Ford

Yeah, it's been pretty much known that this format war was over last month when Warner Brothers went Blu ray exclusive, but after the big retail chains like Wal Mart and Best Buy said they were going to phase out their HD-DVD stock, it was just the final nail in the coffin. Today, that coffin got some dirt thrown on it:

The Digital Bits - Celebrating Film in the Digital Age


So if any of you out there picked up an HD-DVD player because the price had dropped so much, you'd better think about returning it as soon as possible.

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AS-3

Escape

What did you just say?

I knew blu-ray would take this and I was always a bigger supporter of that format than the HD DVDs anyways. I feel once they get the bugs out they should be ok. Only thing I don't like is it seems the blu rays prices are 4 or 5 more dollars more on average than the HD prices. They are here anyways and have been for the longest while.

Ford

I haven't heard of any problems with blu ray players or the dvds. I know some of the HD-DVD stuff had problems, mainly because they made a lot of movies as "combo-discs", where it had both the standard dvd and the hd-dvd versions on one disc.

I imagine that the blu ray discs will always cost a few more dollars than the standard dvds, but I've always been able to find good deals on them. Preordering them on Amazon is always a good idea, since if they lower the price after you preorder it, you get the lowest price. Dealnews.com is another good way to find some of them for cheap. I just picked up "Vertical Limit" and "Memento" for $11.99 each thanks to them. And just yesterday I got "The Rock" at Best Buy for $14.99, and there's a $10 rebate form inside it for people that own that movie on standard dvd already.

I never thought that either format would really catch on, but since I got a hdtv, it seems all that I want to watch are shows or movies in hd. I think thats true of a lot of people, so when the sales of the tv sets take off, blu ray sales will follow.

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Yeah I'm sure I heard that there was a problem they mentioned a few months back where their DVDs now have to be changed up cause of something that wasn't allowing them to reach their full potential. I also heard that they would 'maybe' need to likewise put out updated players as well since the older ones would 'maybe' not be able to play the newer Blu-rays. But perhaps they worked around this and it wasnt much of a problem after all.

When I look on the backs of the blu rays, they aren't really making use of all this space they claim to have. I still see double discs and the special features is pretty much the same as a regular one. Since you own them already, do you notice alot more info on your Blu-rays?

Well I suspected something was up when I saw our local walmart make a huge display rack 'only' for the blu rays that this was a month and a half ago.

Are these previously viewed DVDs Ford? The ones you're buying for cheap I mean.
And I heard that any film made before the hi def cameras they film movies with nowadays such as what George Lucas filmed his latest Star Wars trilogy with, technically are not hi def and really isn't much of a difference between say a regular DVD of 'The Rock' or a blu ray DVD of 'The Rock'. I dunno, that's what I read some guy who claimed to go to school for this stuff was ranting off. Do you notice a huge difference between your old blue ray movies as compared to the later ones Ford?

Ford

That's one reason I like the PS3 so much. They say it's "future proof". You can download software updates from Sony's site, or just pop in a brand new video game, they have the new software loaded on them if they're made after an update is available. I'm pretty sure you can do that with some of the other Blu Ray players on the market too. For any reviews on specific models, I got to the AVS Forums. You're getting reviews from actual consumers there, plus they post a lot of good deals on the dvd's.

As far as special features go, I really don't care too much about them. If a movie just has the original trailer and maybe a gag reel and deleted scenes I'm happy. For me the improved picture quality is the reason to buy them. Most of my blu ray dvds are of movies that were made in the past couple years, when HD cameras were really used a lot. But I have "Die Hard" on blu ray and it's like watching a new movie. The picture is much more crisp than any other version I've ever seen of the movie. You can pick out the pinstripes on Ellis's suit! But it's probably not as detailed as a movie that is made today. I read something on that digitalbits site the other day where the reviewer said something along the lines of "You can't expect a movie like 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' to look as good as a modern movie like 'Cars', but what you are getting is a movie thats as close to how good it looked in theaters originally as you're ever going to get."

And all of those cheap movies I mentioned are brand new. I don't buy previously viewed ones any more. Another good thing about blu rays though, is that they are tougher than standard dvds so you're less likely to get a scratched one if you rent a lot.

All of this is a moot point without an hdtv set though. I just got a 40" Sony and I swear, if all I could watch was the Discovery Channel, I wouldn't mind a bit.

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Actually that's what they said too. That the PS3 would have to do some updates after the change.

Yeah I heard about that. Their durability is awesome which will be perfect for the previously viewed DVD collectors like myself once these start becoming the norm. One think I hate is seeing scratches on DVDs I just bought even though I expect them.

I was at 'Future Shop' a half hour ago and priced the blu ray DVD players. Still around 700 bucks so still going to be awhile before I will dish out some cash for one. PS3 is the way to go I think. I'll eventually pic up a tiny hi def t.v. as well.

How much did you pay for the 40 incher? 12 hundred or so? How many blu rays do you own now anyways Ford? And how many regular DVDs do you own?
Oh and do you own BCC's Planet Earth yet? Since you love your discovery channel heheh. I bet that would look sweeeeet in hi def.

Ford

I stopped counting regular dvds when I cracked 300. I know I have couple lent out so I can never get an accurate count. I've got 32 blu ray dvds now, with another 5 free coming in the mail soon for getting that second PS3. All told, I've gotten 13 free from various promotions. The tv was $1500. Its a Sony KDL40V3000. I love it. And yeah, Planet Earth was one of the first ones I bought! And it was only about $49 thanks to that dealnews site.

I just checked Amazon and they have some Sony and Samsung blu ray players for less than $400. I'm sure that any future price drops for the PS3 will result in lower prices across the board for blu ray players.

The funny thing is, if my 360 hadn't gotten the red ring of death, I would have bought the HD-DVD add on for it and never gotten a PS3.

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Wow, it's like 90 bucks for the blu ray set and 60 for the regular one. Good job on getting that deal.

Yeah and seeing that the PS3 can play kick ass games as well then on that alone they should drop them down to to at least half of that 400 bucks.

What's the red ring of death?

Ford

When the 360 dies, those the four green lights that usually light up when it turns on, light up red instead. When that happens, you have to call Microsoft and have them send you a coffin to ship the thing back to them so they can repair it. They either send you a reconditioned one or a brand new one. They sent me a new one, but I get these stupid errors saying "The disc is dirty. Please clean it." which is ridiculous since I only buy new games and they never get a speck of dust on them.

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