I've held off changing formats but with the great "Black Friday" after Thanksgiving Dealers at some retailers, is it time to go Blu-Ray?

I've seen some titles that give you both Blu-Ray as well as DVD so this is enticing as it will let me still use my portable and older DVD players.

I've seen in-store demonstrations but is the quality really that much different?
Yes, I do have two flat-screens with 1080i.

Yes.

Yes.

No. It's past time.

There is no reason not to buy a BD player now (they can do so much more than just play BDs, netflix and other video and audio streaming services come to mind). Whether all your new purchases should be BD or whether to upgrade any or all of your existing DVDs to BD is a completely different matter.
Wrt. the picture (and presumably also the audio) quality, the difference is noticeable, but it also depends on the person. My wife, for example, also acknowledges the difference but doesn't really care (DVDs are good enough). For me, it is sometimes torture to have to watch a DVD (especially, if I've just watched a good BD).
There are a couple of things that I don't like about BDs:
1. BDlive - I've yet to see a good application of this technology
2. resume play. Even my oldest, crappiest DVD player supports resume play (even after complete power down). With BDs it only works if it is supported by the disc itself (supposedly, this a technical problem (or feature?) related to BD-J. A workaround is to use bookmarks, if supported by the disc, but that is really cumbersome).

After resisting for a time now, I'm finally taking the dive myself. I was starting to wonder if it'd be my tape/CD buying habits again if I didn't switch. Basically, back in the day, if it was something I wanted but not *as* much, I'd get it on cassette tape. Now I regret not just picking everything up on CD. I'm wondering if I should have done the same with BluRay.

Anyway, got a bunch of sale Blu's coming to me, and narrowed down to 2 players that I'll probably pick one up in the next week as well.

what's a blue-ray?

Last Christmas my g/f gave me a giftcard to go towards a new TV. While I was at I went ahead and got a new receiver and a Blu-ray player. Been enjoying all the goodness of HD.

So, yeah...it's always time for Blu-ray.

And most catalog blurays can be found pretty cheap online and furthermore when you check out the trade/sell forums, you can find most of those catalog blus for pretty damn cheap. So basically, i u want to upgrade your dvds to their bluray versions, now is the time!

Yes.

Does anybody really care (about time)?

Another yes. Prices on players are low. Lots of Blu-ray movie sales. Players also play standard definition DVDs.

Flicker, a flashing effect displeasing to the eye

nahhh ... I say you stick with dvd

You obviously are into the whole collecting of different media. What did you gain by waiting? What will you gain by waiting longer?

No, don't jump into Blu-ray just yet. It's way too immature a format. I suggest sticking with DVD, or better yet, go back to VHS! There are bargains to be had in the VHS format!!!



--John

John, if I can find a buyer for all my 8-track music tapes, I'll switch to Blu-Ray! LOL

Seriously,, I purchased a Phillips Blu-Ray home theatre system today at Walmart and five Blu-Ray discs. Some of my movie titles I have now on DVD I may try and put them on Amazon and start the switching transition.

I will never understand why 8-tracks were dumped by the side of the road by the music industry. These new-fangled "CD's" will never catch on!

Enjoy your new system! You will probably never look at a DVD ever again...............

--John

Congrats on the move...

I went blu about 6 months ago and haven't looked back... Sold and traded in the majority of my DVDs that were in good shape. Kept a bunch though, which I'll slowly upgrade as/if they become available at a reasonable price. Criterions though, ugh, replacing those is teh suck on the wallet. 1 at a time for now...

I'll disagree just a little with John though, some DVDs still look pretty solid / "good enough" upscaled... I just finished ER Season 12 not long ago on DVD and it looks/sounds pretty darn good. So, you may want to look through your collection. A lot of DVDs though, look like ass now and upscaling is meh at best.

Do you have HDMI inputs on your 1080i displays? BD - for the most part* - still kills DVD through component on 1080i but it shines on a 1080p display using the HDMI inputs.

*Why do some BDs lack subs? srsly? The Illusionist... I'm looking at you. Rediculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvRBX6N8jqs

Also OP, it is definitely time.

I only have a 32" 1080i LCD and I noticed the difference when I first jumped into the Blu-Ray tank.

If you buy new releases, they're often cheaper than DVD

[QUOTE=JYou will probably never look at a DVD ever again...............
[/QUOTE]

I don't understand this mindset. I have plenty of Blu-Rays but I still have a ton of DVDs. And there's still stuff not available on Blu-Ray and even new movies coming out on DVD only. There's only a few DVDs I watched that were so horrible looking that I could not bear to watch them but I can only think of two off the top of my head. Everything else has looked just fine upconverted. And a little extra clarity in a HD transfer doesn't many any comedy funnier or any drama better or any action more actiony.

If you wait long enough most Blu-Rays end up being cheap as or cheaper than DVDs. I snagged a ton this holiday weekend so far that were cheaper than DVDs or at least the same price as DVDs.

I'd say the time has been right since Feb. 2008, when the ridiculous HD format war was finally resolved.

I made the decision to go to Blu one day, when:

1. Disney announced that Sleeping Beauty Blu was going back into the vault
2. Warner announced they were releasing The Neverending Story onto Blu-ray
3. I saw the Dark Knight and Speed Racer Blus on sale for $10 new

Here's my standard spiel:

Everyone who buys movies should go blu-ray. Players are as cheap as $60, play on any TV you have, play your DVDs (better), and many times BDs are cheaper than their DVD counterpart.

No need to buy a new TV, no need to upgrade every DVD in your collection. Just buy the deals and in time you'll earn that $60-120 you spend on the player back and make a profit by switching.