This is how much the real world knows about HDM period.

When my friends read the news about HD-DVD, they honestly thought HD movies just didnt make it and we are back to having BluRay and Standard DVDs.

They had NO IDEA that BluRay is 1080p HD.

This wasnt the first time one of my friends didnt have a clue about HD Movies. The other couple of times is when my friends buy DVD players that upscale to HD. They argued with me that the DVD player would play HD movies because the label on it said "HD".

Its amazing how much people dont really know.

I'd venture a guess it is just one of those things that people dont care.
And I think it is going to be hard for HDM to gain penetration due to the "DVD is good enough" attribute. Unless the costs come down drastically.

Plus it doesnt help the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players in most BB's I go into are on 42 inch LCDs. It is hard to tell at that size of screen the difference between DVD and HD. At least not the 300-400 dollars worth Blu-Ray will be selling for the near future.

yeah, I agree.

It was just amazing that I had that discussion this past weekend and they are educated, intelligent people. Meaning its not their fault that BluRay is unknown, its SONY's fault.

If I was the advertising Exec for Sony I would spend more money on EDUCATING the public with commercials then "paying off" studios. Convince people that BluRay is 1080p and that we all need it in our lives :D

btw, DVD is good enough for me, my family and all my friends so far. HDM is cool but normal people dont get too excited over it enough to spend 10x th $$$ on a DVD player.

On the other hand, I was asked by a co-worker if Toshiba's decision meant her current DVD player would need to be replaced, as her husband insisted.

Ignorance is multi-faceted. ;)

I imagine that's why they've started referring to BD as Blu-ray "Hi-def" in commercials.

And what is this pay off that you speak of?

On the other hand, I was asked by a co-worker if Toshiba's decision meant her current DVD player would need to be replaced, as her husband insisted.


lol, amazing.

And what is this pay off that you speak of?


my opinion that Sony paid off studios to go strictly BR.

yeah, I agree.

It was just amazing that I had that discussion this past weekend and they are educated, intelligent people. Meaning its not their fault that BluRay is unknown, its SONY's fault.

If I was the advertising Exec for Sony I would spend more money on EDUCATING the public with commercials then "paying off" studios. Convince people that BluRay is 1080p and that we all need it in our lives :D

btw, DVD is good enough for me, my family and all my friends so far. HDM is cool but normal people dont get too excited over it enough to spend 10x th $$$ on a DVD player.

Well I am actually surprised when I talk with my family and friends who arent into this stuff and they spit out movie downloads when talking about the next format. Right after the Warner decision my dad of all people said it reminded him of the beta vs vhs war. Then said it doesnt matter because soon downloads will be where it is at. This is a guy who owns a 42" CRT and watches basic cable. No idea where he came up with that information.

So Sony has a long way to go to educate the masses. And they better get cracking if my dad thinks their format is old news hehe.

On the other hand, I was asked by a co-worker if Toshiba's decision meant her current DVD player would need to be replaced, as her husband insisted.

Ignorance is multi-faceted. ;)

I'm sure he is pissed at you if you answered ;)

yeah, I agree.

It was just amazing that I had that discussion this past weekend and they are educated, intelligent people. Meaning its not their fault that BluRay is unknown, its SONY's fault.

If I was the advertising Exec for Sony I would spend more money on EDUCATING the public with commercials then "paying off" studios. Convince people that BluRay is 1080p and that we all need it in our lives :D

btw, DVD is good enough for me, my family and all my friends so far. HDM is cool but normal people dont get too excited over it enough to spend 10x th $$$ on a DVD player.


True, but if you are spending 1/10th of a BR player cost on a dvd player you are not getting a very good one at all.

On the flipside, I was actually surprised when my mom brought up in discussion about the Toshiba hdvd shutdown and the 2009 digital broadcast switchover. I have never discussed this with her, nor would I expect she would have any interest in that topic. I had to provide explanation on the finer points, but nevertheless, she actually had some grasp over the subject.

So I don't think the subject of hdtv is a complete loss amongst "the masses". Some are and some aren't up on the subject. It probably comes down to the difference between those who are prone to ask questions out of genuine curiosity vs. those who simply buy something sight unseen because the buzzword name is en vogue and they simply buy stuff to "keep ahead of the Jones's".

I'd venture a guess it is just one of those things that people dont care.
And I think it is going to be hard for HDM to gain penetration due to the "DVD is good enough" attribute. Unless the costs come down drastically.

Plus it doesnt help the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players in most BB's I go into are on 42 inch LCDs. It is hard to tell at that size of screen the difference between DVD and HD. At least not the 300-400 dollars worth Blu-Ray will be selling for the near future.

You're kidding me right? I have a 40" 1080p, and I can CLEARLY see the difference between HD and SD. Ironically, HD movies look BETTER on a smaller size 1080p than a larger size, IMHO. Pixel density anyone?

I've gone to friend's houses with 50/60" 1080p sets and I still can't get used to it. I'm spoiled by my 40", and have amazing eyes I guess. :D

I also own a 23" 720p set, and the diff between HD and SD is STILL incredible.

Good upconverters make up for what SD lacks, but it's still no comparison.

Wow, I went off topic there, sorry.

I just hate it when people come with that 'bigger is better' mentality.

Ironically, I'd want that new 103" Panny if I was rich. :cool:

Did ppl here ever buy to keep ahead of the 'Jones'..
naww
;)

Well I am actually surprised when I talk with my family and friends who arent into this stuff and they spit out movie downloads when talking about the next format. Right after the Warner decision my dad of all people said it reminded him of the beta vs vhs war. Then said it doesnt matter because soon downloads will be where it is at. This is a guy who owns a 42" CRT and watches basic cable. No idea where he came up with that information.

So Sony has a long way to go to educate the masses. And they better get cracking if my dad thinks their format is old news hehe.
For him, it IS good enough and downloads will be just fine. I bet he really intended to say VOD and doesn't know the difference as downloads will require a seperate box and likely be beyond his ability to install and connect.

And all of this is another example of why the format war was so bad for HDM. Every one was dragged off message into FUD.

With the size of the market we are looking at I guarantee you that there will be market research and there will be a concerted campaign to educate the masses. If the download guys stay with a negative message then you can expect the BDA to go negative as well and DL would be on the loosing side of that.

my opinion that Sony paid off studios to go strictly BR.

No less than when Toshiba/MS paid off Paramount to go HD-DVD exclusive last year. It's BUSINESS, not a non-profit organization. Welcome to the real world.

I have no problem with the masses being uninformed in this. My problem is that there is no place they can go to get informed. One of my favorite ways to kill time is to go to an electronics store and either ask the salespeople questions, or better yet listen in as other people ask questions about hdm. I have not once found a sales rep that was well informed. Obviously, this is going to be an issue at BB and CC as they are not rewarded for educating themselves. However, I also go to a local upscale place where they work straight commission. They are frightfully ill informed. I almost stepped in earlier this week because he was so misrepresenting what a budget BD player could do I was sure he was going to get sued if the guy bought it.

You're kidding me right? I have a 40" 1080p, and I can CLEARLY see the difference between HD and SD. Ironically, HD movies look BETTER on a smaller size 1080p than a larger size, IMHO. Pixel density anyone?

I've gone to friend's houses with 50/60" 1080p sets and I still can't get used to it. I'm spoiled by my 40", and have amazing eyes I guess. :D

I just hate it when people come with that 'bigger is better' mentality.

Ironically, I'd want that new 103" Panny if I was rich. :cool:

This is the first time I've seen someone basically saying a 50/60" 1080p set is inferior in picture quality to a smaller set. :confused:

I guess you don't go to the theater often, eh?

I'm sure your 40" set is great, but I plan on keeping my 8' FP setup, thank you. :)

Art

On the other hand, I was asked by a co-worker if Toshiba's decision meant her current DVD player would need to be replaced, as her husband insisted.

Yes, replaced with a blu-ray player and go beyond HD of course :D

I'm sure he is pissed at you if you answered ;)

Hell no. I just told her she had nothing to worry about, that we were a long way away from DVDs no longer being made, and that future players would be able to play everything she owned.

I guess it's a side effect of the name being HD-DVD. Lots of people may think that's what they have if they have an HDTV, even if it's connected through composite or S-Video.

I know from this point on my vcr tape collection will be watched less and less due to me getting a 360 external HD-DVD player and a Blu player once it comes down in price but DVD isnt going anywhere anytime soon.

Yes, it's true, there are lots of people for whom this whole transition is completely unimportant. We all need to realize that.

It's also true, however, that because it is so unimportant to these people, their opinions will not make any difference in deciding how HDM matures. By the time they figure out what Blu-Ray or downloads mean to their everyday lives, the decisions will have been made. It's the early adopters and the second wave that make or break formats.... the masses simply take the format and make it cheap! :)

It sounds like some people don't realize that DVDs have only got a physical resolution of 720X576 even when upscaled to 1080P on an HDTV via their "HD" DVD players (or even HD DVD/Blu-Ray players) whereas HD DVDs/Blu-Rays have a physical resolution of 1920X1080. (I know you all know this already, I'm just saying that it's what you need to explain to anybody who doesn't.)

It's also true, however, that because it is so unimportant to these people, their opinions will not make any difference in deciding how HDM matures.

Which is why it chafs my hide when people come into these forums posting stuff like "I don't give a damn about this so the whole thing is gonna fail".

Part of the confusion may be caused by people referring to HD DVD as "HD" in contrast to Blu-ray Disc. While Blu-ray Disc could be shortened to "BD", HD DVD is a long name that can't really be shortened. Saying "BD vs HD" could be very confusing to consumers.

Part of the confusion may be caused by people referring to HD DVD as "HD" in contrast to Blu-ray Disc. While Blu-ray Disc could be shortened to "BD", HD DVD is a long name that can't really be shortened. Saying "BD vs HD" could be very confusing to consumers.

I doubt most people would have a clue what you're talking about if you just used "BD" so no wonder they'd be confused if you talked about "BD vs HD", lol! Personally I don't think Blu-Ray have done themselves any favours with the slogan "Beyond High Definition" (although HD DVD's "The Look And Sound Of Perfect" is a little clunky sounding, not very catchy) especially since it's a lie, Blu-Ray's maximum resolution is 1080P, lol! There might be people thinking that's it's too advanced for, and therefore incompatible with their brand new HDTVs or something! :eek:

On the other hand, I was asked by a co-worker if Toshiba's decision meant her current DVD player would need to be replaced, as her husband insisted.

Ignorance is multi-faceted. ;)

DUDE! obviously this guy is trying to get a new Blu player and you might have ruined it!!!!!!

LOL

I don't think its so much that DVD is good enough. I think DVD changed how movies are veiwed. Their are a lot more DVD collections then their were VHS collections. I think this had to do with the size of the tape, need to rewind. and their shelf life.
A lot have a good collection of DVDs going with players on every TV now their being told to just chuck the player out the window and get this $300 BD player with $25 movies.then buy a HDMI cable from a B&M store that costs more then you last DVD player. (We all know were to get cheep cables but J6P only sees the $35-$150 HDMIs at the store)

Prehapps its just the complications of HDM. I work in retail and had a person return a TV/DVD beacause the sat box was to hard to hook up then play DVDs

I was having breakfast with two co-workers this morning. One of them saw 300 and Boune Identity in HD DVD at a friend's house and was genuinely excited at all the detail that HD brings to movies. The other co-worker said "I heard about that" while I kept to myself for most of the conversation, even though I had an HD DVD player at one point and had my HD viewing share.

I jumped in the conversation a little later, when both started saying they needed to buy an HDTV and an HD DVD player to watch HD movies. I told them HD DVD was dead and they needed to buy blu-ray instead. They said "oh, yeah, I forgot about that", followed by "how much do blu-ray players cost?". After telling them the future proof BD player is $400, their eyes got real big.

This is the first time I've seen someone basically saying a 50/60" 1080p set is inferior in picture quality to a smaller set. :confused:

I guess you don't go to the theater often, eh?

I'm sure your 40" set is great, but I plan on keeping my 8' FP setup, thank you. :)

Art

I think I know what he meant, there are only so many lines of resolution and depending on the size of the display they will be closer together or further apart. On bigger display's once you get over wow it's big you start to see any weaknesses a set may have. A smaller set is more forgiving. For the bigger displays to look better they will have to better all around. Keep in mind
this is referring to direct view sets. A properly set up front projection system can demolish most direct view sets.
Enjoy your FP setup, those of us with small rooms envy you.

No less than when Toshiba/MS paid off Paramount to go HD-DVD exclusive last year. It's BUSINESS, not a non-profit organization. Welcome to the real world.

Exactly, Do i thing Toshiba and sony both paid studios...Of course.... Its like you said, business as usual...

Anyway, back topic, its funny when i mention the death of HD DVD at work and well i work at Circuit City.....Ive been asked questions from "Does this mean we will only carry DVD's?" to the statement "Great, now I have something that is no good to anyone." Then of course I get the stupid looks when i tell them i just bought a new HD DVD player since there are firesales going on.....

Truth of the matter is 90%+ of the US isnt educated in the world of Technology, 95%+ have no idea that the HDM war is over and they wont until they no longer see HDDVDs on the shelves. Anyway, the way I see it though, the less educated people are about this stuff, the more I get during the firesales.....I know sounds bad, but its all good :)

This is the first time I've seen someone basically saying a 50/60" 1080p set is inferior in picture quality to a smaller set. :confused:

I guess you don't go to the theater often, eh?

I'm sure your 40" set is great, but I plan on keeping my 8' FP setup, thank you. :)

Art

mine's only a 108" screen. after having it i cant even imaging going back to something as small as 40" or even 50 or 60".
im sure they look great but-not for me.

It sounds like some people don't realize that DVDs have only got a physical resolution of 720X576 even when upscaled to 1080P on an HDTV via their "HD" DVD players (or even HD DVD/Blu-Ray players) whereas HD DVDs/Blu-Rays have a physical resolution of 1920X1080. (I know you all know this already, I'm just saying that it's what you need to explain to anybody who doesn't.)

most of those 'some people' dont care about 'whatever resolution' or have or even care about hd tvs.

loooooooooooooooooong way to go.

all imo. of course.

There is no e in Blu Ray, and there is also no HD. That is causing the confusion.

I was having breakfast with two co-workers this morning. One of them saw 300 and Boune Identity in HD DVD at a friend's house and was genuinely excited at all the detail that HD brings to movies. The other co-worker said "I heard about that" while I kept to myself for most of the conversation, even though I had an HD DVD player at one point and had my HD viewing share.

I jumped in the conversation a little later, when both started saying they needed to buy an HDTV and an HD DVD player to watch HD movies. I told them HD DVD was dead and they needed to buy blu-ray instead. They said "oh, yeah, I forgot about that", followed by "how much do blu-ray players cost?". After telling them the future proof BD player is $400, their eyes got real big.


Yeah, thats what happens when you compare closeout prices/clearance prices to regular prices of a viable product. How much were the A3s at best buy when HDDVD still had a chance? $250-$300 late october?

If someone knew nothing about cars, and only knew about a $7000 Daewoo... they may be shocked to find a lexus starts at 35K.

one of the problems with educating the masses in HD is the fact that you can't simulate it on a SD TV. the only way for one to see the difference is to go out to stores and see it for themselves. no amount of marketing on TV is going to help when the display you're putting the ad on is only SD.

the other problem is you can't sell HDM until you sell the HDTV first.

Yeah, thats what happens when you compare closeout prices/clearance prices to regular prices of a viable product. How much were the A3s at best buy when HDDVD still had a chance? $250-$300 late october?

...


So true...which I why I grabbed an A3 at the closeout price yesterday. No matter what, it is still a great upconverting player that will fill the gap until I am ready for a blu-ray one.

So true...which I why I grabbed an A3 at the closeout price yesterday. No matter what, it is still a great upconverting player that will fill the gap until I am ready for a blu-ray one.

Plus you get the free movies. At the current prices, its easy to justify. But you have to realize that you are buying clearance items... which is why they are cheap.

I am waiting for $10.00 new release hddvds and $5.00 catalogue titles.

Plus you get the free movies. At the current prices, its easy to justify. But you have to realize that you are buying clearance items... which is why they are cheap.

I am waiting for $10.00 new release hddvds and $5.00 catalogue titles.

Yup. Went into it with eyes wide open.

It was one of those, "so for $99 I get a player that once sold for $299, plus 2 movies in the box and 5 more by mail" that is a great upconverter to boot....sold!

Plus, now I can say I have invested in yet another failed format.....I still have some SQ and CD4 quadraphonic records and quite a few SACDs and DVD-As....though I did get rid of the laserdisc collection and player a couple of years ago.

one of the problems with educating the masses in HD is the fact that you can't simulate it on a SD TV. the only way for one to see the difference is to go out to stores and see it for themselves. no amount of marketing on TV is going to help when the display you're putting the ad on is only SD.

the other problem is you can't sell HDM until you sell the HDTV first.

There's some truth in what you say but marketing also helps 'set up the consumer'.

Once the consumer is finally in the store, they see HD, they think, "I saw that on TV", they investigate.

It'd be like saying, "Why advertise a game on TV when the only way to know if it's worth buying is to play it?"

Because the power of suggestion works! ^_^

You hit the nail on the head though with the chicken and the egg problem of needing the HDTV before the HDM.

A properly set up front projection system can demolish most direct view sets.


Really? I've never seen a FP setup in a home environment so I can really judge from that perspective. However from a cinema perspective I've never seen a cinema projector produce the kind of picture I get on my CRT. Do home FP work in a different way than a cinema projectors?

Really? I've never seen a FP setup in a home environment so I can really judge from that perspective. However from a cinema perspective I've never seen a cinema projector produce the kind of picture I get on my CRT. Do home FP work in a different way than a cinema projectors?


Their are some nice Front projectors and screens out there. But with comparable budgets, I dont think you would be able to say an FP gives better performance than a Direct view TV. Front projectors are bigger... but I wouldnt say better.

For instance, my friends Sony Pearl is an awesome projector.... but will it beat out an XBR4? No.

Ambient lighting is also a big problem with Front projectors.

Then answer is YES. Front projection has come a long ways. You will be SHOCKED at what you see. Is the contrast quite as good as the XBR4? Probably not, but much closer than you think. And with a picture 8X as big as a 42" TV there is no comparison. NONE.

DVD must be good enough because many of the people who go into the blu-ray and HD DVD forums claim that they won't buy the movie in (blu-ray/HD DVD) because it's not in their format of choice and will instead watch it upconverted on their super awesome up-converting player that pretty much makes it look HD.

If people on these forums can settle for the DVD version, what does that say for the rest of the world?

This is how much the real world knows about HDM period.

When my friends read the news about HD-DVD, they honestly thought HD movies just didnt make it and we are back to having BluRay and Standard DVDs.

They had NO IDEA that BluRay is 1080p HD.

This wasnt the first time one of my friends didnt have a clue about HD Movies. The other couple of times is when my friends buy DVD players that upscale to HD. They argued with me that the DVD player would play HD movies because the label on it said "HD".

Its amazing how much people dont really know.

Without reading all of the other gems of posts in this thread, I would say your friends were idiots. And, thank you for another pointless thread to kill time with.

Justin

My father saw a report on tv about HD-DVDs demise. He knew I'm into this type of stuff so he discussed the segment he saw with me.

He told me that it was like VHS vs Beta and that HD-DVD lost. Then he told me that Bluray would fail also because of "digital downloads" and that was the future. Essentially, he was going by the report he saw which mentioned internet downloads as a rival to Bluray and that created a doubt about Blurays future in his mind.

Bottom line is that there needs to be certainty about Bluray in order for the masses to be willing to buy it. DVD was fully endorsed by everyone including the media but currently there are some articles and tv spots which bring up "downloads and streaming" so there is some doubt or concern out there. It doesn't matter if they are even capable of downloading its the doubt that makes people balk.

A serious question to the early adopters who chose HD-DVD...with all the foresight and predictions of Blu-Rays demise ...why choose a physical format at all, knowing of the pending growth of VOD supplanting any disc based media ???? Where were you 2 years ago before the introduction of these competing formats ??? Who was championing the VOD cause and starting the rallying cry??? Show me the money....please...

My father saw a report on tv about HD-DVDs demise. He knew I'm into this type of stuff so he discussed the segment he saw with me.

He told me that it was like VHS vs Beta and that HD-DVD lost. Then he told me that Bluray would fail also because of "digital downloads" and that was the future. Essentially, he was going by the report he saw which mentioned internet downloads as a rival to Bluray and that created a doubt about Blurays future in his mind.

Bottom line is that there needs to be certainty about Bluray in order for the masses to be willing to buy it. DVD was fully endorsed by everyone including the media but currently there are some articles and tv spots which bring up "downloads and streaming" so there is some doubt or concern out there. It doesn't matter if they are even capable of downloading its the doubt that makes people balk.

I suppose at some point there may be a large market for VOD....but that is assuming people will be signing up for highspeed broadband service....and right now that is not the norm. For us in AVS maybe, but I know of a number of people who are still using either dialup or a low speed DSL connection.

My father saw a report on tv about HD-DVDs demise. He knew I'm into this type of stuff so he discussed the segment he saw with me.

He told me that it was like VHS vs Beta and that HD-DVD lost. Then he told me that Bluray would fail also because of "digital downloads" and that was the future. Essentially, he was going by the report he saw which mentioned internet downloads as a rival to Bluray and that created a doubt about Blurays future in his mind.

Bottom line is that there needs to be certainty about Bluray in order for the masses to be willing to buy it. DVD was fully endorsed by everyone including the media but currently there are some articles and tv spots which bring up "downloads and streaming" so there is some doubt or concern out there. It doesn't matter if they are even capable of downloading its the doubt that makes people balk.

You've got a good point, no one was questioning DVD at all in the media when it was launched, just how long before it would replace VHS. Also it didn't really have any competition plus the cost of technology was higher those days so both those points are why prices stayed so high for so long. (That's in response to those who say "Why shouldn't Blu-Ray be expensive? DVD was for years!") These days technology has advanced so much that we just don't know what's around the corner. Some people think Blu-Ray is the future for HDM sales whereas others think digital distribution is but there could be something else like HVD (holographic video discs), HVC (holographic video cards) or some other kinds of moviecards. (Or even other discs maybe?) So people can't be assured that Blu-Ray will be the only next-gen video format the way DVD was because there's no assurance that Blu-Ray has "won the format war" when the format war might have only just started. Essentially Blu-Ray has only won round 1.

A serious question to the early adopters who chose HD-DVD...with all the foresight and predictions of Blu-Rays demise ...why choose a physical format at all, knowing of the pending growth of VOD supplanting any disc based media ???? Where were you 2 years ago before the introduction of these competing formats ??? Who was championing the VOD cause and starting the rallying cry??? Show me the money....please...

VOD Hd is not the same pq as blu-ray or hd-dvd

A serious question to the early adopters who chose HD-DVD...with all the foresight and predictions of Blu-Rays demise ...why choose a physical format at all, knowing of the pending growth of VOD supplanting any disc based media ???? Where were you 2 years ago before the introduction of these competing formats ??? Who was championing the VOD cause and starting the rallying cry??? Show me the money....please...

Most of us here at AVS care about A/V quality and I can't speak for others but I stopped buying DVDs in 02. Many of us have been waiting for HDM a long time and I would have bought DVHS if it wasn't so expensive so choosing HD-DVD or Blu-ray is a no brainer for me.

As far as VOD I've been using it since 01 or 02 but its not HD. However, I think you're misunderstanding some of us because we're not saying Blu-ray will slowly die or something. Its just that there is doubt out there in many consumers minds and there will be real competition soon just as DVD had to face and DVD took a hit.

On the other hand, I was asked by a co-worker if Toshiba's decision meant her current DVD player would need to be replaced, as her husband insisted.

Ignorance is multi-faceted. ;)

I was at Sam's CLub the other day where they have a Blu-Ray kiosk in the aisle. I walked by and overheard a guy, probably 60, explaining to his wife that in 2009 they will be doing something to all the TV's that make it so you have to use a Blu-ray player. He was totally confusing the date for shut-off of analog over-the-air TV signals with some notion that all TV's will only be able to do HD after that. Maybe he was just using that as an excuse for his wife, but he looked like he meant it.

Actually, equipment costs aside, I think the ultimate question is whether the titles that people want will be readily available.

As an example, I was in BB today with credit card in hand ready to pick up some HD DVDs for my "dead" format. Of what stock they had, prices were in the $19.99 to $29.99 range---not unreasonable for the increased PQ and SQ.

But here is the problem: I could only find 2 titles that I really would consider buying (well, actually I did buy 2).

I couldn't see re-buying some that I already had in SD because the Tosh A3 does a really good job of upconverting. Certainly not true HD, but pretty darn close.

Now, would I re-buy some titles? Of course. I will be one of the ones making George Lucas rich when the Star Wars 6 pack comes out in HD. Heck, I've already bought them in VHS (paid $99 for the original Star Wars when it was first released on VHS--funny hearing people complain about an HD DVD costing $25!), on laserdisc, and on SD DVD.

I do have other favorites where I want the absolute best PQ available. However, when I look at most of the 264 titles in my current DVD collection, SD on an upconvert will actually be "good enough".

I strongly suspect I will not be the only one making that type of value added assessment.

Actually, equipment costs aside, I think the ultimate question is whether the titles that people want will be readily available.

As an example, I was in BB today with credit card in hand ready to pick up some HD DVDs for my "dead" format. Of what stock they had, prices were in the $19.99 to $29.99 range---not unreasonable for the increased PQ and SQ.

But here is the problem: I could only find 2 titles that I really would consider buying (well, actually I did buy 2).

I couldn't see re-buying some that I already had in SD because the Tosh A3 does a really good job of upconverting. Certainly not true HD, but pretty darn close.

Now, would I re-buy some titles? Of course. I will be one of the ones making George Lucas rich when the Star Wars 6 pack comes out in HD. Heck, I've already bought them in VHS (paid $99 for the original Star Wars when it was first released on VHS--funny hearing people complain about an HD DVD costing $25!), on laserdisc, and on SD DVD.

I do have other favorites where I want the absolute best PQ available. However, when I look at most of the 264 titles in my current DVD collection, SD on an upconvert will actually be "good enough".

I strongly suspect I will not be the only one making that type of value added assessment.

I agree with you this one. Out of the 400+ SD DVDs that I have there are about 20 (LOTR Trilogy, STAR WARS, The Crow, Braveheart, etc.)that I will be double dipping on. There's just no way, I'll be replacing them all with BR even if they sell them for $5 each.

This is how much the real world knows about HDM period.

When my friends read the news about HD-DVD, they honestly thought HD movies just didnt make it and we are back to having BluRay and Standard DVDs.

Its amazing how much people dont really know.

My experience is different. Your last line should have read "It's amazing how much my friends don't really know".

Several friends and co-workers told me they purchased a PS3 "because it also plays HD Blu-ray movies". Others were actually following the the format war.

I would guess that most of the people who don't know what Blu-ray is probably don't buy SD DVD's either, because they would have noticed the Blu-ray isle while browsing. Even online disc retailers like "DVD Empire" and "Deep Discount DVD" make it hard to buy from and not know what HD-DVD and Blu-ray are.

If someone doesn't even buy SD DVD's, they are probably not likely to be a consumer of HD discs either. They are inconsequential to HDM.

Really, look at the brick and mortar and online DVD retailers and tell me how a real consumer of disc based media can escape knowing about Blu-ray (or HD-DVD for that matter).