HD DVD lover (now Purple) discovers Blu "advantage"

[HiDefBear]

I was actually quite saddened by the recent Warner defection, thinking that my days of HD video were over. Like many, I despise Sony to the point of not having a single Sony product in my house. After a few days of feeling pretty miserable at the thought of no HD in my future, I opted to go Purple by picking up the Panasonic BD-30 from a sale at Fry's. At the same time I started checking out Blu-Ray titles to add to my library.

That's when I discovered something. Over the past year I've read endless entries about Blu-Ray's advantage thanks to having Sony, Fox, and Disney as exclusive studios. No one was more surprised than me to come face to face with the fact that this is little more than a selling point rather than an actual plus. To be blunt, there just aren't a hell of a lot of movies that are currently available on Blu-Ray that interest me. Sony, Fox, and Disney may be sitting on a huge catalog of important titles, but that doesn't mean squat to me if I can't actually watch them right here and now. Thanks to the one-two combination of Amazon's BOGO and (up to) 50% off sales, I've been able to pick up about 15 Blu-Ray titles at very little cost... but that's just about it. And over the next three months there are just three new Blu-Ray titles that I have pre-ordered, about half of what I plan on getting in the way of new HD DVD titles.

I admit that I bought into the notion that Blu had a better selection of titles, but now that I'm Purple I'm discovering that it just ain't so. Which makes me even sadder that the days of HD DVD after May look to be limited.

[Barricade]

Originally Posted by HiDefBear

I was actually quite saddened by the recent Warner defection, thinking that my days of HD video were over. Like many, I despise Sony to the point of not having a single Sony product in my house. After a few days of feeling pretty miserable at the thought of no HD in my future, I opted to go Purple by picking up the Panasonic BD-30 from a sale at Fry's. At the same time I started checking out Blu-Ray titles to add to my library.

That's when I discovered something. Over the past year I've read endless entries about Blu-Ray's advantage thanks to having Sony, Fox, and Disney as exclusive studios. No one was more surprised than me to come face to face with the fact that this is little more than a selling point rather than an actual plus. To be blunt, there just aren't a hell of a lot of movies that are currently available on Blu-Ray that interest me. Sony, Fox, and Disney may be sitting on a huge catalog of important titles, but that doesn't mean squat to me if I can't actually watch them right here and now. Thanks to the one-two combination of Amazon's BOGO and (up to) 50% off sales, I've been able to pick up about 15 Blu-Ray titles at very little cost... but that's just about it. And over the next three months there are just three new Blu-Ray titles that I have pre-ordered, about half of what I plan on getting in the way of new HD DVD titles.

I admit that I bought into the notion that Blu had a better selection of titles, but now that I'm Purple I'm discovering that it just ain't so. Which makes me even sadder that the days of HD DVD after May look to be limited.

NEVER GIVE UP NEVER SURRENDER! -Tim Allen from Galaxy Quest (Dreamworks)

[jeffreybehr]

Me too, HiDefBear. In anticipation of actually receiving a Samsung 5000, I've bought about 2-dozen BDs, almost all at BOBOF or at-least-50%-off sales, which I'm watching on a (temporary) Sony 301 player. But I see virtually no BD new releases I'm interested in.

Come on, Blu-boys, WHERE are all those movies the market seems to love? It doesn't matter how many great titles are in the can if it'll take a decade to get them out here for us to buy. Blu-ray's 'advantage' with those exclusive studios is mostly vaporware in my view.

[Trip]

Originally Posted by HiDefBear

I was actually quite saddened by the recent Warner defection, thinking that my days of HD video were over. Like many, I despise Sony to the point of not having a single Sony product in my house. After a few days of feeling pretty miserable at the thought of no HD in my future, I opted to go Purple by picking up the Panasonic BD-30 from a sale at Fry's. At the same time I started checking out Blu-Ray titles to add to my library.

That's when I discovered something. Over the past year I've read endless entries about Blu-Ray's advantage thanks to having Sony, Fox, and Disney as exclusive studios. No one was more surprised than me to come face to face with the fact that this is little more than a selling point rather than an actual plus. To be blunt, there just aren't a hell of a lot of movies that are currently available on Blu-Ray that interest me. Sony, Fox, and Disney may be sitting on a huge catalog of important titles, but that doesn't mean squat to me if I can't actually watch them right here and now. Thanks to the one-two combination of Amazon's BOGO and (up to) 50% off sales, I've been able to pick up about 15 Blu-Ray titles at very little cost... but that's just about it. And over the next three months there are just three new Blu-Ray titles that I have pre-ordered, about half of what I plan on getting in the way of new HD DVD titles.

I admit that I bought into the notion that Blu had a better selection of titles, but now that I'm Purple I'm discovering that it just ain't so. Which makes me even sadder that the days of HD DVD after May look to be limited.

Couldn't agree with you more. They may have all these studios but they overall movie selection released by said studios is overall, very poor.

This was one of the 3 main reasons that I chose Red over Blu.

[SirEncyTheWray]

After looking back at the titles I already had on DVD and what I've rented over the years, I've noticed that the vast majority of my movies have come from Universal Studios. So much for the Blu-ray advantage. Looks like a paper tiger to me.

[XodusTrance]

Originally Posted by jeffreybehr

Me too, HiDefBear. In anticipation of actually receiving a Samsung 5000, I've bought about 2-dozen BDs, almost all at BOBOF or at-least-50%-off sales, which I'm watching on a (temporary) Sony 301 player. But I see virtually no BD new releases I'm interested in.

Come on, Blu-boys, WHERE are all those movies the market seems to love? It doesn't matter how many great titles are in the can if it'll take a decade to get them out here for us to buy. Blu-ray's 'advantage' with those exclusive studios is mostly vaporware in my view.

bwahahhahahaha....

Sorry, but Uni's best movies have been released? Almost all the crap they released was utter shiat....

Where is the JP and BTTF HD releases? Come on, I have read this crap from every red fan at one point or another -

long story short
"I dont like a single title from Sony, Fox, Disney, or Lionsgate." "Only Universal has good titles, and only the titles released after para's defection are considered any good." "Shrek 3 was the best in the series" "I love EE, it really enhances the edges, thanks Uni" "Tremors was the greastest flick ever" "Blu-Ray movies are geared towards pimpled teenies" "I have never liked a single title released on Blu-Ray, EVARS!!!!"

pffffttttt.

Get over it, sorry you lost. Sorry TF didnt have lossless. Sorry the players were on par with 360 build quality. Sorry Tosh gave up so easily.

If you dont at least moderately like 30-40 movies or more on Blu-Ray, then your not a movie fan or even an average movie viewer, and you have no business discussing movie formats

Come on.

Departed sucked? Prestige sucked? Simpsons sucked? Rattatoulle (sp?) sucked? Pirates sucked, all of em? Spiderman sucked? Cast Away (in my top ten all time favs btw, seen it no less than 30 times or more over the years), Me Myself Irene sucked? Close Encounters sucked? Hostel sucked? Saw series suck, all of em? Cars sucked? Kingdom of Heaven sucked? Halloween sucked?

These are just the ones off the top of my head.

It seems you have poor tastes to choose a catalog with titles like Failure to launch, the hulk, tremors, etc etc etc...

Both formats got some crappy titles. Both got some mediocre and decent titles, neither received the best in the vault from any studio.

[mosul210]

I am in the same boat as most of you. I went purple recently and I am having a hard time finding BD titles that interest me.

Most of the titles I am interested in are actually Paramount and Universal releases like Cloverfield, Into the Wild, Kite Runner, and Beowulf.

I really think the industry acted way too early in pulling the plug on HD DVD.

[brandonh]

When the whole HD format was coming out I sat on the fence because of the dual format issue and when I heard of the first duo player was coming out I knew it would not be long for other players to follow suit and thats when I decided that I would go purple.
And expected that there would be more to follow at a whole lot less than the early players cost and that would end the format war (one player for all).
So I waited till there was a good stand alone unit that would suite my current and future needs and I got the Samsung BD-UP5000.
I have Blu and and red discs and find that I prefer the red over the blu every time.
And when a movie is offered in both and even if blu comes out first I wait till the red is released and purchase it instead of the blu.
being purple I still do not know why Blu won out it is not even a finished product yet while red is.

[Gators300]

I am the same way. There are definitely movies available on Blu that interest me. But, as you can see in my sig I have close to 70 HD DVD's, and all of them are, IMO, good movies. No way do I think I could amass a collection of 70 good BD movies. There is a list of about 10-15 movies I want that are available on BD right now, so I'll end up with about 20-25 titles at the most, and then as more come out the collection will incrementally grow.

It really is a matter of personal preference I guess, but most of my favorite movies happened to be on HD DVD.

Chris

[henchman]

Originally Posted by XodusTrance

bwahahhahahaha....

Sorry, but Uni's best movies have been released? Almost all the crap they released was utter shiat....

Where is the JP and BTTF HD releases? Come on, I have read this crap from every red fan at one point or another -

long story short
"I dont like a single title from Sony, Fox, Disney, or Lionsgate." "Only Universal has good titles, and only the titles released after para's defection are considered any good." "Shrek 3 was the best in the series" "I love EE, it really enhances the edges, thanks Uni" "Tremors was the greastest flick ever" "Blu-Ray movies are geared towards pimpled teenies" "I have never liked a single title released on Blu-Ray, EVARS!!!!"

pffffttttt.

Get over it, sorry you lost. Sorry TF didnt have lossless. Sorry the players were on par with 360 build quality. Sorry Tosh gave up so easily.

If you dont at least moderately like 30-40 movies or more on Blu-Ray, then your not a movie fan or even an average movie viewer, and you have no business discussing movie formats

Come on.

Departed sucked? Prestige sucked? Simpsons sucked? Rattatoulle (sp?) sucked? Pirates sucked, all of em? Spiderman sucked? Cast Away (in my top ten all time favs btw, seen it no less than 30 times or more over the years), Me Myself Irene sucked? Close Encounters sucked? Hostel sucked? Saw series suck, all of em? Cars sucked? Kingdom of Heaven sucked? Halloween sucked?

These are just the ones off the top of my head.

It seems you have poor tastes to choose a catalog with titles like Failure to launch, the hulk, tremors, etc etc etc...

Both formats got some crappy titles. Both got some mediocre and decent titles, neither received the best in the vault from any studio.

wow, you are ignorant. yes I would say that about all but the 5 titles you listed suck serious monkey ballsack. In my opinion, and that's what this is all about, OPINION.

A huge amount of my favorite movies are already available in HD DVD. It's not that anyone HATES these studios, I definitely do not think that Universal is the only studio with good titles. All studios are sitting on a load of great titles, that will eventually come out. But why wait when I can buy some of my favorites on the format I already embrace?

I'm planning on going purple, but browsing through the Blu section on the retail stores, I see maybe 1 out of 20 titles that I would pick up. So until there is a better selection of Blu titles, I'm staying red.

[Aurora]

I guess what I don't get is that it's not exactly a secret what titles have been released. To figure out after you buy something, "Oh, there aren't that many movies I wanted to buy" seems pretty silly. It's not like this site doesn't have reviews of every disc release, or anything.

I had always said the same thing about HD DVD (which I don't own, btw), but what I came to realize is how the studio split between the two formats was affecting the movies I was watching.

Most of the titles released on HDM are new movies first released in the past 2 years or so. The "catalog" movies are mostly ones that were released in the year or two prior to the advent of HDM--comparatively, there are few titles available that first came out before 2000. What I realized is that I hadn't seen most of the films that have been released on HDM (either format), and thus when I'd look at a list, there were few titles that I know I'd want to buy, having seen only a few of them.

What I discovered after that is that I had been giving preference in renting movies to those released by Blu-ray studios. It wasn't an active boycott or anything, just a "I can't get this movie on Blu-ray, so I'll rent that one now instead of this other one that's only on HD DVD." Essentially, I was prioritizing the list of movies I wanted to see based on what I could/would buy. That is, given the choice between a DVD available on Blu-ray (or about to be released) and one not, I'd always pick the former. I think you'll find that you have done the same, since no studio (other than Disney) has a real identity--they all release every kind of film. Furthermore, there aren't many film franchises, and most of them haven't made it to HDM yet (no 10+ movie series out yet, like James Bond). The best out there now is a couple isolated trilogies.

So what I think you'll see happen is this. When you picked a format initially, chances are you hadn't seen 90% of the movies that were available, even. Of the 10% you had seen available on both formats, more you liked happened to be on HD DVD. Thus, after compiling a list of movies you might like to buy in the first month of owning your new player, you found far more to be on HD DVD, which helped you pick. This is mostly luck of the draw. After you bought HD DVD, you began to focus on movies that were available on HD DVD--especially natural if you were renting HD DVDs, since you can only rent what's out there--and thus it seems like HD DVD has all your favorite movies now. Of course, you're still mostly sitting on that 10% seen of Blu-rays released, while now, say, you've seen 40% of the HD DVDs that have been released. Obviously, there's more in the 40% that you would own, but now that your purchase options are more open, you'll start to see it even out a little more.

So think about that: how many HD DVD movies have been on your "buy list" since you bought your player, and how many new ones have you added since buying it--movies you saw AFTER buying your player and THEN decided to buy? When you look at a list of released movies and can't find anything, are you saying "I definitely would NOT want to buy this title--I saw this movie and it sucked" or are you saying "I haven't seen this, so I don't actually know whether I'd want to buy this or not"? Odds are it's the latter, but if you don't stop to think of it that way, you'll fall into the trap.

[DCSholtis]

Originally Posted by henchman

wow, you are ignorant. yes I would say that about all but the 5 titles you listed suck serious monkey ballsack. In my opinion, and that's what this is all about, OPINION.

A huge amount of my favorite movies are already available in HD DVD. It's not that anyone HATES these studios, I definitely do not think that Universal is the only studio with good titles. All studios are sitting on a load of great titles, that will eventually come out. But why wait when I can buy some of my favorites on the format I already embrace?

I'm planning on going purple, but browsing through the Blu section on the retail stores, I see maybe 1 out of 20 titles that I would pick up. So until there is a better selection of Blu titles, I'm staying red.

I'm already purple but I totally agree with you there is not one title currently on that I'm interested in. The ones I HAD been interested in I already have on either domestically or import.

[hairlesswookiee]

hey i'm on the same page as you are guys. i bought a PS3 last year when i got some gift cards for Xmas. first thing i did was hit amazon for some BOGO sales and bought about 20 movies or so at once. i seriously don't see what the benefit of having Disney exclusivity other than for straight bragging rights. now, i will be getting Nightmare Before Christmas on day one, but other than that there are slim pickings for other choices.

[Farstarbuck]

Ever since the end my HD DVD collection has Tripled in cheap discs. Also picked up cheap player too. Got my PS3 handy for new releases, but at the end of the day you cant beat paying a few bucks for Batman Begins on HD DVD

[brandonh]

Have been from the beginning.
But where are all the good new Blu-Rays they promised?
I was at wally world yesterday and looking at the overpriced blu's.
BTW I was the only person even looking at the Blu's and saw nothing I wanted and if it grabbed my attention... ouch the price I also noticed it looked as if the bins were full and that none were selling... it looked like it had the last Sunday I looked over them too.

I thought about doing a rare double dip on Master & Commander (from SD to HD) but after reading the review http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/605/...commander.html I decided not too. I mean whats the point if they did not go through any trouble to significantly upgrade the PQ I'll just let my player do the up scaling.
So for now it looks like I have stagnated in the HD home video area until Iron Man is released which I have on preorder already
Looks like blu wont be getting any of my money for a quite some time.