Blu-Ray / HD DVD's. Son of a bitch.

[Servo]

So, this morning I decide to stop by one of my new favorite websites bluetights.net to get the latest info on Superman Returns. And upon reaching this site I find this little article:


Superman Returns Releasing on HD DVD
posted by Justin on 01/05/06

DigitalBits.com has up some interesting news about what to expect much later on this year. If you go to the page and scroll down, you'll see an announcement about Warner Brothers planning to release an initial offering of 24 HD DVD's, with the first of them hitting store shelves in March. They've posted a complete list of films and they're release dates, and at the very end they note that Warner has announced expectations to also release Superman Returns on HD DVD, with a same day and date release as the standard DVD. Fantastic news for home cinephiles!

What the hell?! I just became seriously involved with my DVD collection last year, and already "the man" is trying to make my entire collection of prized and beautiful DVD's obsolete?! I mean I'm all for revolutionizing film and media, but come on! Give me another 10 years at least! Man, fuck all this HD and Blu-Ray (which I guess is just a competing brand of HD...who the fuck knows...) bullshit. I'm going to buy as many DVD's as I damn well can, the ones that are loaded with features and offer the best quality and that's IT for the next ten years. Microsoft can kiss the fattest part of my hairy white ass.

[Beeblebrox]

I wouldn't worry about it. There aren't even any players out that play these discs. And I personally don't think it's going to catch on nearly as fast as DVD did when it first came out. While HD TVs are becoming more popular, the fact is that most people who have them don't watch HD programming on them.

So I think your collection is safe for the time being. And if you watch a regular DVD on an HD TV you'll find that it still looks pretty darned good.

[The Postmaster General]

And I'm very positive that old DVDs will be cross compatable with the Blu Ray players. Like Beeblebrox, I highly doubt they are going to skip the SD DVD realeases and put everything solely in HD.

[Beeblebrox]

Originally posted by BubbaStrangelove
[B]And I'm very positive that old DVDs will be cross compatable with the Blu Ray players.

Not only that, I wouldn't be at all surprised if all new HD DVD players played all formats.

[Servo]

I really hope so. I just read on Wikipedia that there are HD players but they cost up to like 400 bucks. I don't know if they play regular DVD's though, I hope so...if then I just may be tempted to get one in the future for my regular DVD's. I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark on my sister's HD TV and was blown away. Face melting goodness. (Literally)

[someguy]

You can get upconverting players already, and they look great. I think (and hope) this won't become a giant fad.

[bourahioro]

fuck it, I am happy with dvd for the time being, I have 230 or so, and have zero interest in getting something new for the sake of bigger and badder.

[Cronos]

im not even gonna start thinking about Blu-Ray / HD-DVD until the upcoming format war is finished and even then ive seen nothing positive about it with the excessive security features they seem keen to impose, i may end up not bothering with it at all...and theres no way im upgrading my dvds and the upcoming players had better be backwards compatible

[Weapon X]

I repeat my statements made earlier today in DVD Discussion regarding this whole Blu-Ray/HD-DVD shit: Fuck it.

[SpongeBod]

I refuse to be bothered by new technology. I don't want to sound like somebody's grandparents.
I have a pretty good home theater, but I'm always looking to improve it.
I admit I don't want to double dip DVDs I already have. And I have a ton of them. But I don't have all of them...yet.
I agree with Cronos. I'm going to wait to see which format takes over.
I guess I'll be getting a Blu-Ray machine first if that's what the PS3 is going to be.
Hopefully, they will continue to sell the HD DVDs with a regular DVD in the package too. That's how the come now.
Because even if you do have an HDTV in your living room. You still need the standard DVD for your kitchen, bathroom and car.
When you think about it. "The man" is already screwing us by putting out all these "special edtions" after we already bought the older version DVD.
The main thing I'm looking forward to on HD DVDs besides games are IMAX movies and nature stuff.
I mean, who doesn't want to see the mating ritual of the Galapagos tortoise in High Def?

[AmunRaTRON]

Sigh i dont want to sit here and type again so ium just goin to copy and past my last post over on the dvd discusion board

it begins here:

guys calm down seriously, the blu ray disks arent going to cost any more than regular dvd's do already, adding to the fact that these compies dont expect you to stop buying SD-dvd's and start buying HD-dvds altogether. they know that with this one the market is going to shift slowly and gradually over the next 4-7 years.

to answer your questions

1: Will HD-DVD and blu-ray be backwards compatable with your exsisting dvd collection?

Absolutely 100% YES

2: Will i need to buy a new T.V. in order you use Either the Hd-dvd/Blu-ray player?

Yes and no: To take advantage of you're players HiDef capabilities you will need an HDTV, And depending on the model and manufaturer your HD TV will NEED either an HDMI or DVI input(because of copyright infirngment some players will not send the HiDef signal over composite ouput) Howver to view SD-dvd (standerd definition for those of you not following) You wont need a new t.v. though it would be in your best interest to purchase one since you are already buying a HiDef playe, but thats up to you.

3: How much will these Blu-ray HD-dvd Thingy's cost me?
good question heres the answer, Right now Toshiba and its partners have announced that the early HD-DVD players will run the MSRP of 499$ ( a few hundred bux less than what the first ealy SD-DVD players cost when they debuted in '97)so you can probably look for them to retail for about 350-499. HOWEVER! Sony and it's partners have indicated that the first Blu-ray players will go for, and get this, 1,000-1,800$ MSRP. Yeah no joke.One thing that sony is betting on the consumer faith in one of its flagships : the sony playstation3 which, as most of you know will incorporate blu-ray functionality into it. look for it to be the most widely sold blu-ray player as it will sell for 499$(unconfirmed rumor but sony isnt taking any chances tiwht the playstation) which is about the same as toshiba is selling its HD-dvd players for The disks themselves for boths formats will run you about the same amount that current gen dvds run for now, so dont worry other than buying the deck itself your not going to break the bank on the software.

4:will i be able to use HD-dvd disks in my blu-ray player and vice versa?
No

5:will i need to plug the player into the phone line
curently at this time the answe is most likely no. Too many problems arise with this "solution" when dealing with rental agencies and bringing your copy of a movie to a friends house, and adding to the fact is that word around the campfire has it that this method might arouse the intrest of certain consumer privacy protection agencies and law firms.

6: will i still be able to buy SD-DVD's?
NO!......just kidding of course you will.

so thats pretty much it. as for me, i will be upgrading and let me tell you im not some rich bitch who can afford it. I just love technology and i want the best.

hope this helps guys

B]it ends here[/B]

one more thing dont look for any HD exclusive titles, all new relases starting in march will be released in SD and HD on the Same day from there on out. So dont worry man

[Servo]

Thanks for clearing things up dude. It makes me feel a tad better about the whole situation.

[AmunRaTRON]

no problem, my mom and i were talking about which company to go for, and after going online and researching now that CES is done, we still dont know. Toshiba has Few studios backing HD-DVD becuae of the "space limitations"(30 gigs DL vs Blu rays 50 gigs DL) However th fact still remains that when you get right down to it, They both still display HIGH qauility HIGH def, and if you can get the same picture for 300-600$ cheaper from toshiba, AND their beating you to the market, sony isnt just going to win this thing, their going t have to fight. In my mind they have already lost. It's kinda like the beta-max VHS war. BETA had better picture qaulity but was more expensive. VHS sucked but was cheaper. OH well....

[The Postmaster General]

Wait...

What's the deal with the phone line question?

[AmunRaTRON]

while its not completely out of the air, like i said before their are to many privacy issues concerning the phone line issue, howeve rit could still be incoperated but most likely not

[i_l_u]

As an avid DVD collector like most other schmoes on the board, I'm still reticent to accept this new technology.

Granted the picture quality is better but is it significantly better?
I mean..when we made the jump from VHS to LaserDisc at least the difference in picture & sound quality was significant enough to entice consumers to make the upgrade. But will the upgrade from DVD to HD DVD/Blu Ray have the same impact?

I've also read that both HD DVD & Blu Ray camps have backing from different companies. I can't remember which companies exactly have pledged their support to the respective competitors but that could spell bad news.
I hope this doen't mean I have to buy 2 different dvd players.

(Imagine hypothetically: Universal supports HD but Dimension Films supports Blu Ray. I'll have to get 2 different players just so I can watch King Kong & Sin City! What a rip.)

On top of that, the new packaging really sucks donkey balls.
That blue case.....It looks horrible!
It will ruin the way my dvd shelf looks. The case sticks out like an eye sore:(
They could have at least stuck with the old packaging :mad:






P/S: Does anyone know if blu ray will still utilise Dolby Digital 5.1 sound? Or will it have sound new crap like digital 7.1 or 8.1 or 25.1?
They'd better not fuck up my sound system. I just spent $2000 on a new Bose system. ARRRRR.

[The Heart Collector]

I thought the format war was over after mostly all the studios ended up backing Sony and not Toshiba.

[AmunRaTRON]

ok i know it sounds like i am needlesly defending high def, but its only because its rreally cool. right now this coming week you are going to see a lot of pictures from CES of tubes displayijng SD dvd and HD dvd(and blu ray) side by side to compare the two. the pictures dont do high def justice! the leap from dvd to high def is huge. bugger than the leap from VHS.no im not kidding. and yes blu ray and HD DVD will be able to plug into your 5.1 surround system. let me put it this way: with the exception of the player itself, and maybe an HD t.v. if you dont already have one(which is understandable) Nothing in your home theater will change. You wont need special walls or a new pair of eye balls to watch it. just the player really.

and one more thing, if you dont want to pick a format, a few companys are working on dual format players that will play both disks!

[Digifruitella]

Originally posted by Servo
Microsoft can kiss the fattest part of my hairy white ass.

OMG, that part made me LOL. :D

Blu-ray is just a larger sized DVD, that's all it is..it's like you have coke, you can get small, medium, or large. Blu-ray is large. Gosh that was a pointless analogy

[Zebra 3]

Originally posted by Weapon X
I repeat my statements made earlier today in DVD Discussion regarding this whole Blu-Ray/HD-DVD shit: Fuck it.

[moose1132]

The thing that really bugs me is the fact that there's two of them. There's no way both formats can survive. It's really unpredictible too. Blu-ray is apparently better, but when dealing with the general public (ie- people who don't know everything aka no one who posts at a site like Joblo :p ), most people will probably side with HD-DVD simply because the name is very self explanatory.

I suppose it won't be so bad if one format clearly beats the other and the players are backwards compatible. Just as long as my DVD's don't look all retro next to the new format on my shelf. Like VHS would next to DVD's now. That would annoy me. I think it'd be simpler if upconverting DVD players got more popular as HDTV's do and these two formats fail.

[SpongeBod]

Originally posted by moose1132
most people will probably side with HD-DVD simply because the name is very self explanatory.
I think the PS3 might give Blu-Ray the edge.

Originally posted by moose1132
I suppose it won't be so bad if one format clearly beats the other and the players are backwards compatible.
Backwards compatible isn't a big issue for me. I have more than one DVD player hooked up to my TV now. I'm pretty sure you could hook up the HD-DVD player and an upconverting DVD player with a switch if you only have one HDMI or DVI connection on your TV.

[The Postmaster General]

In other words, I'm not the only one who doesn't know what the phone line connection would be used for.

[The Postmaster General]

So it's for piracy protection... that's a nut job idea if I've ever heard one.

[moose1132]

Originally posted by BubbaStrangelove
So it's for piracy protection... that's a nut job idea if I've ever heard one.

And I thought all those anti-piracy/don't steal a DVD commercials in front of almost every single DVD these days were annoying.

[The Postmaster General]

No doubt --

There's no way in hell that's going to fly though. Privacy issues aside, not everyone lives where there is a phone connection, and it's moving more and more like that everyday.

In fact, I would guess that the largest market for big home theater would have to be people who live in the mountains, or away from civilization -- this is the case for DirectTV subscribers. So - great. They buy the newest thing and can't use it. I don't think so.