HD ... BR ... or wait

[Davidt1]

Do these things play CDs?

 

[itschris]

Things have definately changed. I remember paying almost a grand for my elite dv dvd player years ago. You couldn't get high quality components for a reasonable price. It was either High End or consumer grade junk and very little in between and the price tag reflected both camps.

I don't know why anyone would be quibbling about spending a $100 on an hd dvd player. In the grand scheme, I'm sure it's a very small percentage of your total system cost. I almost feel foolish that I'm buying an Elite Blue Ray player for $800 when I hear so many arguing whether or not it makes sense to buy a $100 player.

 

[sokrman14]

It just kind of seems like a waste to spend 100$ on a player now and then spend another 200$ after prices come down for a while. IF I was a gamer and the PS3 was interesting for some gaming value then spending 400$ on that would be a pretty good move from a value proposition.

Of course if you're not a gamer then going HD-DVD then waiting a while for BD may not be a bad idea if the player prices do come down in a reasonable time frame.

You hit my point exactly. My exaggeration may have come off wrong, they wont be totally pointless, but when HD DVD isnt around come this christmas, it will be a few movies isolated on whatever system he has that player on, with no chance of adding the biggest blockbuster movies to that system, unless he hooks both up. Bluray will win, HD DVD will lose. I would still buy a bluray player now and just get the only two good movies on bluray when they are released :Transformers and Bourne. Other than that can you honestly say that there are more movies that you dont already own on DVD (since upconversion really is equal between the two) that you would rather have?

 

[Alamar]

I would still buy a bluray player now and just get the only two good movies on bluray when they are released :Transformers and Bourne.

Don't forget "Blades of Glory"


P.S. I did see the YouTube vid

 

[sokrman14]

Don't forget "Blades of Glory"


P.S. I did see the YouTube vid

You have got to be kidding me if you call that a must own movie though

 

[Johnd]

Wait? Yeah, you can wait...until the cows come home.

It's a foregone conclusion that ultimately both formats will peter out eventually...it's just a matter of time...like anything else.

Me? I had just both the Denon 2900 last year for a song...it was only a few years back when to get the best possible pq, diehards were modding high end Denons to the tune of 4, 5 even 6k!

So it was a no brainer for me to pick up the A3 for $200.00, with ten HD movies, and an eventual $75.00 gift card...resulting in a $400.00 player for $200.00, with 15 HD movies...not much to think about, is there? I'm not into collecting movies, or advocating the mindless amassing of DVD's and HD's, but I'd generally rather wait and see it on DVD (or HD now! ).

So, I've got ten HD movies now, will have fifteen when I next travel to BB, and I will occasionally buy others when they hit the $13-$17 range. Good movies...keepers. It wasn't that long ago that DVD's regularly cost $15.00, so it's a real no brainer in my situation.

The last thing I'd try to do is second guess market strategy or the longevity of either of these formats. They're here. The players are ridiculously cheap, and the movies are as well (at times). They're here, so my philosphy is enjoy them while they are...if you can afford it.

 

[stratman]

I still have a Pioneer LaserDisc player in mint condition, plus 11 movies that I bought when DVD killed off LD, it still works, it has AC-3 ( Dolby surround sound), so yes you can argue that your player will not suddenly stop working and you'll be able to watch those movies for a very long time (as long as the player lasts), the question is 'will you really want to?' You'll eventually replace your HD DVDs with BD, I did (replace LDs for DVDS) except for one which is not available any longer on DVD. I'd say if you're buying now, wait till spring, Sony's new Sapphire players (3 and 4) will support 2.0 profile and should be very affordable, so will the new Panny. See the thread titled BD players: capabilities, that way if you buy now you won't be stuck in obsolescence, if that matters to you.

 

[frostbyte]

I say get a PS3 and start enjoying all the benefits now. I waited until last month and got the extra $100 off from the sony website. Now I have 6 movies to go with the game. Love it!! Upconverts DVD's very nicely and does the rest too. Blu ray is the winner in my book and most others as well so why waste another $50 to $100 on a player that will only give you what you have had for a decade or more?

 

[whubbard]

I too am going to have to say that you really should just lay down the $100 to get the HD-DVD player. I don't know why people are saying you will have to replace your HD-DVDs. its not like they will stop working, and there is no benefit of BR over HD-DVD. If BR does (it really hasn't yet) become the standard, it wont be a problem for you, all you need to do is get another player. All these receivers now have multiple HDMI inputs, so you just plug the BR in, and keep the HD-DVD hooked up as well. The people saying you will eventually switch and need to rebuy the discs are just wrong. If you have the $100, and you want to go HD...this player is the way to go right now.

There is NO downside to getting an HD-DVD player!

(I'm personally waiting, but that mainly due to my lack of an HD tv)

 

[frostbyte]

What do you do when your HD DVD player dies? Then you have to buy another player IF they are even available or go rebuy your discs. If you waited to buy into a only to buy the looser then why did you wait in the first place? You wait to buy the one that will stick around. $300 for a PS3 is a much better purchase than even a free HD DVD player that will suck you into buying some movies you won't be able to watch in a few years. Buying HD DVD at this point is horrible advice IMO.

 

[Johnd]

What do you do when your HD DVD player dies? Then you have to buy another player IF they are even available or go rebuy your discs. If you waited to buy into a only to buy the looser then why did you wait in the first place? You wait to buy the one that will stick around. $300 for a PS3 is a much better purchase than even a free HD DVD player that will suck you into buying some movies you won't be able to watch in a few years. Buying HD DVD at this point is horrible advice IMO.

Dies? I don't know how long you've been purchasing equipment frostbyte, or what quality you're used to, but in the 27 years that I've been doing so, I've had two things "die" on me:
One was a Paradigm cc570 right out of the box...received an immediate replacement at no charge.
The other is a 10 year old Denon DVD5000...state of the art at the time, but no longer worth repairing.

I guess my suggestion is: if you live with the fear of equipment dying and becoming obsolete, at only $100.00 for the A2 with 5-7 free movies...buy two!!

 

[frostbyte]

A $100 HD player isn't screaming quality to me. The 5 free movies that come with it mostly are not movies you would buy or possibly even watch so that also is not readon to buy it to me. I can't believe anyone would recommend someone on the fence about finally taking the plunge to do so with an HD DVD player that we all know has lost the format war. At least with DIVX players, you can use it for DVD's. HD DVD won't be anything better than a DVD player after a while.

A PS3 is a very good choice at $300 on how to enter the high def world. 40 gig hard drive, upconverts DVD's, plays Blu Ray movies, comes with the 5 free movies if they continue that, has 2.0 capailities once the download is available. Gets great support for that. You can surf the net with the ethernet (WIFI built in if you have that as well). You won't be wasting your money buying movies for it either. I've been waiting so long for this that I only have about 10 DVD movies I've purchased because I didn't want to have to rebuy them in a few years when it came out. It just took a lot longer for the format wat to be decided than I thought it would. I have no regrets about my PS3 and the 6 movies I've bought so far.

 

[dobyblue]

OP - if you're not upgrading your TV for a few years to HD, just spend $49 on a Philips DVD player and rent movies until you're ready to jump into HD.

By that time the choice for physical HD formats will be Blu-ray or nothing.

If not until the prices fall, at least until the BD camp gets their crap together and solidifies their audio format support.

What do you mean "solidifies their audio format support?"

You want all movies to have one codec?
You want all hardware to bitstream and decode all audio codecs?

If it's the first one, there's no chance of that.
If it's the second one, no format has done that. Why would it happen now? It's up to the hardware manufacturers to give you the player features.
Not all DVD players support dts
Not all HD DVD/Blu-ray players support dts-ma or TrueHD

 

[Johnd]

A $100 HD player isn't screaming quality to me. The 5 free movies that come with it mostly are not movies you would buy or possibly even watch so that also is not readon to buy it to me. I can't believe anyone would recommend someone on the fence about finally taking the plunge to do so with an HD DVD player that we all know has lost the format war. At least with DIVX players, you can use it for DVD's. HD DVD won't be anything better than a DVD player after a while.

A PS3 is a very good choice at $300 on how to enter the high def world. 40 gig hard drive, upconverts DVD's, plays Blu Ray movies, comes with the 5 free movies if they continue that, has 2.0 capailities once the download is available. Gets great support for that. You can surf the net with the ethernet (WIFI built in if you have that as well). You won't be wasting your money buying movies for it either. I've been waiting so long for this that I only have about 10 DVD movies I've purchased because I didn't want to have to rebuy them in a few years when it came out. It just took a lot longer for the format wat to be decided than I thought it would. I have no regrets about my PS3 and the 6 movies I've bought so far.

Well, I never said it was the highest quality player I've ever had (I have the A3, not the A2). And I'm not here to advocate either format. The point is, at $100.00 (and 5-7 free movies), it was a real steal! And there's not much to think about...one member posted how he spent $70.00 on an upconverting sd player...well, for another $30.00, one could have had the A2...and 5-7 movies. I think it's a rather simple matter for those that don't want to spend much, don't you think?