JimRochester

My parents are still having trouble understanding the different shapes of programs on their HDTV. They have DVD and BR is just one more thing to worry about.

Travis McClain

I make a point of downloading Digital Copies when they've been included with DVDs/Blu-rays, and I frequently check iTunes for free TV episodes; I've got over 90 GB worth of episodes so far from series like Burn Notice, Psych and A Bit of Fry and Laurie. To date, I've only paid for a few of these digital versions: a handful of Star Trek episodes (I've bought seven of the digitally remastered episodes of the original series and the "Flashback" episode of Voyager).

As for Amazon's VOD service, I have a few things there but all of those were either free in the first place or I bought them with VOD credit received in promotions.

I can't see myself ever bypassing physical media in favor of digital, though if someone could align all the necessary stars to bring us the 60s Batman I would convert to whatever format was necessary!

Eddie W

When people talk about digital downloads, they always fail to differentiate between the rental market & those who purchase movies. I use VUDU quite frequently to rent movies, but would I ever pay the same price as a BD to 'own' one? Hell no.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

For me, it's because unlike with blu-ray, I have to buy a new tv to get any benefit from it. I just bought a tv 2 years ago and I have 0 plans to get another expensive one until it's time to replace it.

If 3D is still around the next time I go to get a big screen, I'll get it.

Of course by that time, stores will have stopped selling music/movies/games/books because it'll all switch to digital downloads. Notice how TVs and blu-ray players have digital download service available? That's the government getting us ready when they force the switch like when they made us all go digital and grandma couldn't get her Lifetime channel anymore or how the government sponsored E.T. to be made so they could get us used to aliens when they introduced them to us. It's going to be like Fahrenheit 451, only with music, movies, games and books.

The studios forced blu-ray down our throats and businesses will do the same with physical media. Mark my words, within one year you'll go to Amazon to buy a movie and find everything's been replaced by digital downloads. Then you'll go to deepdiscount.com. Oh good, you think as you place your order. BAM! You never get it. Go check the deep discount thread. You'll find that's what's happening right now. They recently changed owners with another company that happens to be run by the government http://forum.dvdtalk.com/store-forum...e-details.html

The plan is to get people so mad that they can't get their physical media orders that they'll start switching exclusively to digital downloads. Eventually they'll force it on the rest of us. I was in the Air Force, I know these things.

Travis McClain

Too much all at once! I'm still freaked out by Bradbury's commentary on disappearing front porches!

tonyc3742

While some innovations benefit from champions hyping it up and selling it, it seems that many new technological innovations suffer from fanboyism. Either you're one of The Elite, or you're utter pond scum who's too stupid to realize how Great the New Tech is. When I encounter that sort of fanboyism, I usually just think 'Fine, **** you too then' and go on happily satisfied with my current level of tech.
There's a fine line between being a fan and wanting to share your excitement for something, and being a proselytizing cultist ready to wreak fire and brimstone upon the heathens who dare to have differing opinions or who, horrors, don't really care.
In other words, if the most vocal fans of a tech are a bunch of closeminded a-holes, well, that's not really a draw to me.
Luckily DVDtalk has been mostly free of this sort of mentality, but it's widespread in other places.

Cable companies, itunes, hulu, vudu, netflix, amazon, etc, make it easy to rent digital downloads. I also think no one would ever pay full price for a digital version of a disk, but then again, the Kindle is selling like hotcakes filled with cocaine, and while there's free or cheap content there, there's also many many full price e-books that are apparently selling well.

I have a coworker, slightly younger than me, who doesn't have cable, and I don't think he has broadband internet - he gets a fast enough 3g/4g connection on his cell phone that he uses the phone to create a wifi hotstop, and uses a netbook to the tv to watch his content that way, and is perfectly happy with that. The idea of any disk format is almost unknown to him. He lives through his phone.

PerryD

I know someone who has a nice HDTV and also a PS3, but rents DVDs from Netflix instead of paying a little extra per month to get the Blu-ray versions. This same person doesn't contribute anything into his 401k either, even though the company matches the first 4%. People have different priorities, no matter what value the rest of us put on the same purchase.

The other topic... I checked out Vudu on the PS3 this weekend, and couldn't believe the prices. I think it was $5.99 to rent a 1080p movie. If the price was $1.99 or .99, I can see the advantage over Netflix or Redbox, for $6? Really?

tonyc3742

Yow. Really? That's crazy expensive to me...then again, if one can be watching the movie they want to see, pretty much immediately, in HD, any time of day, that could be worth an upcharge to some people. You don't have to worry about the disk not being there, or being scratched, or getting out to the box, or waiting for them to mail you the disk....We pay for convenience.

nmr1723

I truly think, for a lot of people, DVD is "good enough". Many of these same people probably watch HD and DVD on a smallish (42") 720p display over 10 feet away and see very little difference. Yes, HDTV is worlds better than SDTV...but DVD still looks pretty damn good.

I was fairly early on the HD bandwagon. I got a PS3 a few months after launch and HD DVD player a few months after that. At the time, I had a 50" Sony 720p Rear Proj. LCD TV. Could I see a difference? Yes...but it wasn't night and day like HDTV and SDTV. Fast forward to 2009...I bought 50" Pioneer Plasma (KRP-500M)...and now the difference is night and day. DVD's look better on my new display, but BD and HD DVD look worlds better. Not just the resolution...but the color as well.

I use a Pioneer BDP-51FD for BD playback and DVD "upconversion". The 51FD is a damn good upconverting player, but SD DVD still looks soft. Even fantastic transfers like the LOTR extended editions look soft at times. I was in on the game pretty early, but I did not start to really reap the benefits until 2009. I think a great display and sound system (I almost enjoy the audio more) really make Blu-ray and HD DVD worth it. I'm at the point now where it is hard to watch standard programming. I don't even browse non-HD channels and rarely watch my DVD's. Shit...it's hard for me to watch anything streaming on Netflix unless it's HD...and then it's barely better than SD DVD.

Ignorance is bliss...as they say. Now that I'm fully entrenched in HD media...I'm spoiled. It is...that much better...

Also...as many others have said...you do not have to get rid of your DVD collection. However, you may start to when you see the difference on a nice display.

Rypro 525

the current tv and sound system i have won't give blu ray the best presentation, so until i have to upgrade both, i'll stick with dvd

anomynous

Yes


Just look at the DVD Talk forum

joltaddict

Fok

Great answers folks. Even though I'm late in the HD game, it does feel like the right time to switch. I know costs can be a factor, but they're coming down everyday.

I wonder if people had similar opinions back then for the conversion from LD to DVD?

wormraper

oh they did. believe me. there was TONS of angry vhs and laserdisc people who said the SAME STUFF that's been posted here for the first 5 or 6 years of DVD's life. life goes on. old tech gets pushed out, new stuff comes in and sooner or later they'll come around

Brian Shannon

I know many people who do not own a BD player.

Although I have one myself, there are very few films out that I have bought on BD.

kd5

If I hadn't ventured here just out of curiosity (wanted to check up on the thread I'd posted in: How often do you buy DVD/BRD?, I'd never have known this thread even existed (should be in DVD Talk).

When I first started buying movies on VHS, I was perfectly happy with them. Then DVD came out and after a great deal of time I finally decided I'd build my movie library on DVDs (really didn't have a monstrous collection of VHS so it wasn't that big of a deal), plus I've been able to find alot of the DVDs I own for dirt cheap (which makes my wife happier). Now that I've built my DVD library pretty much to my satisfaction, everyone thinks I should just convert to BluRay. And by the time I converted all of my DVDs to BluRay, the next state-of-the-art technology would be unveiled and everyone would clamor to convert to that.

I say enough is enough. I already have too much money tied up in my DVD collection, I'm not about to convert everything all over again, just to be confronted with the next new technology, ad infintum. Fuck that. DVD looks great to me, so BluRay looks better, so what? Is that enough for me to start over? No. My DVD player works fine, until it doesn't anymore, and I'll replace it with another DVD player so I can watch my DVDs. I'm happy with my collection of DVDs, they look just fine to me. Besides, I'd be willing to bet that alot of the movies that I have (or want) on DVD haven't even been released on BluRay. At any rate, I'm not getting caught up in the cycle again, but more than that, I can't afford to. -kd5-

Sweet Baby James

^

To each their own but there's no law saying that you have to upgrade your existing DVDs to BR. BR players can now easily be had in the $80 range and they do play regular DVDs. Prices on the software has dropped to be competitive(sometimes the BR is actually less than the DVD). If you have an HDTV, then why not drop that $80 on a BR player? You can then start collecting titles on a superior format and you can still buy the DVD if the price is too high for the BR. BTW, it's not just about picture quality. The audio is far better on BR.

kefrank

This is the mentality that I referred to earlier which I just can't understand. Blu-ray players are extremely affordable now. Why wouldn't you replace your broken DVD player with a Blu-ray player? You can still watch all your current DVDs with it, but would at least have the option to buy the Blu-ray version of new releases or other things you don't have yet. You don't have to replace your entire collection (or any of it). I don't get it.

Save Ferris

My friend is married and his wife hates buying anything 'frivolous'. They were at someones house watching something on an HDTV in 'SUPER REALISTIC' mode and they hated it. Therefore they will never get blu ray

arminius

I download netflix all the time on the PS3. However, I am not going to pay 5 or 10 bucks to own a digital copy. I watch far more content now streaming but my purchases have dropped off to very little.

BuckNaked2k

What do you mean you'll "stick" with DVD? Are you just renting DVDs, or are you continuing to purchase DVDs? If you are still acquiring new DVDs for your collection, you may want to reconsider. New release Blu-ray sells for a small premium over DVD, and decent players can be had for under $100. You don't need a big set up to view Blu-ray, it works on any TV with component in. It's not true HD, but it does give a better picture, and the audio can be played through your TV speakers, or any 5.1 set-up.

It just seems like a waste to keep spending money on DVDs if you are going to upgrade eventually.

Deftones

inexplicably, my parents, who have ungodly amounts of money. my dad has a 60" pioneer kuro plasma in their family room with tons of high end electronics hooked up. at their cabin he's got a 120" screen with a marantz projector. they continue to buy dvds at amazing rates. they say they have no interest in blu-ray. doesn't make sense to me since he's got direcTV HD and VUDU in HD so he knows how much better it looks.

RobLutter

I don't have a single other friend that buys Blu-ray. That said, none of them really have the setup to really see the difference or really don't care.

There are a lot of people with HDTVs (or Standard Def) hooked up with red/white/yellow composite collection and upscaler DVD players who just. don't. get it. And are completely happy.

My parents have a 65" HDTV with a decent surround sound system (Yamaha/Boston Acoustics/Pioneer DVD) but are totally fine with how DVDs look. It's more the thought of having "one more piece of equipment" in the house

nmr1723

I've got two words for her: sample size.

If she is basing her decision off of one viewing...I'd hate to see how she deals with other decisions. The "realism" modes on some of the LCDs these days are awful though. I have a buddy with a Sony LCD and it must have had some crazy mode enabled..."Team America" looked like a soap opera.

Still, I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to upgrade their equipment if it NEEDS to be replaced. If you need a new DVD player, why not pay a little extra for the added features that come with a Blu-ray player? You can then rent, borrow, and buy Blu-ray as much as you want (or don't want) and take advantage of Netflix, and other subscription and/or VOD services.

Most of my friends and family have Blu-ray players, but only my brother and I actively buy movies. We aren't power buyers by any means (we both probably have around 120-150 or BD, HD DVD, & DVD) and most of our titles are animated movies for our sons. It helps to have a spouse that supports the hobby. I love electronics, film, and music...and my wife is cool with this. Just as I am cool with her having a closet full of purses, shoes, and coats.

Eric D.

People do realize that when you purchase a BD player, you are not held at gunpoint to upgrade your entire DVD collection, right? I say that somewhat in jest because that's the main reason a lot of people keep giving and they seem angry about it. Like others have said ad nauseam, a BD player will play your entire DVD collection without a problem. So you can keep your "looks fine to me" library and just buy/rent movies that you don't have yet on Blu.