chipmac

I've already posted my answer earlier and given my opinion but having read the replies in this thread I need to ask if anyone even read the first post. Many of the replies keep referring to HD DVD and the new formats coming out. The first sentence of the first post is asking (I'm paraphrasing here) if your DVD buying or renting has slowed due to having an HDTV and the ability to watch movies now in HD from cable or sat. It isn't until the final sentence that HiFi even mentions HD DVDs and in that statement he's only saying that he'll probably be an early adopter of the next gen formats and that he feels more comfortable buying HD DVDs since they aren't based on obsolete technology. So why is everyone arguing over HD DVD or Blu-Ray vs SD DVD? The real question seems to be are you willing to wait a few months for recent films to be broadcast in HD rather than buy or rent a SD DVD and view it now. And are you enjoying what's on now in HD so much that SD DVD viewing is taking a back seat?

bodomnet

Dream on.. HDTV sets are NOT affrdable to your avreage joe.
I know I cant afford one.

Qui Gon Jim

While Hi is waaaay over the top on this topic, I do sort of see his point on the affordability. One day I read a comment from someone who said they couldn't believe that someone would have 500 or more DVDs and be watching them on a 27-32" set. When I read it, it made total sense to me.

While $1K is not chump change, deals are easy to find where you get 12-24 months to pay off a purchase with no intrest. So dropping $1K is a lot, dropping $85 amonth is not a ton of money. That is 5 or 6 DVDs to a lot of people here. In addition, I was browsing this very weekend to research prices to make informed observations. I saw a few HD sets in the $600 range. Smaller sets, yes. I do agree that anyone who buys a SD Tv now is throwing their money out the door. SD sets should have an obsolesence disclaimer on them, since they will likely need a converter to watch OTA broadcasts before the life of the set is up.

Of course, like it has been pointed out, it all depends on your priorities. That payment was worth it to me but may not be worth it to everyone. I'm not saying everyone can afford it, but if you are buying a dozen or more DVDs a month, you can't say that it is unaffordable, it's just not your preference and that does not make HiFi wrong. HiFi does make himself an inviting target by being so over the top though.

Wayde

You said it, and that is the point I was trying to make. A DVD that uses DD and DTS well sounds better than hack transferred CD or lousy studio recording on analog. I'd rather see DD and DTS used consistently well than to see a new format like DVD-A and SACD bastardized with lousy transfers.

I am fully clued into the hi-res formats, the numbers/bitrates and have done a lot of critical listening to my own collection. My conclusion is that a DVD-A done right sounds amazing. But, when care is taken a DTS soundtrack on a DVD sounds good too. I'm not trying to compare the two. It's just that with all the poor Dolby Digital audio transfers out there what the hell are they going to do with all the extra numbers offered by a DVD-A format? Nothing!

As for this vinyl thing... you have me down as saying that digital sounds better. I never said that. It IS a better medium for a variety of reasons, but doesn't necessarily sound better. The developments made in digitizing sound with pulse code modulation (perfected here in my hometown by engineers at the University of Waterloo) have created high end sound in affordable packages. I realize that analog is the only complete audio signal, and any digitization by its very definition is incomplete. But the numbers presented by DVD-Audio make the incompleteness well beyond the scope of human hearing and beyond most playback equipment's ability to reproduce those sounds.

However, there is a lot of snake oil being sold out there in the hi-fi world. People who believe that analog is 'always' better than digital, and that tube amps are better than solid state. Tube amps DO introduce a specific distortion that can be mimicked by mosfet solid state amps which Pioneer Elite uses for that very purpose (the same distortion can be introduced with 100ohm resistors in series with your amps output) but that so called "warm" sound of tube amps is just that... distortion. And the so called "complete" audio signal found on your vinyl, chances are isn't being heard unless, as you say you have very high end gear.

If you have a 6K turntable or a complete analog system w/ reel to reel you're happy with, more power to ya! Don't hold your breath for the recording industry to turn to some analog storage medium for movies and thank God for that. CDs and DVDs (including DVD-Audio, SACD and whatever future incarnation we're going to see) are better as a medium of storage, transportation of sound in an affordable easily played back package than vinyl record albums. That is my contention, I'm not saying the digital medium always sounds better than analog, it just sounds better 99% of the time. Most of all, my contention is that rather than going to war over some new medium like DVD-Audio, SACD, HD DVD, Blu-Ray, which are all still up in the air, I'd rather see the recording industry focus on using Dolby Digital to the best of its ability.

Tandem

Are you guys still living in the dorms? Why do you all talk about only buying one TV?

Let's see, there's the home theater. Nothing but the best there - that's a given.

Next there's the living area, we can splurge a little there, too.

Then there's the the kitchen. That taps into and duplicates what's on in the living area so a small monitor will do.

The master bedroom, not as good of a sound system as the living area but still adequate.

The home office, we can step it down a little there, but we'll have to duplicate the setup for wifey's office - no favoritism allowed.

Workout room, need a decent sized TV there but the emphasis is on the sound system. Another monitor for the hot tub but it can share the system in the workout room.

The shop area, need to be able to watch/listen to sports while working on projects, but it doesn't have to demand a lot of attention.

The kids area, they're going to need something nice for playing xbox and watching videos.

Then there's small TVs in the kids rooms, do you think we're stunting their development if we allow them to watch VHS (shudder) tapes in their rooms?

Did we forget anything? TVs in the bathrooms? I've seen some nice in-wall units, but do you think that's going too far?

Oh yeah, we've got to have systems in the cars too, to keep the kids occupied.

Let's see, that comes to... well, I'll let you do the math. Would it be ok to not upgrade everything at once? I'm afraid if I wait too long, super HD or something will come out and I'll have to start all over again.

DthRdrX

Good point. Most of my postings are only done in regard to what others are saying about Hd-dvd and BR. Sorry for going off-topic but their is a lot of wrong information out there.

Given the topic, I don't have HD programming yet, but I am still buying SD dvds. I am, however, buying more HD-vhs tapes than dvds. I used to buy a lot of dvds every month but now maybe only 1-2. The difference the HD tapes makes is totally worth it to me. Most of them are jaw-dropping.

I'm waiting to order HD directTV when they up the channels in the next few years. Can't see paying for it now when the channel lineup is so small and the new Mpeg 4 compatiable boxes will be out in another year.

speedyray

Just wondering if you have considered VOOM. It has lots of HD channels, not saying that all the content is good, I mean there are times that I have 25+ HD programs to choose between and do not care for any of them, but it is better than anyone else has. At least right now in the "getting to know VOOM" period (first few weeks after install), it has reinterested me in television which I really never watch except for some sports and adult swim. The cable was basically for my wife - but I know flip through before I put in a DVD.

I know there is some debate over PQ (as compared to Dish and Direct) and whether thew company will survive - but with the current $1 install and only a 6 month commit I decided to try it out. Best case scenerio March comes and the new DVR arrives as eluded to by Press info and we get a total of 70 HD and 200 SD channels, worst case we keep what we have which is reasonably priced IMHO. There are only a few SD channels I miss (CMT, GAC). Also, satelliteguys.us has some forums I have found interesting and they have pretty good info on VOOM and Mpeg 4 as well as DVR and the current state of the company of you do want to look into it since the VOOM site is basically just an ad with channel linups.

They supply a pretty dang good OTA antenna as well and my local affiliates look real clean. Much better than my brothers Comcast local channel HD.

Jray

I just got my HDTV in November and got the HD channels from my local cable company in December. And already my DVD viewing has taken a big hit. If the HD is done right, it just seems to look SOOO much better to me than a DVD. I was kind of disappointed actually, that my DVDs didn't look as good as I expected. I bought a new progressive scan player and it didn't even give me the jump I expected.

I thought Voom already bit the dust?

Jray

Is that why they didn't look as good as I thought they should? Kinda soft and not real crisp... Although, I think these movies had a soft look to them to begin with.

shtfilter

Hello,
I have been following this thread since the first post because I had already ordered my HDTV set and was wondering if the same thing would happen to me.

Here's an answer to the question:
Yes. I have not bought DVDs since buying my TV. I got Comcast HDTV with the DVR and I have become a madman. I must record almost anything that's on. I haven't watched this many nature shows since I was in elementary school.
But why is it that HBO-HD runs the same crap that regular HBO does? Who wants to see 'National Security' in HD? Who's demanding that?

Some movies look good on DVD. I watched 'Ali' the director's cut and it was awesome as was 'Return of the King'. Some look not so good. 'Boogie Nights' or 'Spider-Man' for example.

Before I got the TV I planned to rewatch everything I own on it. Now, I put it in an test if it looks good. If it looks good I watch it, if not I put in on the shelf. I don't plan to replace any movies unless they are 'favorites'. 'Dark City' for one.

DthRdrX

Thanks for the idea! I have been watching the Voom breakup with great interest. I think they are going to go out of business, or merged, but we'll see. I actually don't know of anyone in my area with Voom but I have heard the programming compression is much less than DirectTV. In all honesty I'm interested in DirectTV for football games next year and that has kept me away from Voom. I would guess the NFL is DTV's golden goose for programming.

hifisapien

Define gearhead? I dont think I will fit your defintion. I know alot about
audio and video technologies because its interesting but it is never as interestiing as the MUSIC or the FILMS when seen and heard in the best possible quality.

I am not into technology, I am into QUALITY music and movies. If its older thats better
( LIKE LPS vs CDS) then I stick with old, but when newer is better than older ( LIKE HDTV vs NTSC) I go with newer. To me its not about technology, its about getting the most out my music and movies and I found out a LONG LONG TIME AGO that whatever is the most realistic ( Sound or picture) ends up giving the most satisfaction.
I dont play videogames so thats a non issue but if an old nintendo had a better "game"
that the newer systems do even with worse graphics, I would probably like and play it because even though I am not a videogamer I know what a good game is and it isnt about graphics only, thats for sure. Look at chess! Not much to see is there is there?
but its certainly a classic to play.

hifisapien

Id like to comment on one of these. I saw boogie nights about 5 times on DVD since it came out. Interesting movie. But then I saw it in HD a few months ago and it was INCREDIBLY BETTER LOOKING ( I think it was on HBO-HD). The HD version makes the dvd look like crap. These are the kind of incidents that are making me less enthusiastic about DVD......Now I know the DVD is old but still, how many DVDs are still coming out with 5 to 10 years old transfers that do NOT match what is possible today with DVD transfers. The quality variations in DVDs is too much. What I am assuming is that with HD-DVD, all the transfers will be recent and better quality and very few "dogs" will see the light of day in HD-DVD for a while at least until HD-DVD is the only format and DVD goes away which may take decades......

speedyray

No, VOOM lives, though its future is hazy. From what I gather Charles Dolan is the majority shareholder of Cablevision (49% of the voting stock). One of his sons is the CEO - this son wants to shutdown VOOM. Charles and another son are so committed to VOOM they are considering selling off their stake in Cablevision to support VOOM's future. Charles Cablevision share is worth and estimated $12 billion. It is his pet project and he is working to aquire all the prodocts, liabilities and equipment from cablevision to form VOOM LLC or something like that. He has promised indirectly through PR upgrades in March, but I guess that is tenative since on Feb 23 Cablevision will either sell him the company or shut it down. I invested the $1 to get it installed incase it lasts. That is the short version and it may still have mistakes in it as some of the info out there is sketchy at best.

hypeiv

I have slowed down a lot. I have since only bought dvd's when I wanted to watch them and do more renting. It drives me crazy when stuidos release the same movie in a newer version (like ultimate edition, superbit, etc) and I get screwed for being faithful and buying the first release the day it came out.

$15 for a new release of a dvd that will most likely get replaced by another version of the same movie or a newer format in a year and they wonder why people pirate movies (in a little lower quailty) onto $0.50 discs.

dadaluholla

I plan on getting into HD when I can purchase some cheap ass CyberHome HDDVD player for like $20.

speedyray

Well, since it got bumped, with VOOM gone and the HD lineup elsewhere weak, I must say my DVD purchases and watching are actually growing rather than slacking. I watch HD racing on Fox on the weekends, but not really much else. I find my DVDs look great except a few older titles. I mean I am sure HDDVD will be better, but I am not drooling over it.

Richard Malloy

Saw "Mean Streets" on HD Movienet last night... wow!! Except from some unusual jitter in those overhead shots of the neighborhood at the beginning, this was quite a surprisingly good image.

tonyc3742

DVDs look great.
HD looks better.
I have more DVDs I "want" to watch, than there is HD content I'm interested in.
DVD > HD.
If I had to choose, I'd keep DVD over HD--as it currently stands. I'd also keep DVR over HD if I had to lose my HD/DVR. Choose between DVD and DVR, hmm, tough one...
I'm still renting a lot of DVDs, and that has caused my purchasing to go down, but I'm watching more DVD than HDTV.

Adam Tyner

HDNet Movies, not HD Movienet.

DthRdrX

Actually "Super HD" has been alive for quite sometime and is used, from what I understand, in some top notch art schools as well as the government. I personally don't think we will see anything outmarket current HD in the next 30-50 years though. By then we will be looking at much greater than 5K resolutions, if not quality that is unthinkable by today's standards. To sum it up, a new television standard(SD-HD) seems to take decades to push rather than years. Hd has actually been around since what, the 80s?