What we might see is movies cropped to 1.77:1. I hope not.

Why do you think that a movie will have to be cropped to be presented in HD? I am sure that the authoring houses can use the same technique they use now when creating an anamorphic transfer of a film that is 2.35:1? Why would this change? The black bars going from 1.77:1 to 16x9 are barely visible, and the 2.35:1 bars are very small.

I agree that there will be no "fullscreen" option in HD, since HD is a natively WS format.

Because that is the trend in broadcast HDTV. Every channel crops to 16:9 except Showtime and HDNet.

Yeah it's definitely a concern. It could be our generation's equivalent to fullscreen panning and scanning.

I think it'll all come down to price point. I considered myself a videophile when laserdiscs were out, but I was also a full time student. I remember wanting a Panasonic LD player that was $750. That was a lot then. And the movies were all $40 or higher. So...I suffered with my widescreen VHS. I got into DVD as soon as I did (1999) because the price point was more attractive.

If HD/Blu Ray is priced right, it could have more of an impact. (But agreed, not as drastic as DVD over VHS)

One aspect of this situation, that is going to have serious impact on the acceptance of any hi-def DVD format, is the consumer's perspective on what they see with their own eyes when they walk into the vast majority of retail establishments. FWIW, It's the same thing I see when I walk into a Frys Electronics, CompUSA, Best Buy, etc., etc.

What do I see?

To be honest, not much. If I was going to judge HD on what I see in stores, there isn't a substantially significant visual improvement. At least not on store displays I've seen. I'm not saying there isn't a difference between regular TV and HD, there is and I've seen it. Just not in any store HD TVs.

In a typical store, I see dozens of sets running the same thing, probably distributed from one source, resulting in signal degradation. I see WS TVs with horizontal and/or vertical distortion. I see sales reps who haven't a clue about HD, but can recite a brochure verbatim.

I can only theorize about why store displays don't showcase HD the way they should. Most store displays have to be set up very quickly and I have to presume that little, if any, effort is made to optimise and/or calibrate TVs. From what I understand, calibration is a necessity for every HD TV set, has to be done after installation, can really only be done by a professional, and it runs from $200 to $400.

If John and Jane Q can't notice a difference, does anyone think they're going to buy it?

Not only that, but far too many stores don't have the source or the screens set up correctly. They'll either have SD 4:3 content playing in stretch mode on a 60 wide screen or, even worse, one store had anamorphic widescreen content playing on a DVD player in 4:3 mode and the screen in stretch mode.

J6P just changed over to DVD and in many cases had trouble doing that. Backwards compatible will be the key, no doubt. I think that many new HD titles will sell just fine if there is a standard format player thats backwards compatible as well as very affordable; then it won't be necessary to bring things out in any format other than HD DVD.......what I expect to happen is tons of older niche titles already out there on DVD won't sell worth a dime come the next go-round in HD format. I'm not going to re-buy everything I just bought over the last 4 years, and if I'm not willing to do it then the casual buyer won't consider it either......and let's face it, the bulk of the DVD market IS the casual buyers who jump on the big name current titles, the guy who buys Shrek 2 for his kids and the latest action or comedy flick for himself. When he walks into Wallyworld with his kids and they see Shrek 2 in HD-DVD sitting on the shelf he's gonna tell them, "We already have that" without giving it a second thought.
In large part this is the fault of the powers who decided to keep putting HD broadcasting on the back burner year after year after year......cutting slack to the broadcasting industry so they could hold off spending the money for the changeover. While they were whining and crying, DVD came along and made itself the big dog for consumers who want to watch their movies over and over again. Now that its here its going to be hard to get rid of it, just as it's been hard to get rid of VHS, standard broadcasting and the foolscreen bubble televisions. Hey, I'm gonna buy a widescreen 55 inch HD ready TV, get an HD converter and a new dish so I can enjoy the technology, but that doesn't mean I think half the people I know will do the same.... I figure more like 2 in 10 people I know will do the same in the next 5 years.

Is there even any point in owning an HD DVD player unless you already have a HDTV?

If not then I'll consider it when the price of those things start to come down.

No there would be no point in getting an HD player without an HDTV. The player might down convert the signal to a SDTV but that would only be good for content that isn't already out on SD DVD.

The prices for HDTVs has been dropping steadily for the last few years. But remember that if you continue to wait for the latest and greatest or the cheapest you can wait forever. I can now get a 65" model made with newer technology for less then I paid for my 55" three years ago. Should have I waited? Hell no. Then I would have missed out on the last three years of enjoyment I've had.

If that is true then that makes me decidedly more excited about the next gen. I was concerned that everything would be 720P with the 1080P transfers coming as double dips a few/several years letter thusly starting this cannibalizing trend over again.

My personal opinion is that 1080P will be around for quite some time, taking a new tv standard and atleast 20+ years before that would happen, so it will finally be time to build a library rather than a short term collection.

You forget that IF the format is so much better image quality wise, J6P will want it if he can actually see the difference in the store demonstrations, and will buy J6P titles on HD. Armageddon, Bad Boys II, The Day After Tomorrow, these kinds of titles with big flashy effects.

I see a lot of "J6P" types buying digital cameras that are $4000 and don't even understand photography. I think the same will happen and is happening with HDTV sets and will eventually pick up. If the formats don't catch on, then it will be just like Laserdisc--high-priced and considered for audiophile nerds only. Hopefully not. The current DVD standard is so pathetic and I often regret getting rid of many of my VHS movies.

Pathetic? Please.

??? If not for the standard DVD there are dozens of titles I would never have seen look so good, nor would there be nearly as many titles available, especially at the prices we see.

I want Backwards compatible cause I own allot of anime. I also see this as a way for studios to save money on putting old movies and anime on DVD. Being as you can only do so much to the picture and sound they can just keep using DVD format being as the disc will be super cheap.

I'm getting whatever comes out

Blu-Ray...HD-DVD......or both!

I think we're missing something here.

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will transparently replace standard DVD players. They are all backwards compatible and should look no different to the consumer. If they're smart, they should all downconvert to 480p/480i so to "J6P" (who I never believed existed) there will be no difference.

If you've ever seen HD downconverted to 480i it should even look better to J6P than standard DVD.

This is what Sony should do at least- Silently phase out all normal DVD players to Blu-Ray. PS3 supporting Blu-Ray should go a long way to this end.

Absolutely, and this is what I have been saying everytime a topic about HDDVD surfaces. It will be a gradual transition.

Some current DVDs say "high definition anamorphic widescreen transfer" or "mastered in high definition." Would these disks be upgraded even more with HD DVDs or Blu-ray?

All that means is that there is already a high-definition master tape in the vault, ready to go. The current DVD is still just Standard DVD resolution, but it only needs to be re-encoded to be released in HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.

I've now spent three weeks viewing HDTV, and I can't believe I've waited so long. I've learned two things:

(1) not all HDTV is created equal. The stuff I see on HD-Discovery is generally of a higher video quality than on PBS-HD. Some material is broadcast in widescreen in what appears to be "true HD", while other material is broadcast in 4x3 and appears to be "upconverted from SD-HD". But all broadcasts, including the "upconverted" variety looks better than standard def, and "true HD" sports broadcasts and movie channel fare looks phenomenal.

(2) DVD doesn't cut it any longer. Only the very best transfers at 480P come close, but even those fail to achieve the standard I'm getting on digital cable based HD broadcast. Anything less than that leaves me unsatisfied now. It's just so low-res.