DVD/BLU-RAY Trading up

[madmarva]

For those of you who have Blu-Ray players, if you buy a Blu-Ray of a movie you already have on DVD, do you keep the DVD or sell it off or give it away?

[Cosmicman]

People like to **** away money it seems. I would buy new stuff and keep my old DVDs.

[cjefferys]

If I can get decent money for the DVD, I'll sell it. If I can't get much for it, I'll give it to family or friends, or just keep it for the hell of it (it's not worth the trouble to sell a DVD for five bucks on ebay). But if the DVD still has extras that weren't ported over to the Blu-ray disc, I'll hang onto it.

[BlackKnight]

You giving DVD's away Terry ?

[Dave Mc]

I'm not on a mission to replace everything, but I do replace some. For the most part, I just buy new stuff on Blu-Ray and keep the old DVD's. If the DVD is widescreen enhances, and most are, they usually look pretty decent because the BR player will upconvert. However, some DVD's are not enhanced, and look like crap, so I replace and sell or give-away the old DVD. My favorite films I replace, regardless. Some movies I just like enough that I want the best possible version I can get.

[spiderrogue]

free dvds? my address is matt bertwell...20....oh wait....you guys are messing with us, huh? if i had a blu ray..which i dont...i would only buy stuff that i dont have yet on dvd..but would keep my dvds if that was the case..unless the BR edition was better...does that make sense? pretty much what dmc said..lol...

[Cosmicman]

I am not buying a blu ray yet. I am in the DVD business so I really doubt I am going to trade up and convert all my stuff to bluray (which I have seen and I don't think the quality is that much better.)
Maybe in 2010 if blu ray is still around (which I doubt) I might snag one.

My opinion, people will be watching movies in AVI type formats that download/plug into televisions from USB soon anyway (I am a computer guy, I read computer mags all the time. I am a nerd. )

Blu ray I will bet you is going to be the tape cassette of the late 70s. It will work for awhile until something like that comes along and takes its place.

[megocrazy]

I won't upgrade until the costs level out. Plus I have been picking up used DVD's for $1 everywhere lately. I expect them to be plentiful during the summer yard sale season. Came home with 13 from the Toy show Rob and I set up at last weekend. Spent $20. That included an unopened Blade and Van Wilder, for $3 each, which I exchanged at my local Walmart for The Ringer, The Family Man, and Balls of Fury. So those 3 brand new ended up costing me $2 each. I love store credit. Paid through the nose for a copy of Buckaroo Banzai that I had to have and haven't seen anywhere. Campy little space sci-fi movie that it is. I have over 300 in my collection so upgrading would be costly. I am moving a large amount of VHS if anyone is interested. About 150 pieces. Just can't be bothered with having a vcr set up on the media stand anymore. Thought about converting some until the drastic price drop in used dvd's came about. Anyone interested shoot me a PM.

[Cosmicman]

I won't upgrade until the costs level out. Plus I have been picking up used DVD's for $1 everywhere lately. I expect them to be plentiful during the summer yard sale season. Came home with 13 from the Toy show Rob and I set up at last weekend. Spent $20. That included an unopened Blade and Van Wilder, for $3 each, which I exchanged at my local Walmart for The Ringer, The Family Man, and Balls of Fury. So those 3 brand new ended up costing me $2 each. I love store credit. Paid through the nose for a copy of Buckaroo Banzai that I had to have and haven't seen anywhere. Campy little space sci-fi movie that it is. I have over 300 in my collection so upgrading would be costly. I am moving a large amount of VHS if anyone is interested. About 150 pieces. Just can't be bothered with having a vcr set up on the media stand anymore. Thought about converting some until the drastic price drop in used dvd's came about. Anyone interested shoot me a PM.

Everytime you post something now, I hear Stewy's voice talking.

[cjefferys]

I think Blu-ray will still be around in 2010, that's only seven months from now.
I've always been of the opinion that Blu-ray will be a niche format. The videophiles will want the best presentation possible, and most Blu-rays show a noticable improvement over DVD on large screens (i.e. over 50"). The average person thinks DVD is "good enough" and that's fine. Look at audio formats. SACD and DVD-Audio never got anywhere, while extremely lossy MP3s, etc are the format of choice these days.

Anyway, BD has a larger market penetration than the previous niche video format, laserdiscs, and that format had a nearly 20 year lifespan. Not that Blu-ray will last that long, as new technologies are developing at an increasingly faster rate, but it will be around for some time to come.

I've been hearing about video downloading threatening to replace physical media for over 10 years now. It still won't be happening anytime soon. Our internet infrastructure is currently inadequate to handle the huge amount of data required for a hi def movie, especially if many people start doing it, and people who have computers, or other ways of having a USB device connected directly to their television is still a very small minority. It will happen someday, but it will be awhile yet.

[Dave Mc]

Enhancements in video is tied directly to computer advancement these days. So basically, things change daily. Tomorrow we're shooting a commercial with the RED camera. Red shoots in 4K, which is 4 times the resolution of 1080p HD. 4X! Point is, we are already producting raw video that is so far beyond HD quality, it's scary.

However, it's going to take some serious processing to ever be able to download that in a timely manner. Right now, most computers are too slow to even play it back. Sure, eventually they will get there, by then they will be 10x HD, etc... Point is, there is always something better. But for now, Blu-Ray is so much higher quality than a standard def DVD, it's crazy. So for home use, I'll go with the best I can get at the time. Right now, it's Blu-Ray.

[The Bat]

I wasn't in a hurry to get a Blu-Ray player...but now that I have one(PS3)I'm completely SOLD!! Watching Blu-Ray on my 65" HD TV with a kick ***** Surround Sound System beats going to the Theater!

I'm desperately fighting the urge to upgrade and replace Movies I already have...because I know if I'm patient, the prices will come down. But at least when I buy new Movies, they'll be on Blu-Ray so I won't have to replace them.

As for my old DVD's that I replace...They'll be given away to Family Members.

[ctc]

>SACD and DVD-Audio never got anywhere, while extremely lossy MP3s, etc are the format of choice these days.

But for MP3 and MP4 I think a lot of that demand was manufactured. Record companies LOVE the idea of selling music without having to produce any sort of hardcopy, so MP3 was pushed. Still is; there are albums that come out only on itunes. No published CD.

I felt the same way about DVDs. I only bought the player 'cos so many things I wanted never came out on VHS. Blu-Ray bothers me, 'cos it seems like they're gonna make me buy my movies again. Although on the up-side; I can HOPEFULLY convert a lot of my stuff to new formats, since it's already in a digital medium. I have a LOT of stuff that's NEVER coming out on disk, and I'd hate to lose it. (Got the same problem with my music; although I THINK the Nero 9 suite has a funky audio recording/editing feature.... if I can figure out how it works....)

Don C.

[The Bat]

Blu-Ray bothers me, 'cos it seems like they're gonna make me buy my movies again.

Don C.

Oh they're not going to make you buy your Movies again...they're going to make you WANT to buy your Movies again!

That said...I think regular DVD Players(and DVD's) will be around for a long time. I plan to upgrade very slowly...and some of my Movies(older Movies)I won't even replace it all.

[cjefferys]

Tomorrow we're shooting a commercial with the RED camera. Red shoots in 4K, which is 4 times the resolution of 1080p HD. 4X!

Awesome, I've heard of those RED cameras. I'm jealous.

However, it's going to take some serious processing to ever be able to download that in a timely manner. Right now, most computers are too slow to even play it back. Sure, eventually they will get there, by then they will be 10x HD, etc... Point is, there is always something better. But for now, Blu-Ray is so much higher quality than a standard def DVD, it's crazy. So for home use, I'll go with the best I can get at the time. Right now, it's Blu-Ray.

All that is very true. But I think 1080p is getting close to the practical limit as far as most people's visual perceptions go, unless perhaps you are using a front projector with a screen bigger than 100". I don't think we are going to see 2K or 4K television sets or home media anytime soon, although that would be cool.

But for MP3 and MP4 I think a lot of that demand was manufactured. Record companies LOVE the idea of selling music without having to produce any sort of hardcopy, so MP3 was pushed.

True, that plus record companies get nervous when copies close to master recording quality are floating around out there. They would much prefer to have lower quality versions being distributed. Just like movie companies are understandably worried about having hi def copies of their films available. The major studios at first were very ambivalent about the whole thing. That's why Fox for example, really dragged their feet entering the HD disc market, and really pushed for very secure copy protection (not that it wasn't eventually broken anyway).