Will you be replacing your SDVD library ...

[George Bellefontaine]

... with high definition dvds ? I have slowly whittled down my vhs tape and laserdisc library by replacing them with standard dvds. I haven't done a count lately, but my standard dvd library is close to, or already at, 1000 titles. If and when a clear winner emerges in the bluray/hd-dvd battle I will break down and buy a player. But I will really be very selective when it comes to buying titles and don't expect to replace many, if any, titles I already own. The exception is anything I have on tape or dvd that hasn't been released. But I'm am an old guy now and retired and need to spend my entertainment allowance carefully, otherwise I'd probably be buying everything in sight, just as i did when dvd first appeared on the scene. How about you, will you replace all your dvds ?

[LikeCoiledSteel]

I too have been replacing VHS with sd. DVD's over the years. At this stage it is too early to say if either format will become standard or even survive, as there are other formats already developed that obsolete HD and BR. Another factor is that the hi-def discs will and are expensive. I no longer will pay more than $10 for a dvd. They all eventually go on sale and that is when I get them. There are so many movies out there that one can afford to wait.

I have been thinking about the new hi-res formats. While st. dvd was heads and shoulders above VHS, hi-res is not. An improvement, but not night and day from what I have seen so far. Another thing to think about are movies older than 10 years. While the newest movies will gain the most from hi-res, what about the thousands of movies made years ago? They will not see a huge improvement, because they are still limited to how they were filmed/produced.
My .02
Steel

[Race Car Driver]

I wont be replacing mine, why, DVD is plenty good.
Yes I will get a new HD/Bluray player eventually, and get just those titles.
But I wont be duplicating what I have already... unless some of the good action movies eventually drop down the to the $10 range.

Matrix, blade and the likes.

[aud19]

Maybe when I win the lotto :lol:

[Foxman]

Will you be replacing your SDVD library ...

The short answer is: No.

Of course there may be some exceptions with certain movies that I can watch over and over again, and if the HD DVD version is lights out better, but I doubt I would replace my copy of....As Good As It gets, for example.

[Burke Strickland]

Will you be replacing your SDVD library ...
... with high definition dvds ?

Sure I will if I ever find a disc labeled "SDVD" in my collection. But try as I might, can't locate a single one. :>)

I still have a shelf full of pre-recorded Beta and VHS tapes (haven't played any of them in years -- what's the ecologically responsible way to dispose of them?). Also about 500 laser discs, with about 350 titles that I still have not duplicated with DVDs. Most of those I have replaced have been primarily because the DVD provided the correct aspect ratio or a better copy (not all DVDs are "better" than all laser discs) or because the laser disc had succumbed to laser rot.

However, a few laser discs, I'll have to admit, I've replaced for the "convenience factor" when I've found a title that I watch more than once every couple of years on DVD at a "budget" price. Frankly, the upconverted picture quality of some of my laser discs is virtually undistinguishable from a middle-of-the-road DVD. So not having to wield the 12 inch disc(s) is about the only reason to add these same titles to my DVD collection.

If the same holds true with high definition DVDs (upconverted already-paid-for DVD is pretty close in apparent quality to the next generation DVD while watching the movie) then since the "convenience factor" won't be a factor, my future high def disc purchases will be strictly limited to new titles and selective replacements where the DVD release I bought of an often-watched title is truly blown away by the release in the new format.


Burke

[Kevin D]

When Walmart has a 2 for $15 bin full of HD-DVD's, I'm sure I'll start replacing titles.

Kevin D.

[David Meek]

Yes I plan on replacing a couple of hundred or so of my existing DVD titles, but not all of them.

[saurabh]

Might replace, when they bring down the cost to near the currrent DVD, otherwise I dont see any reasons, why!!!

[Chris D]

Same as others here, for the most part, NO.

I'll probably replace my favorites and demo material--Apollo 13, Matrix, U2: Rattle and Hum, etc. Otherwise, I'll be buying only new movies like "Cars".

The jump from VHS to DVD was much BIGGER in quality difference, with much LESS difference in cost, than DVD to high-def discs. Everybody has their point of diminishing returns.

[Suss]

Here's an interesting Thought,

Maybe BluRay and HDDVD are both obsolete before they're even off the drawing board?

I was thinking about this the other day - why would the MS Xbox 360 only have a standard DVD player in it -particularly with the centre of home entertainment being the battle for the next few years?

Then it struck me - maybe M$ have done their homework and figure that people will want all their media either online or on Hard disk instead. Hmmm.. $300 for a 300GB NAS device is the current going rate - why muck around with disks at all?

I'm not talking Mp3s here either. I mean complete CD copies onto Hard disk (or whatever else comes along in the future via the net).

What are your thoughts?

[JonMarsh]

Interesting questions. Several issues.

I have used WAV uncompressed for music server but am switching to Applelossless soon; it's possible to store quite a bit of lossless compressed music on an HD that way. However, I still have all the source CD's, just nicely tucked away in storage. This is my every day listening, and works quite well, but I still like digging out SACD's and going to town; enough that I bought another player this month.

Video is a different problem- the good old US of A lags well behind many industrialized country as regards installed net bandwidth, and in fact the business model of most ISP's is to charge 20X the actual expected user bandwidth at current rates. For HD Video, they'd totally flip out- you'd be looking at a two orders of magnitude growth in bandwidth consumption, and the hardware just isn't there to support it, not even close.

On my DSL line in Northern CA I've down loaded one DVD size file- the independent star wars movie "Revelations", in the ISO format. I just had to let that run overnight to get it done- all 3.7 GB. In HD, it would be about 24 GB. What would that take to download- four to five days? Probably. Not a viable operational or business model.

In the case of Xbox 360 and the new PS3, it's all about hardware cost savings, and trying to minimize the blood flow in the early stages of the console sales. MS will be introducing an outboard HD drive, but neither MS or Sony will include HDMI connectors on the early consoles- at least not the lower priced ones. Sony's more expensive version will have HDMI, so they say.

For myself, there are some older titles I'll replace, and many others I wont' bother with. The so called "price disparity" is small at this time, a non-issue- I've been buying HD-DVD titles at $24 each, just a few bucks more than Walmart's standard DVD prices. Most titles will be new ones, though I'm sure I'll pick up some old favorites.

I never had a VHS collection, but did have about a hundred-fifty LD's. Some have been updated with DVD, some not. Some the source material doesn't justify HD.

Like many things in life, no simple clear cut answer.

~Jon

[George Bellefontaine]

Sure I will if I ever find a disc labeled "SDVD" in my collection. But try as I might, can't locate a single one. :


Burke

Heh, heh, heh. Burke, you're such a comic.

[aud19]

Video is a different problem- the good old US of A lags well behind many industrialized country as regards installed net bandwidth, and in fact the business model of most ISP's is to charge 20X the actual expected user bandwidth at current rates. For HD Video, they'd totally flip out- you'd be looking at a two orders of magnitude growth in bandwidth consumption, and the hardware just isn't there to support it, not even close.

On my DSL line in Northern CA I've down loaded one DVD size file- the independent star wars movie "Revelations", in the ISO format. I just had to let that run overnight to get it done- all 3.7 GB. In HD, it would be about 24 GB. What would that take to download- four to five days? Probably. Not a viable operational or business model.

You lucky folks in the US are starting to get pockets of areas experimenting with "IPTV" that is based on a dedicated, higher speed network systems that do pretty much what you mentioned there.

[joetama]

Answer: NO

I think, i could be wrong, it will still be a long time till they get all the kinks worked out of the new media, which ever one wins. So until then I'm really not going to think about it....