Red to Purple to Blu

[Firefly]

I started out as a supporter of HD DVD in April 2007 (after agonizing over the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray decision for many months). That decision was based more on available titles at the time (I had to have Serenity) than it was on the format. I kept hoping HD DVD would win the format war, but I had my doubts because of studio support.

In early November, I decided to go purple as there were just too many movies out or being announced on Blu-ray that I wanted. Funny thing was, the more Blu movies I bought, the more I found myself feeling that it WAS the better format. I know that technically, the PQ would be the same; it may have been far more attractive menus and the fact that most everything had a PCM audio track and I have pretty new gear to enjoy that audio experience. Maybe it was better marketing or scratch-resistant coating (which I'm really coming to like). Regardless, that's the feeling I had and the handful of other people I know who own both formats (interestingly going from Red to Purple also) ended up feeling the same way.

Toshiba announcing they are bailing out has just crystallized my desire to be Blu only. I know the player won't stop working, but I prefer not to have to use two players and more specifically, to keep one for what would become a relative handful of movies eventually compared to Blu. I got rid of my 8-track and cassettes and eventually LPs in their day. My VHS tapes are long gone. It's just the way it is when it comes to media storage.

I'll keep my HD DVD player for the Reon HQV upscaling of my SDVDs until a better or comparable upscaler is part of a Profile 2.0 player (maybe the Panasonic BD-50?). In the last 36 hours, I have sold over half of my HD DVDs on eBay and Amazon (I keep careful track of my collection and what I paid). Based on the fact so many of them were acquired by BOGOs (and used) and based on the prices I am getting for them, I figure I lost about $175 on roughly 40 movies so far. Probably about $300ish total assuming I can sell the rest for similar pricing. I spent more on my 10th anniversary dinner.

For me, if Blu is the future than I would rather be all Blu. One format and be done with it. There's not a chance all studios won't be releasing movies on Blu by the end of this year. Note that I don't blame Sony or Toshiba or anyone else. Sony isn't evil and neither is Microsoft. Everybody was trying to make money which is what business is all about. I jumped into this with eyes wide open. Early adopters always pay a price of some kind. What I will say is that this 'war' ended much faster than I thought it would. I thought this was going to last at least through the holiday season of 2008 if not well into 2009.

It's a shame the whole thing put so many people at each others throats. Hopefully, all the emotion of the 'war' will start to fade after the official announcement comes (apparently next week) from Toshiba and everyone will just accept the reality of what happened. I care more about movies in high definition than what color the case is and with one format, hopefully we'll see a spike in Blu sales due to fence-sitters jumping in. Then we can look forward to a faster release schedule, titles like LOTR and Jurassic Park and all the other great catalog titles waiting to be re-mastered.

HD DVD, it was fun (and painful) while it lasted. Good-bye and good night.

[hdboy]

Welcome to blu-world, matey.
Glad you join us

[Sai]

I always supported Blu-ray simply because of the PS3. There was no doubt in my mind that it would be the winning factor of the format war. However, I nearly switched to purple due to the recent HD DVD price cuts.

I think you should have kept your HD DVD collection. After all, you do have a HD DVD player, and they will probably work fine for another couple of years. It just seems like such a waste of money IMO

[Wzierbovsky]

Great, measured and reconciliatory post. Welcome to blu-ray, mate.

[gtm]

lol.........

[kowhite]

You've followed the path of Warner Brothers.

[93xfan]

the Blu Sun corporation thanks you. anyway, good to hear that you enjoy the PCM audio and the scratch protection. those are my favorite things about the format.

[BuckeyeStar]

Two by two, discs of blu.

Serenity is the one movie above and beyond all others that I desire to see on Blu-ray.

[BreakAtmo]

Welcome, fellow Browncoat. I hear you - Firefly and Serenity are my favourite TV show and film respectively, but I was always going to get the PS3, and this is why I went with BD, as well as the fact that I consider it the better format. I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't see my favourite film in HD for a long time, and decided to be patient. Now, with Toshiba's upcoming surrender, I hope we are on the precipice on Blu-ray Serenity - hopefully the Collector's Edition, possibly lossless audio, just maybe an improved AVC transfer (Serenity WAS one of the first ever HD-DVD's released, and although I've never had the pleasure of seeing it, I wouldn't be surprised if a somewhat better job could be done now), and, if Universal is really nice, the DVD featurettes in 1080p/AVC. Of course, we should also be campaigning to Fox for a Blu-ray release of Firefly. They should, the sales would be excellent, methinks.

Whatever the case, glad to have you on the team.

[krylonman]

Originally Posted by Firefly

I started out as a supporter of HD DVD in April 2007...

You're the one who posted that topic a few weeks ago about how they were buying nothing but Blu-ray from now on and had coined the term "Future-Blu" for this, right? Because nothing makes more sense than inventing a nickname to describe what you'd be doing when you went shopping, and then writing a long essay explaining it, right?

Well, hey, every time Sylvia Plath got a paper cut she wrote a sonnet about it, so I guess there's something to it. Maybe look into an unusual rhyme scheme next time.

[93xfan]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeStar

Two by two, discs of blu.

Serenity is the one movie above and beyond all others that I desire to see on Blu-ray.

that's good, i like that.

[ni9ht_5ta1k3r]

Looks like I'm going the same red to purple to blu path.

[93xfan]

Originally Posted by ni9ht_5ta1k3r

Looks like I'm going the same red to purple to blu path.

hopefully it willl be as enjoyable for you as the OP.

as a side note, did you guys here there's still talk of a new Firefly movie (straight to DVD)?

[Thaek]

I will stay purple for ever But started out red.

[blu-raymond]

I'd say welcome to blu but you already got a bd player back in november. I guess it's your decision to sell off your hd collection. I think personally if I had a large number of hd discs I'd hold on to them, but I guess it's hard to say since I'm not in that situation.

I think hd dvd decline shocked everybody. Before xmas I'd been thinking of waiting til after CES to go purple. Just in case the warner rumors turned out to be true. I guess the BDA realized the longer this dragged on the more likely everyone would get both and that would not be good for them.

One curious thing you said was the bd menus were "far more attractive". I've not owned a hd dvd player, but from the feedback on these forums I got the impression that hd had the better menus. Could you set me straight.