sldvd

There are plenty of DVDs that I want to buy, but I just haven't gotten around to buying them yet. (There are also plenty of DVDs that I have bought, but I haven't gotten around to watching them yet.)

I don't really care for the increase in quality of Blu-Ray, and it might be a while before I get a Blu-Ray DVD player. But I'm wondering, should I be trying to buy all the normal DVDs while I still can? How long will it be before they stop releasing normal DVDs and only release on Blu-Ray?

I also wonder if the movie studios might start releasing normal DVDs with only the movie and zero bonus features, and pack all the bonus features onto the Blu-Ray version, to try to get people to buy the Blu-Ray version instead. Has that started happening yet?

Jedi Master 33

There is still a market for DVD. DVDs will be around for quite awhile.

Solid Snake

My only worries would be obscure titles or specific features on specific titles that were a miracle to get on DVD. I'd get those cuz sometimes....that stuff will never make it. My example...Terminator 1 DVD that had all those cool features.

steelpotato

Yeah as Solid Snake PAC said, just depends what you buy. If you're into Hollywood releases then most everything will eventually come out on blu-ray.
If you're like me and collect incredibly strange, weird or rare films then go for the dvds, and enjoy the films because you never know when niche stuff might go out of print, or may not make the leap to a new format

Superdaddy

This is good advice. There's little question that a hi-def format will eventually replace DVD, but each time a format changes some titles are not carried over to the new format. If you like some of these non-blockbuster titles as steelpotato does, I'd say grab the DVDs now because you may never see a BD release of them (or even another DVD release, if the title is really obscure). And when you get a BD player in the future, BD players play DVDs also, so you will still be able to watch those movies.

As for extra features, if they are important to you, do your research before buying a title. Some BDs do indeed have more extras than the DVD release, but some have dropped extras that the DVD had. So for those titles, you may want to hold off for a while before buying the HD version, to see if it's double-dipped for one with more extras.

EDIT: To address your original question, I concur with Jedi Master 33. DVD and BD will probably co-exist for a number of years yet, just as download services like iTunes co-exist with CDs (not a perfect analogy, I know, but you get the idea. Lots of people still haven't embraced music downloading, so practically every major label album still gets released on CD as well as on iTunes, amazon MP3, etc. And CDs have been around for over 25 years, although they too will eventually be replaced, probably by some downloadable format, if not the currently popular but lossy MP3).

drmar35mm

It's always a good idea to buy the obscurer titles while they're still "in print." I learned that, when I collected LPs and later when I was busily building my CD collection. For example, there are many relatively obscure TV series now making their ways to DVD. A lot of them will never make it to Blu-Ray. So you might want to pick them up now. (That's not to say they won't be available online some day. And the used market is always a possibility.) My plan is to keep buying DVDs until Blu-Rays are roughly equal in cost to them and Blu Ray players' prices come down a bunch more. That may even be before I get an HD flatscreen. As BR stands now, I have no reason to get into it. I like my DVDs and CRT just fine.

Brian Shannon

IMHO the replacement for BD will be available long before dvd's are gone

jeffbase34

I would be concerned about the rapid devaluing of dvds though if you plan to recoup some of your money by selling your collection.

It's alarming to see how much my expensive tv on dvd sets have dropped over the years. 24 seasons are like 15 bucks each, even my expensive BBC sets like Doctor Who are going for 40 - 50 on Amazon now. And numerous movie titles are fetching 0.01 on Amazon. lol Dvds have lost value a lot faster than VHS ever did.

Mr. Cinema

The only thing I see that will be phased out will be the special edition dvd. I think the plan, eventually, is to offer up a single disc dvd, and the BD will become the special edition/deluxe version.

kristina

yeah it depends on the seller but alot of CDs and DVDs I'd like to buy aren't deprechiating fast enough. I love buying DVD's, etc. for a penny each + shipping and handeling. I use Amazon specifically for that purpose.

Gizmo

This has already happened. Please see Warner/Newline with Nights in Rodanthe, Friday the 13th, He's Just Not That Into You etc. Other studios should be following suite as well within the year (some already are in future announcements). The goal is the make the DVD pretty much barebones and dump all the extras on the BD and the ever useless BD-Live aspect. If you like special features you will have no choice but to buy a Blu-ray player. If you don't care about them, enjoy paying the same for the DVD but getting less.

JJE-187

I have a PS3 and I dont even plan on upgrading to Blu-Ray anytime soon, I have a 1500+ DVD collection and I NEVER buy anything new, I always go used and get deals on older obscure titles at hastings for $3.99 and at buy 2 get 1 for $1 it makes them $3.xx a DVD and I dont see blu-ray getting that cheap anytime soon

Carcosa

You have NO worries. You will always be able to play your DVDs no matter what. And its also more than likely that obscure titles like the newly released NIGHTMARE CASTLE and the like will NOT be on blu-ray anytime soon. I have BD and standard DVD discs and I still buy DVDs and don't even think twice.

chris_sc77

The Answer is NO.
DVD sales account for something like 88-90% of sales in this market while Blu-ray is at best 10-12%.
DVD ain't goin anywhere.

outlander78

Unless they've killed off piracy, that's a dangerous game. I don't personally pirate movies - I'll go the "buy old rentals or do without" route - but if they aren't competing on price or features, and are selling to a young group with little money, they may just make downloading look better and better.

I've already changed from a guy who bought lots of movies, some to watch now and some for a dull day in the distant future, to someone who only buys a few titles a year. I can't afford to upgrade to HD, so I'll just start reading more if the prices keep going up while quality goes down. As is pointed out every other day, new media (youtube, surfing, computer games) are very effective competitors with old media (moves and music on plastic discs).

I wonder if and when "screw the customers, we'll tell them what they want" will catch up with the movie business, as it did with others in the past.

chris_sc77

Exactly. I dont download but if they keep doing this exclusive features and less than impressive overall total package for DVD's well then I will just have to Netflix a title that I would have have bought or not bother with it at all.
Fine with me if they wanna play dirty, so can I.

JOE29

I have about 750 DVD's to date, but sometime in the future I do plan on getting a Bluray player. I am in no hurry though, due to the high prices of the players. I am not at all worried about not being able to play my DVD's in the future because these DVD's will be able to be played in the Bluray player, and I hear they will look even better.
So I will keep buying my regular disc's with no fear that they won't be available to use in the future. The only thing that is wrong is the Special Features which like other people have said and I have been starting to notice are going more and more to the Bluray disc's and not the Standard ones. I'm not bothered a lot about that as long as I can get the full, uncut movie on standard disc. But there are exceptions that pop up now and then. But about 90% of the time all I need is just the full movie. I can by pass the special features. But I understand other people are upset about losing their special features- and rightly so.

Travis McClain

The answer to the OP's question is, no, you should not be worrying about normal DVD's being phased out by Blu Ray. You should, however, be worrying about normal DVD's being phased out in favor of Blu Ray by studios. You should also be worrying about your normal friends being phased out in favor of clones. It's never too early to worry. Just sayin'.

Seriously, though, since Blu Ray players will play DVD's, I say snag what you want on DVD and deal with double-dipping upgrades once you have a BD player. You may not be able to re-sell your DVD's to recoup much of your money, but you'll be able to watch the title in the interim. There are many titles in our library I already know we will not upgrade once we go Blu; some I doubt the studios will have out in that format any time soon (I'm looking at you, Frogs) and some we only really bought because they were cheap, impulse buys (I'm still looking at you, Frogs).

Sessa17

I'm doing my part to to end the existence of these inferior DVDs you speak of & add to your worrying.

writer106

I sort of do worry about DVDs being phased out Blu-Ray. I'm thinking about buying a Blu-Ray player sometime soon.

JerryKILL

I still buy/watch VHS tapes, LaserDiscs, and vinyl LPs. Players for these "extinct" formats are easily obtainable on the used market, even new if you look hard enough. DVD is the most successful format ever created. Players will be around forever (or at least or lifetimes), so no need to worry about being able to watch your DVDs. Even if they were permanently discontinued today, players will be around for eons, and I suspect 'backwards compatibility' will be standard for the next several format iterations. I'd be more worried about BluRay, a niche product similar to LaserDisc, as there are far fewer BluRay players in existence compared to DVD players. Once BluRay is superseded (and don't kid yourself, there are more formats down the line), it may become increasingly difficult to find a player (like LaserDisc players today).

sldvd

OK, but those movies you mentioned were all released within the past year.

If I wanted to get older movies, I wouldn't have to worry about that. Although some movies have been re-released several times on DVD already, so I guess they could do yet another re-release onto DVD but with all the extras stripped out and put them only on the Blu Ray version.

TheKing

Laserdisc players are hard to find because of the form factor for the most part. It's also one of the reasons the format never moved beyond the niche market in the first place. Vinyl was being relaced by cassettes and CDs, much smaller forms that could be made portable. The Walkman was huge. Yet, in video, they thought people would want to go bigger?

Not to mention the flipping, and multiple discs and outrageous prices.

As long as they stick with the CD/DVD/Blu-ray form factor, playback remains a software issue, not a hardware one. Blu-ray won't kill DVD, that much is clear. But if the next winning format is downloads, then that could kill both.

orangerunner

Blu-ray is not going to make DVD obsolete the same way DVD made VHS tapes obsolete.

The public desire for Blu-ray is simply not strong enough, at least at this point, to uproot DVD.

If anything, downloading will be the next format of choice, but probably not for several years to come.

jjcool

Answer to OP's question, no.
What may start happening with more frequency, and has been mentioned here, is the deluxe 2 disc versions are going to blue ray, and the dvd is a bare bones movie only version. Not a big issue if you dont care for the special features. Blue ray has a long way to go before it completely phases out dvd.