Forum Archive Home -> Polls -> Have you switched to Blu-ray?
Have you switched to Blu-ray? | ||||
| Baldrick posted 2009 Oct 17 10:59 | ||||
| I watch movies in HD but I still watch most tv series in SD.
and this will probably be the last poll on the front page. | ||||
| raffie posted 2009 Oct 17 11:39 | ||||
| Same here, movies in HD, tv-series mostly in SD, some in HD.
Why no more pols then? | ||||
| yoda313 posted 2009 Oct 17 11:47 | ||||
Yes I am bluray and high def now. However I don't buy all new releases in bluray just yet. I want the prices to come down. - I do have high def cable fyi so yes it is high def for tv too unless its not originally in high def or the occasional channel that comcast hasn't simulcast in high def yet or is in the next up channel package I am not paying for yet.
I have RETIRED from poll posting...... I will still be around here as a regular contributing member though. And I may once in awhile post a poll in OFF TOPIC. | ||||
| SatStorm posted 2009 Oct 17 12:08 | ||||
| What I buy is on DVD, so it is still SD for me.
But I do have access to (many) HD channels through satellite, so occasionally I watch movies and sports from there. I do also watch on HD modern Anime when I can, using my popcorn hour a100. On music, a nice HD source for the latest material / productions, turned to be Youtube (believe it or not...). The &fmt22 - when it is available - looks great! Even better MTVN HD IMO. Popcorn Hour playback those youtube files perfect. | ||||
| p_l posted 2009 Oct 17 13:30 | ||||
| Yes to HD. No to BD. | ||||
| redwudz posted 2009 Oct 17 13:45 | ||||
| I have two BD ROM drives and one BD burner and a new HD AVCHD camcorder. No set top BD player, though. I rent mostly BDs now from Netflix, and buy a few that I really like. | ||||
| hech54 posted 2009 Oct 17 13:48 | ||||
| The HD-DVD - Blu Ray war put a bad taste in my mouth. I firmly believe that had HD-DVD won out I would be very HD. | ||||
| usually_quiet posted 2009 Oct 17 13:56 | ||||
| No. I only have SD TVs, and I'm still using DVD's and VHS. There is no BD drive in my computer yet, and my DSL service isn't fast enough for streaming good-quality SD video, let alone HD.
It will be a while before I can upgrade my equipment further, and even longer before I can upgrade my cable and Internet service. | ||||
| ron spencer posted 2009 Oct 17 13:58 | ||||
| I have a fair bit of HD....HD DVD, wihch I feel was better, and blu ray, but only used ones...less than 3/4 of price. I never pay full price. | ||||
| budz posted 2009 Oct 17 15:54 | ||||
| My Panasonic Blu-ray player makes a year old in December. I view Blu-ray movies by renting from Netflix. So far the only blu-ray movie I bought is "The Hulk". | ||||
| gadgetguy posted 2009 Oct 17 16:22 | ||||
| No HD. And none for the foreseeable future. | ||||
| fritzi93 posted 2009 Oct 17 16:37 | ||||
| Yes. BD-ROM in the HTPC, a set-top BD player, HD cable and HD-PVR. Once you're accustomed to HD, SD looks...flat. Can't remember the last DVD we watched, although the wife still watches an occasional TV show we don't get in HD. | ||||
| freebird73717 posted 2009 Oct 17 17:16 | ||||
Nope. SD for me so far. I don't own any HD tv's so for me there is no reason for HD content yet. Eventually I'll get HD. My wife graduates RN school in april. Maybe then...
Too bad. I'll miss them.
Too much going on in real life to keep up with the polls yoda? I can understand. Even with the "suggest a poll" thread it's got to be hard coming up with new ones on a regular basis. | ||||
| rumplestiltskin posted 2009 Oct 17 17:21 | ||||
| You left out one choice: No discs at all. SD/HD content without discs and DRM. | ||||
| redsandvb posted 2009 Oct 17 20:14 | ||||
| I waited a long time for the idiotic hi-def disc war to end, and then for blu-ray players and the blu-ray spec (1.0, 1.1, bd-live, HD codec bitstreaming/decoding, etc) to finally catch up with each other before finally jumping in this summer. Been watching HD on TV for a while already...Whatever was available in my area that is... | ||||
| dphirschler posted 2009 Oct 17 21:43 | ||||
| I have a PS3 which will play Blu-ray, but our TV is SD. I have an HDTV in the bedroom, but it's a small 19". I prefer to watch tv in HD, especially football) when I get the chance, even on the little TV. But I haven't bought any HD movies yet.
Darryl | ||||
| grump posted 2009 Oct 17 21:45 | ||||
| Pathetic! What are you wating for? The new format* is almost here and you're still deciding to get HD Blur-ay. And please, no mention of HD DVD. That was settle long a go.Yes...in technology time...LONG A GO! Oh...but I forgot most of you are waiting for free Blu-ray player coupons to come inside cereal boxes. PATHETIC!
*NO DETAILS....DON'T WANT TO GET ANOTHER 10 YRS OF PROCASTINATION GOING. | ||||
| rumplestiltskin posted 2009 Oct 17 22:19 | ||||
Almost sounds like you need us to buy in order to justify your purchase. :D | ||||
| vhelp posted 2009 Oct 17 22:26 | ||||
| I voted.. No, DVD is enough
I too buy and watch mostly DVD (tv series) materials. My hopes are to archive them all to HDD's and use a hardware player with a good navigation system to play them back easy. Currently, there is no such hardware capable of doing that. The LG and WDTV/1/2 do not have this capability. Navigating/searching for videos are slow, combersome and mostly spoil my video moods -- by the time I do find something, I feel like doing something else. So, I wait and hope for a better navigation system upgrade, someday. bluray is too much trouble, too costly, and so on, though I do have the hd-dvd/player/blurray writer, I don't use it much, am waiting for my video rental to carry a large enough selection. Until then..dvd is more than enough for my current needs. (I have Star Trek TOS in HD-DVD, season one) long live vhs, laserdisc and vcd 's and now, dvd 's :lol: -vhelp 5232 | ||||
| yoda313 posted 2009 Oct 18 08:47 | ||||
Not exactly that. Its just that I typically only go online on the weekends (not too busy just doing other things besides net). THen I either forget or can't think of anything. It's been fun though. I'll still be around here of course :) | ||||
| Xylob the Destroyer posted 2009 Oct 18 10:30 | ||||
| I've bought a few BluRay discs, rented many.
I still mostly buy DVD because most of what I've seen on BR isn't all that impressive and the majority of what's coming out on BR isn't really "worthy" of HD. When I think "high-def" I'm thinking of HUGE visual spectaculars, stuff with lots of sfx, not dramas, crappy films from the 70s and TV shows... | ||||
| rumplestiltskin posted 2009 Oct 18 10:39 | ||||
| Digital downloads. Streaming. Devices like the AppleTV, Western Digital TV Media Player, etc. These are the future, not BluRay.
BluRay was the answer to a question that no one asked. The only beneficiaries of BluRay are the studios and the electronics manufacturers who managed to get you to open your wallet, drop your pants, and bend over. | ||||
| Constant Gardener posted 2009 Oct 18 11:05 | ||||
| I consider hi-def discs to be just an incremental improvement to DVDs, not a great leap forward, so I haven't switched. | ||||
| hech54 posted 2009 Oct 18 11:12 | ||||
Well lets not procastinate then.... HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD :roll: | ||||
| nwo posted 2009 Oct 18 11:16 | ||||
| Sod Blue Ray, i will wait for the next format like 4k. | ||||
| LOWTECH posted 2009 Oct 18 14:59 | ||||
| I see little point in Blue Ray, just to change my system just to watch a movie etc that I can view OK now.
Technology is one thing.... keeping up with it all is another..... Like many gadets, people rarely use them to the maximum Tv and movies are losing their way as there is only so many ways to make programs. The past 50 years has seen remarkable progress, but most has now been seen and done before, and something really new is rare. Tv programs are now run of the mill and often boring becuase of the same basic format of old. Each new generation see`s things as new that many others are getting fed up with. ..And who really needs 100 channels on tv....let alone Blue Ray as well Making the same crap clearer on Blue Ray hardly seems worth buying... or the bother involved. Blue Ray, you are the weakest link........Goodbye. | ||||
| cal_tony posted 2009 Oct 18 21:42 | ||||
I was going to add my own comments, but Xylob expressed my thoughts exactly. Tony | ||||
| cd090580 posted 2009 Oct 19 10:54 | ||||
| I watch in SD. I still have a good old CRT TV which still working fine. So why change it while it's still working fine ??? ;) | ||||
| John posted 2009 Oct 19 15:03 | ||||
| Im still DVD the films ive seen so far havnt convinced me to go for it yet, especially the price difference. Ive looked at a couple in shops and asked if it was a dvd, when they said it was blueray i was shocked, dvds look better on my computer through my tv. I do have a couple of HD chanels on cable, but as of yet they arnt all true hd. and not convinced they ever will be. | ||||
| rumplestiltskin posted 2009 Oct 19 18:18 | ||||
| I get OTA HD. With the converter box on my 32" Toshiba 4:3 CRT, the signal is excellent although I do see some stair-stepping of horizontal lines(which is obviously coming from the conversion in the box) like the 5-yard lines on a football field. I do get a few dropouts occasionally (which I know comes from the OTA signal as it happens on my 32" HDTV as well).
Fox sports broadcasts in 720p whereas CBS sports uses 1080p. My HDTV is a 720p unit and it's just fine; obviously I can't see a difference between the two networks' content (although the 720p stuff seems to be more reliable on gameday). Frankly, if the standard def stuff had simply been improved to wide screen (maybe 1040x480?), I'd have been quite happy. I've had the opportunity to compare DVD against 720p content and the DVD content is quite adequate. Filmmakers understand that part of the illusion is -not- seeing every pimple on the butt of my favorite actress. I've seen some folks posting that hi-def might be good with awesome special effects. Okay, sounds interesting. However, One must remember (and most directors do not) that crisp, hi-def CGI of buildings crumbling do look fake without the normal visual interference one gets simply from normal atmospheric dust and humidity. In other words: Those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were just too darn clean. I remember when I saw my first DVD. It was "Twister" and that was all the convincing I needed. What did it provide that "normal" TV did not? Clarity. No loss in the broadcast signal (either OTA or that horrible TimeWarner analog cable). I did not get higher resolution but that wasn't a problem. I did get a much clearer picture (and the ability to sh-tcan my VCR). But does higher-def automatically mean BluRay? Of course not. In every respect it's an awful, expensive, DRM'd format that takes forever to load in the players I've examined at the stores (and many of those players seem to have a real problem with DVD-R just like the first generation DVD players). Crappy hardware with mediocre software/firmware and DRM'd content that may (if your player thinks you've presented it with a bojak disc) power off the unit permanently. (Google this if you wish.) No thanks, fanboys. You've been drinking the kool-aid and need the rest of us to buy into your fantasy world | ||||
| Xylob the Destroyer posted 2009 Oct 19 18:33 | ||||
Like I said earlier, a lot of what is coming out on BR simply isn't 'worthy' of High Def - I was quite shocked when I saw that many of the larger 'adult' studios were putting stuff out on BR now. There are somethings that you just don't want to see in HD! | ||||
| gll99 posted 2009 Oct 19 19:37 | ||||
| Moving to HD could mean a few things, I'm on the very slow switchover route.
Have so far: A 160gb PS3. (For standalone BD play) A BD/DVD/CD Lite-on Reader (only reads) (new and not hooked up to my pc yet) Blu-ray movies, 6 ST TOS movies + bonus disc pack, 4 ST TNG movies + bonus disc pack and 5 other movie titles bought on sale A 24" monitor that will do 1080p (too small to tell the difference DVD vs BD) Have not: A HDTV. It's not from lack of looking but no sale yet. Eventually we will need 3 or 4 of those. A HD cable box. At $300 for a simple box I just missed a 1/2 price sale so have to wait. No other option here since I don't want to rent it and we must use company equipment. OTA is unavailable. Even with a box only a few news and sports are free with my service. It would cost more to buy HD movie and tv bundles. BD Writer. Likely won't buy one unless price drops drastically. It's just not competitive and I have no source HD video material to write. BD might be useful for data storage but at $8 per 25gb BD and $16 per 25gb BDE pretax, it's not cost effective right now and there is no guarantee of reliability for long term storage. I always knew the conversion to hd would take a while. We really need to buy our first HDTV set and that will probably accelerate our decision on the cable box and service. | ||||
| rumplestiltskin posted 2009 Oct 19 19:42 | ||||
Again, the only reason BluRay exists is to provide a method to DRM content. Think of what the adult video providers are facing with digital downloads and it's easy to understand that they, even more than Hollywood, are driving the push to BluRay. (Insert the wise-ass remark of your choice about whores here.) | ||||
| redwudz posted 2009 Oct 19 21:47 | ||||
| I'd agree the BD format is extremely flawed, thanks mostly to Hollyweird. But HD looks very good on my 12' HD projector screen and DVD seems a bit fuzzy in comparison. :(
I think the HD 'war' has a ways to go. :) I'd like to see a economical HD format without all the DRM crap. The Chinese were working on one. I hope they succeed. :) JMO. | ||||
| jeremyofmany posted 2009 Oct 20 12:27 | ||||
| I prefer 720p (17" LCD monitor @ 1280x1024).
However, I cannot get everything at the desired quality. | ||||
| jeremyofmany posted 2009 Oct 20 12:33 | ||||
If I understand you correctly, you are saying on your 24" monitor, you cannot tell the difference between DVD and HD quality? I find it impossible not to notice the difference on my 17". You have a DVD which opens up at a resolution of 720x480. You have HD (720p) which opens up at a resolution of 1280x720. So the first thing you notice is the larger resolution before you even see the picture to determine quality. DVD is slightly fuzzy/blurry (not nearly as sharp) as HD. DVD is grainier than HD as well. | ||||
| TheFamilyMan posted 2009 Oct 20 16:51 | ||||
| Jumped into HD with a Samsung 40" 120htz LCD and a panny BD player about a year ago: thought I'd died and when to TV heaven. No regrets, still watch lots of DVDs and SD broadcasts and those too look great (usually). We're strickly OTA, and there's plenty of OTA HD broadcasts to suit my needs. BD movies are a mixed bag in terms of quality, glad netflix has BD; we've only got a few BDs and two of them came as a 'rebate' with the player. | ||||
| TheFamilyMan posted 2009 Oct 20 17:02 | ||||
All good things eventually come to an end....Thanks yoda313! | ||||
| yoda313 posted 2009 Oct 20 17:53 | ||||
I believe you mean 1080i for aerial hd :)
Thanks! I've enjoyed the ride. I'll still be here and probably will post a poll here and there in off topic. | ||||
| gll99 posted 2009 Oct 20 20:18 | ||||
I'm not playing them from a computer drive, they both play at 1080p on my monitor (ps3 hdmi to dvi) (also tested DVD on a Philips dvp5960 via hdmi ) so it's not a resolution or display size issue. The difference with the commercial movies which I own on DVD and Blu-ray is not apparent but obviously I can't do a side by side and frame by frame comparison. Nothing jumps out at me that would tell me which disc is playing if I did a blind load test. I suppose if I looked at selected high action scenes with a real critical eye I might find something but just watching a movie at 24" diag from 3 1/2 feet or less away doesn't do it. | ||||
| silvergator posted 2009 Oct 20 23:32 | ||||
| Still using DVD.... It took to long to roll out because of the battle with HD DVD. by the time it catches on, other on-air/ online/hard drive content will dominate. It will end up a with the same story as the laser disk. Its only hope is if the copy technology starts be as cheap as DVD. | ||||
| cal_tony posted 2009 Oct 21 09:54 | ||||
| Having given it more thought, I would like to say that even though I have switched to some extent, My preference is for DVDs. However, in thinking about what I would like to see in HD, I would say that after having seen all the episodes of Poirot and Midsomer Murders, I think these are definitely HD worthy. Not as much for the stories or the actors but for the on location filming.
Tony | ||||
| videobread posted 2009 Oct 21 11:53 | ||||
| Slowly considering HD editing, but no BluRay burning in my future.
Reed Hastings of Netflix said, "DVD will be the primary delivery format at Netflix for the next two years, though it will continue to be part of the company's business for the next 10 to 20 years". BluRay may just crap out. BluRay sales just became material last year - 0ver 5%. Steaming and set top boxes may beat out BluRay in the end. I'm happy with DVD. | ||||
| Bullworth posted 2009 Oct 21 16:17 | ||||
| I have a PS3 and an HTPC. For me SD or HD depends on the material. For regular drama, horror or comedy SD is fine. For action, movies with many panoramic views or nature docs HD is my preference.
I only rent BR from Netflix but I don't own any BR movies. Is it just me or does it seem like many of these BR releases of older movies before HD was even a thought is a scam? I don't see that much of a difference, if anything it seems to add a lot of grain with little or no improvement. Remastered CGI movies have not benefited from BR. First HD CGI movie I saw was Ice Age and it looked like computer game graphics, and not in a good way. Recent movies like Coraline and 9 looked really good. | ||||
| TJK1911 posted 2009 Oct 23 11:37 | ||||
| Virtually all of my TV program watching is HD on my 60" Pioneer - if it isn't on an HD channel I just don't even consider it. The only time in recent memory that I watched SD was when we were recording a marathon showing of The Colony on Discovery, and we recorded it in SD to save on DVR space.
On the other hand virtually all of our movie watching is on standard DVDs. The Pioneer does such a good job of upscaling that I don't feel compelled to go the extra effort and expense to seek out Bluray discs, even though we have a Bluray player. | ||||
| vhelp posted 2009 Nov 08 19:47 | ||||
| Well, I just picked up the x-mas movie, Elf on bluray. no dvd was available and it crossed my browsing eyes at the time.
I always wanted to get it ever since I saw a short demo clip that somebody had posted here over in the youtube (big) thread a few years ago. (the clip included the scene were Elf was in the store and screaming Santa or something while the store clerk was well, I don't know.., anyway, and it was so funny that I said one day I'll get it if it ever crosses my eyes, well it did) I don't have a blu-ray stand alone player, but I have my burner..can't wait to see it. -vhelp 5249 |
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