Green Jello

Your loss.

ignition

True, true. Being backwards compatible I suppose would be extremely enticing. Will Blu-Ray be backwards compatible?

Green Jello

I'm entirely not sure. I plan to look into that this weekend while I am here in Vegas for the show.

j_nolan

If I was rich, and quite stupid, I would be hotly anticipating the format launch. Some real good stuff there -- Se7en, and 12 Monkeys, especially.

ignition

This all depends if I would actually notice the difference. Truth be told (and don't crucify me for this now) is that I barely notice the difference between the picture on my HDTV and the plasmas in Best Buy. Maybe it's just my contact prescription isn't strong enough, but man, it just doesn't bother me all that much.

I completely understand that a lot of people here have invested much more money and time into their systems and probably spend a lot more time watchign their movies. I admit they love their movies more so than myself. I'm just bittter that all the money I put into my collection will be rendered obsolete within a few years of purchasing.

Green Jello

If you have an HD set, then why would you see a difference? Don't fall into the ignorant mindset that the general public has that if your new TV isn't plasma, it isn't shit. But that is another issue altogether.

The question is: Can you see the difference between a DVD and a 720p or 1080i High-Def signal?

Admiral7

Ignition, you have an HDTV, but do you receive HDTV programming? If you ever saw a football game, C.S.I. or X-Men 2 in High Definition, I find it hard to believe that you would maintain the stance you have now. Do you mean to tell me that as players become more affordable, and you see a new title on the shelf in both DVD and HD-DVD or Blu Ray, you're going to stubbornly pick up the standard DVD instead, because "that's good enough for you"? I wonder how long you held on to your VHS collection before you made the change. The HD difference above standard DVD -- to me -- is almost as radical.

Green Jello

I consider it to be more of a difference.

DanishDVDfreak

Yeah, Laserdisc was not really embraced by the public...even less so here in Denmark when I first started my small LD collection in around 1991...And they were extremely expensive too. But a big thanks to one man here in Denmark who believed there was something better than VHS...he imported and sold them as the first one ever i Denmark (I think)...He´s now into DVD´s of course

Goat3001

Its way to pricey for me to pick up at launch. I do have an HDTV but I haven't seen HD-DVD in action yet. I'm happy with my current DVD collection and don't plan on double dipping at all, I might start buying HD-DVD's if they aren't too much more expensive than regular DVD's.

Qui Gon Jim

Warner/New Line/HBO
BATMAN BEGINS
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
THE FUGITIVE
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
THE MATRIX
THE MATRIX RELOADED
THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS
OCEAN'S ELEVEN
OCEAN'S TWELVE
SE7EN (NEW LINE)
THE SOPRANOS (HBO)

Paramount
STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT


Universal
APOLLO 13

I'll take one each of the above, please.

Qui Gon Jim

Green Jello is absolutely correct here. Once a "winner" has been declared, the manufacturers of both player and discs will slowly transition over to whichever HD format wins. DVD will slowly fade away and the HD equivalent will take its place. I'd say it'll be 10 years. You don't have to trash your current DVD collections; they'll play on whatever format succeeeds it. I also wouldn't hold out on any title you want, because you never know what is going to happen.

Some of these initial choices are puzzling.

Mr. Cinema

I'm surprised Paramount didn't include the first Mission: Impossible.

sracer

I own an HDTV... Toshiba 34" 16:9 Tube. I won't get into an argument about the superiority of tubes over RP sets, but suffice it to say that if someone is going to notice a difference, it will be most clearly visible with a tube HDTV.

I also have HDTV programming provided by my cable company. The signal is indeed superior to regular and digital cable, but a majority of it ISN'T better than my anamorphic DVDs. Although programming may be "broadcast" in HD, the source isn't always HD. The stuff that is sourced and broadcast in HD is better than DVD... but only slightly. (that could be an issue with HD cable though)

I have no doubt that a properly sourced and broadcast HD signal will be superior to the best DVD presentation. The issue isn't about the "technical" specs... it is about what will actually be delivered.

Progressive Scan capabilities are now available in sub $100 players, but they are crap. My $68 Magnavox player claims to be PS capable, but when turned on, it is WORSE than with it off. In contrast, my Pioneer DV-578A produces a pristine image connected to my Tosh HDTV via quality component cables.

The technical specs on DVD are superior to VHS, but that didn't guarantee that every title released on DVD would be superior to its VHS counterpart. (anyone remember Highlander?)

The specs on HD-DVD are superior to DVD, but considering that companies are still haven't reached the limits of DVD technology, I don't believe that the first few waves of HD-DVDs will be appreciably better than their DVD counterparts. Certainly not enough to warrant the premium paid by "early adopters".

woofman

This thread says to me "progress" and that is good news for consumers. Once I can afford that new HD hardware and software, I'm ALL OVER IT!

Especially when I see the letters HD in regards to ROTK!!!!!!!!!!

bboisvert

What sracer said. I see this as being very similar to the intial DVD releases when compared to their Laserdisc counterparts. I had friends who paid big bucks in 1997 to run out and grab a DVD player so they could play Twister and about a dozen other titles. All of which looked basically the same as my current LDs. Yawn. Things took a while to get interesting and look better.

Putting the 'format war' aside (I have a feeling that the 2 formats will co-exist, and that future players will simply play both)... I'll probably sit this one out for a year or two.

I waited until March 1999 before jumping on the DVD bandwagon, and I'm pretty happy about that decision... I'll wait for them to work out all of the bugs in the software and hardware, lower the price, release more titles, and tweak the quality.

One thing I'm curious about is the state of HD-DVD extras. Many of these titles announced are available in pretty packed standard DVD editions. Will the extras be carried over? Or will those of us who love commentaries, documentaries, etc. be stuck holding onto two different editions?

EDIT: (There would be 20 HD-DVD double-dips on that list for me, BTW.)

Masamune

You so you spend 70 bucks for the Matrix boxset, only to have to rebuy then in HD?

I hate DVDs now.

What a waste of money, lol.

candyrocket786

Son of a Bitch!!!!! What no Jurassic Park or ET for Universal...What the hell? I can count 14 double dips from my list...shit!

Of course the actual disc specs will make all the difference.

What about Region Coding???? RCE????

I'm wondering what the rest of the world is getting....

DanishDVDfreak

We will be getting shit...

first of all, the EU has to agree on HDTV...that would be the first step...But we are a pretty long way away from even that

Zwerchfell

I can't wait for HD-DVD to few of today's DVDs have the picture quality I desire.

jiggawhat

I think it's way to early to have any sort of HD-DVD format. Most people will not be willing to rebuy movies in HD especially since you will probably want an HD capable TV to fully take advantage of the new format. I just think that so many people have invested in DVD collections that it's going to be hard for people to justify rebuying a movie that was only released recently.

RockStrongo

I do not think it will be that difficult to integrate it. The studios obviously realize that it will be slow from the start. They can slowly start integrating by releasing both SD and HD DVD in one box (at a higher cost).

Laser Disc and D-VHS couldn't do that obviously.

dfriend

Sooner than I expected.

Quality on these initial releases I doubt will be as bad as initial DVD. The same learning that has made DVDs better over the years will translate to the HD formats. Many, many movies have had 1080p digital HD transfers done already, they just have to be coverted to the destination format. It not like early DVD where they had to take some film or video transfer and do a digital transfer and encode it and all that crap. That's not to say there aren't bad HD transfers out there. They've been seen on HBO-HD, Showtime-HD, etc, but in those cases it's hard to separate the transfer from broadcast issues.

For those who can't see the difference, great, we're glad you're happy with what you have. For those of us who can, it's nice to finally see some real movement toward a true home video HD optical format (or two ).

catracho

How much $$ for an HD-DVD?

PopcornTreeCt

Where did the other thread go? Anyway, I may update a few titles but not all or even most.