The Real Beauty of Being a Dual Format Owner

The single biggest reason to by a Dual Format next gen DVD player is so my wife doesn't have to try to figure out which player to use when my son wants to watch Transformers! Now that some Paramount titles will only be released on HD-DVD I will have to buy both players. If I have them in two separate machines there is no way my wife will know what disc plays in which player. The ultimate answer is to buy a dual format player that only requires 1 HDMI connection and allows my wife to play any disc in it.

Think about this. My TV only has 1 HDMI input and the receiver I want only has 2 HDMI inputs(Yamaha VX-661 for $300 is a steal). If I want to hook up 2 next gen DVD players and my cable box I couldn't do it with that receiver unless I bought an external switcher. With the dual format player I don't have to worry about anything. That is why the dual format players are worth twice as much to me! When the dual format players hit $500 I will buy one.

Ahh finally a forum where my thoughts are inline.

You guys will be lucky. As being dual format. You will be inline for when the two competing formats will be here to stay for the long haul.

The blues thing they will "win"
the reds think they will "win"

the most probable scenario is that both survive with no defeat from either. I mean it has been happening in the rest of the consumer world (Coke v. Pepsi, AMD v. Intel) so it is not far fetched to see it happening in

HDDVD v. Bluray.

Put a red dot sticker on one and a blue dot sticker on the other. She can match it up with the case.

I'm hoping this whole thing will encourage more dual-format players, although watching the meltdown going on is pretty funny. Some of the posts make me think these people care more about winning then they do watching movies.

I guess it's kind of like kids street racing, where what you actually own and enjoy isn't as important as going out and trying to beat someone else to make you feel better about yourself.

Its what Im gonna do, but I just hate the thought of spending another $400 on a player and a few thousand on red movies that will be obsolete in a few years... Toshiba, next time use vasoline, but either way, Im coming..

well i just find it quite comical how "personal" this entire thing has gotten.

Guess the early adopters thought it was going to be a walk in the park.

There is a reason they call it the bleeding edge.

LMAO....

Get a Harmony remote and program the Blue button for "Watch BluRay" and the red button for "Watch HD-DVD". Tell the wife to hit the button that is the same color as the video case and then stick the disk in the player that lights up.

That's exactly what I thought when I read the original poster's complaint. Suck it up, buy a harmony.

The only bad drawback is, all this back and forth could lead to confusion in the market for consumers in which nobody but (720p downloads w/lossy audio) & good ole DVD wins!

I've never understood the draw of downloading movies. I guess making a living using a computer for the last 20 years has tempered my enthusiam for anything to do with computers and the internet. The average consumer has clearly spoken. They want owned or rented discs in their own homes. Perhaps someday downloads will be the standard, but I doubt it will be in my usable lifetime.

Doug

I have a Harmony and the wife still thinks that it is too hard to use! The problem is that she doesn't want to like it so if it is more difficult than what she was using she will hate it. If you are not married, or your wife is a techno geek also, or you don't have kids you wouldn't understand.

For my situation a dual format player is a necessity.

I'm a guy and I do not want to mess around with two DVD Players.

One Dual-Format Player is the way to go as far as the average man or woman wanting to watch a DVD. I do not want to play around trying to figure out which player does what or plays what. I want to stick the Dog-Gone DVD in the player and sit back and watch the movie.

At least that is my opinion.

Terry

Why should she have to?

This thread is too funny. I totally relate. Let me see. The wife and kids have kinda figured out the blue goes into the PS3 and the red goes into the HD-XA2. All other colors go into the HD-XA2, except Japanese which go into the OPPO except Japanese TV videos (no region coding) which look much better on the HD-XA2. Also, ripped DVDs and photos are watched on the PS3, but iTunes is listened to from the Apple TV. Oh shoot. I can barely remember which one gets the SACD and DVD-Audio. Lets not talk about how all this stuff works in the other room

And people wonder how Denon can charge so much for a universal player?

AMEN Brother,

Terry

The only downside with dual players / buying 2 separate format from both players is COST! Who would want to pay twice for 2x software 2x decoding 2x licenses when there is a chance that both formats could go poof.

???

So true! This is funny!!!

Unless its an HD-DVD combo disc!! Arghhhh!!!

Because she isn't bright enough otherwise?*

*According to her husband a few posts up

Thought provoking post.

So it comes down to will both formats survive for the long term or will one of them go away?

I believe there are a significant number of people sitting on the sidelines not buying either format because they believe that one or the other will win and they don't want to pick the wrong one.

The hardware should serve US, not the other way around. Since there are format exclusive studios - dual format is the only way to go. I'm in this for the movies (what else would you be in it for?) so if I want Universal catalog titles and The Die Hard trilogy in high def, and don't want to wait 5 years for this to sort itself out, the choice is chrystal clear.

I agree. I want choice in titles, not to argue about competing pieces of shiny plastic.

So you may understand my frustration from a recent conversation with my wife.

Wife: So if we get a new "high definition" DVD player, it will only play certain DVDs?

Me: Yes, if it is an HD-DVD player, it will only play HD-DVD discs. If it is a Blu-Ray player, it will only play Blu-Ray dics.

W: Why buy something if it won't play everything?

M: Well there are two formats competing, there is no standard and you can't get some movies in both formats.

W: Well that's just stupid!

Fast forward to a new conversation about the new combo-players.

Me: Well if we get this new DVD player it will play anything you put in it, Blu-Ray discs, HD-DVD discs, and DVDs.

Wife: So I won't have to figure it out, it will just play whatever I put in there?

M: That's right.

W: How much does this thing cost?

M: About $600.

W: (With a look of why the heck did you even ask about it) That's too much for a DVD player.

This has led to my fruitless search for more HD channels at a decent price.

I think you hit one of the nails on the head. People don't want to spend $300-600 (low ends) to buy something that may need to go on the trash heap in a few years.

The other thing is price, when you can buy a DVD player for $70 versus buying another one for just under $1000, people are not going to switch. Even a $300 combo-player is not going to be the magic bullet. Either the studios would have to stop producing DVD's entirely or the players are going to have to get to the sub $150 range for people to start to switch in large numbers. Especially when they are unsure that they can actually use what they would be buying (they are unsure of their TV's capabilities).

This whole issue is due to serious errors and greedy companies along the way on all sides. The format war, the HDMI debacle, and the non-upconversion with analog outputs has made alot of people hesitant to buy anything the past few years. Thus we still have DVD players selling and some are hesitant to buy a new TV for fear that they won't be able to get new equipment to attach to it later.

The upconversion issue is a big thorn in my side since I have a two year old Viewsonic TV that needs the YPbPr connection to ensure compatability. I don't trust that the DVI would be HDCP compliant since there was no standard back then (it has no HDMI ports).

Even if a format goes poof, I can't see it happening but if it does your hardware and software will still work so you have lost nothing. All future purchases would just be with the winning format.

I don't see one side winning though

Hi,

Personally I am just "Thankful" that Samsung has built this New Dual-Format DVD Player. If you want to do it the easy way and just load a DVD regardless of what kind it is and watch the Movie. That is what I want and Samsung has made it.

I'm on the waiting List and Proud to be. Price on anything is always a consideration but you usually don't get the "Best-for-Less". So Samsung is making the Best and as I said I am on the Waiting List with my dealer. Hope they start delivery in Oct.

Terry

Go-Samsung !!!!!

As eager as I am, I'm not preordering.

There is just too much that can be wrong with a player to be on the bleeding edge. Been there before, hopefully learned something from that experience.