I think HD-DVD may end up a bit of a niche. There is no reason for the general consumer to upgrade since DVDs and DVD players are dirt cheap and they already look and sound great.

I don't see how HD-DVD will offer much improvement for movies. Movies are limited by the film used. They can never look any better than they do on film, and with compression artifacts being miniscule for most Hollywood releases...

There may be more audio options with less compression, but again this is moot to the general consumer. Everyone in my family owns a DVD player. Not one of them has it hooked up to a sound system (but me).

I have 600+ DVDs and on my 57" tv I am completely satisfied with how they look. I have no plans to upgrade when HD-DVD is available. I believe DVDs will be safe through my lifetime.

simply put...no.

The biggest noticable difference between DVD and HD is not resolution in my opinion. The key here for most average sized displays is color space, in which dvd is pretty pathetic in comparison. In this case HD looks terrific compared to actual film.

Salo would fall in value if it was ever rereleased by Criterion or a new format version pops out, in which case, someone who pays 1000 for it now will lose a lot of money. If you want to know why it is worth so much to collectors, the reason is because it had a small print run and was "curiously" taken off the market. This was in a time when dvd was still "niche" and many Laserdisc owners hated the format. Who do you think is probably paying the 1000 for it now?

Stupid people who want to lose money usually INVEST in electronics. Buy what you want and enjoy it. I have 900+ titles I enjoy. Get over it and move on with your life.

I finally threw out my beta vcr and tapes last year. I dont think it worked anymore but for some reason I just kept them. About 2 months ago I put my old stereo (turntable, cassette player, speakers etc. in a corner to get rid of but they are still there. I guess Dvd will be the same way at some point. I might keep them like my record albums but I guess at some point they will have to go.....

I guess it bares repeating since people keep saying that movies on HD won't show any improvement. Film has a higher resolution than the current HD standard. Even a movie on a HD disc or broadcast channel cannot provide all of the detail that film provides. So there is not a limitation in HD movies caused by it originating from film. In fact the opposite is true and HD cannot show all of the detail that there is in the original film master.

Now some people on the other hand might find that they'll be content to watch the lower resolution of SD DVD than make the move to HD. And this is one of the possible reasons that HD will continue to be a niche market but make no mistake there is a definite improvement in both color and resolution between the same movie in SD DVD and HD in any form.

Sell them before they are "useless" then.

I was worried about the same thing. Before I sold all of my DVDs, I transferred them to videotape - videotape will NEVER be obsolete.

There will be DVD players around for another 10 years, if you are afraid of not having one, in 8 years pick up two spare players and keep then in the box.

I am not worried about my DVD becoming "Outdated". They look great on my HDTV and I will not be Double Dipping to pick up the HD version of the movies I already have.

I know my DVDs can look even better if I pick up a DVD player that has a DVI output. This way I will not have to deal with the Digital to Analog conversion.

You said it perfect!

Wow, what a terrible argument. You pick a single example of which there are few correlaries and that's what you point to? Salo (and other OOP DVDs) are simple supply and demand. They are few and far between. I would bet there are more copies of Incredibles printed than there were Mickey Mantle rookie cards. There may be a few DVDs that because of their OOP status garner more used than they retailed for new, but you miss a glaring, obvious point - if they are ever re-released, their value will plummet. If what you are "investing" DVDs is anything more than the enjoyment of watching them, you should stick that money in a simple savings account, where I would bet dollars to doughnuts that it would make more money.

Just like cars--one in a million cars increases in value, the rest plummet the second you turn them on.
Just like videogames--one in a million now sells for 200 bucks [and that's if it's sealed], the rest can be found for 5 bucks used or 8 bucks clearance.
Just like computers--the computer I'm on now, cost ~1500 new, if I could even downgrade enough to find an equivalent, it would cost maybe 350, and 250 of that is the monitor.

DVD is huge now. Except in a case of instant recalls or something like Ed Wood, they are not a financial investment. They can be an 'emotional' investment, as in, "I want to buy this because I want to be able to own it and watch it 2, 3, 6 years down the road"-because you will be able to.
Occasionally OOP disks could go for a lot on Ebay.....but in order to luck out on those rarities, you'd have to spend a lot more buying various titles than you'd make in profit.

That's an interesting point about what new formats have to offer. HDDVD will definitely 'look' better, but other than that, what 'new' will it offer to the general public?

I can't imagine that any company wanting to push a new format wouldn't make the new format players backwards compatible forever -- sort of like how all DVD players play CDs. I think that with the installed base of movies and shows on DVD (billions of discs?) that there is just NO WAY that this wouldn't be the case.

I also can't imagine that HD-DVD or Blu-Ray is going to look or sound that much better than my current setup of the Zenith 318 with the 1080i DVI output and 7.1 surround. I've seen HD movies on cable and they don't look any better than what is output from my DVD player.

I am truly impressed and awed by HD when it's NOT film, but "live" shows like the look of American Idol or Leno or the Summer Olympics. As someone earlier said, DVD and/or HD-DVD is just not a format that is up to the standard of film itself. It will NEVER look as good at home as in a theater.

So, all my blathering boils down to "no", I have no concern that I'll lose all of my DVDs to the new format.

'Scuse the newb if this has already been discussed in another thread

I'm curious as to if any one has slowed down on the purchase of DVDs because of HD-DVD/bluray or whatever it's gonna be

I remember back in '00 when I first started buying DVDs and (in my ignorance) thinking "Holy crap!, this is awesome! This is as good as this is going to look and/or sound- the definitive version of (insert favorite film here)! I'll never have to buy this movie again!

Flash forward to '05 and I can really see that this is not the case. For example the Blade Runner dvd. My untrained eyes were perfectly happy with this transfer- it was the best I had ever seen this film look. But now it doesn't look so hot. My 'library' doesn't look definitive to me anymore- it just looks like 200+ items that are gonna have to be replaced. I've become a little more critical of the purchases I make knowing that a new and improved version is right around the road.

Just wondering if anyone else feels the the same disappointment I do...

Josh

No, I've slowed because I now have over 200 DVDs and my shelf is getting close to full and I'm kinda burnt out on the hobby. I also have a lot of what I want.

Yeah, if anything I slow down because I'm running out of shelf space. But I still have a ton of dvds on my wishlist and I'm not takin 'em off just because a new format might pop up. I think it'll probably be a couple years before that happens anyway. And I think I heard that blu-ray players will be able to play regular dvds too.

It hasn't affected my purchasing habits at all.

Here's a thread from earlier this year:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=414241

It shouldn't be an issue as it is clearly plausible that new formats will continually be released. Just as the DVDs replaced VHS and every other format, I do expect a replacement to come in the near future. It has always been in the back of my mind of course, but you have to look at it like this. Are you not going to buy a 2005 BMW because eventually a better BMW (2006) will be released? You can't make purchases with that mindset.

I've hardly bought any DVDs in the past year. I've slowed down considerably in the past 2 years. It's just a conscious choice to save my money instead of adding DVDs which I'll watch once and let sit on my shelf for the next 3-5 years. Once blu-ray becomes entrenched, DVDs will eventually be phased out so I don't want to be saddled with the DVD version of a movie I would rather have in blu-ray.

i love my DVD's too much to let them be replaced by a superior format.

With all this talk of Blue Ray and HD and such I think the bottom line is that DVD has just recently gained mainstream acceptance. I think what the DVD fans and cinephiles need to realize is that the average joe doesn't want to nor have the cash to re buy trivial things such as DVDS every couple years. Thats why CDs have been around for over 20 years and thats why VHS tapes were around so long. Things like Blue Ray and HD don't provide the huge leap in quality that were prevelant when watching a VHS to DVD or cassette to CD. I have an HD tv, I have watched shows in HD and regular and sure it looks better but for the average guy making 30 grand a year it doesn't justify the costs. And with DVD players dropping dramatically it is now affordable for everyone.

So no I have not chnaged my buying habits because DVDs are going to be around for quite a long time, and I think it is silly to think that DVDs will be extinct within the next few years. And like an above poster said everything will be replaced eventually.

Nope. I can't afford to be on the cutting edge of HD-DVD, so i'm going to wait until the price has dropped.

I slowed down this month only about 11 movies far; however, I think it is more due to the HUGE DDD orders I placed last month.

And isn't it inevitable that by the end of this decade, blu-ray (and hd-dvd) will be replaced by yet another generation of disc technology? So might as well skip blu-ray (and hd-dvd) and wait for that one.

No, not because of a new format, but I have cut back on purchases. Mostly because with 400+ titles sitting on my shelf, I try to make sure any DVD I purchase these days is going to get watched more than once.

In my opinion this is a rediculous reason to not buy DVDs. First of all, a lot of the catalogue stuff being released these days wont look any better on HD DVDs or BluRays b/c there is only so much you can do to 10- or 20 year-old film, this is especially true with tv shows and films not filmed digitally or in HD, so what would be the point of waiting to get it on a next format? No benefit. The only reason why the studios would even release it is to just make the extra buck from a new generation of movie watchers/collectors. They likely wont put the amt of effort it may take to restore a film to HD quality from a non-digital source (if this can even be done.)

So, no, i am not going to stop purchasing good quality DVDs with good extras. And if in 5 years, War of the Worlds comes out in HD format with never-before-seen extras, then i'll probably buy it. But until then i will savor the excellent DVD i will be buying in Nov/Dec.