HD DVD titles..

jackdaw

Hi .. sorry maybe this should be in another area... mods please move if necessary
Out of interest how many of you are going to change your DVD collection
to HD Blu ray (or whatever HD format wins the marketting).

I myself have a large collection and don´t fancy changing all of them to
HD !! .

Maybe a few titles that detail really makes the difference like LOTR or Star
Wars III but for the vast majority of my DVDs I don´t think I´ll bother changing them, considering how good and clear the quality is with regular DVDs and the
new LCD HD TVs.

just curious is anyone considering a total upgrade of their collection ?

quazzy

I think I'll be waiting for a good while until the Blu-Ray / HD-DVD battle is over.

I really don't see any point investing right now.

jackdaw

Well, I would definetely buy a blu ray player (i think this will win)
and buy films in future in blu ray, but about updating my collection, well
thats a different matter entirely

mossym

I'll update select titles..LOTR, band of brothers, Saving private ryan,star wars all my favorites..but the rest, not planning to. Thanks to backards compatability!!!

Ghost Train

jackdaw wrote:

Well, I would definetely buy a blu ray player (i think this will win)
and buy films in future in blu ray, but about updating my collection, well
thats a different matter entirely

Sony don't have the best record with video formats, betamax and umd recently, so I won't be too quick to back them(even with the ps3 factor). I hope dual format players will appear eventually and there won't be any worries about what to go for.

I don't think I'll be investing too much in hd disks in the short term

LFCFan

You'd be mad to reinvest in your Movie collection just so the picture is better. Maybe in 5 years times when you can get bargain basement BD movies like you can with DVD's now it would be worth upgrading some of your movies. Otherwise, you've more money then sense. And of course, it would be even more mental if you do it before the format war is over.

slave1

will invest in this technology when the pc drives and blanks become affordable, no point at the minute with a vast collection already in my possession

mossym

LFCFan wrote:

You'd be mad to reinvest in your Movie collection just so the picture is better. Maybe in 5 years times when you can get bargain basement BD movies like you can with DVD's now it would be worth upgrading some of your movies. Otherwise, you've more money then sense. And of course, it would be even more mental if you do it before the format war is over.

why mad to get a better picture? if you get a kick out if it why not. if you're watching a 27"tv in the corner then yeah fine. If you've spent some serious money investing in a kick ass sytem, surely it's not such a mad idea.

Mayo Exile

How about investing in a quality upscaling DVD player that can output at 720p or 1080i resolution ? Would be probably be cheaper than replacing somebody's collection, especially if it's a large one.

mossym

Mayo Exile wrote:

How about investing in a quality upscaling DVD player that can output at 720p or 1080i resolution ? Would be probably be cheaper than replacing somebody's collection, especially if it's a large one.

not the same thing at all. If it was, why would anyone bother buying HD discs? a 720per or 1080i upscaled picture is still being fed by a SD source, it is guessing at the extra lines of resolution, they're not really there. it is an upscaled SD picture

one of the mst confuding things the manufacturers did was put the letters HD beside upscaling dvd players..they are not hd, and cannot be. They are only of any benefit if they contain a better scaler than your tv.

Mayo Exile

not the same thing at all. If it was, why would anyone bother buying HD discs? a 720per or 1080i upscaled picture is still being fed by a SD source, it is guessing at the extra lines of resolution, they're not really there. it is an upscaled SD picture

True. But should still give a better picture than a standard scart equipped dvd player if fed into an LCD TV with component/HDMI inputs plus the necessary resolution. Its not proper HD naturally, but should offer a stopgap solution to those who want to protect their investment in their DVD collection, plus on the smaller screens who would be worried anyway?

Currently who will invest in the HD format? Its a bloody re-run of the VHS/Betamax war. Wait till one buries the other or you get dual format players.

mossym

Mayo Exile wrote:

True. But should still give a better picture than a standard scart equipped dvd player if fed into an LCD TV with component/HDMI inputs plus the necessary resolution.

it may do...but on some tvs the scaler may be far better than the one in the dvd player. that'd make it better to feed it sd, but i see your point, in most cases it should

Mayo Exile wrote:

Its not proper HD naturally, but should offer a stopgap solution to those who want to protect their investment in their DVD collection, plus on the smaller screens who would be worried anyway?

well thanks, that was kind of my point.right now i ahve a 48" HD tv. I'm getting rid of it for a 120" screen being fed from a HD projector. at that size very bit of resolution i can get helps...

Mayo Exile wrote:

Currently who will invest in the HD format? Its a bloody re-run of the VHS/Betamax war. Wait till one buries the other or you get dual format players.

see i hear that aguement a lot, but i don't agree. The vhs/betamax was for a brand new technology. nobody really knew what they were getting.

what about dvd+r/dvd-? most people buyig burners for ages said they would wait and see which one won...well none did..bo.th are still there..and eventually multiformat readers came along. I had a dvd-r burner soon after they came out. Couldn't do anything with dvd+r, but i wouldn't say it hurt not to be able to do it.

Now, i know the HDDVD/Bluray isn't that straightforward. it is a royal pain in th e ass that there are two standards. But i see both of the them lasting, for quite some time anyway. long enough for dual standard players to come out, and once they do, who cares if the format dies? as long as i can play what i bought, and still play what i can buy i am happy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going out to spend a fortune on players and dsics. I have a htpc. I will put drives in that once they become availabe, and cheap enough. But i know i will buy the extended version of the lord of the rings, even though i already own the Sd versions. High bitrate audio, HD definition versions on a 120" screen? it's a no brainer for me. It may be i replace about 6/7 movies in my collection with their hd version. But i see no point not to own the best version of my favorite movies. and i won't be buying for a while, until i make sure one of them isn't going to die straight away.

more money than sense? maybe, but come see the smile on my face watching them and tell me it wasn't worth a couple of hours work for it. money better spent than going to the pub to watch liverpool these days anyway..:D

Mayo Exile

Yip. All good points MossyM. What i'm really trying to say is that in a market sector where uncertainty reigns consumers try to find whats best for themselves. Upscaling DVD players could be seen by some as a solution at the moment. Also if eventually a dual format HD player does emerge thats fine. Everybody seems happy enough now with multi format CD or DVD recorders.

As for Liverpool, after last sunday I wouldn't want to watch them in either SD or HD at the moment....................

rtyped

I just got a hd-dvd player and one of the disks I got was serenity (really like this movie).

now i have the dvd version also and I've got to say it was better on hd-dvd.

what supprised me was the sound was a lot better.As expected the picture is cleaner, crisper overall a better experience.

However i'm not convienced that it is all that much better, I wouldn't rush out to buy updates of my favorite movies just for the sake of it, though this may be in part due to the fact that my tv is not that big (36") and the difference in quality is not as marked for me.