Have you switched to Blu-ray?

Baldrick · Administrator Joined: 09 Aug 2000 Location: Sweden

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 · HiDef whore Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Location: Belgium

Same here, movies in HD, tv-series mostly in SD, some in HD.

Why no more pols then?

yoda313 · Regular joe Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Location: sector 001

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.

SatStorm · Posted: Oct 17, 2009 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.
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p_l · Member Joined: 07 Jun 2002 Location: Montreal, Canada

Yes to HD. No to BD.

redwudz · Mod Neophyte Joined: 07 Sep 2002 Location: AZ, USA

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 · CONFUSED Joined: 26 Jul 2001 Location: Yank in Europe

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.
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usually_quiet · Member Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Location: United States

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 · Dear Leader Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Ish-ka-bibble

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.
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budz · Posted: Oct 17, 2009 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 · Contestant Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Location: Michigan, USA

No HD. And none for the foreseeable future.
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fritzi93 · Member Joined: 01 Nov 2003 Location: U.S.

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.
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freebird73717 · Man of Steel Joined: 09 Dec 2003 Location: Smallville

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...

rumplestiltskin · Member Joined: 15 Jun 2003 Location: United States

You left out one choice: No discs at all. SD/HD content without discs and DRM.

redsandvb · Member Joined: 25 Jan 2005 Location: United States

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...
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dphirschler · Ut Joined: 29 Aug 2001 Location: Kennesaw, GA - USA

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 · Member Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Location: USA

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 · Member Joined: 15 Jun 2003 Location: United States

vhelp · ..Semi Neutral.. Joined: 31 Mar 2001 Location: New York

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

-vhelp 5232
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yoda313 · Regular joe Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Location: sector 001

Xylob the Destroyer · Melkor Joined: 18 Sep 2004 Location: Earth, for now

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...
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rumplestiltskin · Member Joined: 15 Jun 2003 Location: United States

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 · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Location: Canada

I consider hi-def discs to be just an incremental improvement to DVDs, not a great leap forward, so I haven't switched.

hech54 · CONFUSED Joined: 26 Jul 2001 Location: Yank in Europe

nwo · Posted: Oct 18, 2009 11:16

Sod Blue Ray, i will wait for the next format like 4k.
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LOWTECH · Member Joined: 18 Jan 2005 Location: United Kingdom

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 · Member Joined: 14 Jun 2004

cd090580 · Member Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: Belgium

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 ???

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John · Member Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Location: Edinburgh

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 · Member Joined: 15 Jun 2003 Location: United States

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