http://www.betanews.com/article/New_...nge/1189196071



Whadda think?

If I had to rank the factors that are keeping people away from HD DVD and Blu-ray, the top three -- in descending order -- would be:

1) Complete indifference (read: DVD is good enough)
2) Price
3) The format war

#2 and #3 rank far below indifference. The trick is getting people to want a high-def player. Lower prices are good, sure, but if you can't make people want one, coming in at $199 or whatever still isn't enough.

Most people I know have their DVD players hooked up to their TVs with composite cables.

And many of those are hooked up to brand new 16x9 HDTVs and playing a Pan & Scan version of their favorite movie.

"This don't look no better than our old VCR on our old TV! And the people look funny! HD sucks!"

By complete indifference, do you mean they really can't tell the difference? If you put them side by side, I'm pretty sure most people can tell the difference. But there are underlying reasons that they think DVD is "good enough". High on that list would be price. If HD players and discs were priced exactly the same (or maybe ever so slightly higher) as regular DVDs, I think you will get a lot more people to "want" the HD player.

If you have to put them side by side, though, that's not enough for most people to care.

I think you'll find a very large percentage of consumers -- probably more that react this way than not -- who either can't see the difference or don't find it enough to warrant the investment.

I still think form factor, size, and just the prestige value of owning one are the biggest factors in people owning HDTVs, with quality/resolution being secondary -- if not further down the list -- to most people. Even if the media were around the same price and players were only slightly more expensive, you'd still meet with some resistance since they'd be replacing something they're pretty happy with, and they wouldn't be able to use those discs in the players in their kids' rooms, their bedrooms, etc.

In my experience, people connecting their DVD player to their widescreen plasma by composite cable, with the player set for 4:3 Pan & Scan to stretch the image, and the brightness jacked all the way to its maximum, think that the "HDTV" picture they see looks amazing.

Why would they spend $300 on a whole new video format when the picture they get now is already absolute perfection in their eyes?

You're probably right and I'm probably giving the average consumer a little too much credit to be able to see the difference. Or they do, and just don't care.

The ones i know are still using composite hooked up to the old trusty crt set and are happy. heck, even with a 300 plus dvd collection, i'm only up to s-vhs on a big fat toshiba 26" crt...in stereo. Seriously, most people don't care. SD DVD is good enough...for most!!! My next upgrade might even be component and maybe even 5.1 The future holds many upgrades for me without jumping into hi-def.

Way to go China for triggering the price war.

They only think it's perfection because they haven't seen different. Different that is easy to demo.

One of my relatives was astonished at the difference in resolution between standard broadcast and HD-DVD on a 32-inch Viewsonic LCD. Another quickly saw that a Hitachi 51-inch unit was upscaling 480p very poorly after seeing "Ghost Ship" HTPC-upscaled on a 58-inch Pioneer (that relative promptly exchanged the Hitachi for a Pioneer Elite).

I purchased the Toshiba A-2 and really couldn't tell the difference with my 32" Samsung HDTV via HDMI hookup. I attributed it primarily to the relatively small screen size as opposed to some of the monsters you guys are viewing, lol. So I returned the A-2 and back to enjoying standard def DVD's. The format war will just have to be fought with me on the sidelines.

How far back were you setting? I can tell a difference easily and my tv is only 30". You should have kept the A2. It still upconverts your dvds and if you did decide to upgrade your tv later, you still have your HD DVD player.

You couldn't tell the difference between what? What were you watching on the A2 and what were you comparing it against? What resolution is the Samsung and what resolution was the A2 outputting? If you were watching an HD-DVD on the A2 output at the proper signal and comparing it against an SD (even an upconverted one), but saw no difference, then I'm surprised.

Planet Earth price drop + Cheap HD/BD player + nice TV = sale.

Just saying.

Oh and yeah, the difference in HD is very visible on a 30" HD Set, I have one and was astonished at the difference from about 9' away. Deja Vu looked extremely impressive, and the difference was very noticeable in The Departed as well.

That said, I recently moved to a projector (was the cheapest big screen solution I could find), and at 122", well the difference is night and day.

Does anyone else find it interesting that for the first time in a while, of the top 50 DVD on amazon as of today only 1 title (transformers) is HD?

That hasn't been that case in the recent future there have been at least 4 or 5 titles up there.

Seems like people are getting tired of this war...

More like tired of high prices. If they drop the price on their HD titles (or have another buy 3 for 2 sale), sales would increase. Right now I am getting my HD viewing goodness from rentals. I am too used to paying $5 to $10 for dvd titles and even if it is HD, that is not going to change. So rental is my way until I see some more sales.