Are you alone in an HD world?
 

I am completely alone in having HD among my friends, family, and co-workers. As a matter of fact, they think I'm crazy for being 'into it'. I have, over the last 12-18 months, helped a few friends pick out an HDTV, but they won't upgrade their TV package to HD, have DVD players hooked up with composites, etc... They just don't get it. They say the picture quality isn't that much better, or HD is too expensive, or I'll eventually make the jump...maybe. It really kind of sucks because I feel alienated. Outside of here, I can't really talk about recent HD releases, upcoming titles or rumors, TV shows with great quality, etc... I was telling my buddy about the Matrix trilogy on HD & he was like "Yeah, I saw the movies". I said "Not like this", to which he replied "It's the same movie".

Are you alone in an HD world?

yea, all of my friends think I'm crazy to buy HD-DVD/BR, even at amazon's prices, let alone retail. I finally talked my dad into it, but only cause he just got a new 70 inch Sony. Everyone else (friends, mom, grandparents, etc. ) couldn't care less. I was at best buy the other day and they had the new HD/BR releases on the new release table and some lady asked a clerk what they were and he told them High Definition movies (they had their DVD counterparts in their hands). They looked at the price and said, "How silly," and didnt even give them a second thought. A friend I have just got an HDTV (a cheap RCA 1080i with an upscaling dvd player)finally and says he cant even see the difference, and my girlfriend absolutely hated them until I got 3 HD and Blu ray players (one of each for the living room, office and bedroom), and she still says they are a waste of $ and she can't tell the difference either--and all of them are on 1080p TVs.
When people talk about DVDs they saw, want, etc. I used to try to bring up HD/BR but everytime they just look at me like i'm crazy, so I finally just gave up. Even when I bring the discs up to the counter at Fry's, most of the cashiers look at them funny, like "what the hell are these?"

I don't associate with the plebes. Heh.

Yeah, I'm the only one I know who has next gen DVD (HDDVD).

Granted, there's a few people I do know who have HDTVs but do things like "Full" on a 4x3, comment the SD looks "the same" as the HD, or connect their devices via composite.

Maybe being alone isn't so bad.

You are not alone. I am the only person in my group of friends that has HD DVD or BD. I have both. Several have HDTV, but most strech 4:3 material and few have any HD material at all. I just come here to feel better about being ahead of the curve.

I have 1 friend who has a PS3, one with the 360 Add-on, and another about to take the HD-DVD Plunge, so its not too bad. Parents have a HD Plasma, but they just watch HD programing over cable.

My parents have a 50" plasma and they love HD channels. I bought my brother the A2 for his upcoming birthday, so we will be joining the HD DVD crowd. I convinced another friend to get into HD DVD (via 360 add-on) and another who will be getting a PS3 this year. Slowly, but surely they are coming on board.

My brothers and I bought my parents an HDTV for Christmas last year, so they get and appreciate the HD channels.

My friends are all clueless, though. I have many of them that suffer from the "I have an HDTV so everything I watch is automatically HD" syndrome.

Not really.

My younger brother got an HD set before me and has Comcast HD service. My parents just got one a couple months ago, and they haven't gotten HD yet since DirectTV's current lineup is pretty slim and not worth the $10.

They're going to get it this fall for football (and hopes that they expand) or they may switch to Dish Network when their DTV contract is up).

None of my close friends have HD sets yet, so I guess I'm first in that circle.

I got my HD set about 2 weeks ago and got Comcast HD service the next day. :D

No HD-DVD or Blu-Ray among us yet. I won't buy into those until the players are routinely in the $150-200 range and, more importantly, discs are closer to current DVD prices. Movies just aren't worth $25-30 to me very often.

I have only 2 co-workers that have HD players, 1 has Blu-Ray (he's dead to me now :p) via PS3 and the other has HD DVD.
Those are the only 2 people I know personally who have bought into the new formats.

No one I know has any HD movie players. My brother has DirectTV's HD package.

I know no one with HD players and only a few that have HDTVs. Most of the ones with HDTVs are watching SD content anyway.

Yeah, but I was alone in a S-DVD world and look how that turned out!

Oh yes, I am pretty much in the "only I have HD" club. None of my family has an HDTV, much less HD DVD or BD. My parents are really too old (80s) to be interested in switching to an HDTV. My sister and brother-in-law are building a new house so they have other priorities and a very limited budget. Neither my niece and her husband nor my nephew can afford HDTV, much less HD disc players.

I helped one neighbor couple make the upgrade to HDTV, a 70 inch Sony XBR2 (they had a ten year old 480i projection TV so the step up was huge) and they have been loving their HD satellite feed and upscaled SD DVDs (I lent them my progressive DVD player, since I don't need it anymore). They want to get a BD player but have been holding off until the specs get finalized and the players become fully functional (BD-J and all that).

Another pair of friends just bought a 50 inch Pioneer plasma and have HD cable. But their seating distance is such that upscaled SD DVDs are probably good enough, so they are watching and waiting, for now, when it comes to HD DVD or BD. They also don't want to fuss with a surround sound system in their living room, but do have a really high end stereo system they use with the HDTV.

That's it, a neighbor couple and a couple of friends in another state, among all the friends and family I have. But at least those two couples give me someone to talk to about home theater stuff!

As far as Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, I'm the only one I know of that has one of the new formats (Blu-Ray). But for HD, most people I know seem to have it. Both my parents and in-laws have HD with new widescreen sets purchased within the last year and a half.

On this site we tend to look at HD for movies, or at least that is what most of the discussion seems to be in regards to. But for big sports fans, HD sports is far more of an improvement over SD sports than Blu-Ray/HD-DVD is over standard DVDs. HD sports is what got my parents into getting a plasma.

Nope. I was the first in my group but now four others have jumped on the HD DVD bandwagon. Most probably just to shut me up! :lol:

I actually think that I am going to scrap my HD coverage until football season starts. I am paying $125 a month for my HD cable and internet, and I don't even watch TV.

My uncle (who is more of a movie and tech nut than I am) has both a Blu-ray and HD DVD player, as well as gets HD programming OTA and on satellite, and my best friend just bought a HDTV and HD DVD add on for his Xbox 360, so I'm happy to say I'm not alone. Most other people I know don't think HD is important enough to spend money on upgrading though (even after my demonstrations).

My mother and step-father actually had HD programming before i DID (I was waiting on DTV to release their newest HD DVR first), I have a friends with the 360 add on... and ONE MOVIE... Myself, I have a 61" JVC 1080P in my den with BR, HD-dvd, and DTV HD... in my game room I have a 1080i 30" CRT HDtv along with the same DTV HD-DVR... bedroom has a plain 19" tv which will be upgraded with the CRT from my bedroom, although without hd programming since I dont want to get rid of the TIVO

Will look for a deal on a 32-37 LCD for my gaming room later this year

I knew no one who had laserdisc, and I know no one who buys blu-ray/HD-DVD movies. Probably half have some sort of HDTV.

I have a lot of friends and family that have HD sets and HD satellites - but none of them have HD and/or blu-ray players (and I only have the 360 add-on) - to them, while they love their HD broadcasts, their regular dvds are just fine.

I'm alone as well amongst my family and friends when it comes to HD-DVD (A-1). That is why I turn to my support group here at DVDTalk. If it weren't for this forum, I may have never gotten into HD-DVD, let alone collecting SD-DVD's.

My parents had HD on DirecTv but due to slow wireless connections, Mom conned Dad into ditching that once cable became available in their rural area. Now my dad has a cable company that doesn't even offer HD yet for his TV. He hates it, as he once had the power of HD and now has lost it.

But no, I'm not alone. I just feel sorry for my Dad and any people in the area who want to take advantage of that great feature. The area my parents live in still has a market for VHS tapes. Needless to say I will never be going back to that area!

Yea, I think I all alone too. I jumped on the HD-DVD bandwagon since I go the X360, and now with the Toshiba A2. For people don't understand all of this stuff, they don't get how Costco can sell HD CABLES for $100 bucks. When they are comparing DVDs to the HD stuff, they have to pay a premium. Most of the time, I think they just want one format, and won't jump until one format dies.

I just realized that everyone I can think of that has an HDTV has HD cable (it was a must-have after getting their HDTV), but those same people laugh about HD-DVD/BluRay. I wonder why. It's not like they don't watch movies, because they still gobble up SD DVDs. I'd like to blame it on the format war, but they just dont seem to care at all for some reason.