Blu-Ray anyone plan on heading in that direction?

[neonnoodle]

I'm pretty happy with DVD, and I still watch and buy VHS tapes (used, generally) and even the occasional laserdisc.  As one of the newer formats, DVD is just fine for me, and it's the same for me as others have described...I have seen very few recent films that I have any interest in, most of my favorite movies are decades old, and I'm happy with the resolution I can view movies in now, I figure.  I too grew up watching black and white TV with the rabbit ears, and it spoiled me.

Like, I recently bought a used VHS tape of "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," and it's perfectly okay...no need to get all new-fangled about it when Mr. Hyde's fangles will do just fine.

[Wolf Man]

I am surprised no one has mentioned this but from what I understand (have a techno geek friend) that you can play regular DVDs on a Blu ray player just not vice versa.  That means if you go Blu ray you won't have to replace any DVDs you can just selectively purchase what you really want on Blu ray and keep the rest of your DVDs and play them on the Blu ray player.  Like many of you I have a huge collection so I would not replace any but a few special films on Blu ray but I may be inclined to purchase others that I don't have on the Blu ray format such as the new Wolfman when it hits DVD.  Frankly, I am very pleased with regular DVD.  I plan on purchasing a high def tv soon but I do have a hi def monitor that plays DVDs.  I can see a difference in high def but not certain that is all good.  While watching Abbott and Costello meet Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde I could see Lou sweating bullets through the make up and you can see pimples and all kinds of things you don't care to see. 

One thing to beware of is that with many of us having huge collections of DVDs the companies have to develop new ways to seperate us from our dollars.  Coming up with some new technology is one way or companies go the way of Peter Jackson/George Lucas and create new versions of their films by tweaking and playing with them as a method for seperating us from more dollars.  In the end is the technology really that signifigantly better?  Or is the difference so minute that only the techno geeks will ever see the difference?  So beware of the almighty greed of the companies because in the end they care not what movies we have in our collections only ways to seperate us from more dollars. 

[Tom Smith Monsternut]

I think we will all have to by a Blue ray player eventually . I think  the DVD player just like VHS players will be fazed out in the years ahead and I'll have to buy one when my DVD player dies.
No problem as long as it plays normal DVD's too.

RE -buying all my DVD's ? ..not gonna happen. I did it once when I replaced or transfered my VHS collection to DVD.
They are not gonna sucker me into it again.

I don't even have a high def TV yet and I'm still very happy with my 62 inch projection TV.

Tom

[raycastile]

The only time I feel Blu-Ray tugging at me is when I purchase a contemporary film on DVD.  I feel like I should be buying the HD version.  I know that, when I finally do get a Blu-Ray player, I will want the modern films in HD.  I will end up double-dipping on anything made in the last 25 years.  With the older films, I don't think the upgrade is so critical, and a lot of them might not even come out in HD.

[ScaryCreature]

I bought a Blu-Ray player for modern movies such as Iron Man and The Hulk.  Blu-Ray players "upscale" older DVDs so that the picture quality is improved, but honestly I don't notice that much of a difference on older movies.  For newer movies, Blu-Ray is quite remarkable, however.

[zombiehorror]

So did anyone that answered previously change their mind and cross over?

I've had the dvd vs. Blu-ray debate on other boards and I'm still anti Blu-ray!!  There was much hoopla over the Aliens films being restored and released on Blu-ray with so many, "You've never seen the movie until you see it on Blu-ray." posts, if you printed them out you'd have something roughly the size of a phone book.  But my problem was everyone was comparing the Blu-ray release with prints from previous releases, you can't look at a Blu-ray release against a previous dvd version in order to claim Blu-rays superiority!  Nor can you claim that the difference of Blu-ray to DVD is comparable to the difference between VHS to DVD.  Blu-ray isn't that far removed from DVD's technology (or for that matter laser disc) as VHS was to either.  Basically like comparing the 8track vs. cassette (same basic technology just cassettes were smaller) to cassette vs. CD (CD's clarity goes without saying compared to tape whether you prefer it or not) format wars!

Anybody can look at a vhs movie and see it's inferior to it's dvd brethren but there just isn't that much difference between dvd and Blu-ray...well there is but there isn't!  Some see a huge improvement, some see nothing or little improvement.  Maybe it's a matter of wanting to see the enhancement over actually "seeing" the enhancement!?!  Obviously the specs don't lie, Blu-ray is superior to dvd but is it superior enough for everyone to be blown away by it?  Apparently not....

I have had a Samsung 50" plasma for some time now along with a 5 disc dvd player from Panasonic and films look incredible already!  Horrordvds.com did a big write up (as they do for all Blu-ray now) on TCM on Blu-ray, touting that you could see so much more detail than ever before.  Well I popped in my TCM Special Edition from 2003 and I can see every bit of what he refers to as the clarity that Blu-ray provides.  Anyone else notice that at one point a few years ago dvds usually had a tagline somewhere on them, "...from the HD print." but now you don't find that anymore?  An HD print can be (and probably many times is) used on standard dvd but it isn't true HD 1080p, it must be 720 i/p or in some cases 480 i/p but either way the difference between those numbers isn't that noticeable when your talking an HD print of a film.

I accept....on paper that Blu-ray is better!  If you want all the extras (when those are even given) then Blu-ray is the stand out or at least the disc itself can hold that much more over a dvd.  Picture, there is no denying that true 1080p is a better picture (I already said numbers don't lie.) but it isn't mind blowing in anyway.

Here's what pisses me off, I've seen several comments here and on other boards saying, "You better get those dvds now because Blu-ray is taking over." or something to that affect.  Blu-ray is not taking over on it's own; 10 years from now it might but not right now.  The Blu-Ray Disc Association, yep that's right they have an association (and a website), is forcing Blu-ray on us quicker than the medium itself is being welcomed in.

Blu-ray will never truely take over dvd but it will become the dominant (I would say only format but another format is always right around the corner.) format only because the Blu-ray Disc Association are pushing out dvd not because of a consumer demand for it!!

VHS was released in 1976 and led the market (Laserdisc tried to become the new format but failed miserably.) until DVD's debut in 1997!  It only took DVD (introduced in 2000) 3 years to replace VHS as the preferred distribution method and a total of 6 years to actually kill it off!  Interestingly enough the same year VHS was finally killed was also when Blu-ray was introduced to the masses, 2006.  Here we are in 2011, 5 years since Blu-rays launch and consumers as a whole aren't excepting Blu-ray as the winner, though Blu-ray does gain popularity as prices drop and deals/bargains are used as incentive...so far the only thing Blu-ray has successfully killed off was HD DVD.  The Blu-ray Disc Association isn't going to wait for the market as a whole to accept Blu-ray they're going to do away with dvd whether the public demands it or not!  Once that's done they'll move on to the next new format......if they even wait that long!

The shrinking dvd and expanding Blu-ray sections aren't based on sales, it's based on the industry pushing it!!  According to the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG.com); dvd sold 14 billion in 2010, while Blu-ray only sold 2.3 billion (Digital downloading sold 2.5 billion)...Now you tell me if you are selling a product are you going to stock something that tops 14 billion a year or 2.3 billion?!!?  Even if you account for a percentage of those numbers being off a few billion dvd still stands king so the only reason stores are shrinking their dvd section is because that's what the industry wants, not the consumer at large!!  Blu-ray is still only making up around 20% of the digital market!  Someone asked if dvd is a 14 billion market then why would they get rid of it in favor of a product selling 2.3 billion.  The answer is simple, it's a gamble, a bet that that lost 14 billion of dvd sales will be ported over to Blu-rays billions and make even more money given that Blu-ray still cost at least 5 bucks more than dvds.  So you've gotten rid of a 14 billion market but turned it into a 25 to 30 billion market.  If you notice there is a lot of info out there about Blu-ray sales being up so much from this time last year, the DEG says 68% from last year in fact, but what isn't out there is the news that even at that 68% they're still nowhere near dvds numbers.  If you look at top selling Blu-rays they still haven't crossed even the 50% sales line of dvds although they are getting closer but that is only a handful of titles and not the majority of Blu-rays.  Blu-ray.com is boasting Social Network selling 45% and being a record (only becuase it didn't include a dvd or digital copy), so again should the Blu-ray have more copies per store when the dvd sold more?  I'm pretty sure that's not what most people learn in business class....unless of course you have a new product your pushing/forcing out there.  It used to be a simple thing of supply and demand but in this case most people are happy with dvd and are still demanding it but the industry is basically saying they know better and you need Blu-ray!!

It's the same thing they are doing with Special Features, now you have bare bones dvd, special features dvd and even more special features on the Blu-ray.  I love behind the scenes stuff but studios holding back and only releasing that stuff on Blu-ray is a bunch of sh*t there is no reason why most of that stuff couldn't be put on the dvd.  I have other Special Edition dvds (single disc mind you not double sets) that are loaded with tons of features, some with an amazingly huge amount but now you're telling me they can't fit all that on a dvd but they can on Blu-ray?!  Sorry but if you think I'm buying that then I'll just do without the Special Features and go bare bones dvd.

I was really thinking about getting my first Blu-ray disc, Hammer's Vampire Circus, but only because it's the only way to get the dvd as it's included with the Blu-ray.  Then I start reading reviews that the print is horrible and in one particular scene towards the end you get the same effect as watching the movie with no picture since it is so dark.  Not only that but the same scene is included in part of a special feature and is perfectly clear.  That is another thing that pisses me off about Blu-ray, you still get substandard releases meaning whether you think the technology is superior or not you might as well be watching the film on vhs.  I see to many Blu-ray reviews where the picture and sound are not getting A+'s (from both huge studios and lower ones alike) and if that's the case then why bother releasing them in HD?

I'm holding out as long as I can and I'm not even sure if I'll ever switch over!

[Scary Terry]

When our DVD player died recently we replaced it with a Blu-ray player with Netfllix streaming capabilities.  We can still play our DVDs -- and the (very) few Blu-ray discs we own -- or rent from Redbox.  It gets used for Netflix streaming more than anything. 

[RICKH]

The same here.  I only have 2 Blue-ray discs, but I use the Netflix instant streaming all the time.

[Monster Bob]

We bought a blu-ray player for Christmas, and have bought a few films in the format. THE WIZARD OF OZ looks incredible. You can actually tell that the Munchkins' costumes are made of felt, and almost count the stitches (like film). I never noticed that before. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL looks pretty great, too. I am going to buy FANTASIA when I get a good price on it. Will I upgrade all my DVD's to blu-ray? Nawww, but I will buy select titles when I feel like it, after reading reviews on the 'net.

I believe DVD is in the process of going south as we speak, and blu-ray will replace it, for the time being. It seems that DVDs are being blown out all over the place, and many Netflix DVD titles are at the same time disappearing and becoming only available as 'streaming', which is where I think the whole thing is going. They aren't going to produce DVD's for $3-$5, as there is no money in it.

[Anton Phibes]

None for me thanks. Unless they offer a new colorized version as a extra viewing option. Dvds will be good enuff for me until I drop dead. Money is not nearly as expendable as it used to be for me.

[Universal Steve]

I got a Blu Ray player as a gift which is the only reason I have one. I have bought a couple of movies and have come to the conclusion that movies made after 2005 I probably will get in Blu Ray because of the picture. The older ones such as King Kong I bought mostly because of the extras, those I will get in regular DVD and save the money. But my regular DVD's get upconverted in the Blu Ray and some of my older ones like Popeye and DC Cab look clearer that the older titles on Blu Ray.

[Mego73]

Been getting blu-rays for the last couple years. I do notice a great difference between DVD and blu-ray but a film has to be more special for me to get it on blu-ray if I already have it on DVD.

So far I have a little over 50 or so BR's and I'm seeing more vintage titles come out all the time (Which is what I concentrate on).

[ChattyLMS]

I can't even figure out why there are Blu-rays.  Nope, not changing over.  No need.

[Monster Bob]

I can't even figure out why there are Blu-rays.  Nope, not changing over.  No need.

In general, a cleaner and sharper image, better colors, etc., (aka higher resolution/definition) which is really evident on today's huge television sets. Not all that big a deal with old and ratty B&W films, but light years of difference in the right combination. In short, looks more like film.

[michblk]

I have not switched over and still happy with DVD.  The only blu-ray disc I own is Avatar and that came with a regular DVD.  I don't see myself switching as I have 3 rooms that have DVD Players, plus computers, plus a portable DVD player. 

BK