I just don't know. It will depend on many variables such as price. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I will have to wait to see, and hear an overall demonstration of the picture and sound quality of this upcoming HD-DVD, or BluRay format in a enclosed high end, state of the art A/V Hardware retailer showroom in person, before I make a final decision whether or not as to invest in this new technology, whenever the software become available... Only time will tell.

Few if any, barring something on the horizon I haven't heard about yet.

Absolutely none!...as i've said before the current dvd format serves my purposes all too well, the next generation of HD-DVD/Blu Ray or whatever is a technology i have no desire to embrace unless my whole dvd collection is rendered useless through 'dvd rot' in 'X' years time etc, i've more pressing matters in life to concern me.

like most others, I'm sure I'll rebuy stuff like:

Batman Begins
LOTR
Star Wars films
ANY SPIELBERG titles (most importantly Jaws, Jurrasic, ET, Close Encounters)
Fifth Element
PT Anderson flicks

I don't see myself doubling on any TV shows and most comedies etc. I'm sure I'll just be happy with the current DVD versions.

MATT

None, Zip, Nada, i'm too old to start over my collection. I'll leave it to you young folks.

Same here, assuming:

1. They aren't priced obscenely. That is, I can sell my standard DVD on eBay, buy the Blu-ray version, and not feel like I've blown a ton of cash.

2. The Blu-ray version offers something to improve upon my current DVD (better picture, sound, extras). I'm sure that some titles (especially initial ones) won't look any better than my standard DVDs upconverted on my HDTV. Much like some of the initial DVDs weren't as good as their laserdisc counterparts (Highlander, etc.)

I'm assuming the quality gap will be broader this time around since Blu-Ray is much closer in terms of technology to DVD than DVD was to LD; since studios have had 8 years to perfect standard DVD, hopefully the jump to Blu-Ray will be smoother and more obviously beneficial right out of the gate.

My biggest double-dipping priority is "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" *checks the news elsewhere* Hooray!

Seriously, while I'm definately interested in HD (having purchased a big screen HD set last year and seeing what HD really looks like) I'm feeling patient enough for rebuying. We'll need patience. It's likely to take some time to get the bugs out (some of them intentional in the name of "copyright protection"). I know how good HD looks, but it will be hard for me to justify paying top dollar to upgrade a regular DVD with a top-notch transfer. I expect most of my HD purchases to be new releases, with double-dipping limited to massive improvements in overall package (if the first release had flaws) or bargain pricing. Then again, I've never been much of a double-dipper in the first place.

I can see buying new releases and catalog titles in HD that I don't already own, but doubt I'll replace many titles. I don't think the difference in quality is night and day. HD makes the most difference with sports to my eyes. While movies are better in HD, they're not enough better to justify replacing many of my DVDs.

Although, I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised when the new format comes out. Maybe it'll look significantly better than HD over satellite. When THX-1138 played on HDNET via DirecTV, I put on the DVD at the same time and switched them back and forth. In many scenes, the DVD actually looked superior. I'm thinking this was surely due to DirecTV overcompressing their channels (or whatever you call it), so maybe I'll be amazed at what HD discs look like.

Like many others have said, it depends heavily on the price. I'll pick up a few new release titles and replace a few DVDs if we are looking at $25-30. If the price point approaches DVDs (and clubs like CH continue to offer discs at ~$6 each), then I'll likely replace my entire collection (all 1800-something titles).

I concur with you 100 percent. Whenever the HD-DVD software initially debut on the market, the quality must be eminent over the current DVD counterparts to persuade me to invest in HD-DVD or BluRay.
My opinion, with much simularity, after viewing some of the film presentations on cable HD Net Movies I must say, I was not astonishingly impressed with the HD picture quality as expected. As you stated above, the DVD Video looked almost equivalent, or better in comparison to the HD movie. My theory, it may depend on the transfer itself...I could be wrong, and if so, someone please correct me, and issue an explaination.

I never understood this logic -- 35mm film is roughly equivalent to 4000 lines of digital resolution -- DVD currently offers 480. HD is going to offer 1080 -- let's just round for arguments sake to 500 and 1000 respectively. You're getting twice the resolution with the HD format -- 25% of the (typical) original resolution of the image.

When done correctly, the HD transfers are going to blow the SD transfers away -- a lot of this will depend on how well the compression works and how much space actually ends up being available for the video on the new discs.

I'll wait and see how it looks before I make the plunge, but I'd be just as eager to upgrade Citizen Kane as I would The Empire Strikes Back.

-- Jim

This "logic" won't go away until there are some really stellar HD transfers of older films, non-effects films, etc. I don't think people will understand it until they actually *see* it.

Basically, I'm seeing these statements a lot in these threads, and it just seems to be from people who have an ignorance about film vs. video, resolutions, etc. Or people who only have a vague sense of what "HD" actually is. Most people seem to think that if it wasn't filmed within the past few years, HD doesn't matter. But, you're right -- you're not only doubling the resolution, but you still haven't even begun to approach the resolution of the original film.

I don't think the blu-ray marketing folks realize what an uphill battle they have to make people realize that The Wizard of Oz in high definition will be radically better than their current DVDs.

EDITED TO CLARIFY: I realize reading through this that it may seem that I'm saying that this poster specifically was ignorant about film resolution. I'm not. If picture quality (as a matter of taste) only matters on effects-heavy films, that's fine. But I am seeing a lot of comments from people who think that anything filmed before 1950, 1980, 2000 (pick any random year) will not benefit. And that simply isn't true.

I'm not a videophile, I honestly don't care much about how clear the picture is in most cases. Hell, I was fine with VHS picture quality, I just hated the lack of widescreen OAR transfers, no 5.1 sound, rewinding, no instant scene access, no extra features, etc. Those were the things DVD offered that got me on board, not so much the better picture quality. That was just an added bonus.

As such, I'm not too excited about a new format that just offers better A/V quality.

As for the movies I listed, the SE heavy movies among my favorites are the ones that benefit most from looking nice IMO, so I might up grade some of them. Dramas, comedies, etc., I really don't care what they look like and won't bother.

Or people like me that just like to watch movies, and don't care much about how good they look. As long as it's a clear picture without grain, static, and other easily noticeable flaws.


I think some do think that. But not me. My comment was on genre as I just dont' care how good dramas, comedies etc. look. Really only the special effect heavy movies, both older and new ones, are the ones I at least care a little about having the best picture because a lot of these movies are enjoyable 90% for their eye candy.

I'm not of the opinion that things have to be exploding or we have to be watching something in bullet time to make it visually striking and engaging.

Kubrick's Barry Lyndon comes to mind immediately as a "simple drama" that would look beautiful with a proper HD transfer. Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express is another -- no special effects, character driven and beautifully photographed.

Even without talking HD here, do a side-by-side comparison of the Fox Lorber release of Ran and the recent Criterion release -- the difference is night and day.

Also, grain is most definitely not a "flaw" by any means -- it is inherent in the medium, part of the image and transfers use digital trickery to eliminate it are doing a disservice to the medium. You see grain in a theatrical presentation of a film, a proper DVD transfer would reflect that as well. One should not confuse grain with dirt, scratches and water damage which are another matter entirely.

-- Jim

Yes indeed! Older movies that were made antecedently the year 2000, will be even more of a challenge to properly succeed being transferred to authentic HD resolution, considering their age, than current modern films.

Can you explain that to me? What is so magical about the year 2000 that films are now able to be "transferred to authentic HD resolution"? A ton of older movies already have HD transfers that have been downconverted to standard DVD.

I don't see why Christmas with the Kranks is going to be "better looking" in HD than Back to the Future, North by Northwest, or The Wizard of Oz. Ultimately, they're all film-based works... and all can look great at 1080 lines of resolution. The fact that they are separated by decades doesn't really seem too relevant.

I've seen several people claim this recently -- that stuff made "before 2000" would be tough -- but I really don't understand it.

I don't get it either, unless they're just saying the original masters are in worse shape, thus they'll have more dirt, scratches etc. and be harder to get to look as nice as a newer film with a pristine master on the shelf.

I've never said older films won't look great, just that I don't care about the improvement enough for them to remotely considering rebuying.

This is exactly what I was referring to. Thanks!

I'm heading to CES this week and since the better the sound and video are the more I appreciate a film, I'm pretty darn stoked. I'm hoping to see someone actually showing true 1080p video, not something that has been upped to 1080p. I really hope that the format war actually pushes them towards 1080p asap instead of 1080i HD/BR DVDs.

I'm also very interested in going to the dolby and dts booths although I'm sure it will be an hour wait for each.

One of my big goals is to find out if there has been any new info on 1080i/p input standardization. I've read a lot of speculation and even possible cable wars instead of standardization. Hopefully there will be more info as I'd like to get a big ass TV for my bedroom that can be good enough for the next 5 years. (good enough for me not joe 25" TV VHS is good enough)

Only a few:

LOTR Trilogy
Entire Star Wars Saga (all six)
Both "Bournes"
Jack Ryan series

Probably only a handful, but I will most likely pick up new releases in the format as I go forward.

I seriously doubt that the new format will prevent studios from doing the old douple dip (barebones release then a few months later an SE). Storage space or not, they'll still try to get you to buy the film (on the new format) more than once.

When the studios grow up and stop releasing subpar product, then I will switch over. Seems like every DVD release for the last few years has some kind of problem.