im not a fucking idiot.

a large portion of my dvd collection is tv on dvd sets and there is next to no tv on hd-dvd or tv on blu-ray (which sounds fucking stupid) to warrent spending 10 million dollars on a big machine.

im not a bitch when it comes to picture quality, sure i want the picture to look half decent but it doesn't have to look like perfection. standard DVD picture quality is excellent in my opinion, the sound is great. nothing like 5.1 dolby digital or DTS 6.1 discrete.
hell i don't even hate VHS quality. i think the hd-dvd/Blu-ray format is the worst of all format wars.
i really don't want to spend 100,000 dollars replacing my whole collection. 36 bucks compared to 28 bucks is way to much more to spend on a 2 hour movie.
im sticking with SD-DVD for a long time to come. i think both formats will destroy each other and SD-DVD's will be around for the next 20 years until a different type of media altogether is made, i mean like not on a disc but like on a memory stick or something like that so you can't scratch video and nothing can get destroyed because its all inside a plasitic case.

that is a perfect way to sum it up, thats exactly what i do, have a 27 inch RCA CRT TV and it give off 10 times better picture than a shitty LCD tv, you don't have to worry about dead pixels or the tv going dead in 5 years. CRT TV's last like 30 years and give off amazing picture.
i have my 1 disc sony HTS and im happy with that, cause that leaves lots of money to buy my weekly dvd release without going to the poor house.

Proverbial nail on the proverbial head.

I'm going to wait for now, DVDs are still keeping me happy until I have to upgrade my TV

When standard def DVD is encoded correctly with todays technology, the picture looks quite good. It looks to have a 'film' quality to it, like watching it on a big screen, but in your own living room. Of course there are DVD's out there where blacks look like gray, there's noise and artifacts everywhere, and edge enhancement galore. But the biggest movies out there and many of even the lower budgeted ones, get a good DVD release today.

I purchased the Xbox 360 add-on, and although it's nice to have it and have a few movies I can watch in HD, I'm not really blowing a wad of cash on HD-DVD's. I don't see any 'winner' in the future, and I'll tell you from experience... you get one of those fancy HD players now, you may run into the same boat. 'Do I really want to blow money every week on HD-DVD/Blu-Ray discs when they may become obsolete'? This is why you were told by a buddy to wait, and I'd have to agree. HD media is definitely the way to go... but not yet. You'll have to wait some years before plunkering some money down ends up being safe... if at all.

Yes, but it's a matter of degree. Most higher-end upscaling DVD players do a better job of 'up-conversion' than most HDTVs. Of course, it depends on the particular DVD player and HDTV.

i'm in no hurry....as nice as it would be but by the time i'm ready to jump into a HD format, I suspect the prices will be finally affordable.... Heck look at the HD promotion BB just had....buy 1 get one free deal..

Another on this view.

I've seen well-calibrated HD content shown against the same content on DVD, and yes, obviously there can be a nice difference in quality. Still, it's hardly essential and would require a very substantial investment -- I haven't even gone past a basic CRT setup yet because it's hard for me to justify that chunk of cash when I enjoy what I have just fine. And like canaryfarmer, I don't spend enough time watching my collection now...

Also, the available selection for both HD and Blu-Ray is pretty embarassing at this point unless you almost exclusively care about new releases and the occasional popular catalog title. The kind of stuff I'm personally interested in will likely be quite a while coming.

I originally stayed out of the pool until I picked up a PS3. Now I have five Blu-Ray movies, two of which are re-buys (Fifth Element and T2). Is it a dramatic difference? In some cases, yes, but I'm only watching it on a 34 inch Sony HDTV (XBR960). When I have my projector installed next year, then we'll really see it.

I've been listening to a lot of discussion on this ( ATTACK OF THE SHOW has weekly updated opinions on this subject, especially since the PS3 has been called a failure so far, by the gaming community who watch the show) from many different professional opinions in the press, the movie & game critics, etc. Sony apparently was counting on the PS3 to bury their competition in this format war.

HOME MEDIA RETAILING magazine has an ever shifting opinion on this as well. TV GUIDE, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY and everyone else has an opinion of which will win / is winning / will win, etc. Polls are made, results vary.

For what it's worth, which is nothing to anyone but us, LOL, we will not buy a PS3 when we are very pleased with our PS2, our Xbox 360 and our Nintendo Wii. Since we won't have the BR playing ability because of that, then it means we would have to choose between as BR or HD-DVD player if we want to upgrade AND it means choosing a new disc collection as well.

Not a cent will be spent in our household until a universal format has been decided. So, yes, to answer your question, we can hold out no matter how long it takes. Our present player upgrades the picture quality just fine for our HDTV. We know it would be better with an HD-DVD or BR player, but we just don't care enough to worry about upgrading our collection or our hardware.

Well said.

We're holding out for a winner in the format and just can't justify spending extra money on DVDs when we already have piles of unopened standard DVDs. Our discs look great on our two 42" plasmas.

Even though the add-on for our 360 is relatively in-expensive, we won't make the jump until we're ready to move past standard DVDs completely (and I imagine this will only happen when HD discs come in special packaging like steelbook cases and SEs like Se7en and Fight Club.) Until then, only standard for us.

I am already in....most of my collection so far is blu-ray. I have four hd-dvd titles. Sold a few of my initial hd-dvd titles once they came out on blu-ray such as Unforgiven and Corpse Bride. At this stage, I am going mostly with blu-ray as I strongly believe it will be the dominant format in months to come. HD-DVD has gone silent for the most part on preorders and announcements. You would think they would be announcing the hell out of upcoming movies in order to counter the blu-ray upsurge. Some here have mentioned cost of entering into a new format. For me....I went the cheapest route in relation to my PS3 which is one hell of a blu-ray player and the 360 hd-dvd add-on which is also a very nice player. My display is a 60" Sony SXRD 60A2000 1080p.

This is a definite problem. I'm mostly interested in classic films and Warner is the only one that has put out any worth buying. I've enjoyed Adventures of Robin Hood, The Searchers, Casablanca, Mutiny on the Bounty and Forbidden Planet in HD, but this only scratches the surface of the kinds of films I want to see added. Considering the restoration costs I'm betting the classics end up very neglected in the new HD formats.

darkside...

I think the same could have been said 10 years ago about DVD authoring/restoration and cost. The costs WILL come down and we'll see more classic catalog titles.

I don't think restoration is the problem, however. They already have done restoration on many classic films, so the masters are there and ready for HD discs. They are not going to do special restorations for HD discs anyway; they will be used for DVD and HDTV as well.

The problem is the market, which is heavily geared towards new releases and very recent titles. I'm hoping it will change as time goes on, but for now, it seems that many don't want classics in HD. That the best-selling players have been a game console and an add-on for a console doesn't help with getting more variety in titles (see UMD for an example of what the studios think "gamers" want when it comes to movies). The whining that goes on at AVS when a title is grainy or a little soft doesn't help either.

I'm happy for now with my upconverting Toshiba player and new Panasonic Plasma.Holding out to see the end of the format war and players to come down in price.

I hear from the folks who installed my Plasma HDTV the other week that porn is being sold on HD but will not be on Blu-Ray. This was apparently one of the deciding factors in the VHS (yes to porn) and Beta war (no to porn, like Blu-Ray) and we know how that went...

As far as quality goes, my upscaling DVD player does a pretty good job except for brightly-lit scenes, but stuff like clouds, smoke, water, fire, etc. produces a lot of block noise. It makes standard DVDs come across as compressed DVD-Rs, and it's very sad.... It makes me eager for the formats to come down in price.

I'm not doing anything HD until Apple picks one to put in their computers. Right now I watch all of my dvds on a 15 inch powerbook. I know it's sad, but it does the job well for me. Once apple integrates either BR or HD drives into their computers, then I think I'll begin to switch. Why would I need a TV if I could get a 24 inch iMac that does EVERYTHING for the same price. But... would HD video quality even make a difference on a computer screen that's between 15-24 inches? Maybe a little, but not too much. So like I said, I'm waiting for Apple, which could be another year or two.

This is a good point and a thing that killed UMD. Since the majority of owners were 16-25 year old males it limited the type of films that would sell on UMD. If the PS3 and 360 drive HD sales there will be little incentive to put out older titles. Expect plenty of action films and dumb comedies though.

True, but I think the reason that they are the best-selling is because they are also the cheapest solution at this time. Here's hoping that inexpensive standalones are made available in the future...

I might have been anxious to purchase an HD player if I didn't already have an HD cable receiver. Since I already enjoy the benefits of HD, there's no rush.

Anyways, my dvd player upscales standard dvd to 720p and my 50" DLP television only displays in 1080i, so I doubt that purchasing an HD player now would make a dramatic difference.

My dvd player upconverts and I'm happy.

I'm buying Blu-Ray, but im still happy to buy Universal titles on DVD.
And will still be collecting dvds for some years to come, some stuff I want wont make it to HD.

I'm enjoying both formats.. not holding a hostile grudge on any of the 3 formats currently avalible.

Yes I can wait.

1st, I have 3 working TV's right now and don't need to blow 1,000 to 1,500 bucks on a new HD set yet. So, most likely I will wait until one of these TV's burns out and dies.

2nd, HD and Blue Ray are still quite expensive IMO. 24.99 to 39.99 is way too much for video entertainment. When I do finally succumb to getting an HD set, I will wait until HD DVD goes down to under 20 bucks a movie, then maybe I will upgrade.

Since I have almost 1,000 DVD's, I have years worth of entertainment. There's nu rush for me.

I'll upgrade once there's a format winner (please, please be HD-DVD...).

Until then, no.

= J

I'm not in a big hurry. If there were more TV on DVD, I'd bite in an instant.