Metaphor4

I recently saw Cool Hand Luke on the blu and it's looked pretty killer so now I am in debate with myself whether or not to sell off almost all my DVDs and use that coin to invest in the blu-ray. I am not sure if blu-ray is here to stay or it will fade in a couple of years due to the consumer refusing to go to another format so soon. I thought maybe some of you might have made the switch or if you know some info that made you want to wait. I know if I wait blu will go down as well as the value of my present dvds, so not sure when would be the best time to make the switch. I am also afraid that blu-ray will never come out with some of my favorite flicks.

I saw a pretty good deal for a Sony 40' 1080p ldc tv and a blu-ray dvd player for $1200 going on now, which makes this whole thing tempting.

Here's my collection so you have an idea what I am working with.

http://metaphor4.dvdaf.com/owned

So any input you guys may have on this would be much appreciated. thanks in advance

RonG617

I wouldn't sell off the collection unless it is filled with titles you really don't want. Even if you sold all 500 at $5 a piece, which is a high number for most dvd's today, that only gives you $2500. If you can buy Blu-rays on sale for $25 a piece, you will end up with just 100 movies. From my experience past and present selling and trading in dvds, I think you will be lucky to get $2000 for the collection. I sold off any dvd I really didn't want anymore, and now I buy any new release I want in Blu as long as it is available that way. Pre-ordering keeps the price affordable for me. I may double dip in time for some things, but only if I notice a real improvement from dvd to blu.

Goat3001

I switched to Blu recently. I love it. I didn't sell off my collection. I don't know if Blu is here to stay. I'm sure there are others than can offer more insight than me on that on sales figures etc. I think it will be around for a long time. Especially in a few years when people start converting to better TV's. I think eventually players will be cheaper and when people are looking for a new player they'll go Blu. The problem is no one really knows about it. I have some friends that when I mention I have a movie on Blu-Ray they look at me funny.

The PS3 is considered the best Blu-Ray player around. Unless you're completely turned off by using a gaming system as your primary player I would go for that. It costs the same as other players and you have a bonus gaming system.

As for switching my collection: I'm keeping ALL of my DVD's. DVD is still a great format and the cost of selling and switching over would be too much for me right now. However, I'm buying all new movies in Blu-Ray as available. Eventually there will be some movies that I want to upgrade. I'm going to pick up Interview With The Vampire on Blu since my DVD isn't working so well anymore.

Pizza

You're not going to get much for your DVDs so I wouldn't bother selling them. You'll get $2-$3 cash a piece on average. Plus the jury is still out at the life expectancy of Blu-ray. There's no denying that HD does look pretty and I hope it picks up speed because I'd like to jump in. I already got a taste from HD-DVD, but like they say: once burnt twice shy.

LickTheABCs

I think Blu-ray is 190% worth the investment, but it isn't me trying to make that decision. Lots of titles will probably take quite a while to come out, these same titles are readily available at places like Best Buy and Target on DVD, hell, lots of them can be found at Walgreen's.

The only thing that sucks about Blu-ray is having to read High Def Digest and Blu-ray.com everyday to find out if one of my favorites will finally be released.. and not stuff like "The Mask" and "Dumb and Dumber" (which was announced today).

I'd say, go through Amazon and see if there is enough titles available to warrant it.

EDIT: and I think I buy more DVD's now than I did before Blu. I'm weird that way. Fuck, I kinda figure that Unearthed Limited Edition "Harakiri" set has absolutely no shot of ever be released in anything resembling High Definition.

The Monkees

I wouldn't sell all of them. What I'm doing is buying titles I currently have on DVD on Blu-Ray then selling the DVD. Like not long ago I bought the Kill Bill movies on Blu-Ray and I'm waiting to get around to selling the DVD copies I had. I would assume not all 500 movies you have are on Blu-Ray yet.

man*machine

I won't make the jump to Blu-ray until all hardware becomes blu-ray compatible - thus everyone would have to upgrade to that format eventually even if they still want to buy SD dvds. No more SD-only DVD players. Otherwise, I still look at blu-ray as somewhat of a laserdisc format whereas only a small margin of the population has bought into it. If it never gains a sizeable market share, than it's just a niche format that may hang in for a long time, but still never takes over. I have a bunch of film-fanatic friends and none of them have gone blue yet, either. And I don't want to be left with hundreds of Blu-Ray discs that I can't lend out or watch at someone else's house just because no one has a Blu player. That's one of the main issues.

The studios are trying to turn it around by offering exclusives only available on certain Blu-ray movies, but I think they should try to focus more on hardware manufacturers to get them to make blu-ray players only at very low prices similar to standard DVD players. If there were no standard-def only players being made anymore, than blu-ray would easily take over the market. Then I would have no qualms about buying blu instead of SD. I don't see that hardware situation happening anytime soon, though.

Too bad, as I'd really love to have "2001" and a few others in blu-ray. But I'm not buying in until BR's got a solid hold on the mainstream market. We'll see if that ever happens.

Sessa17

This couldn't be more wrong, & I could not recommend enough to go Blu.

I did not sell my DVDs to finance the switch to HD, however, once I bought the new TV, PS3, HD player etc. I didn't have much to start buying a lot of Blus right away. But once I started watching stuff in HD, you just become addicted, so with well over 1,000, I started selling stuff back. Use DVD planet, you get a lot more than $2-3 a piece, & then with sales & coupons, it's a great way to stock up on your Blu-Ray collection.

As for the "jury" still being out on the life expectancy? This just never made sense to me. The PQ & audio is phenomenal, the upgrade is phenomenal, & they don't just self destruct should Blu-Ray go away, you will still have acces to enjoy the wonderful collection you own in superb HD form.

JimRochester

Once the Blu Ray is released a used DVD is worth about 25¢. I have hundreds of DVDs and always prefer watching a Blu or HD however they are only about 100 discs so far. I recommend Blu Ray however a total switchover won't net the money you need.

cracksky

Blu-Ray is not going anywhere. It beat HD-DVD and now it's here to stay. The only thing to consider before stocking up on titles is the quality of each release which, believe me, can be quite questionable when it comes to catalog titles. New titles I'm sure are fine. This holiday season should have some interesting sales for Blu-Ray players. They're gonna want to move them outta stores.

Trevor

Definitely go Blu if you can afford it. But don't expect to average more than a few bucks for your DVDs. After fees and shipping, and the time involved, I don't think its worth the hassle. I'd just keep my DVDs, maybe sell or give away the few that you upgrade to Blu versions.

wlverinefactor

Not every film is worth viewing in bluray. To be fair the more recent the film, the btter it should look but also, do you really need say August Rush on bluray? Not really, a normal dvd would be fine while in the next breath I could say I'd kill for a bluray of Sweeny Todd (it's coming soon). Big Blockbusters are worth the bluray because it's the action that looks amazing but for more blander films I'd stick to the dvd.

I doubt all 500 of your dvds are amazing and worth the upgrade and I think a dvd by dvd basis should be made. I have yet to willing buy a movie on bluray that I own on dvd. I got a few free that way but I tried not to do that.

Mr. Salty

That isn't true. Go to DVD Planet and use their quote machine under the Used tab. I just sold a stack of DVDs last week and got anywhere from $4 to $10 for single-disc and two-disc SE's --- more if the particular release was an older, out of print edition, even if it had been replaced with a better version.

All told, one fairly small box of DVDs netted me $147 in store credit.

That said, selling off your entire collection all at once is silly. Start off by selling any DVDs you regret buying, or have become tired of. Then sell DVDs as you replace them on Blu-ray.

Mr. Salty

What a load of misinformation.

beebs

I have a 42" screen 1080P and sit 6' away. I have a Toshiba A3 and Panasonic 10AK and this set-up (with the Toshiba for SD) gives me exceptional upscaling performance at my seating distance. I can see the difference between Blu-ray and SD DVD quite readily, but at this size of screen I've found that SD is more than good enough -- it's great.

Meanwhile Blu-ray is a revelation in terms of something looking film-like and is outstanding when matched with a 1080 display and decent surround sound system.

I suggest you buy the display and blu-ray player, but don't sell off the collection yet. Make sure the Blu-ray player is at least Profile 1.1. (Bonus-View). I'd hold out for a display that supports 1080/24p to get an even greater film effect from your display.

Why keep your collection? Although Blu-ray is here to stay, there's no telling how fast your favorite titles will appear on the format. For instance, only a small fraction of my 150-200 Must Have titles are on the format so far. I trust that they will appear in time -- but many will not appear soon based on how fast they showed up on DVD. Also, some blu-rays do not duplicate all the extras of previous 2-disc SEs. I would use the SD copies you have to carry you through the pricey early-adopter phase and $20+ prices and barebone releases.

I've personally had as much enjoyment watching titles on high def that are older catalog releases (15+ years old) as new crystal clear ones. I've been particularly happy with classic films, the few there are on the format.

-beebs

SPRBD

Very well put!

mugwump

If you've been in the DVD game long enough you probably have some titles that are OOP and worth a fair amount. I financed my entire HD upgrade (TV, PS3, HD-DVD) entirely through selling off some of my DVDs. It's certainly worth doing a bit of research to see what you have laying around.

darkside

I love high def video, but I would not sell my current DVD collection off to fund it. Discs I want to replace and maybe some I would never watch again yes, but not the whole thing. I have tons of discs that may never come to Blu-ray or that I like enough to watch again, but not enough to drop $20 for on Blu-ray. The vast majority of my collection will remain in DVD.

Gizmo

If I were you I'd sell off whats already available on Blu-ray that you would want to re buy for the HD Picture and spound. With less then a 1000 titles available on Blu-ray its likely only 50-75 titles in your collection have been released on Blu-rray so far. As others said, its likely your DVDs are worth anywhere from $1 - $5.

Pizza

re-read my comment, I said "You'll get $2-$3 cash ." But even the amount one gets in trade these days is hardly worth the effort. Strictly my opinion of course.

DVD Polizei

Go Blu. Don't sell your entire collection. Buy a few Blu titles as they become necessary.

Mr. Salty

I've never messed with selling on eBay, but there are no fees if you're selling at DVD Planet. My most recent shipment was just over 8 pounds and shipping cost less than $5 via media mail. I think the key is to sell back a bunch at a time rather than a handful here and a handful there.

cracksky

Be sure to check out this great site:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/new-format.htm

for excellent Blu-Ray reviews and comparisons to previous releases including a wealth of screen shots so you can decide if it's worth the upgrade.

At this early stage of the game, I'm sure we'll be seeing remastered Blu-Ray's down the line.

Josh-da-man

I'm bullish on Blu.

My Blu-ray collection is growing very slowly, I'm playing much more conservatively than I was doing with DVD eight-nine years ago.

I'm only buying Blu-rays of new releases, films I don't already own on DVD, or definite upgrades from DVDs I have.

I probably won't bother replacing 90% of my DVD collection until Blu-rays start selling for $5. Basically, when it overtakes DVD as the video disc of choice.

Mikael79

^ Wouldn't that be Bearish on Blu, rather than Bullish??

Anyhow, I would never sell off all of my DVDs in order to go Blu-ray only. The biggest pain in the ass for me right now is having to read reviews on each and every title before I purchase a new Blu-ray because there are a ton of them with poor image scores (according to the reviewers, and based upon other HD titles) and a serious lack of extras.

A lot of people are scared to think that Blu-ray may not last too long, but that is a serious question. We're in an age where it pays for companies to continuously redefine their products in order to re-sell us the same things over and over again.