DTLongo Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 What is the latest wisdom among you aficionados on these two competing high-def DVD formats? Is either one achieving greater market acceptance over the other? Quality? I don't want to get burned al la Betamax versus VHS again. What do you experts think about purchasing an up-converting DVD player for around $150-$200 to tide me over until the stupid high-def DVD format war yields a winner? I have a Pioneer 50" HDTV plasma that does a very good job on standard DVD's and on cable non-premium-channels HDTV. Since I won't pay the cable ransom for HDTV HBO premium channels etc., would purchasing an upconverting DVD player make a real difference for DVD's until that format war is resolved? Tks., Tom in Delmar, MD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Look up Oppo DVD players. You can get their DV-981HD 1080p upconverting player for around $229. They also have a couple other players for $150-$180. Incredibly high reviews and praise for these players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el jopez Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 There have been a few in depth threads lately, that wouldn't hurt if you searched for them, take from it as you wish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMcGoo Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Neither side is likely to win outright any time soon. Hence, the best strategy is to get a universal player. At present, LG makes a universal player for $1,200. It is not very good with HD DVD as it lacks any HDi support for special features like picture in picture commentary. My best advice is to wait for universal player prices to go down and features to get better. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zork52 Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 I bought a Tosh XA1 ( $ 499 ) from Value Electronics and am quite happy with it. It also does a great job upconverting. I have a Samsung 6188 DLP to view it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darien Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Total Blu-ray dvd sales have now surpassed HD dvd sales as of late. Even with the higher prices and the later release Blu- ray made up ground. With more big studios backing Blu-ray I think it is your best bet if you have to choose 1. Also the PS3 is just now being released in Europe and that will only help blu-ray sales. As for buying a dual player... well the price is as much or more then buying both players outright and the reviews on the LG have been less then stellar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor.Ham.Slap Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I'm also going to throw my hat in for HD DVD at the moment. I have both the PS3 and the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player. When they are available on both formats, I always go with the HD DVD versions basically due to DD+ being pretty much mandatory for the format. Plus, the HD-A2 has built in DD True HD decoders built into it. So yes, it is the audio nut in me driving my format choice, but all that aside, the Toshiba players can run with the best upconvert players out on the market more or less. Anyhow, as it stands for me right now, I have 4 Blu-Ray discs and 23 HD DVDs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marems Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I agree with the professor, I have noticed that almost all blu-ray titles do not offer the dd+ or the dolby true hd audio formats. there for your not really taking full advantage of the new audio formats. And as far as the 1080p that is hyped up with the blu-ray,[bs]! the HD DVD has it now as well along with HDMI 1.3 capiblities. So I think that a universal player in the long run is the way to go. but I'll wait until the second or third generation players come along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetJockey Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 If you have the cash or just "have" to have the latest gear, go for it..blue ray or HD DVD..who knows? Me, sure I want an amazing PQ...I have that now with my Oppo 971 and Sanyo Z-5 PJ, most movies look totally amazing, I'm waiting till this sorts itself out. What I am really looking forward to though is true lossless 7.1 pcm master soundtrack exact copy..now that will be cool. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catharsis147 Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 The question, though, is if either format will take off for good versus DVD. It is perfectly possible that both formats fail the way SACD and DVD-Audio did, but since DVD sales have slowed in recent years, maybe one of the new formats will pick up the slack..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor.Ham.Slap Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 The question, though, is if either format will take off for good versus DVD. It is perfectly possible that both formats fail the way SACD and DVD-Audio did, but since DVD sales have slowed in recent years, maybe one of the new formats will pick up the slack..... I personally believe right now that the new HD formats will coexist with regular ol' DVD. The adoption rate has been pretty decent thus far given the price of the players so I think it's pretty safe to say they will up and run. As far as I can remember neither SACD nor DVD-Audio really took off as far as consumer knowledge. There is a pretty large buzz surrounding these formats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdetroitx Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 My guess is dual players will end up being the norm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
germerikan Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Here in Germany it is hard to get both formats of discs, although I did see the Hybrid player from LG at Saturn (like best buy). I myself will be waiting it out, we got burnt back in the day when beta came out and had the player but could not get films, although I thought beta was better then VHS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 What I am really looking forward to though is true lossless 7.1 pcm master soundtrack exact copy..now that will be cool. Chris Amen to that. High density discs will end the issue of compression for audio. My guess is bluray, mainly because it's the first to market with burners for PC use. Anything I can't burn I have no interest in. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 People who have purchased that Sony Bluray burner are not exactly in love with it's performance, especially when the burned disc doesn't play in the bluray player. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el jopez Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 ^ [:|] How am I not in entire disbelief? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARPRINCE Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Total Blu-ray dvd sales have now surpassed HD dvd sales as of late. Even with the higher prices and the later release Blu- ray made up ground. With more big studios backing Blu-ray I think it is your best bet if you have to choose 1. Also the PS3 is just now being released in Europe and that will only help blu-ray sales. As for buying a dual player... well the price is as much or more then buying both players outright and the reviews on the LG have been less then stellar. I agree that BD would be your best bet because of PS3 sales (imho). I bet that's the main reason why BD sales caught up and smoked HD sales starting January this year. Also, I believe only BD has uncompressed PCM 5.1 on most of their movie releases. Reviews say it's awesome. Unfortunately, I don't have a receiver that can decode UPCM because the PS3 only has HDMI to output it (so there's another reason to upgrade the receiver).In the end, I want to be format neutral. I have the PS3 and love it. But I want to get the Xbox 360 HD DVD player too. I hope to get my hands on one soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatrixDweller Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Player sales are really dependant on the consumer actually needing or wanting the item. HD players won't sell to the majority of people out there right now because they still own a 27" CRT that's hooked up to a $40 DVD player. When the price of HDTV's comes down and more people buy into the HD market they will buy HD players. My guess on which format will win is which one is cheapest. Audio/Videophiles and early adopters don't care so much about price. All those people who bought the bargain LCD's do however. They don't want to spend $500 to $1000 on a HD player. They will hold out until they're in the Sub $200 range. By the looks of things HD-DVD is almost there wih their base player (HD-A2) being sold for $350 (CAD$). The 3rd gen players will probably be the deciding factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy4300 Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 I finally gave up on this silly format war, and bought a Denon DVD-2910. I wanted something that could upconvert and had an HDMI output and could play CDs. I have all this and more in the 2910. The upconverted picture quality to 1080i is good enough for me and my Phillips 50" Plasma. The sound is superb and I am able to play my collection of DVDs, and in the future will be able to purchase regular DVDs without having to worry about format. IMO, I made the right choice. To heck with the format wars, and players that will on play BlueRay or HDDVDs. Lou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian_Dude Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 I don't know about the states but up here in Canada Blockbuster has stopped renting hd-dvd's and will only be renting blue-ray and normal dvds now. This could be a big step towards Blue-Ray winning the fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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