I know HD DVD will still be around for awhile longer, but let's face it, with the announcement that WB has gone Blu-Ray, I think Blu-Ray has officially won the format war.

I still think that's it's too early for a new format (DVD only debuted in 1997), but whether I like it or not, Blu-Ray will slowly cripple SD DVD sales.

I do buy my fair share of films on DVD; my TV on DVD collection is larger than my film collection, however. TV shows on Blu-Ray/HD DVD have been pretty slim, title wise, thus far, that's why I haven't joined one/both of the new disc formats. I also haven't joined because I was waiting the format war out.

Anyways, I'll be picking up the PS3 as a Blu-Ray disc player, but not this month or next, most likely. So I was just wondering if I should hold off on SD DVD movie purchases, and only buy TV on DVD titles for now.

What's your opinion? I greatly appreciate any help/advice given.

I personally think it's all about marketing. SD DVD prices went very low somewhat quickly, and the studios have realized that and there isn't much profit margin there. With the introduction of blu ray/hd, they are able to make more money, therefore they are pushing it and making people think it will take over. I know people here are film buffs, but the majority of normal people who barely even buy normal dvds don't see the need for blu ray yet. Also, blu ray is still a disc, which is capable of being scratched, I honestly think there will be a better format than discs eventually, so I personally am not buying into the high def discs. Also, I don't even have a hi def tv, and I know there are still lots of people out there without them, and could care even less about hi def dvds. That is just my opinion, having been a marketing major, it's all about marketing, and people buy into it.

I did exactly what you you just said above, except I made that decision in early 2006. I'm still not quite sure why you waited so long to consider this. Regardless of the format-war winner, it is still the same decision.

For me, I have plenty of titles, so I don't care about getting titles soon after they're released. I just put the DVD titles I want on my wishlist and wait for them to (slowly) be released in HD.

If you don't care about getting stuff right away, I would most certainly just stick to TV shows that would not benefit from an HD release.

Edit: Just to clarify, I am not generalizing my comments to all consumers, but specifically to nateman241's situation.

I voted "Other"

Even before this announcement, I don't understand why you would stop buying DVDs. There are lots of DVD releases that either may never see an HDM release or it'll be years. Look how many people hung onto their laserdiscs because many of those releases have not made it to DVD yet or the DVD product was vastly inferior.

Now, if all you buy are new movies, then go ahead and just wait for the HDM release. For myself, I like new movies and a lot of smaller niche movies that will probably never see a HDM release.

I was thinking about this dilemma a few weeks ago. I figured I've had my DVD player for around eight years and pretty soon I'd be getting a XBox 360, a PS3, or a next-gen player would see a nice price drop. So for now I'm pretty much just buying either movies that come in exclusive packaging or with bonus discs only on DVD (like at Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, FYE, etc.) or wrestling DVDs, since we all know they'll never be reissued on HD or blu-ray anyway.

I stopped buying SD DVDs a year and a half ago. Unless it's an absolute must have (of which there have been two), I don't pick it up. HD DVDs and BDs I am still buying.

Of course, I'm also going to the theatre to see anything that might interest me and I have a huge backlog of unwatched DVDs.

Since your tastes run towards TV shows that are unlikely to appear in Blu-Ray soon, don't stop collection SD DVDs yet.

Between the price differential and upconverting SD players, there's still a hell of a lot of life left in SD. I plan on milking the format for as much as I possibly can. One of two things will happen, either BD will reveal itself as a niche or the prices will drop so far as to make any double-dips almost painless. How many times have we already double-dipped on SD disks?

This kind of thinking smacks of the concept of future-proofing yourself. Got news for you, it will never happen so you might as well enjoy what you have and let other factors influence your decision.

Movies yes. TV box sets I still buy on standard DVD most of the time. The prices on those for Blu-ray and HD DVD are out of line with movie prices on most series.

I've been averaging around $10 a movie with all the deals and so owning HD movies is pretty cheap. Also, upconverted standard DVDs come no where close to the quality of 1080p HD discs so there is no reason I can see to still buy movies on SD DVD.

I haven't got a HD TV yet so I"m still happy with SDVD. If they bought out a player that played both HDDVD and Bluray, then that would be a different story

Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are destined to go the way of the Laserdisc, or the mini-disc (CD), or the 8-track, or Beta tapes. No one cares except a small handful of consumers. So what if Blu-Ray "wins" this "war"? Blu-Ray will then be the king of ...NOTHING. Because A)most consumers have no interest whatsoever, and B)something else [the "next big thing"] will be coming out by the time it's truly established.

Here is my rule of thumbs:
1) If the release is in SD only, buy the SD (this is of course as long as their isn't any rumors/future plans for a Blu release)
2) If there is a blu release as well its all about the movie.
a) If I loved the movie, obviously I'll purchase the blu-ray
b) but if the movie was something that I Just want to own and didn't love then it gets complicated. The way I decide is mostly by genre. Sitcoms, a lot of comedies/romance movies, and many dramas really don't need the blu-ray treatement and if there is a $10 price difference, I'm going to save my $10 and put it towards a movie that will look AMAZING in blu-ray.

For example: The upcoming releases of "Across the Universe" and "The Jane Austen Book Club." Both movies come out the same day with SD and Blu releases. I'm going to buy the Blu of ATU because its a very visual and beautiful movie. But I'm going to purchase the SD of JABC because while I love it, its mostly a talking-heads kinda movie.

I seriously doubt it. An established Laserdisc market didn't cripple VHS. The HD/BR/SD scenerio is no different.

I wouldn't stop buying SD if I were you.

Yeah, what he just said.

Not because I'm some expert but because that's what I plan to do. Hopefully, I'll have a Blu-ray player by Father's Day, so I am doing some mental planning now.

One thing I'm still unclear about (and perhaps somebody can point me in the direction of the thread that discusses it) is the "next big thing". What will it be? Downloading? Do people actually like downloading movies and watching stuff on their computer? Maybe I'm just old fashioned.

Hard copies are going to phase out eventually. Of everything, I think. Computers/tvs will be almost interchangable in the future.

With a single HD disc format in place, the entire industry will now set its sights on supplanting SD-DVD because, it's economically better for them to have a single format to manufacture and market.

They all got behind DVD and pushed, until they pushed VHS right out of the picture.

There's no reason to think they won't try to do that again. So as long as physical media of any kind are viable in the marketplace, we can expect the industry to consolidate behind Blu-Ray. It'll be easier this time, because the new players will play existing SD collections.

Prediction: Within 2 years we will see price parity between DVD and BD releases, along with day-and-date releases of everything. Around the same time we will start noting that nobody is announcing new SD players anymore.

Prediction: Within 3-4 years we will start seeing BD-exclusive releases, with no corresponding SD-DVD release. Around the same time we will start seeing announcements that various major manufacturers will no longer make SD players.

Prediction: Within 5 years we will be talking about SD-DVD the way we were talking about VHS 5 years ago.

Prediction: The total numbers for HDM will never rival those of DVD in its heyday, because competition from streaming sources will take a major slice of the potential market. But this is a market force that affects all physical media equally, and therefore won't impact the parallel process of phasing out SD-DVD.

Prediction: BD will be the last physical medium to achieve mass market success for home video content. It will die out only if and when there is no longer a big enough market to sustain collecting physical copies of video content, or when 2D video itself is supplanted.

In the Year 2000... In the Year 2000...

I really don't think there is enough interest by the public in EITHER of the high def formats to worry about it making serious inroads into the DVD market. For the average joe...DVDs are JUST fine. It's much ado about not much I think...

With Blu-ray pretty much winning the format war, I have to say that SD DVD isn't going anywhere for a very, very long time. Right now there's still the very slow and long process of adaptation. A lot of people are still upgrading to HDTV's. A lot of people with HDTV's feel that their SD-DVD's look good enough. And some people even think the difference between properly encoded upconverted SD-DVD isn't giving them enough of a reason to switch over to the high def formats either. Over time, Blu-Ray is going to become more and more popular. It will be a slower transition than when SD-DVD came around I think. Not only that, but both formats may end up co-existing. SD-DVD is going to pull in a lot of money. Blu-Ray has itself established, HD-DVD will slowly end up going away over time, but SD-DVD's sales wont' really go the way of the dodo either. I say, don't stop buying SD-DVD. There's a very long life left on them. I just think that SD and BR will co-exist for some time.

Life is short, I say keep buying SD DVD's. They're not going to stop making movies, and whenever an HD format become mainstream enough to jump in, I'll be concentrating more on new releases rather than re-buying everything I bought on 1/08/07.

Plus any HD player will play standard DVD's & look just fine. Your DVD collection isn't going anywhere.

just wait it out. when there is a definate change going on (ex. stores fazing out dvd and only carry blue ray)

then its time to upgrade

No. HD DVD is just a gimmick for people to spend hundreds of dollars on a new player so they can watch the same movies they can enjoy on regular DVD.

Thanks for all your advice and opinions, thus far.

Looks like the "No" has it, I'll keep buying SD DVDs. I haven't even gotten around to picking up an HDTV yet, but I was going to if I bought the PS3. I've always been one of those, SD DVDs are "good enough" people, but I just thought I'd ask and see what the best way to go is.

I highly doubt that I'll be re-buying movies that I bought, either.

I'll definitely be sticking with SD DVD, until (if ever) Blu-Ray kills the format.

Even though I've already made my decision, I'd stick like to hear your advice and opinions.

Exactly, so I don't understand your post.

Any new media that comes along will only get cheaper and more plentiful. What is the rush to abandon the current format when it is widely available, inexpensive and plays in any player?

Great points.

I don't understand myself sometimes. Anyways, I didn't plan on completely abandoning the DVD, I just wondered if I should stop buying my movies in SD DVD. Now that I think about it, DVDs are just way more convenient.

I'll still be picking up a PS3, but I won't be rushing into the Blu-Ray format, and I certainly won't be replacing a movie I just bought a week ago on DVD, by re-buying it on Blu-Ray. When I do start buying Blu-Ray discs, it'll just be movies/TV shows I don't already have on SD DVD. I don't have the money to re-buy stuff a million times over, nor do I want too.

I'm saving up for a very nice HDTV and audio (7.1) system. SD DVDs will be more along my price range right now.

I'm planning on buying a HDTV this year as soon as I have enough money saved. Once I get that I'll be interested in picking up a blu-ray player (preferably one that also upconverts SD-DVD's), but I'll wait until they drop to under $400. At that point I'll probably start buying BRD's exclusively for all of my new purchases except in cases where a) there is no HDM version on the horizon, b) the features on the SD-DVD version blow away the BRD, and c) the price difference is big and the movie isn't something that I have to have in HD quality. I'll probably upgrade some of my current DVD's, but only the ones that will really benefit from the HD treatment and only when the content is the same or better than what's on the SD-DVD. And even then I feel no real pressure to run out and rebuy anything any time soon. Even if I could somehow upgrade my entire collection for free, I'd still be stuck with other practical concerns like the fact that I wouldn't be able to take my BRD's on the road without upgrading all the drives on my laptops or buying a new Blu-ray unit for my car to replace the one that I have now. And since most people still don't have Blu-ray capability, I also wouldn't be able to bring movies over to my friend's or relatives' homes to watch either.