Home audio & video: Poll: Which factor would make you upgrade to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player?
- 7/25/07 4:31 PM
Blu Ray, Price.
by Ed-duh-win - 7/25/07 8:59 PM In reply to: Poll: Which factor would make you upgrade to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'd only buy a new Blu-Ray player if the price comes down to less than $300. Anything more is just too much to pay for just a HD experience.
Wait
by vanquished...again - 7/25/07 9:07 PM In reply to: Blu Ray, Price. by Ed-duh-winIts expected that by Christmas this year.
The Blu-Ray players will be $300.000
I think thats very reasonable, especially since its your only choice for HD format...
I'd just get a PS3, for $500 dollars you basically get a kick a$$ computer.
That you can use on your TV.
Quality and DVD titles..... they go....
by Rollbar - 7/31/07 9:19 AM In reply to: Wait by vanquished...againhand in hand I think.
I expect the quality, I want more titles. Price is important but experience tells me as long as I am satisfied with a product, I quickly forget how much I paid. It's when I'm disappointed with the performance of a product I feel cheated regardless of what I paid.
Gary
I'm with you Garry
by nevido - 8/1/07 6:02 AM In reply to: Quality and DVD titles..... they go.... by RollbarI was very surprised that most people picked price over quality... wait a second, that's what happened with Beta!
Like cell phones I'm sure HD players will get jammed with added features that some people will never use, but for me I'll put my money on core quality, not bells and whistles.
OK, so I bought a PS3 which you could say contradicts my earlier statement, but it was the BluRay that clinched my console purchase, not the other way around.
My reason: Other
by TrackStar1682 - 7/25/07 9:11 PM In reply to: Poll: Which factor would make you upgrade to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The one thing that would push me to get a Hi-Def home movie system would be if my DVD player broke, and if they didn't come out with a reasonably priced HD/BluRay combo deck, I'd get HD-DVD. As it is, you can get HD-DVD's that will play in any DVD player, so those will be my choice of format whenever I buy movies. Actually, it might not be a bad idea if they replaced all standard DVD's with them, that way people can build a collection before they have to buy the player. So then, if and when my trusty DVD player breaks down, I'll just go out and buy that HD-DVD deck or combo if it's available and enjoy the movies I've enjoyed all along with a nicer picture. You just can't go wrong with that can you?
Title Selection + Hardware = Value
by boxfresh151 - 7/25/07 9:11 PM In reply to: Poll: Which factor would make you upgrade to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I dont care about added features. I just want to drop in the disk and see the movie start within ten seconds. Price is important but content is more important. Right now the only one movie coming out on Blu-Ray that I want to see is 300. (and that is coming to HD-DVD as well.) The other problem is the players suck. They take forever to start up and load, and then they freeze up. They are also picky about what files they will play. Forget about playing an mpeg file of your kids from your digicam, you are still going to need a standard player for that. If you want to know much they players suck, swing by Best Buy and take a look at all the returned thousand dollar player they have from six months ago.
No plan to upgrade DVD player for quite a while
by ellerman88 - 7/25/07 9:42 PM In reply to: Poll: Which factor would make you upgrade to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Why won't I upgrade to a high definition DVD player in the near future? 'Cuz my current regular DVD player is doing just fine. And won't that actually be the most common reason those who stick with the status quo do so?
Content + popularity = HD winner
by rjona1 - 7/26/07 8:08 AM In reply to: No plan to upgrade DVD player for quite a while by ellerman88Eventually, everybody will switch a HD player because we are replacing our crt tv with HD LCD tv. And dvds don't look good on LCD tvs or at least the HD dvd or Blu ray will be infinitely better. And once you see the better picture quality, you have to upgrade. That is how the vhs was replace by the dvd.
So unless you're not upgrading your tv soon, your old dvd player will be fine for now
So who is winning? The one with the most players sold and/or the one with most (good) titles. And right now, that would be the Blu ray because of the all the PS3 sold and with the good titles around spread around evenly with many studios hedging their bets , creating titles for both hd dvd & blu ray
I hope the format wars end soon or we'll be downloading our movies instead of buying disks
I don't plan to switch any time soon
by softwarecritic - 7/26/07 7:09 PM In reply to: No plan to upgrade DVD player for quite a while by ellerman88My Samsung Progressive Scan works just fine on my old analog tv set.
I only use it to watch movies and don't care is I miss any 'thrilling special effects'. Beside that, my visual acuity is slowing down as age creeps up.
The quality of the original transfer is what matters
by ny2nv - 7/25/07 10:15 PM In reply to: Poll: Which factor would make you upgrade to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I would consider a dual format player priced at $100.00
The quality of the original transfer is what matters. A high definition transfer of a classic film will be limited by the source. The quality of standard DVD’s is high enough. After collecting tapes, then Laser discs, now DVD’s only, I only collect DVD’s of small art house films that are not shown on cable and may never be transferred to HD or Blu-Ray.
Now that NetFlix rents HD or Blu-Ray DVD’s why buy, except for your absolute favorites.
HD DVD
by pc monitor - 7/26/07 6:38 AM In reply to: The quality of the original transfer is what matters by ny2nvPrice, bought one with the X Box for 200 bucks and a free movie, picture looks great on the 57" 1080dlp set. Also, I wasn't forced into it like Sony does with their game system nor into any copyright protection garb. You can store and read information in HD on regular DVDs too.
BLU RAY BABY!!!!!!
by amen-ra - 7/25/07 10:22 PM In reply to: Poll: Which factor would make you upgrade to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I already own a blu ray player, that is a PS3, and am already building my blu ray library, hd dvd will be go the way of Divx, besides for pc storage blu ray is the way to go....
Bang for buck
by jhotmann - 7/25/07 10:45 PM In reply to: Poll: Which factor would make you upgrade to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I think that there are 2 factors that will have to come together to make the mass majority of people upgrade to a hi-def player...Price and A/V quality. But instead of thinking of them differently people will have to feel that the extra cost of a hi-def player and the more expensive movies will be worth the enhanced viewing experience. Currently a large majority of the public doesnt have an hdtv and those that do probably only have 720p so the visuals of hd dvd or blu ray wont be that much more impressive than the quality of an upconverted dvd. So most people probably wont feel that the little gain in quality is worth the high cost compared to dvd. But as the prices of 1080p tvs drops and they are put in more houses and the hi def players decrease in cost it may lead to more people upgrading.
When the price for NEW machines breaks $200 bucks, maybe...
by JeffAHayes - 7/25/07 11:04 PM In reply to: Bang for buck by jhotmannI'd BEEN thinking from the beginning that Blu-Ray was better, probablly largely due to a lot of VERY GOOD P.R. early on by the Blu-Ray association, combined with the fact that for the first year or so, none of the HD-DVD players had outputs greater than 720P/1080i (even though many of the movies DID).
Of course all the NEWER HD-DVD movies and players support full 1080P (although there are still "discounted" HD-DVD PLAYERS from the "last generation" that aren't 1080P -- this is an ISSUE for me, even though I have NO plans to buy a 1080P TV for anything approaching the near future, just BECAUSE...).
HOWEVER, the fact that Sony has just come out with a BRAND NEW Blu-Ray player whose SOLE "new feature," so far as I can tell, is that it's exactly HALF the price of the old one, at $499, tells me the lower prices of HD-DVD MUST be having a painful impact on Blu-Ray sales.
Flipside, HD-DVD DOESN'T have as much studio support, with Universal being the ONLY studio releasing ONLY in HD-DVD, yet Blockbuster Video JUST ANNOUNCED a day or two ago that THEY'RE leaning towards Blu-Ray rentals over HD-DVD because "that's where the demand is." (I'm thinking it's more like maybe that's where the under-the-table DEAL is). HOWEVER (and I REALLY CAN'T KEEP UP), but I could've SWORN Blockbuster was part of the SAME MEGALOPOLY that includes NBC-Universal-RCA, with RCA being one of the FEW BRANDS of HD-DVD players available other than Toshiba (all likely MADE by Toshiba)... If that IS the case, then Blockbuster is talking about carrying the format that COMPETES with its business interests (but then that JUST COULD BE to avoid implications of antitrust violations if they ARE part of the Universal "family," and I'm NOT sure on that, just thought they were).
All the folks I've talked to at Best Buy seem to think the advent of the first dual-player machine by LG a few months back means this format competition will become a NON-issue, just as DVD+R and DVD-R became a NON-issue when those two formats were integrated a few years ago... Yet I BELIEVE there's a bigger difference between these two formats than there was between those, so it's hard to say, and I guess only time will tell.
In the end, I guess those consumers who have the patience to wait and let the dust settle DO win out... But all the early adopters, well, some of them end up paying through the nose, and many of them risk ending up with a DEAD platform, like VHS, Videodisk, RCA videodisk, and so much more that's come "down the pike" through the years.
Time WILL TELL, I guess,
Jeff
It's Betamax vs. VHS all over again
by peyiks - 7/25/07 10:54 PM In reply to: Poll: Which factor would make you upgrade to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The real reason Sony lost the Video Tape wars in the 80's was their stubborn attitude towards licensing their technology to other manufacturers. VHS players were quickly available from dozens of makers. That is what is happening now. Sony's only "out" on this that might make them successful is their exclusive relationship with the studios, and inclusion of Blu-Ray with the Playstation 3. But at the same time, this places the machines at a higher price level, out of the budget of the average family (witness Sony's alienation of PlayStation gamers, who have bought Nintendo's Wii and the XBox 360 in larger numbers, just to push the "Blu Ray" feature). The Betamax was superior, I think the Blu Ray is superior in many ways. But unless Sony gets its head out of its nether regions, the result will be the same.
As for buying one or the other, I agree with some others. Until they are WELL below $200, its all moot. I have a cheap, $30 Zenith DVD player in my bedroom, with progressive scan. With the 20" LCD flat screen, it has an excellent picture. In the livingroom, on the 29" CRT TV, 4 years old, my DVD player is my PlayStation 2. That too works excellently. Unless I were at techno-geek and just had to have the latest gadget right now, I'd wait. My cheap DVD player, 10 years ago, would have cost $900... without Progressive Scan.
So let's get real and wait... and prod Sony out of their dark spot.
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