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Heat; they apparently want you to spend the cash on the HIDD and BR DVDS. Yeah they should want to give you a freebe to promote, but it's not like the Hi-Def discs have the same production levels as the regular DVDs. Thus making anyone wanting a promo... a cash defeating proposition.

I agree with the substance of the column: I have a trunkful of DVDs that I am likely to give away to the local prison hospital, because the volume of HD films that come through the HBO channels alone is more than I could reasonably consume in a given month. With the exception of a few foreign films and other rarities, I rarely break out my DVD player these days, and haven't even considered buying a HD or Blu-Ray player. By way of background, I'm typically an early adopter and have the means to buy pretty much any kind of consumer grade electronics without feeling a pinch, so if I'm not buying ...

The Circle of Death

your not buying because you are a lazy piker with HD movie channels. If I had the means. I would already have a Blu-Ray player even if the content on those DISC are not as good as those on present DVDs. So congrats on thinking your lazy ass represents the entire consumer market. I LOVE THE INTERNET ;)!

The HD Net battle has been going on for quite a while with standard-def DVD as well. The studio pays a great deal of money to initiate and complete a new Hi-Def transfer of a film. And while thousands more go into the actual production of the DVD, the television group can sell it to HD Net or a pay channel (or even Turner Classic Movies) with little more further expense outside the relatively cheap process of formatting or encoding. Suddenly, that "never-before-on-DVD" title you've anxiously been waiting for pops up on cable or satellite and you can Tivo/DVR it for free. I think that is a major factor in the decline of catalog title sales that no studio wants to admit, because their revenue streams are crossing, strangling the one that used to be the strongest.

Maybe you could just watch it at a DLP screen with a 2K projector-isn't that also 1920 x 1080p?

I own the Blu-ray, IO... but if I can get more than half the entire Blu-ray catalog and more over the satellite, why would I be buying $30 discs and a $600 machine?

And yes, Bmc, I think the incredibly cheap DVDS and the proliferation of movie channels and the ownership mentality of DVRs is very, very dangerous for the bottom line... good for the consumer, not real good for the movie business.

Tell the truth, isn't this really about your sense of entitlement?

Heat; that only works if you are not watching TV. If you watched TV, then you would not be storing all of those flicks on your DVR. Also... Heat... you really do not own those flicks. If you have the means to get the blu-ray disc, then get the blu-ray disc. You will at least own them, and not be under the false delusion that you do :). You dig?

Two Things:

1. Do we really need a Hi-Def version of The World According to Garp?

2. You actually like the movie The World According to Garp? I'll freely admit to admiring Hill's direction and the performances of Williams, Hurt, and Lithgow. What I can't ignore is how much John Irving is affraid of women. He sees them as castrating harpies or sexless mother figures who teach their children without nurtuing them. It's the Madonna-Whore complex gone psycho.

P.S. I didn't realize you were down with Manhunter, still the greatest serial-killer thriller ever made.

Now, David, don't exaggerate.

A PS3 (the best and probably de facto blu-ray player out there) costs $399 in the 20gb version, and $499 in the 60gb version, not $600. And hey, they'll even throw in 5 free blu-ray films with it.

The average blu-ray title is just over $20, not $30, and a large number of them can be had at $15. Granted, quite a bit more than you'd pay for DVD's, but it's early in the cycle and HD discs (both Blu and HD-DVDs) are cheaper than DVD's were at the same point.

Another inaccuracy is from the column where you state that there are barely 200 films available in either format, which is off by quite a bit. As of October 9, there have been 307 films released on HD-DVD in the US, and as of September 18, 341 film on blu-ray.

Granted, it's just a drop in the ocean compared to DVD, but a little fact checking wouldn't go amiss.

For what its worth, HD-DVD and Blu-ray offer a significant quality improvement over and above HD on cable/satellite, for two reasons:

1)Video - broadcast HD suffers from a relatively low bandwidth problem, which causes those 'blocky' artifacts during fast moving scenes. As well, there is usually a reduction in resolution done upstream in order to compensate for the low bandwidth. HD-DVD/Blu-ray offer a significant improvement in these respects.

2)Audio - HD-DVD/Blu-ray have improved audio formats, but more significantly I find that usually audio from a broadcast HD has its dynamic range drastically reduced (in order for it to sound good on a TV set). You get the whole dynamic soundtrack on HD-DVD.

That being said, I myself have not jumped on the HD-DVD/Blu-ray train yet, simply due to the still small number of new titles available (and to a lesser extent, the movie rental store at the end of the street doesnt stock these formats yet)

I'm not saying that discs - in all formats, hi-def or not - are not superior.

But the difference between buying more discs and keeping what you are already paying for is significant for most buyers, who are casual.

As for the numbers, thank you, Thrice. I spend 30 minutes trying to find the right number and what I printed was more than what I came up with.

I tend to agree - there is a law of diminishing returns at play here.

For that matter, personally I believe the bigger competition for HD-DVD is just plain regular DVD. People may not want to re-buy for what they perceive as a minor improvement.

There's a pretty strong 'collector' instinct in people - people like owning a wall of DVDs, moreso than they like owning a hard drive full of movies. For that reason I tend to think that they will not become extinct.

Bob stated; "There's a pretty strong 'collector' instinct in people - people like owning a wall of DVDs, moreso than they like owning a hard drive full of movies. For that reason I tend to think that they will not become extinct." Dude; I have been trying to convince Heat of this for years. Yet he believes it's all about HDDs. That may be the case for music, but movies will always hold a different significance in people's lives. This is why they are collected, cherished, and watched again and again and again. Having that on a harddrive simply does not compute with a basic human emotion driven for over 100 years by the light, sound, and projection.

Plus movies on a hard drive don't include deleted scenes, audio commentaries, or making-of featurettes.

On the other hand, the commentary for 'The Fountain' can *only* be found online, they didn't put it on the DVD.

HBO's HD Channel does not show HD movies in the right aspect ratio in 2.40:1. They use the 16X9 apect ratio on widescreen films, which still crops them quite a bit. On the other hand, SHOWTIME and HDNET are doing a good job of broadcasting in the right aspect ratio.

Damn Dave, I wish we had a chance to communicate before you made your purchases. I was in between gigs and paying the bills by doing high end Home Theater and LCD/Plasma TV sales in a Santa Monica botique store that catered to high end clients and could have hooked you up. That being said, my two cents:

I own a PS3 which has Blu-Ray, and the XBox 360 with the HD-DVD player.

My experience with both has led me to this:

As of now, the HD-DVD catalogue is kicking Blu-Ray's ass. There is much more content available on HD-DVD than Blu-Ray. Movies such as "300" that are on both formats, HD-DVD tends to have better extras (as an incentive to push it past Blu-Ray. Transformers will be an HD-DVD exclusive it will be interesting to see if that makes a dent in Blu-Ray sales, which everyone knows, is beating HD-DVD.

Dave, you chose Blu-Ray. Please tell me you at least went with a Playstation 3.

As it is the only machine that is not having any compatibility issues with titles at all. Not to mention that it may become a great game system and the technology is phenomenal potential to become a real media center. All the other Blu-Ray players are not much more cost effective than a PS3 (if any)and are having software compatability issues on certain titles (Fantastic Four- Silver Surfer being the latest.)

HD-DVD as of now, has no hardware compatablility issues.

What I've been recommending to people interested in either technology has been to seriously consider the XBox 360 Elite with the HD-DVD player add-on.

With the XBox 360 Elite; you are getting a player that has HDMI output (same as PS3), has a 120gb Hard Drive player (1/4 more space than the 80gb PS3). The HD-DVD add on is a good deal as it comes with a player, and a very nice universal remote and a free copy of King Kong.

Why do I push the 360 Elite? Besides being a top of the line HD-DVD player and game system;
XBox Live.

XBox Live has a video market service that is superior to ITunes in terms of downloadable video content. There is 316 Feature films available for rental with about 25% of those in HD (720p resolution) For about $4 you download the film with a 14 day license before it expires. Once you begin viewing the content, you can watch it as many times as you want for a 24hr period before it expires.

They also have a huge selection of TV shows and episodes. As of now, there is 241 different Television shows you can download from. Every major and cable network is providing content here. You can get whole seasons or each episode is about a dollar each. TV episodes you get to "own" to view as many times as you want.

XBox Live also offers game demos, classic arcade downloads and ties into your Windows messenger account so you can IM anyone through the MSN while on your XBox 360.

The whole service costs $50 a year.

I recommend the Elite since it comes with the 120gb hard drive and is meant especially for video and music downloads. There are other models at lower price points with the only difference being smaller storage space.

And if you even dabble in videogames or hold a casual interest, the XBox 360 is way ahead of Sony and the Playstation 3.

XBox has the most exclusive games including the much lauded Bioshock. Many are saying this game is a real example of videogames as Art and it is opening many eyes, and it's only on XBox 360. (I believe Nick from CHUD was one. Eh Devin?)

Not to mention the upcoming "Mass Effect" by Bioware (already gaining much acclaim and attention as being a game that really gives a cinematic epic feeling because it uses a new AI emotive technology)

Not to mention Halo 3.

(Seriously; Do you know how many people in Hollywood are playing Halo 3? I've gotten more business and networking done in this town through that game than in the last 10 years.)

So in a nutshell: If you're going to buy into this new format. Buy one of the videogame systems.

Because they are in the same price range as the stand alone players (I do believe a $199 HD-DVD player is coming to market at XMas that will change that) and they can do SO MUCH MORE!

If you're going to buy a game console, get the XBox 360 Elite (with the HD-DVD add on) because it offers even more HD downloadable content through it's XBox Live service.

And for anyone that says these technologies are a fad and is the equivalent of Laserdisc? I say yes, there is some veracity to that. But 1080p quality downloads, which is what you would need to equal what you're getting with Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Well, the bandwith for that is at least five years away. And with players beginning to go for under $500, worth the investment in my opinon.

Even on a small 30" CRT HDTV, there is a very noticeble difference between these new formats and DVD. My girlfriend who could care less about all this even remarked how much better it looks than DVD or HD cable.

And anyone that really knows film will see a difference over the HD cable/sattelite feed because as the above poster correctly stated; there is no bandwith issues to cause artifacting and pixelation.

As for your Panasonic HDTV...

Man, I hate it when people make these purchases at Costco...

Panasonic's are okay. But I don't love them unless you have the 58" set. The 58" uses different technologies than the other sizes and is a superior HD picture and worth the money. The other sizes are okay and make fine HDTV's, but there are many better for the same price.

Dave, if you can return the TV still, (and it's a fine purchase if not) please consider it. Because...

The flagship HDTV plasma we used to sell at the store I worked at is known as the

"Pioneer PDP-5070/5080"

This HD plasma was $2500-3500 at my old job. Newegg.com is selling them NEW for $1500!

I am seriously considering picking one up just because of the deal. This TV is last years model but will still rival many of the newer models coming out today. The set does not have 1080p, but unless you're watching a screen bigger than 50" or sitting four feet in or closer, your eye really can't tell the difference...(Insert comment where someone says they can tell the difference - HERE)

The black levels (Contrast ratio) is way more important and this TV kicks all the others asses (I believe it is CNET's top rated TV)

In the store I worked at, this TV blew all the others away. Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba (all make excellent HD sets. But the Pioneer is just that much better)

Again, no plasma can match the black levels the Pioneer gives, which arguably is more important than resolution for watching movies.

It would be like upgrading from a Toyota Camary to a Bentley and not paying a dime more. Yes, the set is that good.

If you can still return your set and get the Pioneer, I'd advise it. If not, seriously consider spending the money to have it professionally calibrated. You will be amazed at the results you can get with any HDTV by having this done.

Sorry, but I had to weigh in as I was paying the bills by selling this stuff for awhile and have an affinity for the technology.

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