[dsmith901]

VCR players are essentially no longer available except for those combined with DVD players, and my readings recently, along with visits to Best Buy, give me the impression that SD DVD players will also soon be gone, or at least phased out, sooner than I would have expected - to be replaced by Blu-Ray players, of course. And how long then before DVD titles will also disappear as we go Blu only? That is all well and good as long as BD titles are as cheap as DVD, meaning most catalog titles under $10; but I have a feeling that is not going to be the case. Regardless, it appears that recession be damned, we are all going to be forced to convert to Blu-Ray whether we want to or not!

 

[QuiGonJosh]

Ummm...no. Not at all. Just go to any store and you'll find a plethora of DVD players and only a handful of Blu-Ray players and the DVD players always sell more units.

 

[moparfan]

I hope not anytime soon since DVD still has a significant cost advantage.

 

[OhMyTVC15]

Watching SD DVDs on my upconverted player and HDTV, i really don't know how the pic can get much better. I'm sure it is but really, how much better does it need to be. I'm perfectly happy with my setup and Blue ray is way down the line for me as a purchase.

 

[Tulpa]

DVD was introduced in 1996 (in Japan, elsewhere the next year.) Standalone VCRs lasted at least a decade after, and the combos still exist. VHS tapes are still available, although studio support largely ended in 2006.


Blu-Ray is a bit different as the players can also play DVDs (unlike non-combo DVD players and VHS tapes.) I imagine that Blu-Ray machines might occupy a "premium DVD player" niche while lower priced DVD players stick around. If by some miracle the BRD players plunge in price to DVD player levels (at all pricepoints), that might phase out all but the very cheapest DVD players and the very best DVD upscalers.


I think the bigger question is how long will DVDs themselves be around, which I think will be at least a decade, since Blu-Ray's title catalog is nowhere near the size of DVD's.


What might tank both formats is direct digital downloading (think one of those Netflix boxes on steriods.)

 

[dale0015]

I have to agree with ohmytvc15.my picture with my up converter is pretty darn good. I have a blu player, but find myself not even watching it. Tonight as a matter of fact, I tried pirates, the black pearl and found the up converter just as good as the blu ray if not a little better.Now don't come down on me about calibrations and such, this was just my experience.Both dvd players going through my marantz through hdmi.Also I watched what seemed like 5 minutes on the up converter before the blu even loaded.

 

[bikeboy999]

Hey all,


There is no reason to go to Blu Ray as far as I am concerned. I just had my old DVD player break down so it was time to replace it. I thought about BR two years ago when the HD and BR fight was strong. I did not even give BR a thought. All of my music DVDs are of an older nature so an upconverter would be enough. Well did I get a suprise, I purchased a NAD T515 DVD player. I could not be more impressed with the picture and audio from the dvds after the death of my Pannny A310 (1st gen). I auditioned the Cambridge Audio 540 dvd player before deciding that the NAD was better. I had my 20yr old son with me to confirm my findings.

B

 

[QuiGonJosh]

I'm definitely in the "DVD is good enough for me" camp as well. Playing a well mastered DVD on my Panny plasma is a very rewarding experience. Blu-Ray many times just looks unnatural to my eyes. DVD looks closer to what a projected film actually looks like. Blu-Ray's tend to look unnaturally sharp and overproduced colors. Given how popular DVD is right now and how small Blu-Ray's market share is, DVD will be around for a very very long time. Putting it this way - there's like 150 million DVD players in households throughout the US (not counting PS2's, XBOX's, and other devices) and there's 10 million BD players...and about 6 million of those are PS3's, so in actuality, there's only about 4 million dedicated BD machines out there. That's an incredibly small percentage of the market, which is still totally dominated by DVD. I don't see that changing anytime soon. BD has gained a little momentum lately, but for the vast majority of consumers, DVD is just fine and they see no reason to upgrade. This, more than anything will keep DVD around for the long haul.

 

[John Ballentine]

W/ small screens (under 70") DVD seems to be good enough (I have a 50" in my den and DVD looks great). But when the screen size grows to 100" and beyond (mine is 130" in my Home Theater) - Blu-ray is absolutely a necessity. At those larger sizes - 480 lines simply doesn't cut it.

 

[PooperScooper]

If/when BD players get cheap enough, there will be no need for DVD-only players.


larry

 

[dsmith901]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PooperScooper /forum/post/15544584


If/when BD players get cheap enough, there will be no need for DVD-only players.


larry

And that is my point, as BD players drop to the $150 level, or even the $99 level by next Christmas, I suspect many CE companies will just abandon SD DVD players altogether. Tobhiba will be the exception I suppose, but how long after Toshiba goes Blu do you think it will be before they join the "drop-DVD" movement? It would not surprise me if the studios subsidized or "encouraged" CE companies in that decision. There is no doubt in my mind that Hollywood would love to drop DVD altogether and force us all to buy their far more profitable BD discs. Has anyone else noticed that the MSRP price of DVD new releases has increased noticeably in the past year? New titles used to debut at $14.95 to $16.95 but now typically list at $19.95 or even $22.95 and up. Presumably this is intended to reduce the price gap between DVD and Blu-Ray releases (which have tended down in recent months) and encourage all those "DVD is good enough" buyers to decide that a few dollars more for higher PQ is not such a big leap. OTOH, older catalog DVD titles go on sale for $4.99-$5.99 regularly, but perhaps that just to clear out inventory before going BD only?

 

[Jim Hef]

I feel it will be awhile until the death of the DVD disc, and as stated above, for the average user, an upconverting player will be very nice. However, all things considered, BluRay is a step above, and with the cost of players coming down to decent levels, the 'smarts' of the companies to also make them DVD upconverters, there's very little reason to not pick one up. I'm waiting for Oppo to introduce their player, a truly universal format one, and then I'll jump on that. I've already started to collect BD discs with the feel that they are worth the added cost.

 

[habnab]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dsmith901 /forum/post/15534230


Are DVD players about to disappear?


VCR players are essentially no longer available except for those combined with DVD players, and my readings recently, along with visits to Best Buy, give me the impression that SD DVD players will also soon be gone, or at least phased out, sooner than I would have expected - to be replaced by Blu-Ray players, of course. And how long then before DVD titles will also disappear as we go Blu only? That is all well and good as long as BD titles are as cheap as DVD, meaning most catalog titles under $10; but I have a feeling that is not going to be the case. Regardless, it appears that recession be damned, we are all going to be forced to convert to Blu-Ray whether we want to or not!

IMO, it will be a looooong time before DVD gets to where VHS is now at.


You are playing devil's advocate with this, right???


If yes, why?


IMO, Blu-ray isn't going to cut it, and will die a long slow niche death.


Those that fail to read/understand history, are doomed to repeat it. (i.e. why Beta died)


Cheers

 

[PooperScooper]



Quote:
IMO, Blu-ray isn't going to cut it, and will die a long slow niche death.


Those that fail to read/understand history, are doomed to repeat it. (i.e. why Beta died)

The 2nd sentence more or less contradicts the first.


The VHS->DVD transition had less hurdles than DVD->BD. Time will tell.


larry

 

[MarioMania]

I just don't see the diffents on my brothers HDTV..I think his is 42"..DVD movies play just fine on it

 

[kucharsk]

It's likely that DVD players will start to become a niche occupied by "low end" and house electronics brands as BD player prices continue to fall.


Thus you'll still be able to buy that Coby or Insignia DVD player, but if you want something from Sony or Panasonic within a few years it will likely be a BD player.


For those who can't see the difference you either need a new display, you're sitting too far away, or need a visit to an optometrist.

Either that or you've connected the BD player using S-Video or have it set to output 480i as the difference is not subtle…

 

[GrnXnham]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Tulpa /forum/post/15538290


What might tank both formats is direct digital downloading (think one of those Netflix boxes on steriods.)

No way I would consider a download to be a substitute for something real in a box that I can hold in my hand.


I like the pretty pictures on the DVD boxes TOO much!

And how do I show off my collection of downloaded movies?


When I download music and movies I never really feel like I actually OWN it.

 

[Tulpa]



Quote:
Originally Posted by GrnXnham /forum/post/15568543


When I download music and movies I never really feel like I actually OWN it.

I feel the same way, but the up and coming young whippersnappers don't. They think of their music and movies in terms of gigs, not individual discs or anything.


Seriously, they've done studies, and the new consumers are fully ready to do a digital download that they don't have to go to the store or wait for in the mail to get. It's just for movies it's not quite there yet.

 

[kucharsk]

I think downloading is going to become less attractive as more and more ISPs impose data transfer caps on their services.

 

[QuiGonJosh]



Quote:
Originally Posted by kucharsk /forum/post/15568283


For those who can't see the difference you either need a new display, you're sitting too far away, or need a visit to an optometrist.

I don't think it's that we can't see the difference. I certainly can. It's just that the difference isn't that big a deal and many times, the look of many Blu-Ray films are simply unnatural to my eyes.


Also, someone earlier mentioned that DVD titles have gone up. I'm not seeing that. Most new titles are $13.99-$16.99 for the first five days. And certainly catalog releases are so cheap it's practically stealing most of the time.