Mr. Salty

I keep reading this argument in the DVD area, and it just makes me worry about the vision of DVD Talkers. To me (I have a 50-inch 1080p HDTV), there is a quantum leap in improvement in the image detail, color fidelity and contrast of BD over DVD (and I have a very good upscaling Oppo DVD player).

It makes me wonder whether the people who see little improvement have poor eyesight, smaller screens (like 37 inches or less), or are just being contrary.

tylergfoster

I'm still blown away by complaints about this. My Panasonic takes an average of five whole seconds to load a disc, and it only has to do it once. How impatient can one possibly be? Even if the load times were at one point getting up around two minutes, which is about when I'd start getting impatient, this is obviously the kind of factor that is going to improve with better players and seems really irrelevant to any anti-BD. As I said in the other thread, it's not like you have to hand-crank the fucking player.

Even now, most name-brand DVD players are in the $100 range. I don't know where you decided that $40 is a good price for a BD player when HD-DVD is dead as a doornail and that's what XBOX add-ons are still going for at retailers like Fry's. I understand that you're fine without Blu-Ray, but this is such an unrealistic expectation for the price of a good player, why even bother mentioning it? Plus, when it was $1000, people whined that it should be $500, when it was $500, people whined that it should be $200, now that it's $200, people are whining that it should be $100. Some of the discs are pricey, I agree, but players at $200 is a questionable complaint.

As for the space issues, I was merely speculating. I don't own W., so I wouldn't know. And I still feel calling exclusive features a "tactic" is pretty nitpicky. Even though it is a sales tactic, it's pretty much the most widely-used sales tactic in any business anywhere that something new should offer something superior in order to attract customers.

GenPion

Studios always do this sort of thing. Is it unfair? Absolutely. Unfortunately, however, that's how it tends to go with formats backed by corporations.

The real reason for Blu-ray adoption should be for High Definition Video and Audio. The improvements over regular DVD on my HDTV is INCREDIBLE. Honestly, I have never been more satisfied in purchasing and collecting movies. I thought I was a huge fan of DVD but my love of that format never even came close to the love I feel for Blu-ray. Film is a passion for all of us at DVD Talk but the fact remains that while we all can appreciate and enjoy our favorite films on ANY format we cannot truly EXPERIENCE them to their fullest without this new technology. It is amazing and well worth the investment.

-TRANCE-

I agree completely.

Trevor

I disagree. I'm not calling you out individually, but I get a sense of bias from a lot of posters here. They seem to imply what you just did, that you are a lesser film fan, and/or experiencing a much lower quality if you don't go blu.

For a true FILM fan, audio and video is a small consideration.

Someone can have a passion for film and enjoy them on a 5" black and white screen just as much as someone with a state of the art system.

The story is 95% of the equation. The setting (including audio and video quality) is only 5%.

I own a blu ray player and HDTV, but I still prefer DVD for several reasons.

• The blu ray catalog is mediocre. Of my 500 favorite films of all time, maybe 15 are on blu.
• Price. I'd rather own 2-4 DVDs than 1 blu-ray.
• Portability. I can watch my DVDs anywhere on the planet. They are in every home, car, and computer in the country pretty much. I can watch blu ray in one living room.

TomOpus

Nice post, Trevor. It's all about the story. Seeing every loose thread on a shirt doesn't add to the story. Seeing each scratch on a car doesn't make a car chase more exciting. I owned a lot of Fox widescreen VHS. The quality left a lot to be desired but I still enjoyed watching movies.

Once you get past the WOW factor of HD's clarity, in the end, you still get sucked into a movie's story.

calhoun07

When DVD first rolled out, the widescreen VHS section of a video store dwindled down and down and down until they just stopped making widescreen VHS. There were a few VHS fans in the day that were kind of upset about this, but since the die hard movie fans are usually the first to embrace new formats, this makes sense to cater to them and to throw more at them for their money spent.

It's not much different than the early days of CDs that featured bonus tracks that the LP and cassette never had.

I suspect we will see an leveling off of this trend...it's mainly being used for promotion right now to draw attention to the new format. The studios invested A LOT of money in this and want to protect their bottom line.

If it bothers you that much, just buy a Blu Ray player that's under a hundred bucks. I don't understand this idea that the media perpetuates that you NEED a thousand dollar TV to watch it. (have any of you seen the Blu Ray commercial they show at certain stores like Target? The announcer is saying, "Can you still watch DVDs on your Blu Ray player?" then they show clips of people from movies laughing and such to perpetuate the idea that you are a drooling MORON if you want to continue watching DVDs. "That would be like taking out a sports car in first gear!" the announcer goes on to say. Uh, not quite there, hoss.) Yes, a 1080p TV on the high end like a Sony Bravia is the way to go if you can afford it but if you watch it on a regular tube TV or a 720p TV, you're going to be OK. If you are really that interested in the bonus features and extra special editions, that is the way to go. Stop bitching about it.

You can do what I do...determine what extra features are just fluff and not necessary to your home viewing enjoyment and continue to buy those on DVD and for those that have really good extra features (such as Dark Knight) just hold off on buying the extra special edition right now until you can get a Blu Ray player. If you are just going to watch it on a standard TV, that's fine...just don't let them sell you the HDMI cable because it would be pointless.

Just something to consider...for event titles, this is going to be the norm. Expect it for Watchmen, too. When/if I decide to buy a new DVD player (and I am in no rush to do so) it's going to be a region free blu ray player just so I can watch the Dark Knight and the Watchmen with all the extra features WB is going to toss on there. But I sure as heck fire am not going to go out of my way and go deeper in to debt to get a bigger and better TV. I've seen several movies in Blu Ray on a 1080p TV and the difference is amazing, but it's not the highest priority to me.

jjcool

When will both sides fo this issue quit their bitching. Both sides have to realize that you are going to have your stalwarts on both sides fo the issue, that are never going to back down from their arguments. Sure bleu ray players and discs are expensive now. Sure you should get better picture and audio quality from blue ray discs. Sure there are a hell of alot more movies on dvd than there are on blue ray. Who cares? If I want to read about blue rays, I will go to a blue ray forum, not DVDTalk.

islandclaws

The studios willl stop doing this once people stop referring to it as "blue ray".

Michael Corvin

...and for every one DVD that is missing features from the BD, there are 10 Blu-rays missing features from the SD counterpart.

As pointed out, as a DVD consumer shouldn't you be complaining about double & triple dips instead? There are far more of those released missing features than the BD argument you've got going.

calhoun07

Speaking of double and triple dips...I wonder if we will see an Uber Edition of The Dark Knight on DVD before the third movie comes out that carries over the bonus features on the Blu Ray that weren't on the DVD special edition the first time around?

The Bus

Giles

I agree, I was going to buy 'Milk' on bluray, but went with the DVD because the deleted scenes were on the disc, whereas the bluray only has them accesible via BD-Live.

This seems to be a common practise with Universal titles:

- Forgetting Sarah Marshall
- Leatherheads
- The Thing


and I'm sure some others, that I'm not thinking of

??

Criterion also made me have to keep 'The Last Emperor' on DVD because the mini-series cut wasn't retained for the bluray edition. Some minor supplemental material is also deleted for the blu-ray edition of 'Ran'

Mr. Cinema

I really love your whiny comments everytime a BD has an exclusive over a DVD. YOU do not speak for me. YOU do not speak for any other BD owner. YOU sound like someone bitter because there is a better product out. Sorry, but BD isn't going anywhere and you will continue to see exclusives for the format. You better buy as many 2-disc DVD sets as you can because one of these days, YOU won't have that option.

Of course Blu-ray isn't selling as well as DVD. Gee, could it be because one of the formats has been out for 12 years? Could it be because one format has an install base of over 130 million players? Hmmm.

By the way, BD sales are increasing year to year. DVD sales are not.

Both will co-exist.

chris_sc77

Says who?

beebs

I expect more and more of this stuff.

It really doesn't matter which version you buy, BR or 2DSE, though... as Warner is sure to release a deluxe edition of this in Q3 with new/additional extras on top of what has come before. I'd buy then if you are completist.

jjcool

Link, or anything to back that up?

If that truly is the case, which I highly doubt anytime soon, I might have to jump on the blue ray bandwagon sooner than I thought.

tylergfoster

Yeah, right. Even if Blu-Ray is obsolete in 5 years, the likelihood that Blu-Ray would die and DVD won't is almost non-existent. People are trumpeting downloads as a Blu-Ray killer, which I don't believe, but if it happens, DVD is done too: it's meant to kill packaged media entirely.

If your bet is a legitimate offer, dependent on clauses, I'd be happy to take you up on that.

Arthur Dent

^^There will be a demand for packaged media for many years to come. I sure as fuck won't ever download movies for purchase... ever.

Kory

Exactly.

I gladly purchase DVDs weekly and sometimes daily, but if movies ever stop being released in a physical format, there is no way in hell I will pay for them. Downloading things for free is too easy for me to pay for a copy of something that's exactly the same.

jiggawhat

This has been hinted in Home Media Retailing a few times already. Will likely happen to new releases and then trickle down as the BD version of a respective movie is released.

As a side note, this is why Fox and other studios will be removing the special features from rental discs because it doesn't make business sense.

jiggawhat

I can't agree more with this. People still expect Blu-ray to just instantly supplant DVD in sales and in volume moved, which is just impossible. DVD was a juggernaut and it's success was related to a perfect storm in a sense.

Mr. Cinema

Yo bub, what up? Where did I say that DVD was "going anywhere"? I'm merely pointing out that DVD sales are on the decline and BD sales are on the rise.

chris_sc77

DVD sales have peaked. There is no denying this. Blu-ray sales may be rising but are they rising enough to where Blu has a secure future as a threat to DVD?

Mr. Cinema

Industry insiders via blu-ray.com. The plan is to eliminate the 2-disc dvd sku. The BD will become the "special edition" release and the alternative is the bare bones cheaper dvd version. You see it all the time at retail. The single disc gets stocked much more than the 2-disc dvd and then after a few months, the Targets and Walmarts eliminate the 2-disc from their shelves and only carry the single disc version.

And if you haven't noticed, we're starting to see a few new releases that includes a dvd. Disney included a dvd version in their Pinocchio and Bolt BDs and Fox will do the same for Marley and Me.