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38 Posts
Sorry to ramble... but where else can one type esoteric thoughts about niche issues???
Does anyone else feel like it's a complete waste of money to buy DVDs at this point? I assume I'll get replies from people with walls filled with DVDs and they will say that it's not a waste, and for obvious reason. But, DVD is really low quality compared to a good HD signal and with HD-DVD coming quick - why bother?. DVD is so inferior, I've avoided getting digital cable with HD because I don't want to spoil myself with HD content and then be forced to watch poopy NTSC (or PAL - Hi there Europe) signals encoded with a goofy and outdated MPEG2 compression scheme. I know that sounds dumb, and is dumb. The old adage about there's always something better/faster/cheaper just around the bend does NOT apply here. Why? NTSC has been around for 50 years and has changed little, at least in terms of signal quality. If and when HD finally becomes the standard, it will likely be the format that we will use for the rest of our lives (another 50years or so). So investing in a good HD content library makes sense. Plus, good HD is close, for all intents and purposes, to 35mm film. And pretty much everything from Gone With the Wind to the latest Olsen Twins flick is all 35mm film. So getting it to HD is natural, hell, HD is modeled after 35mm in terms of 16x9 being close to the Academy standard for most movies. With Netflix (and all the others joining) why buy DVDs right now? Other than ones you baby sit kids with and some serious can't-live-without movies, it's a waste of money. All the people with tens of thousands of dollars invested in DVDs, will have to replace the collection with HD DVD because the quality is exponentially better. Hopefully within 12 months or so we'll have HD-DVD (here in the States). I've got a boat load of LD's rotting away at home so I didn't invest heavily in DVDs, instead I rented and now Netflix. But I compared Raiders Of the Lost Ark LD to the DVD, and there is no comparison. So LD is long dead now. As is 480i DVD, in my opinion. HD-DVD, or HD-Memory Sticks, or Magic Crystals, or HD-Movie Downloads is the way to go. Of course I say this after spending another $50 bucks on the Star Wars Trilogy DVDs. In 12 months I'll buy the HD-DVD versions and can retire my Trilogy DVDs next to my two or three Laser Disc versions I have. I feel bad for those of you with 1,000's of DVDs. Maybe I'm just jealous I didn't have the money to buy them, but I sure hope you watched each and every one of those movies at least 3 or 4 times.
Sorry to ramble.
Jeff
Does anyone else feel like it's a complete waste of money to buy DVDs at this point? I assume I'll get replies from people with walls filled with DVDs and they will say that it's not a waste, and for obvious reason. But, DVD is really low quality compared to a good HD signal and with HD-DVD coming quick - why bother?. DVD is so inferior, I've avoided getting digital cable with HD because I don't want to spoil myself with HD content and then be forced to watch poopy NTSC (or PAL - Hi there Europe) signals encoded with a goofy and outdated MPEG2 compression scheme. I know that sounds dumb, and is dumb. The old adage about there's always something better/faster/cheaper just around the bend does NOT apply here. Why? NTSC has been around for 50 years and has changed little, at least in terms of signal quality. If and when HD finally becomes the standard, it will likely be the format that we will use for the rest of our lives (another 50years or so). So investing in a good HD content library makes sense. Plus, good HD is close, for all intents and purposes, to 35mm film. And pretty much everything from Gone With the Wind to the latest Olsen Twins flick is all 35mm film. So getting it to HD is natural, hell, HD is modeled after 35mm in terms of 16x9 being close to the Academy standard for most movies. With Netflix (and all the others joining) why buy DVDs right now? Other than ones you baby sit kids with and some serious can't-live-without movies, it's a waste of money. All the people with tens of thousands of dollars invested in DVDs, will have to replace the collection with HD DVD because the quality is exponentially better. Hopefully within 12 months or so we'll have HD-DVD (here in the States). I've got a boat load of LD's rotting away at home so I didn't invest heavily in DVDs, instead I rented and now Netflix. But I compared Raiders Of the Lost Ark LD to the DVD, and there is no comparison. So LD is long dead now. As is 480i DVD, in my opinion. HD-DVD, or HD-Memory Sticks, or Magic Crystals, or HD-Movie Downloads is the way to go. Of course I say this after spending another $50 bucks on the Star Wars Trilogy DVDs. In 12 months I'll buy the HD-DVD versions and can retire my Trilogy DVDs next to my two or three Laser Disc versions I have. I feel bad for those of you with 1,000's of DVDs. Maybe I'm just jealous I didn't have the money to buy them, but I sure hope you watched each and every one of those movies at least 3 or 4 times.
Sorry to ramble.
Jeff