Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

DVD Players are going to be wildly available for many years to come. In fact, it might even take a good 5 or 6 years before blu-ray even has a look at taking over and becoming the mainstream resource for movie playback. As many of you know, when people were making the switch from VHS-to-DVD they had the luxury of keeping there existing television sets and enjoying a richer, clearer picture without any additional expenses. DVDs were of course compact discs which made cases easier for storage space, DVDs also introduced or to before hand laserdisc owners re-introduced the luxury of special features which were rarely available on VHS cassettes. And lastly, at a certain point DVD Players and discs became instantly affordable as there were no record functions to bump up the price, single-disc editions were also low on cost as 2-disc prints were an option.. Anyway i guess what I'm trying to say is that the upgrade from VHS-to-DVD was a much larger jump then what DVD is to Blu-ray since with this move customers only receive a better picture and not much more. This and the cost of HD-TVs is what I think will set blu-ray back from DVD for years to come..

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

As others have noted this is a very highly unlikely scenerio, to put it mildly.

Laserdisc was a small-scale niche product while DVD is a wildly successful mainstream product. Other than the fact they were both disc formats, the comparison ends there.

Blu-ray taking over in twelve months isn't going to happen. In fact, I'm surprised at how little Blu-ray has done to really penetrate the market. Yes, they're advertising the hell out of it which may lead one to believe it's gaining a huge share of the market but the sales just aren't there so far.

The cheapest advertised machine at Best Buy is still $275 for a Samsung. I know there's saavy buyers on this site who like to boast of buying a top-of-the-line Sony player for $150 and never pay more than $5 for a new release but for everyone else it's still $8-$10 more for the Blu-ray movies.

When the Sony players are under $100 the market will shift. At the slow rate the prices have been dropping so far, will Blu-ray have missed the boat by then?

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

You're crazy. 12 months is a very optimistic time frame for this so called phasing out of dvd players. Blue ray players have to come way down in price, discs have to come way down in price, and they have to up the titles they are releasing. Last I read there was only about 1% of the titles on blue ray that were avaialble on dvd.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

Good question. It all depends on what the next format is and how quickly it rears it's head.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

I believe that DVD may eventually be replaced by BluRay but 12 months is a totally unrealistic time frame.

This was the point I was trying to make in my DVD v/s BluRay thread before someone came trolling by and it all went to hell. The fact that most (NOT ALL) BluRay titles are considerably more expensive than DVD is enough to make me keep buying them on DVD for the forseeable future, no matter how good BluRay happens to be.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

Yeah, that was being spout-out back in early 2008 and DVD SA are still outselling Blu-ray players by a wide margin.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

I remember a several months back when your typical new release was $32.95 on Blu-ray and $22.95 on DVD.

Now you see Blu-ray at $27.99 and DVD priced at $18.99. So yes, Blu-ray is getting cheaper but that $8-$10 price gap hasn't changed & it isn't helping consumers feel like they're getting more value from the Blu-ray.

They have started putting exclusive features on the Blu-ray that aren't on the DVD which certainly helps but I think the novelty of having the making-of featurettes, audio commentaries, bloopers & trailers has worn off. They are a big selling point for certain "fanboy" films and that is generally the clientele that are already sold on Blu-ray anyway.

Logically, Blu-ray is a superior product and should cost more. Trying to convince the "Joe" consumer, who has expressed very little discontent with the current DVD format, that they need to upgrade is proving to be difficult.

It proves even more difficult when you add the expenses of the 7.1 surround system and the larger HDTV screen you need to make the switch even worth undertaking in the first place.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

On TV sets the prices between DVD and Blu are even wider.

In Canada I just bought Season One of Prison Break on SD DVD for $19.95, while the Blu Ray version is a whopping $79.95!

At those price differentials I'll be sticking with SD DVD...

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

You are wrong. Feel free to search the Best Buy/Target ads here and point out the $32.99 Day and Date titles for me.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

Off the top of my head, when the Wrestler came out in April, it was advertised in the flyer at $32.95 for Blu-ray/ $24.95 DVD. That's just a fairly recent title at a special first week price.

Bear in mind we don't all live in Southern California, either. The prices I'm quoting are from the Best Buy flyer in the Vancouver area of BC, Canada.

I'm sure the prices vary somewhat from city to city. Maybe the pricing isn't as aggressive up here. The difference in the US/Canadian dollar may be a factor as well.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

Im kind of with you.I have a 60 inch Pioneer Plasma in my theater room, a 40 inch Sharp LCD in my Family room and a 40 inch Samsung Plasma in my bar and they have all been calibrated and all the equipment is top notch stuff. I just recently broke down and bought a Blu ray player amd a few movies and I dont see much of a difference between the Blu ray and an upconverted DVD. Certainly not worth and extra $10 the disc cost plus the extra money a Blu ray player costs over an upconvert DVD player. Im disappointed because of all the hype and not seeing that big of a difference, and feel like Im being taken for a ride with this new format just to get more money out of us.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

If you have a 60-inch Pioneer plasma and don't see a difference, I would suggest that you need to check your settings. Assuming you're using HDMI, make sure your player is set to output the native resolution of your plasma (1080p or whatever).

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

The only VHS players I see today are combo units with DVD players/recorders. I haven't seen a standalone VHS VCR since 2007.

That some people were overly optimistic (8 months from nao!) doesn't mean it won't happen.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

Some people were overly optimistic several times. Ive heard that 8 months bs many times. Sure it doesnt mean it wont happen. Of course the sky could fall too.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

That explains it. Silly Canada.

Actually, I believe The Wrestler BD was an Alliance exclusive up there (no Fox release) so that's why the MSRP could have been bloated.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

DVD isn't going anywhere.

Hell, I still buy them along with my HD-DVDs and Blu-Rays :D

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

It doesn't seem to matter whether the Blu-Ray price is bloated or fair, there's still an $8-$10 gap with DVD on new releases.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

I'm not worried. I don't really see the rush to switch formats especially with Blu Ray being so expensive. The difference between VHS and DVD warranted the need to upgrade to DVD because it offered so much more then VHS but I'm not going to pay twice as much for a slightly better picture and sound. I've got a PS3 and a high def TV and I wasn't blown away by the difference. DVDs will still dominate the market for some time.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

I love DVDs. I love Blu-ray a little bit more. 'Nuff said....

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

It's not the picture quality that makes the average person switch formats, it's the convinience factor. Blu Ray is no more convinient than DVD is. DVD was FAR more convinient than VHS (no rewinding! skip chapters, smaller! lighter! cheaper!), so that leap made a lot of sense.

Your average person (who are critical to a format catching on) I don't think really know there is much of a difference between DVD and Blu Ray.

Re: Should I be worrying about normal DVDs to be phased out by Blu-Ray?
 

Just a footnote to my own comment, I noticed the Watchmen advertised in the latest Best Buy flyer.

The pricing scale is:

Blu-ray (3 disc): $29.99
DVD (2 disc): $27.99
DVD (bare-bones): $18.99

I imagine sales for the DVD 2 disc will be very small because this is a film that caters to the demographic who probably already have a Blu-ray player or a PS3. Given the minor $2 price difference, those that want the extras may seriously consider a Blu-ray player/PS3.

I'm sure this'll be the trend; if you want extras you get the Blu-ray. If you don't care about the extras, stick with DVD for $10 less.