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BubbaT (160)   Aug 28, 2007 - 10:40 am

VHS to DVD was revolutionary. DVD to BRD/HD-DVD is just an upgrade. If the only advantage of DVD had been a better picture, it would never have caught on. Never rewinding, instant access to any scene, never having the machine "eat" a tape, not having the quality degrade, taking up less space on the shelf - all that mattered too. That's why DVD was slower to catch on in Asia, where VCDs already provided most of those benefits. » Login to reply to this

Yoshi (2227)    Aug 27, 2007 - 07:59 pm

The prices of the movies are not that bad but I do think you are right that people will not really upgrade from DVD. Though you also brought up the point of DVD being ten years old which I would be suprised to see many first generation players still around. My guess is that starting this Christmas we might see a HD-DVD player under $199. This will be close enough to the up converting DVD players that companies will drop those models in favor of HD ones. Probably in a year you will see retail stores keeping DVD player shelf space for store brand players and HD players taking up where the name brands are forcing people with a broken player to pick in the HD format war. An example of this would be how PS2 games outsell any other console sales but when it comes to consoles you won't see the PS2 displayed on many store shelfs since they made room to display Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 systems. » Login to reply to this  HeadRusch (108)   Aug 28, 2007 - 05:16 am Well, remember: Digital TV is *NOT* HDTV. HD signals are just one aspect of Digital TV adoption. And the $199 players are one advantage that HD will have this year, but the other one is that the HDDVD standard allows for Flipper discs: DVD on one side, HD on another. If they drop the price to $19.99 and make ALL movie releases flippers....ie: no more "just dvd" version, but all of them HDDVD/DVD versions...well, thats going to mean a big difference in adoption rates. I think the article here mentions that. But I still think no matter what...people wont rebuild their DVD collections....I'll buy the pretty sci-fi and high special FX movies in HD where the extra detail pays off. But a movie like, say, 40 Year Old Virgin? Nahhh. » Login to reply to this  TheGMan (4)   Aug 28, 2007 - 04:31 pm | Edited on Aug 28, 2007 - 04:38 pm $14 is usually for the single disc barebones release. Two disc releases usually go for $19.99 - $23.99. Currently, most HD DVD releases contain the same extras as their 2 disc SD DVD counterpart. If they can get the prices into that range, maybe there won't be a lot of complaining. Or maybe come up with a barebones HD version priced in-between. There are several ways this could be played. I think the studios are going to include a lot of extra features that take advantage of connectivity and interactivity. They will use that to justify the higher prices. » Login to reply to this  Stories (312)    Aug 28, 2007 - 07:29 am But if you can buy a new DVD-only for $14 and you nix that option and only make a $20 flip disc available, I feel like people won't be very happy. As for people not buying discs, ignorance definitely plays a large role. Many people probably have no idea how much better a BD/HD-DVD looks and sounds than a standard DVD or even a broadcast HD signal. I was amazed by how much better my BD was than my Comcast HD. » Login to reply to this

GX-Alan (78)   Aug 27, 2007 - 05:23 pm

I think the big change is the switch to digital TV. That's a federal mandate that changes the rate of HDTV adoption. » Login to reply to this

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webdev511 (9)   Aug 29, 2007 - 12:32 pm

» Upconverting isn't player specfic but it does depend on the chip used by the player, receiver or TV that's doing the upconversion. Up converted movies do look good, but not as god as full on 1080 transfers. This "war" just like vhs/beta isn't going to be decided on technical merits. The eventual winner will be determined by end to end costs. How much does it cost to bring a media production line up. How many lines are needed. How much are player componets. What will players and discs cost be for the next 18 months, etc. Play the same movie on HDDVD & BluRay side by side on the same 1080p tv and you'd be hard pressed to find a target / wal mart shopper that could tell you which one was which. If they can't see the difference, then they're going to buy the cheaper player. » Login to reply to this

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