Panda Phil

HD fans always reminded me a bit of Mac owners actually.


Probably been said dozens of times already, but its economics that keep me from trying BR. I just don't have a desire to drop $$$$ in a giant hi-def tv to get the most out of the disks.

When I do make the jump though it'll most likely be a BR player/burner for my computer.

cpgator

After all these pages, i still do not understand why someone would not choose to go BD if they have the financial means and an HDTV. BD offers better A/V quality than DVD, so why wouldn't someone want to switch to BD? You can still watch your DVD collection, and if something isn't available on BD, then you can get the DVD. And if BD are too expensive, then rent from Netflix.

Trevor

Seems simple to me.

With BD, for $500 I can own 50 mainstream American films* and watch them only in my living room.

With DVD, for $500 I can own 125 better films and watch them anywhere on the planet.

*Obviously there are a few exceptions.

cpgator

Not sure about you, but chances are when I am watching one of my movies, it is in my living room - not some other place on the planet. When people first got into DVDs, was it because they could watch them in their car?

And like I said, if something isn't available on BD, you still have the option to pick it up on DVD. That is what I do.

But if a movie is available in HD - why wouldn't someone want to watch it in HD. If you bought an HDTV, and subscribe to HD channels, why not also watch your movies in HD? Makes no sense not to. Not sure if it is just people being subborn, or if there is something else.

bsmith

I guess it depends on what you mean by financial means. If I had enough money to just throw at anything remotely interesting then Yes, I would have a BR player and replace every DVD I have with a BR disk as they came out. And I would buy all the content on DVD not on BR to watch now until BR replacements come out. But very few have this luxury and can just throw away money like this.

Other then that I think it comes down to content availability. Other then some new titles, most of what I would want that is available on BR I already have on DVD and I'm more interested right now in watching something I haven't seen before then just watching the same old titles with higher quality video and audio. There is no sense upgrading to BR until the content I'm most interested in is available.

I added up my DVD purchases for the past month and I spent about $600 on DVD content. All older TV shows from the 50's and 60's currently on sale at Amazon, not out on BR and who knows if they ever will be. Now I could have waited for one of the upcoming BR players of note (Pioneer 320 or Oppo 83) for $400 - $500 and a couple of BR disks. I thought about it for about a second and decided I would much prefer more content even if only in DVD form.

I think content is the driving force. Whether it is that you can get more content on DVD then BR based on price and that out weighs the BR benefits, or you just can't get the content that most interests you now on BR and you would rather spend the money on DVD content then upgrading.

I do believe BR will win out in the end as more and more content becomes available. The question is how long will it take and by how much? Some with vast libraries on DVD may just add new content on BR with some choice upgrades, and some may over time replace their entire libraries. What will the younger generation do? Do they have the collectors mentallity to create future libraries of BR or will they prefer the donwload on deman approach?

cpgator

By financial means - I mean someone who can afford an HDTV and BD player. I certainly understand that there are plenty of people not in a position to drop a few hundred $$ on a new BD player, or a couple thousand on a new TV. If you can spend $600 on DVD in a month, then you certainly have the financial means...

And you content explaination makes perfect sense. If the vast majority of your film interest are only available on DVD, then moving to BD doesn't make much sense.

I guess my question is more geared towards those who are interested in the movies that are available on BD and own an HDTV.

And for the record, I have only replaced a couple of my DVDs with BDs. I would rather put my BD money towards a movie I don't own already.

Trevor

I can't imagine anyone being more of a homebody than me, but I watch movies in other places all the time. In my bedroom, on planes, in cars (if not driving), at work, at friend's homes, at my family's homes, anywhere I am really on my iPhone. I bet I watch slightly less than half my films on my HDTV.
Or you could pick up 2.5 films on DVD for the same price as that one BD.
Not stubborn at all. I do buy some of the Hollywood films I enjoy on BD. But, as I thought was made clear in many posts in this thread, price, selection, and portability are factors for many people.

Example, pick any movie you like that is on BD. You can own it, or you could own 2.5 DVDs of probably better films (given the huge discrepancy in selection right now). If you value AV quality more than quantity, selection, and portability, then of course go for the one BD.

Me, I enjoy films just as much on DVD as on BD, the story is the thing. I enjoy HD quality, but it is a small concern in my immersion into a film.

Getting back to the original post/story, I think a majority of the general public feels that the AV quality upgrade is not worth the cost. Some of us have given our theories as to why they apparently feel that way.

If every film was available on DVD and on BD, I'd still buy many more DVDs. I would rather have 2.5 DVDs for every BD.

If price was exactly the same, but selection as it is now, I'd still buy more DVDs. I prefer older and foreign films, and they just aren't out on BD. Most of the current BD catalog is mainstream Hollywood fluff (which I also love, and buy a lot of).

If selection and price were equal, then I'd probably buy almost all BD. But selection and price are nowhere near equal, right now. I hope that changes, and that players become as ubiquitous as DVD drives.

cpgator

What? BD are not that much more than DVDs. Unless you are comparing a newly released BD to a bargin bin DVD.

What does selection have to do with anything? If you want to buy a movie, and it is only available on DVD - then get the DVD. You aren't forced to only buy BD movies after you get a BD player. You can still buy ANY movie you like.

I certainly value it over portability (though many BD have a digital copy). Selection isn't an issue, as i stated above.

Mr. Cinema

Save money, buy a cheaper player for the bedroom. Now you can watch movies presented in the best possible way on home video in 2 different places.

Mr. Cinema

So you're all about quantity over quality?

Trevor

Are you new here? You can own every DVD ever released for about $4-5 a film. See the DVD Bargains and DVD Clubs subforums.
For the one movie you buy on BD, I'd rather have 2.5 DVDs from a far greater selection. Selection is tied to price. You can't pick this apart and argue from one factor. All these factors complement each other, and we each have sort of a formula in our head that we use to determine what to spend our money on. What I and others have been trying to do is explain why so much of the general public apparently believes the thread title.
You do, and that's fine. Some people feel differently I bet. Selection is a huge issue, as stated above.

Trevor

I probably will someday. Or that $200 could be spent on more DVDs, or a vacation, or the church, etc etc
No, but AV quality means very little in my enjoyment of a film. I get almost as immersed in a film on a VHS hooked up to a black and white TV as an IMAX theater. The story is the thing for me. I don't care about bells and whistles as much as some. We're all different. I'm not better or a more "pure film fan" for going more for content, and I'm not a lesser "pure film fan" for not wanting to experience it in the "best" possible way. It's all a give or take. Some zealots hate blu-ray quality and only go film projection in personal home theaters. Some consider that a waste of money and VHS is fine for them. The point of this thread is to give our opinions and help explain why the public is where they are right now.

I love blu-ray and hope that it takes over the world.

But right now, and for the foreseeable future, selection and price are such obvious and huge factors that it should be clear why DVD is "winning" at the moment.

cpgator

I must be new since I don't get all my movies from Columbia House? That's cute. If the DVD 'Club' works for you, then that is great. Others might not want to deal with them, and would rather just pick up a movie they like at the store or online. Just reminds be of the early days here were so many posters only seemed to care of the average cost of their DVDs, and not the actual title.

If you are only interested in $4 movies, the BD is probably not the best option for you - that we can both agree on. And I would also guess that the price of DVDs has more to do with how long they have been around, and not based on the selection at Columbia House. The price of BDs will also go down, just as the price of DVDs have, over time.

cpgator

Now that makes perfect sense.

Trevor

I wasn't trying to be cute. I see now that you've been here since 2000. I was trying to be informative and helpful. Yes, some people don't want to deal with clubs. I buy less than half my films from them. But even without using CH, the vast majority of films can be found for $5 or less. You have to be slightly patient, and not buy everything release week, almost everything drops to $5 or less.
I agree with you on the whole cost/disc thing, many people buy just because it's cheap. I buy quality (to me) titles.
Again, even without using Columbia House, you can own pretty much every film ever released on DVD for $5 or less.
What do you mean "only interested in $4 movies"? As I said, every movie is $4-$5. Not junk, not bargain titles, every movie.
Hopefully they'll keep dropping. We're already at the point where one could probably own every BD film ever released for around $10 average. One has to be willing to use CH, buy used, and be patient of course.

beebs

Not with Hollywood mainstream stuff. I believe, SD DVDs can be had for a pittance compared to Blu-rays. Brand new. All you need is a little bit of patience. I can find dozens of brand new titles released in the last four or five months that I could clobber the BR pricing on when shopping for myself.

cpgator

I was referring to new releases. But still a great point - the prices of DVDs drop MUCH quicker than the prices on BD. But it is better than it used to be.

beebs

Trevor is dead on, here. This is what I see. I can get SD DVDs for $5 on average. Trevor is a super BR bargain shopping ninja, though. I can only score a trickle of under $10 BRs new. It's more like under $13-14 for me.

pro-bassoonist

You just a lost a lot of your credibility. Let me know where to look for these terrific prices as I am willing to pick up a few Criterion discs.

No, he is not. If you wish to prove that he is, my offer is open to you as well.

Pro-B

beebs

Who needs them? I thought many were available for far less in other regions?

Still I scored a 6 Criterion SD DVDs for under $9 each during the B1G1 Deep Discount sale, with live.com cashback and my credit card cash back. Still easy to make my stipulated $5 average with that pricing. Just figure in some really good deals along side them.

Of course, I have scored numerous Criterions for much less. There's been about 4-5 Criterions available for under $5 before. Or are we going to provide very specific titles to compare pricing with?

Trevor

And I'm sure that some people here do better than I do. I am more selective and patient in my BD shopping right now. I own about 100. If I owned the 150 I want to own, I'd be closer to your average Beebs. But given time, I'm sure we will be able to get those for $10.

Of course, a lot of people aren't willing to buy used, or use clubs, or be patient, or seek out coupons, or check forums once a day for big bargains.

So if you want to use the average joe public, they probably see a closer price point. They see new DVDs in retail stores for $5 to $20 mostly, probably $15 average could be agreed upon, right? And $15-$30 for BRs, maybe $25 average? $10 per title adds up.

Trevor

My $4-5 average for my thousands of films means that quite a few have been bought for more than $5, along with many for less.

Still, I have at least 30 Criterions that I have found for $5 or less. Eight or so on CH over the years, a few on ebay, a few from other regions, and many at used stores. I have another 30 -50 Criterions that I paid more like $10 to $20 each.

Again, the $5 argument is for people willing to put some work into it. I'm pretty darn lazy, and am shamed by many of the bargain hunters in this forum, but I know it is pretty easy to average under $5 a title. You just have to be willing to buy used, use clubs, pricematch, etc etc

pro-bassoonist

This is what you said initially and what I quoted:
So, obviously, now you wish to talk about your average price which has nothing to do with what you claimed earlier.

This is even more ironic - you need to be willing to buy used.

Criterion?
Carry on now!

Pro-B

Trevor

To be honest Pro-B, I'm a bit taken aback by your comment. It seems beneath you.

While I never expect you to agree with me in most things, I never thought you'd call me a liar. Especially over something as well supported and common on this forum as a $5 average.

By the time you posted that we had already discussed CH, the other cheap options, and the need for patience. Even if you didn't read all those comments in this thread, you have to be familiar with them.

I know you didn't take my comment out of context and think that I believe you can just go out right now and find every DVD title for $5 average. It takes at least some effort and restraint, but is quite easily done.

Trevor

Ok, you posted while I was posing. You did go there. Wow.