So… Are You Going To Buy A Blu-Ray Player?
Feb 16, 2008 by Vic Holtreman
I’m sure that most of you are too young to remember the Betamax vs. VHS videotape format wars of about 30 years ago, but recently we saw history repeat itself with the great HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray battle.
And we finally seem to have a winner: Blu-Ray.
I haven’t covered this here on the site because frankly, while I’m a huge movie lover and I have a decent home theater, I’m not looking to buy anything new so the whole thing has been moot for me. Having said that, I have pretty much put my DVD buying on hold due to the new formats and if I was going to invest in a new player I wasn’t going to do so until the dust settled on this latest format war.
I won’t get into the “which is better” debate here – from what I’ve read both formats had pros and cons. It was always going to be a battle of marketing, and in retrospect Sony made a brilliant decision to include Blu-Ray players in their video game console.
Then there was the whole “studios picking sides” thing, which was a huge, monstrous red flag to the average consumer. How ridiculous was that? If you wanted to watch one studio’s films you had to have a HD-DVD player but if you wanted to watch another’s you needed a Blu-Ray because some studios only released Hi-Def movies in one of the formats.
Stupid, stupid, stupid – and that’s NOT hindsight: I thought so right when it was happening, and decided right there this was going to get ugly and end up with only one definitive winner.
Toshiba made a last gasp in late December with price-slashing on their players and a commercial during the Super-Bowl, but it was all for naught. The dominos started falling a few weeks ago with Warner Bros. defecting to Blu-Ray, and this past week, Best Buy, then Netflix and then Wal-Mart all decided they were going to discontinue sales/rentals of HD-DVD movies and players.
Some are saying that even the Sony victory is moot, because the next REAL movie format will be downloads, along the lines of music – but I disagree.
Movies aren’t as “portable” as music – people want to enjoy them at home. And most folks don’t have their computers hooked up to their televisions, which are larger than their computer monitors. Who the heck wants to watch movie after movie on a PC monitor?
I believe that movie fans like having a physical disc and case that they can proudly display on a shelf. Pop music songs come and go, but favorite movies are treasured and viewed months and years after the initial viewing.
So my question to you is: Now that it seems that there is a clear winner, are you going to commit? Will you be buying a Blu-Ray player and start replacing your standard DVDs with Hi-Res versions? Or will you stick with the existing technology and continue to buy regular old DVDs as new movies are released for home viewing?
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dont buy blu ray player just yet. the players on the market now are crap. they are an unfinished tech. wait till “blu ray live” or “bd live” is on the player. essentially blu ray 1.2 is on the market now. and they are on the verge of releasing blu ray 2.0. essentially the same as whats in the ps3. which is the only good player on the market now.
Hey, I’m not too young to remember the format wars of the early 80′s! (Now doesn’t that make me sound like some kind of vet. Hmm…)
My cousin’s family went that route and I still remember the days when the shelves at the video store were stocked with both, with reserved space for Beta’s slowly shrinking out of existence.
Well, I already have a ps3 so there’s really not much to say. I am starting to buy everything blu-ray. When you see the difference between HD and standard DVD, there’s no turning back.
I happen to be one of those who does have a PC hooked up to the TV & though I have started considering teh blu-ray upgrade, in essence this means a whole new computer, the alternative is the PS3.
From what I’ve read I agree with ash, there are a lot of feeble junk-worthy players out there at the moment. The good thing to do is wait, while they cash in on all those people who’ve been waiting for 1 side to be decided upon.
Remember it? Heck, I still have a working beta player (and a laserdisk collection as well as several hundred DVDs but, strangely, no VHS).
I also have a HD setup (with a 1080p projector on a 106″ screen) using BluRay content (just over 50 movies so far).
I find that the difference between VHS and DVD is similar in extent to the step to HD/BluRay. The step to (more compressed) cable, broadcast, sat is less striking. Colours, textures, fabrics, skin detail, are all strikingly improved.
That said, on the 32′ HDTV I use during the day or for informal viewing an upscaled DVD remains quite acceptable. Many are saying that it is all they want and I can see why.
So, my take is that, with players costing the same as an armfull of media, it makes sense to start buying new content on the new media rather than buying the old media and replacing some of it later… at this point the overall cost over time is lower.
m.
sticking with regular old DVDS for now.
To me it all comes down to the user interface, and although I’ve had little time with either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, I have to say they still haven’t quite hit the mark yet. Nothing’s worse than stumbling around a menu, waiting for the disc to load the next overly flashy menu so you can change the subtitles from French to English.
I’ll wait for “Blu-Ray 2.0″, or the “Green-Beam” whichever comes first, and then my 60″ HDTV will be happy.
Although, I don’t know if any of you have been up to speed with carbon nanotube technology, but that stuff has the near-future capability to blow our laser discs out of the water. Imagine a vinyl record with grooves less than 100 microns (1-25,000th of a human hair) wide . The 10-50 micron (1-50,000th of a human hair) wide carbon nanotube acts as a needle and can sense extremely subtle variations in the grooves due to its extreme strength but superb flexibillity. Both vinyl records and carbon nanotubes are cheap to produce, so it’s only a matter of a few years before we see some regular appliance of the technology for playing media.
Just sayin’.
Glad you covered this, Vic. A bunch of us were putting up the various news bits on http://blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc.com/TechUniverse/ and waiting for HD DVD to roll over and submit.
Since 2005, I knew Blu-ray would be the champ, but it looked bad when Toshiba and, ironically, Best Buy and Wal-Mart, slashed prices on older HD DVD player models, down to $99! I thought Blu-ray was done for. Guess I was wrong, but the WB announcement killed the deal. CES 2008 saw a subdued HD DVD showcase, and a cancelled $250,000 event I was going to attend.
But, I still think movies-over-IP is the future. I love the VUDU (read my review here: http://www.theusdaily.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=301756), but I’m also thinking about buying a PS3 eventually. Unlike the PS2 which sucked at showing DVDs, the PS3 is a champ!
That’s my 2 cents
heath
No, I’m not even close to buying a Blu-Ray player. I’m one of those who tends not to upgrade until I have to, usually for price reasons. Blu-Ray players are still too expensive, the discs are still too expensive, and there are still hold-out companies that are strictly HD-DVD.
So, until things settle down completely, and the prices become reasonable, and I have a better idea of both how quickly HVD technology will be coming out and regular DVD tech will be disappearing, I’m sticking with what I’ve got. Until then, there’s no incentive for me to upgrade.
I purchased a Toshiba HD player when they dropped their prices in hopes that the war would go on longer than it did. It’s a shame because everyone that sided with Blu-ray (Sony, Warner, Best Buy, Netflix, Wal-Mart) just screwed the middle-class man. Why would you want to pay twice the price for something that offered the same quality picture?! I don’t get it. Is there something I’m missing. Blu-ray offered no benefit over HD-DVD. They offered higher prices and conflicted players with incompatible features, that’s all, nothing else. I’m sure all you Blu-ray fans are saying, “it has more data capacity than HD-DVD’s” but how does that benefit me?! It doesn’t. The last time I looked there were no recordable Blu-ray devices on the market. By the time Sony gets around to having one costing under $300 Toshiba would have matched the data capacity. I guess Sony learned their lesson from losing out on the Beta/VHS war. They learned how to win this time-pay companies to side with them. I’ll have to buy a Blu-ray player eventually but it won’t be a Sony that’s for sure.
I’m planning on buying a player in the future but right now I’m holding off. A quick price check online shows the cheapest stand alone players are still $399. My price point is $200 or less.
Add to that how the current players aren’t fully compatible with “future discs” and that makes me want to wait as well.
The idea of getting a PS3 is also appealing. But essentially even though the war is won, the price and technology isn’t at the point where I’ll commit right now.
I am sure that eventually I will be purchasing a BluRay player, but for the time being I will stick with my good ‘ol DVD player. I still have a regular 27″ analog TV that I watch movies on and an upgrade to BluRay at this juncture would just be dumb. Eventually I plan on purchasing an HDTV and I will at that point probably get a BluRay player, but for now I will continue to buy DVD’s since the BluRay players upconvert to something I don’t mind watching.
By the way, I did an article on which HDTVs are great, right now, to buy:
http://www.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=294215
heath
Wow, guys – what a great bunch of info you’ve shared! I wasn’t aware that there was a next gen of Blu-Ray tech right around the corner…
Also, I’ve also read that even regular DVDs look better on a Blu-Ray player, but I assume they still don’t look as good as actual hi-def media.
Actually, I was a very early adopter on HDTV – I have an old Mitsubishi VS-50800 that has connectors on the back that are now obsolete (RGBHV) with the new HD tech. If I want to get HD on it I’ll have to purchase some sort of adapter-connector.
As far as digital downloads, I’m wondering what will happen if that starts to go mainstream since there already seem to be bandwidth issues with providers debating charging by amount used and such.
Vic
By the way, this site demonstrates the difference between DVD and HD-DVD(/Blu-Ray) pretty well.
http://www.cornbread.org/FOTRCompare/index.html
That’s a great way to show the difference.
Thanks,
Vic
BluRay , HD dosnt matter at all too me I’m happy with dvds.
^
And I’m not about to spend the money to jump on this next media upgrade.
What I will probably do when I finally switch over to HDTV and BluRay is buy ONLY my favorite movies that are in my collection right now on the BluRay, such as Indiana Jones, Spaceballs, Star Wars Trilogy and some of the Star Trek movies. Those are the ones I watch the most anyway.
I do think that downloading is going to be the next big thing, especially over PPV. I believe Netflix is going to be offering a console for high speed d/l’s. I do agree with Vic, however, that most people will still want to buy their favorite films so they can have the movie on the shelf. One of the things I loved about VHS was for my Star Trek films. When lined up in order, there was a picture of the Enterprise formed from the boxes.
AT CES 2008, Netflix kinda brushed it aside. VUDU is the way to go:
http://www.vudu.com
heath
Hey Vic you have a good point about current bandwidth limitations.
However this will change when more areas are covered with Fiber Opitics.
Once the Phone companies acheive a better Fiber Optic backbone they can use a technology called (DWDM) Dense Wavelength Divison Multiplexing. This allows one strand of fiber to carry over 125HD channels of data. Everywhere you look in the changing technology you see this beginning to happen.
These format wars are just the latest fad to suck everyone into spending money on short term products that will be obsolete in a matter of years.
^
I’m really surprised people fall for this scam.
Dvd’s look great on a HD tv (btw) to spend more money to have the best of the best just
dosnt make fanancial sense to me. Especally when in a few years all media will availible online in HD.
The supporters of BluRay will loose in the end due to new streaming technology and the fact that BluRay don’t cover any of the adult films…
^
Ed,the carbon-nano-tube technology IMO will be used to compress data more in streaming applications.
This will also assist in the bandwidth problem Vic was talking about.
I have an Oppo Upscaling DVD player – on par with Bluray and with the cost of a new player and discs. Stick with DVDs – an upscaler will give you the same quality..
Re
This is only “interesting” but you must have a crap player and/or screen if thats how you see a standard DVD currently
http://www.cornbread.org/FOTRCompare/index.html
Geeze – My standard DVDs look better on my Oppo upscaler DVD player than the so called HD in this so called demo!
Andy I’m with you!
(IMO),Its preferible to have a physical dvd/vhs library.
I wouldnt want to live in a purely streaming
world. Talk about control.
I for one,hope we can hold that world back as much as possible for now!
Ijust spent 30 bucks for the Indiana Jones dvd collection and they look great!! Cool box too!
One more point to consider. I love the extras on the DVD’s-deleted scenes, commentaries, featurettes, etc. If I have to pay to D/L the movie, am I going to have to pay to view these extras as well?? I like that, for the most part, they’re bonus material to enjoy at my leisure. I like that I can have the option to watch that at any point, and if I don’t get to finish watching it I can finish at another time WITHOUT PAYING FOR IT AGAIN!!!
Plus I love walking into my living room and seeing my DVD and CD collection right there….
I believe Blu-Ray or whatever will be a moot point as people will be able to download media, and the various media become interconnected. We see it happening with music.
I don’t tend to watch movies over and over, so I prefer to rent.
Andy, I also would like transmitted movies to have watch-anytime features at no extra charge (or maybe a 30 day limit. I think Amazon Unbox allows repeat viewings or intermittent viewings for about a month).
I tend to watch special features within a day or two of the movie. With a TV series, the DVD may have 3-5 episodes, and commentary/deleted scenes for each one. That’s a lot to digest, even with a long rental cycle. So far, the movie downloads I’ve viewed did not include extras.
This ‘format war’ is an avalanche of excrement, a parade of endless and already obsolete techno-debris for which only the most ignorant segment of the consumer market is applauding like trained seals. I went out and bought an HDA3 from Best Buy tonight out of pure spite, I loudly proclaimed my disgust all the way through the store, and I have absolutely no intention of ever using it.
Here’s hoping HD-DVD makes a gargantuan comeback and John Q Consumer cold shoulders both formats back to the stone age while waiting for HVD or HDVOD or whichever of the dozen next gen formats hits first.
signed
Hugh R Abunchofdemagoguingcrooks
Sticking with my trusty DVD format for now. I will wait probably a year or two to upgrade. I will first upgrade the T.V. (Looking for the perfect one as we speak).
On another note, what did you think of Knight Rider??
Hugh,
Dude… you’re funny. Buying a HD-DVD player out of spite.
In a way I agree with you… the problem is that now technology evolves so quickly that the current thing becomes obsolete faster and faster. VHS lasted 20 years but DVD has been around for what? 10 years? Will Blu-Ray be the next big thing for only 5 years?
Even if things go to downloads/VOD, the hardware will become obsolete and you’ll need the next version just like this DVD/Blu-Ray situation!
Vic