Big Dave

I think in many respects we have entered the second golden age as far as DVD bargains, with the first being when all the dot-coms were trying to get our money. Just look at how deep of discounts we are getting on titles, some not out even a few months. Combined by the fact that studios are releasing all those hidden jems now that most of the big hitters are out there.

I am considering getting a new HD-ready TV in the next month or so, but will probably not invest in an HD player until the format war is a bit settled, a minimum of a year off. DVDs are fine by me for now.

caiman

DVD is the first "pure" format to have mainstream, mass market appeal. By pure I mean presenting films the way they should be shown (OAR, good picture and sound quality). That's why, for me, the jump from VHS to DVD was a quick, swift transition with no hesitation and no looking back. But now with DVD, I'm satisfied. So the jump from DVD to HD/BR is going to be slow and lethergic. I have what I want. DVD will keep me satisfied for a long time.

IamLegend

There is no way Blu ray and HD will continue to exist and be successful on large scale. Talk to a Best buy salesperson and they will tell you they don't sell much. I think HD is cool..just going to wait until format war over and prices a lot cheaper(which they will be) and format bugs worked out.

EdTheRipper

I have no intentions of upgrading to HD or Blu-Ray. Standard dvds are fine by me.

speedyray

Well, I am selling off several DVDs, but not many more than I normally would. I have only replaced about 10 or so with HD-DVD. I buy plenty of DVDs, but I spend most of my planned money on HD stuff. I buy DVDs when they are a great deal or something I doubt will be available on HD anytime soon. Trust me, the bulk of my 1000+ will never be upgraded.

speedyray

LD did just fine and I don't think I ever saw a disc or a player in Best Buy or Circuit City.

astrochimp

Ditto for me.

PacMan2006

Question...how good does up-conversion DVD players make regular dvd's look? Do they look significantly better than a regular dvd playing in a normal DVD player?

toddly6666

If this high definition DVD business was serious, they would decide on one format. I can't believe how silly and bizarre it is to see an HD DVD of Happy Gilmore or a BLU-RAY DVD of 50 First Dates. These are Adam Sandler movies, not home theater movies. With these two formats, they will kill it if they don't decide on one, because it only shows indecisiveness to the consumers. Do the movie companies think it will sell the same as video games - in that every fan of video games buy all the systems, even if it's going to be dated in a year or so? Works with video games, but not with movies. Movie consumers are more commited to one format.

porieux

I'm fine with DVD. Frankly there isn't much content that is worth the 'upgrade'. I don't just mean things that are out in HD, I mean movies in general.

argh923

Ditto.

tjn007

Without a doubt. It's as close to HD as your going to get without buying HD disc/player. The better the DVD is authored, the better the image is going to be. This is why I'm not in a big rush to go HD/BluRay. I'm content with the image I have now on my 64" HD set.

I've learned my lesson from DVD selling cycles. I'll jump into HD/BR when the discs come down to WalMart type prices (just like regular DVD's do today). This way I can replace my library slowly without jumping in on the $25-35 prices today. I don't care if this takes a few years to happen. You know it will eventually.

iconoclasm

exactly. I will wait a few years until the dominant format becomes apparent- i remember loads of fools thought beta would beat vhs and laserdisc would be better than dvd. It definitely pays to wait

edit

the best part of all of this is that many many dvds will get clearanced out for a buck or 2 just like when vhs movies sold for a buck or 2 when that format was obselete

nateman

not getting rid of dvds ever! spending 25,000 dollars on dvds im not just gonna pawn it off for not even half that.
personally hd-dvd & blu-ray are not an improvent. going from 90% to 94% isn't that great. plus half the time its the movie not the techology that looks bad.
grain and other glitches are still apparent in both formats. the only way to make it buyable for me is if they can actually make a 30 year old movie look brand new, it won't happen for some time yet.
companies arn't thinking about the customers. even a big movie or tv buff isn't going to shelf out $1,000 bucks for a new machine and then spend $40 on a movie.
im hoping that hd-dvd & blu-ray defeat each other and die together. dvd is still a child only reach its 10 bday so they at the very least need to give dvd 10 more years until they make a good next generation format.
i don't even own an hdtv and im sick of these companies forcing people into the hd era, the fcc want's to ban analog altogether and forcing everyone to buy new crap that doesn't work right half the time anyway.
if they do ban it they better be buying everyone a new hdtv or else there's going to be a lot and i mean a lot of pissed off people.
dvds last 70 years so as far as im concered ill be dead by then so it doesn't matter anyway.

milo bloom

Laserdisc did not tank. It lasted from the late 70's to the late 90's. That's 20 years. DVD is just under 10 years old, and already being replaced? Let's just keep our perspective here.

I personally feel that one unified format might have made a dent in SD DVD, but with a format war, I don't see an easy win for either one.

marty888

I'm happy with what I have, and there's no way I'd be motivated to replace 2000 DVDs. As someone who collected VHS for 15 years, I'm still enjoying the WOW factor of DVDs.

dvd_luver

Not me, I am sticking with DVD. It's a great format, not superior to HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, but it has more titles to offer at a low cost and the video quality to me is very acceptable.

hindolio

how can anyone give up on dvds when they are priced sooo low nowadays

tonyc3742

Seriously.
Just got three seasons of tv shows for 25 bucks total from Amazon.
I'll continue buying some dvd, especially tv sets which won't be on HD soon if ever, and the occasional 'gotta have' movie, esp. if it's only on BD and DVD, and not HDDVD.
As cool as HDDVD/BD are, and as good as they look, content is king, and apart from some movies, I'm more into tv series now. Which is odd, because my general opinion of television is very low.
I've upgraded a few DVDs to HD, and either given away or sold the SDVD; I've still got plenty of SDVD content to watch along with HDDVD.

speedyray

All of you really need to get your head out of the sand and look into the formats before you start spouting off about them.

1. They are NOT going to go away. Plain and simple the entire industry is leveraged on these two competing technologies. Sony is so leveraged on the PS3 and BD technology if BD fails Sony may no longer exist. Toshiba is in real deep with HD-DVD as well. The studios need to make money and they are not making it from DVDs anymore. I would guess within the year, probably for the next holiday season, the HD formats will have exclusive titles that DVD will not offer forcing the switch.

2. Old movies look great in HD. The sentiment that only the latest and greatest look great is absurd. Some of the best reviewed disc are for movies like Robin Hood and Grand Prix which have some definate age.

3. No one is asking you to shell out a fortune. I mean you guys are throwing around retail prices. I am averaging below $15 per title for HD content. I only spent $363 for my A1 shipped to my door. It was actually cheaper than the DVD player I was looking to purchase.

4. No one says you have to replace anything. I only replace movies I feel "I" want an upgrade for. Almost none of the early adopters have given up on DVD. We just try not to purchase DVDs of movies we can get in HD. Some of us buy BD, some buy HD-DVD and some buy both.

5. Prices are not going to come down and we are not going to have a winner anytime soon because everyone is "waiting for a winner." The masses lack of action is causing HD format growth and inevitable price reduction to go quite slowly. If enough people wait it could be years before we see iit get truly affordable.

6. Why does everyone think LD failed. It lasted over 20 years. DVD is only 10 years old. So what if HD-DVD and BD become the next LD. There were thousands of titles available on LD, some of which still are not on DVD.

SINGLE104

I am still buying standard DVDs, and i'll always will. To be honest, I am not that enthused in HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray because i've have become so accustomed to the HD technology, it's no longer such a big deal to me anymore, (which is the reason why I haven't purchased a HD DVD Player.) Heck! it's very rare that I view any HD channels on cable due to this gradually lack of interest.

indiephantom

Good stuff. I was a laserdisc guy, and enjoyed that format for about 11 years. I have about 100 LD's that I still enjoy.

I went to DVD in 1999, and it was the right time for obvious reasons.

I have a great collection and a terrific setup. I don't plan on buying an HD Tv (and I would want a big one) until I'm in better financial shape to do so. I would say at least 4 years. I find the situation pretty confusing regarding signal quality and the lack of HD channels in my area.

Won't buy into HD or Blu-Ray unless one of those formats surpasses SD DVD in available product. To be honest, I don't think that will happen for quite awhile. There are bound to be improvements along the way, and there could possibly be another format out by the time I'm ready to invest.

indiephantom

Or...more logically, both formats could fail and SD DVD could emerge the real winner. Face it: VHS ruled for a long time (Laserdisc, Beta, 8mm couldn't dethrone it). If SD DVD is the true succesor to VHS, it could be around for quite some time.

This lack of "action" you speak of could be translated to mean low interest in the new formats. I know a lot of people, some that own HD TV's. But nobody I know has bought into BD or HD DVD at this point.

JZ1276

Laserdisc might not have tanked, however it was nowhere near as popular as DVDs are. BTW, are you sure about laserdiscs being around in the late 70's? People didnt even have VHS players in their homes until the early 80's.

TheMovieman

No way am I going to invest in HD or BR until there's a clear winner... and even then I might wait until it's for sure. And if there is no clear winner, then I guess I'll just have to live without either unless the players and discs are affordable.

In any case, I'm sticking with the SD DVDs.