1 HD-DVD Turned To 160+ BLUS

[DrinkMore]

Edited - - - -

[HectorB]

that's awesome.

[MichaelM]

It all sounds great, but regardless of the format, your hi-def collection had already cost you over $5000 and this is a very shy estimate.

I didn't plan on buying into any HD format until the prices went down, but when Toshiba threw in a towel I've immediately purchased HD-A35 for $150, XBOX drive for $50 and HDD3 for $60 (which I can return to Costco any time). I got 25 free disks via promotions and bought another 40 disks at $6-8 price point. So far my hi-def collection had cost me in the neighborhood of $550 with three players (one of which is top-of-line upconverter) and 65 movies. I would only buy HD-movies that I haven't seen and I would like to see. At $6-8 it is less than price of movie admission ticket and my 70" TV is the next best movie watching experience I can get under the circumstances.

It will probably take me a year to watch them all, considering my busy schedule. By that time the blu-ray will either fail or become inexpensive. In either case I will be relieved that I didn't invest thousands of dollars in it.

Realistically, how many movies from your 160-disk collection you watched more than once? With new movies coming out every week, can we really keep up with Hollywood? Why build a collection of movies we never watch? That's what happened with my DVD collection of over 500 movies. I never watch them. If I could get back all the money I spent and use it on some kind of a Netflix subscription or pay-per-view, I would have been able to see more movies and save precious shelf space at the same time.

Digital downloads may not take off for a few more years, but we will be there eventually. IMHO, both Blu-ray and HD-DVD will be considered the Laserdisks of 21 century.

[ericpizzapie]

Drinkmore? Name should be Postmore!! Just signed up yesterday and have 25 posts?!?! Looking forward to scrolling through all of your nonsense in the future Slow down dude

[dandeeswish]

Originally Posted by ericpizzapie

Drinkmore? Name should be Postmore!! Just signed up yesterday and have 25 posts?!?! Looking forward to scrolling through all of your nonsense in the future Slow down dude

LOL!!!!

[MichaelM]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

Honestly, I don't think I even broke the 3k mark yet. I have watched at least 50 of my movies several times. Double that amount, I have watched twice.

Two Playstations make up for 1K. That leaves us with 2K for 160 disks. Are you buying Blu-ray at $12 with taxes and shipping? I want to live where your live

I like being able to go over to my shelf and say hmm.. I want to watch THIS. Pull it out, pop it in and enjoy!

And I go to that same shelf and say hmm... I want to watch something new! The only time I watch and old movie is when I want to show it to my kids.

I also have a shelf with LPs!!! )) Just can't get rid of those, too much sentimental value.

Digital downloads no matter HOW YOU SPIN IT - are a joke. I want full 1080p. Not going to happen in a download. Period. 720p rips right now are clocking in at 8gig minimum. That is 720p.

1080p is 8GB and 720p is 4GB in MKV or WMV format. The difference between 720p and 1080p is barely noticeable on a 70" screen and I am REALLY picky when it comes to PQ. I have 4 TB of space in my Media PC. Do the math.

I remember just 10 years ago downloading MP3 files or a bunch of small pictures was considered an expensive and time-consuming proposition. The CD industry is collapsing right now because they thought that digital downloads cannot hurt the sales of physical media with all its advantages. Today I would say downloading a song has become much easier, cheaper and faster than going out and buying a CD.

In another 10 years, we will have 500GB flash drives that would hold 100 HD movies that can be downloaded almost instantly from a kiosk at your grocery store or overnight with almost any broadband connection. The times of "going to a shelf of movies" are passing. Enjoy it while you can.

If you like crappy video and are happy with 720p - stay with dvd and dvd rips off the net. Thats what it sounds like.

Some of my favorite movies are never going to be released in hi-def. That doesn't make me hate them for "crappy video". I like Full-HD picture as much as anybody else here. I just don't drool and masturbate on pixels. Content is king, as usual.

[MichaelM]

You seem to really care how I spend my money. I don't. I know I have not paid 5k for all my stuff. That's for sure.

I don't care how much you spend on your toys, I am just making an observation here. We all know how much Playstations cost. Now if you are a spontaneous buyer and in fact are buying the movies that you like, I would assume that you like good movies that cost $30 and more on Blu-ray. Anyone on this board can correct me if I am wrong, but Blu-ray disks on average cost at least $25/piece with all possible promotions. That's $4000 for 160 disks. It may feel like a lot less, since you are buying it over a period of time, but nevertheless.

So unless your me and know exactly what I have spent - you have no clue.

Money spent is money spent, and you are paying a premium for the new technology, that's all. Don't pretend you don't.

Besides, I could care less how much money I have paid out. I can't take it with me. I don't have kids and I enjoy having fun. If you don't or are stingy, not my problem

Nobody blames you for being an "early adopter". My Lexus LS460 drained the "wasted money" budget for this year.

If 1080p is still good at only 8gb encoded in mkv or wmv format - why do we have 25 and 50 gig blu discs? Why not just stick with dvd?

Microsoft did just that with their WMV-HD format, which put a 1080p movie on double-layer DVD. There wasn't any standalone players supporting it, so it didn't really take off. The reason formats like WMV and MKV fail in consumer market is not because of the quality. It is because they require a lot more processing power to decode than plain old MPEG-2. My top-of-the-line Quad-core media PC hiccups occasionally on decoding a 1080p WMV. And it is just the movie, no space left for uncompressed audio or supplemental features. Hence the need for a bigger disk. And once you have the bigger disk, there is no sense to use processor-intensive formats. Enter Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

Or were you an hd-dvd lover turned digital downloads when red fell?

I told my story in my first post above. I bought my HD-DVD gear AFTER red fell. My digital downloads weren't affected by this decision in any way.

Either way what your selling, doesn't make sense and I am not buying.

I am not selling anything. I am making predictions for the future. You don't have to buy it now. You will buy it later You sound like a relatively young man, you will see many other technological wonders in the years to come. And with your passion for technology, I am certain that Blu-ray will come and pass before you know it.

[DrinkMore]

So why are you here again? In this thread? All 3 of your posts?

[MichaelM]

Drink less

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by MichaelM

Drink less

Never heard that before.

[robertc88]

Accumulating HD DVDs when I see a good price. I'm format neutral. At the prices I'm getting for those, I'll have more HD DVDs soon and I got that player rather cheaply also about 4 months after my PS3. Who knows when those titles may come out on BD.

I currently have 50 BDs.

[Aurora]

Since the OP has removed all content from the first post, I'm closing this thread.

The thread can be reopened if DrinkMore wishes to restore the original content. Without it, there's no thread (no context for the replies).