Should I bite on Blu Ray?
 

I bought into HD-DVD a couple months ago, thanks to some people on this forum. I'm very pleased with my purchase, though I'm a bit nervous now. I don't see Sony, Fox or Disney switching anytime soon. Nor do I see Sony ever making the leap to HD DVD. I'm starting to think that universal players will be the way of the future. Though it really is anyone's guess.

With the news of Blu Ray releases like Casino Royale, The Presteige, POTC, and The Rock . . . I'm really starting to consider buying into Blu Ray too, if only so I can get all my movies in HD. Should I wait it out a little while longer? Is waiting foolish, as most likely Blu Ray is here to stay, and will always have at least some exclusive titles?

If I should bite, there is an eBay auction for a refurbished Samsung-BD-P1000. If I can get my hands on one of these for $250 . . . is it worth it? Should I avoid this player? If I don't purchase this one, what are the odds of a deal for a player under $400 in the next few months? I really don't want to make this big an investment, but even more so, I really don't want to miss out on some of the upcoming releases Blu Ray has in store.

uhh...you might want to actually read through this forum a bit before deciding either way.

If you define the PS3 as a "player" (and to some, it's the only "real" Blu-Ray player out now), then you can get it for $399.

All you have to do is buy it using a new Sony Style card and you get a $100 rebate.

As of right now, it seems to be out of stock, but I've seen it in stock a lot of times. Good luck.

In my opinion the biggest reason for most people not to get into BD is the hardware cost.

I bit the bullet and bought the BDP-S1, and while it was definitely more than I wanted to pay, I felt I would be happier with it than the Samsung. I didn't consider the PS3 because it wasn't out yet at the time and I don't like using gaming consoles in my HT.

The Fox movies tend to be overpriced, and the extras have not been as plentiful as on HD-DVD, but I'm mostly about the movie only anyway. Quality in most cases has been right up there with HD-DVD. I'm glad I have both formats.

Yes you should. Buy a 20 GB PS3.

I have read through this forum. I read through it back in October when I was convinced, actually by you digi, that HD was the way to go. I saw plenty of winks and heard plenty of rumors that HD was going to get more support in the coming months. But just my luck, the day after I bought my A1, the HD news started to dry up. I remember hearing "wait for CES" and "Disney is going neutral starting in 2007", but so far none of this seems to be true. Blu Ray has a pretty big slate of releases in the next few months, and with HD-DVD I get The Jerk. Kinda disappointing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you convinced me to go HD. I love my player and the 20 or so movies I've bought in the past few months. But all those promises of HD winning the battle and studios going neutral seems to sound more and more like fanboy wishes with each passing day. If I can get on board with Blu Ray for the same price as HD DVD was, around $399, I just may do it. One day universal players will probably be the norm, and cheap, so I can buy those in the future for the other rooms in my house. But for now, in my HT, I really don't want to miss out on some of the titles Fox, Sony, and BV have announced. I bought into HD DVD thinking that by now at least one studio would have announced they were going neutral. At the very least, the one exclusive studio we have, Universal, would have announced a killer disc like Jaws or Jurassic Park. But instead I get 4 releases from them in as many months. One of them being The Jerk. Woo Hoo.

I just want to know if the Sammy is a decent enough player for the price, and if I should stop waiting on the sidelines for more studio support for HD DVD, which doesn't seem to be happening.

:rotfl:

as long as you're not being biased... ;)

You might want to check out this thread re: stand-alone players

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=490578

What was funny about my post?

The PS3 is the best BD player right now with frequent and easy updates. That thread shows that the stand alone players are not as good. Just advising the OP on what to get.
And yes, he should get BD if he wants titles like Casino Royale in HD.

:thumbsup: I also recommend the 20g PS3.

Besides the hard drive, what is the difference between the 60 GB and the 20 GB?

waiting is foolish

Just out of curiosity digi, you mentioned in another thread about how you are looking to buy Blu Ray if the price is right. I think we both had roughly the same price point in our minds too, under $400. Have you since decided against Blu Ray? Or would you still jump on board if the price was right?

Much less stress if you have both, plus it's easier to laugh at the fanboys on both sides. :D2:

The 60 GB includes built-in Wi-Fi and slots for most formats of media cards (SD, CF, etc.).

I bought a 20 GB model largely as a Blu-Ray player. I didn't need the extra hard drive space (especially since the HDD is replaceable), I didn't care about the media slots, and I was able to wire it into my home network directly, so I saw no reason to get the 60 GB model. The 20GB is a good option if you can run an Ethernet cable to it. If you can't, but you have a wireless network, you could always buy a wireless bridge for less than the $100 difference between the two models. Alternatively, if you are only using it as a Blu-Ray player, you can skip the networking entirely and update the firmware by downloading it to a PC, copying it to a media card, and connecting the card to the PS3 via a USB card reader.

I'm really happy with the PS3's performance as a Blu-Ray player, though I have no experience with the standalone players, so I can't give you any comparisons.

Is there a special offer if you use your Sony Card on a PS3, or are you referring to the deal you get for signing up for a Sony Card?

60 GB also has integrated wireless.

I have a 360 with the HD-DVD add-on and when I also want to add Blu-Ray, I'm definately going to look at the 20 GB PS3. It might not be a great fit for a typical gamer, but for someone who mainly wants it for Blu-Ray, it's a good deal.

Yeah I use my 20 GB PS3 strictly as a Blu ray player right now and couldn't be happier. Extra HD space, Memory card slot and even wireless isn't needed if you only use it as a Blu ray player.

I did a lot of thinking. I was basically going to waste the money on what I would hope BD to be. My buying a machine won't make it be the format I want it to be whereas HD DVD IS the format that I want. There hasn't been a single disappointment with it aside from availability of movies. That's been my only complaint.

Even if I bought BD right now, there'd only be 1 or 2 movies that I think are worth it and is that enough to buy into an entire format? no. If those movies then came out on HD (if a studio switched), I'd end up selling the movies and re-buying them on HD because I want to show my support for a format that I respect as opposed to one that I don't and can't.

I don't want a gaming system to be my primary player. I don't want scratches all over my discs. I don't like the idea that an entire movie format was based on a gaming system. I don't like the idea that the studio support for the future of home theater was based on a gaming system. And, as I stated, i don't like the attitude expressed by Sony or Fox.

And let it be known that even if those studios suddenly switched and released on HD DVD, the problems with the discs themselves won't go away. i don't believe they're going to magically start releasing with all the SD extras and re-encode to VC1, although it is possible.

Again, though, I still haven't seen a player below $400 and have a feeling I won't for a while. And with all of the 1st gen machines being crippled, I doubt I'll be buying into BD for a very long time.

Do what you want. I hope you enjoy it, whichever way you go. I'm not here to start an argument or to get banned. I'm just saying that for MY standards (and apparently I'm not alone), BD just isn't delivering.

The PS3 is a fantastic Blu-ray player. It's not a great standard DVD player, but it's a heck of a Blu-ray player. This is definitely the way to go if you're looking for a cheap (or at least cheaper) way to dive into the deep blu sea.

I would say maybe. I sure like having the ability to play both, but I consider HD-DVD better and if not for some BD exclusives, would not even consider keeping my BD player. BD movies tend to be more expensive, have less features, many early disc are encoded in MPEG2 which was not nearly as nice as the VC-1 encodes of HD-DVD IMHO, and overall, compatability issues and high hardware cost make BD very unfriendly to me. I have both, but I am currently experiencing some buyers remorse after watching some titles I felt I had to have and being completely underwhelmed with them.

The PS3 does a good job of playing BD disc (especially as far as compatability), but I feel it is a pretty pitiful DVD player. Overall, it is probably the best bet today.

All that said and being an early adopter of both formats, I cannot in good faith say "yes, go buy a BD player."

You only live once...enjoy what technology has to offer you as of today. Technology is always changing. After high definition, we're going to have Ultra High Definition 15 years from now. Find a player in your price range and enjoy. I highly doubt Sony or even Disney will convert over to HD-DVD anytime soon...maybe 5 years from now. Sony has invested too much money in Blu-Ray already... Personally, I believe both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will exist for another 15 years. I can't see Blu-Ray giving up so easily, nor HD-DVD; therefore, both will continue to release their movies in own format. 5 years from now, I hope to see a dual player like LG for $400.. As price drops...it will..always do...Blu-Ray will become to the same range as HD-DVD players and movies. As for movie disc, the prices are pretty much the same price with each other anyway.

I'm buying more Blu-Ray now; and only buying HD-DVD exclusives only. 70% of my want list is on the Blu-Ray department anyway.... Also, i'm very discouraged about the HD-DVD combo discs..another reason why I converted over to Blu-Ray instead.

We got the new LG Blu-Ray/HD-DVD combo players at my job. I'm not sure if they're selling them yet, but they did arrive.

:up:

The PS3 is a great and inexpensive BD player.

What the hell...go for it. I was leaning towards HD-DVD for awhile because of the lower hardware cost until I realized that most of the movies I want were coming out on Blu-Ray. You might as well enjoy the best of both worlds.

Go both format, that is what I plan on doing. I'm HD DVD right now, but plan on goin' Blu Ray within a few months.

I currently have a PS3 and love it, but I'm thinking about getting an A2. I wouldn't worry about having an obsolete machine though. I think both formats will survive for some time.

It all really comes down to content. If there are some must haves on BD then I'd say go for it. Of course, you could always just by the SD-DVD version of these movies as well. I still think that SD DVD has a lot of life even though I've chosen to only buy HD movies from here on out.

By the way, I just joined the forum and want to say what a breath of fresh air it is to see a community that can talk about the formats without the "mine is better" mentality. There will always be some polarizing views but at least people here are much more level headed than some of the other forums I visit for HD info...Thanks.

If you don't want to miss out on those movies then just go for it and get the PS3 or the Samsung. I paid full price for the Sammy and it was well worth it, with PQ quality very close to the Panasonic, so for those prices it would be a steal (it's also $550 at Amazon new).

MY friend was wanting to know when Circut City or Best Buy would have the PS3's in stock for purchase? Does anyone have a clue?

The 60gb PS3s are widely available just about anywhere here in the Boston area. If Best Buy doesn't have any on the floor, just ask an employee.

Sony has short-packed the 20gb version because they're trying to force customers to buy the more expensive version.

Last time I bothered to look at Target, they had both sitting on the shelf.

Yeah, I'm thinking of trading in my PS2 at Ebgames for $100 credit towards a new PS3. And its basically Casino Royale on BD that is making me think really hard about pulling the trigger. That ebgames deal ends Feb. 20th.

I paid mine for $450 for the 60 GB....just do it...you live only once :) I downloaded Grand Turismo HD demo for free - they have bunch of more demo for free to keep you busy during HD releases.

I guarantee that you can get it for 25% off in November at Amazon. They always give out certificate every year if you have an American Express. Sonystyle was doing a 25% a month ago if you open a credit card with them. ToyRUs had a 25% off coupon with an American Express. So, if you are patience enough, then you can find a good deal in the near future.

Good luck.

If you've already bought into HD-DVD and have the money, than you might as well.

I will probably wait till after CES 08 before making a serious investment.

What he said. :D

I've got one and have no regrets. Never thought I'd like using a game console for a Blu-ray player but this beauty won me over with it's terrific performance.

The 20GB PS3 is FN awesome. It's much better than the Samsung I was borrowing off a friend for a few weeks.

I definitely think it's the best bet for getting into Blu-Ray, and it probably will remain so for some time to come. As Digi has said before in various threads they are most likely going to keep it current with FW as long as the console is alive and kicking, which is a plus.

It took me about 5 minutes when I opened the thing out of the box to update to the new firmware via a USB flash card. It loads discs extremely fast as well! I'm watching 1080p output - to 1080p input on the display which really shows the format off IMO.

It was a bargain to me at $500 because I have never owned a PS1, PS2, SACD player, or Blu-Ray player before.

Be aware that the firmware 1.5 update appears to be causing freezeups during the playback of Blu-ray discs for a lot of people. It happened to me tonight for the first time after updating last week.

Gotta love firmware updates. If it was working before I'm sure they can fix it quickly.

Best Buy has B1G1 free coming up for Blu-ray. Not a great list, but House of Flying Daggers and Monster House are on the list. Sucks once again for us HD DVD owners and definitely adds to the PS3 temptation.

I have the 360 add-on HD, but tonight I was at Target & they had 12 60GB PS3's, so I decided to grab one (which gives me the trifecta). The 60gb is what I need because I can't run a line to where I'm putting it, plus, why the Hell not? If you're gonna do it, do it all the way!!!

With a few really good exclusives coming out soon, I'm seriously thinking of getting a PS3 in the next few months...I'm trying to hold out but some of these movies I really really want and I can't be bothered with SD DVD anymore....