region free players will be produced. Time will tell.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I am looking to do the same thing if both formats are still around. As within 3 years I want to also upgrade my current 720p LCD to a 1080p display. So I will want to also be able to play all my HD content at 1080p resolution.

All I want to know is where the DTS-HD MA decoding and HDMI 1.3 for Blu-ray players, how long is it going to take?

 

[Colin Dunn]

I jumped off the fence this evening and ordered a Toshiba HD-XA2. Now I'm looking forward to watching high-definition movies.

As for Blu-Ray, I'll wait and see if it gains popularity / takes over the market before getting into it. HD-DVD got my backing in this format war...

 

[Jason Roer]

Congrats Colin! You're going to love yuor new machine. My wife and I just got one (the A2) a few weeks ago and we are so in love with it. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jason

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

Good for you, Colin! I picked up the D2 from Costco a while back, and have been very happy. Before you know it, you will probably have enough HD DVDs to make the purchase worthwhile, regardless of who eventually winds the format wars.

I don't mind buying a blu-ray player down the road, but their technical snafus and high prices say to me - enjoy HD DVD now. When blu offers me a sub-$300 player I'll take a look...

 

[Leanne]

The one reason I have not bought yet is the lack of a commitment about region coding. From what I can gather Blu ray has it and HD doesn't. However, there is no guarantee that HD won't introduce it in the future. I live in Australia and, in the DVD market, we have only a fraction of the DVDs available in region 4 that are available in other regions. Most of my DVD collection was purchased from other regions, which I play on a region free player. I have no reason to believe that the same situation won't occur with high definition. Therefore, buying into a system that won't enable me to buy discs from outside of my region would be pointless. From what I have read on the net, even if the current HD machines are region free, future upgrades may impose region coding. Apparently this happened with the early Blu ray machines. Unfortunately as the manufacturers of HD have not made a commitment that they will remain region free, we can only rely on speculation. This is not good enough for me to make the financial commitment. What makes this whole situation even more annoying is the attitude of the companies in refusing to answer questions. For example, my queries to Pioneer about whether their machine was region free elicited a response implying I was some kind of rampant DVD pirate.

Leanne

 

[John Berggren]

I'm no longer waiting or holding back. I just made the plunge, and am the proud owner of a Panasonic BD-10a and 5 blu ray films. (All but one I actually wanted)

 

[Cees Alons]

Congratulations John! And welcome to the HR club! You'll enjoy it.


Cees