Blu-Ray

[miTunes75]

this pisses me off.

i cannot believe that there is a different type of media for movies, etc.

I have a huge dvd collection. Now, what... am I gunna have to repurchase everything in blu-ray?

What's gunna happen in another 15 years???

I am truely pissed!

[AlanY]

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players both play DVDs, so it's not as if your collection is inaccessible on new machines.

Also, you can also always get a DVD player with a quality upsampler (like the Faroudja chipset) to make your existing DVD collection look better. I personally think that DVDs upsampled with the Faroudja chipset still don't look all that great on true HDTVs, but there's no denying that they look better than with a cheap upsampler.

[PYROphonez]

Originally Posted by miTunes75

this pisses me off.

i cannot believe that there is a different type of media for movies, etc.

I have a huge dvd collection. Now, what... am I gunna have to repurchase everything in blu-ray?

What's gunna happen in another 15 years???

I am truely pissed!

Isn't that pretty much the same as VHS to DVD? Or portable cd player to mp3 player? or any older format of music to CD?

If we didn't upgrade, people would still be using Apple II's as their best computers, NES as their highest quality gaming system, digital cameras would be 0.2 megapixels. I could go on for hours.

But seriously, this is going to happen all the time. You buy a graphics card for your pc, next year there are games that you can't run with it. 5 years later (max), you're computer is obsolete. Suddenly your top of the line 50" plasma tv has dropped $1000-2000 in price. It happens all the time, and there's nothing you can do to avoid it.

At this point, there's no use in buying a blu-ray player or hd-dvd IMO. Your tv may not even be good enough to handle what it is actually capable of, and the difference isn't going to be a huge leap.

[Cjattwood]

Personally, I predict both formats crashing headlong into each other. This isn't a significant technology jump as it was from VHS -> DVD, this is more like CD -> SACD/DVD-Audio, and we all know how well that caught on.

[Kirosia]

It's all about $$$$

[lmilhan]

Welcome to dynamic technology. This will continue to happen until the end of the world as we know it.

My solution: I will wait to see which unit becomes most popular (HD-DVD or Bluray, or perhaps neither). IF HD-DVD or Blueray catch on, I will purchase whichever one is most popular when the price drops to around $300 or less. Then, I will only buy a very few select titles (maybe 3 or 4 of my absoulte most favorite movies). The rest will be rented from Netflix. I refuse to re-buy my entire movie collection again.

Until all of the above happens (not likely for at least another 2 or 3 years) I am not even going to concern myself with it all.

EDIT: If Sony history is any indicator, Blu-Ray (at least for movie playback) is going to crash and burn into a flaming pile of dog crap.

Beta -> Flop.
DAT -> Flop (yeah I know, Sony AND Philips were both responsible for this flop).
MD -> Flop.
UMD -> Flop.
SACD -> Flop.
Blu-Ray -> Vegas Odds should be leaning heavily in favor of this flopping.

Of corse Blu-Ray will probably do well in the Home Console arena since Playstation fan boys don't have a choice, but good luck convincing Joe Six-Pack and Soccer Mom into spending $1,000 for a stand alone Blu-Ray machine for movie playback!

[miTunes75]

Here's a question:

I don't have an HD-tv... when one plays dvds on them, is the picture fantastic or is it somewhat grainy as the dvd is not hd-quality.

[lmilhan]

Originally Posted by miTunes75

Here's a question:

I don't have an HD-tv... when one plays dvds on them, is the picture fantastic or is it somewhat grainy as the dvd is not hd-quality.

Plain Jane DVD players were developed with CRT TV resolution in mind. As such, DVD quality is probably about the best picture you will get on a Non-HDTV. A regular DVD player hooked up to an HDTV looks nice (there are up-converting tricks that some TVs and DVD players can perform to yield a better qulaity picture from a standard DVD player), but you still aren't using the HDTV to its fullest potential.

HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players were developed with HDTVs in mind. This technology will use the HDTV resolution to its fullest potential. If you don't own an HDTV, there isn't much of a point in owning a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player since you will not be able to take full advantage of the technology. In the event that you do not own an HDTV (and have no plans on buying one in the near future), stick with a plain jane DVD player and be content knowing that you are getting the best picture quality out of that type of technology.

[mb3k]

I remember reading an article in the local newspaper about the Blue-Ray technology about 5-6 years ago, and I thought it would be the coolest thing ever but probably never come out. Well here I am still waiting, but I don't think I will purchase a blue-ray player in a while because it seems the north american market brings in "new" technology very very slowly stretching over years before it becomes "easy" and reasonably feasible to purchase.

[Esidarap]

To what region is the DVD part of a Blu-ray player tied to? I read that the region set-up is different for Blu-ray than it was for DVD and now Japan and U.S. are same region. To make this work out the DVD portion would need to be region free.. right? I'm kind of confused in this part. Anyone know about this?

[Canman]

Originally Posted by lmilhan

EDIT: If Sony history is any indicator, Blu-Ray (at least for movie playback) is going to crash and burn into a flaming pile of dog crap.

With a major exception: Compact Disc and CD-R, developed by Philipps and Sony

[zotjen]

If you don't own an HDTV, there isn't much of a point in owning a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player since you will not be able to take full advantage of the technology.

I doubt you could even watch a Blu-Ray or HD DVD on a standard set. You can't watch an HD broadcast signal on standard set.

[Edwood]

BluRay is a flop right out of the starting gate. I thought it was bad at CES, but apparently it's even worse for the release. Way to go, Sony.

BluRay = Betamax

There is much discussion at AVS forums and the like.

[JaGWiRE]

Originally Posted by Cjattwood

Personally, I predict both formats crashing headlong into each other. This isn't a significant technology jump as it was from VHS -> DVD, this is more like CD -> SACD/DVD-Audio, and we all know how well that caught on.

I wouldnt' say SACD / DVD-A, especially if your talking about multi channel stuff, but I do agree. I hoenstly hope they both fail. I have a feeling when I get my 26" LCD TV, an upconverting dvd player will do me just fine, and hoenstly, I don't think right now is a good time to bring a bunch of formats onto the market that are not an astonishing jump, your right, VHS --> DVD was huge, but this really isn't.

[XxATOLxX]

I think I'll wait till Blu-Ray Players will go on sale at WalMart for $30 during the holiday season.