The DVDs or HD/Blu-Ray Dilemma

[Sir Calumn]

Has anyone decided yet whether they're going to go over the Blu-Ray/HD, or just stick with DVDs?

Because I am really worried that the longer I hold out with my DVDs, the less money I will be able to get for them, but at the same time, if I sell them now and jump in on Blu-Ray/HD, it'll still be when they're really expensive. I have a large DVD collection and I really dont want it to become as obsolete and worthless and VHS's became after DVD's were released, yet I really dont want the hassle and expense of switching over, aswell as the fact that it will be a long time before everything is released on Blu-Ray/HD.

Then there is the risk that one of either HD or Blu-Ray will fade away and any of those I buy wll have to be rebought, as the other format gains presendence. Half of me thinks I should just stick with my DVDs whatever, and the other half thinks I'd be stupid not to jump on the new formats early to get ahead of the game. Also, as a film fan, I feel I should embrace the best quality of format there is available, even if the difference is only marginal.

I wish they'd just left things the **** alone - I was perfectly happy with DVDs before but now I'm really worried. DVDs could half in value in under a year and I would lose literally thousands of pounds, or I could go all out into Blu-Ray/HD and then they go the same way as minidiscs and die out, never dropping in price and with only limited availability.

What are all you guys planning on doing? Or am I stupid to worry about this and better off just leaving things to sort themselves out?

 

[Tom]

forgive me for being dumb, but two things cross my mind.

1. Surely the decision on what to buy will essentially boil down to which production houses use which products. e.g. Toshiba, Microsoft and Universal. With Blu-ray being backed by Disney, Fox and Paramount. So... whatever you want from those will determine what you buy.

2. I'm sure i heard that Toshiba (mentioned earlier) were developing a DVD that could hold both blu-ray and HD formats, hence meaning you could just pick which one you wanted for whatever player you had? I dont know.

To be honest Sir_Didier_Drogba, im gonna play it by ear for at least the next few years. I also maintain that movie studios couldnt POSSIBLY find that much more to put onto DVDs that arent already on them... Apart from the "High Def" thing in the first place.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Point one is another problem though - I would have to have both an HD and a Blu-Ray player as most movies are only being released on one format. It has been predicted, thought, that one of the formats is bound to take the lead in the market and the other eventually drop away, meaning all studios will have to go with the leader or else severely damage their profits, creating yet another problem later down the line.

I am perfectly satisfied with the quality of DVDs, but then, I was perfectly satisfied with VHS's at the time, and now I detest them and only buy them if there's absolutely know way I can get the movie on DVD. I think the image quality is again a big step up, though not as big as the VHS to DVD difference, and I really feel I should be watching movies at the best quality possible. I dont think there will be anything else after HD/Blu-Rays, until Holovision comes along , for the reason you say, so maybe I should jump on board with the new formats as my final decision?

I think your stance is probably right though, no sense making decisions now, even though delaying could be risky.

 

[Virgo]

the difference is really not minimal, the image and colour quality with HD is quite noticeable.

 

[Tom]

well yeah, i mean the transition from VHS to DVD was relatively smooth over, i'd say, a five year period.

I'm sure the transition to high-def DVDs will be equally amicable, but i agree with you Sir_Didier_Drogba, that one will surely take the high-road. Some have compared it to the VHS vs Betamax context of the eighties, personally i dont agree with that, as this "battle" has far less difference between the two opponents than that did.

I think in the end this comes down to a really simple factor, people (like me) can bang on about how good current DVDs are and that we dont need new, improved versions. But frankly, we wont be the ones who decide. You look at the companies who are already backing HD/Blu-ray, there hasnt been one major distributor who has said; "we're sticking with DVDs", at the end of the day, DVDs are gonna be on the scrapile far quicker than any of us would have predicted in 2002 or so.

So while I say that i'll stick it out for now, i obviously (and i think all of us) understand that we'll have to make a decision sooner or later. So that leaves the two formats, while i prefer the idea of Blu-Ray, i cant help but feel having the biggest company in the world on board, may well lead HD-DVD's to win the 'battle'. I dont know, i can just see Microsoft not allowing Blu-Ray DVD's to work on Windows or something similar to that.

Disney is a huge player in the children market, and having them on board is a huge coop for Sony's Blu-Ray, but i'm still not sure its gonna be enough.

Interesting stuff though.

 

[Shindig]

I'm going to stick with DVDs and then, when I'm 70, all the kids around the neighbourhood will see me as some sort of evil man and stay the hell away from me.

And everytime I stick a DVD on, I can say, "BEHOLD!!"

 

[Gerrard 17]

Too lazy to read through everything but why would you sell your collection? HD and BR players play regular DVDs so it shouldn't be the same problem as with VHS. You won't get more than $5 for a used DVD anyway.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Too lazy to read through everything but why would you sell your collection? HD and BR players play regular DVDs so it shouldn't be the same problem as with VHS. You won't get more than $5 for a used DVD anyway.

Right now I could get £5 - £10 for the majority of them, lots of special editions and foreign language films which are more expensive, but that's gonna keep falling and yeah, if I wait until HDs/BRs become the predominant format, then $5 will be the best I can hope for. That's why I'm worried about not acting quickly.

I know the players play DVDs, but they dont raise the quality to be equal to the new formats, or at least I dont think they do, though I did hear something about HD replication players?

 

[Daz]

I'm going to stick with DVDs and then, when I'm 70, all the kids around the neighbourhood will see me as some sort of evil man and stay the hell away from me.

And everytime I stick a DVD on, I can say, "BEHOLD!!"

Sounds like a great plan to me

 

[Shindig]

Besides, I've got a bigger decision.

Why We Fight (TV) or Why We Fight (Movie)?

 

[nird]

I got about 200 dvds and I'm going to keep them all. All new films will in the future be given out in HD or blueray, but I assume that the new hd or blueray players will be able to play regular dvd's aswell, so there's no reason to get rid of them.

 

[Nuno]

For me(and 499,999 lucky others on Nov 17th) the choice is simple because I'm getting a PS3. But if it wasn't for the PS3 I wouldn't get either until the prices dropped down.

 

[Tom]

VHS4tw

 

[Sir Calumn]

I still have quite alot of VHS's of movies which havent been released on DVD, I can't believe how bad they are in every possible way compared with DVDs If the difference is this big again, there's no way I'll be able to stick.

It's not getting the player which worries me so much as replacing the actual movies.