hd tv,hd dvd,blu ray wont take off

[pat clancy]

hi all ,just what i think,i can,t see joe bloggs buying these 3 upgrades,soon we will have all dtv once analog goes,then hd tv,dvd etc,i think too much is happening at once,i love dvd mainly for 5.1 which i really enjoy,i may buy a flat tv but not for high def,maybe all you av addicts will buy all 3 but i cant see the general public,as i said the switch nto dtv is enough for most people,what do you think pat

[Goooner]

You may have a point.

It doesn't help that there are two competing HD formats.

At least when DVD came out you just needed a player and it would work perfectly OK with whatever TV you had and you'd see a noticeable improvent.

It's a lot of outlay for the casual viewer to go HD.

I'll more than liekely go with Sky HD reasonably quickly, providing it's not silly money. I'll be holding off with HD-DVD/Blu-Ray until I know more about any content protection they are going to implement and also ease of getting region-free.

[loadsofleads]

I think the best way to get 'White Van Man' to sit up and take notice is to use thing's like the World Cup, etc as bait. Joe Public aren't as slacked jawed as we might think, if most of them saw the difference between HD and SD, they'd be impressed.

[jonny m]

I am of the same opinion, I have seen hidef and it truly does look amazing, but it needs the push behind it that dvd and freeview have had to work.

I've just upgraded to a sony lcd tv and the quality via dvd is truly amazing esp via 576p, even 576i is brilliant, and freeview looks spectacular also via rgb. The only improvement I would like to see is would be using more bandwidth for the channels.

I guess the issue is that the commecial interests are looking at this as the next dvd boom, freeview and dvd fufilled the needs of a large existing customer base for a small outlay while giving a vast improvement - can hidef promise the same improvement for the same price? , hidef has to both create the customer base and the need and the cost is high, as the installed base for HDMI is small.

And as you say which format do you buy? As cd was the digital equivalant for analogue, dvd was for video. Then look at the success of sacd or dvd-audio. The fact hidef looks like it will only be carried over hdmi spells alot of trouble. People just don't like insane amounts of copy protection. They was flexability/usability not restrction.

I for one ain't buying it, no playing blueray/hddvd on your pc unless its a hdmi display? hands up how many have them?

High def is doomed if they carry on this way and with the whole country now having got dvd players, stacks of dvd's, freeview, sky, etc. Are we all going out to replace them along with all the content?

Maybe it will take off and change the landscape in the next 3 years but I won't be the first in the queue.

[blakey1]

Originally Posted by pat clancy

hi all ,just what i think,i can,t see joe bloggs buying these 3 upgrades,soon we will have all dtv once analog goes,then hd tv,dvd etc,i think too much is happening at once,i love dvd mainly for 5.1 which i really enjoy,i may buy a flat tv but not for high def,maybe all you av addicts will buy all 3 but i cant see the general public,as i said the switch nto dtv is enough for most people,what do you think pat

I think Sky HD could take off. Not because of how good HD will be but because how poor SD is. Most broadcaster output at pretty low bitrates and therefore put SD nex HD and the HD picture will look amazing. Increase the SD bitrate to DVD quality which I understand can be done and then the difference is not so great. It will interesting to see what the likes of ITV etc do. I cant see the financial intrest for them in HD as I understand you need the bandwith of 6 SD channels to run a HD one. Therefore I wonder if they and others will double their output to get as close to HD as they can. With more and more people buy LCD's I feel that broadcasters will have little choice but to increase bandwith. If this is done then I'm not sure whether HDTV will be a succes. In Oz where its been for the past 4 years or so the take up has been so low that their equv of BBC is now outputing at 576p to free up more bandwith.

Again not sure about HD DVD. The format war wont help and neither will the expected £800 price tag. I'm not sure how much better HD dvd's will be than standard DVD'd and I'm not sure how bothered the average Joe will be. I'm sure most out there are unaware of RGB and component input and most people I know who own a PS2 dont even have it connected by RGB. Therefore why is anybody going to be that bother between the quality of SD DVD's over HD DVD's?

[samhain]

Originally Posted by blakey1

I think Sky HD could take off. Not because of how good HD will be but because how poor SD is. Most broadcaster output at pretty low bitrates and therefore put SD nex HD and the HD picture will look amazing.

I agree, but I think it will take much longer than DVD did to become the most popular consumer product ever. The quality on SD transmissions is very poor indeed and our TV's try hard to give us a half decent picture.

I am interested in HD, but unlike DVD where I jumped in first with great excitment, I don't quite feel that way with HD.

[Wayne Moule]

The problem I think initially, with Sky HD especially, is the lack of content. There are not enough Sky HD channels from the off to encourage people to take it up and the BBC haven't even announced anything for Sky HD yet, never mind ITV/C4 or C5.

[rogeralpine]

....the only way "Joe Bloggs" is getting a taste of the new picture "revolution" is at your Currys/Comet etc... That's the big surprise for me that these stores are actually embracing new technolgy and trying to sell it to the consumer. (Obviously their motive is profit related - sell new HiDef LCD's etc and make a good crust in the process) I was surprised whilst in these stores recently trying out sets with my laptop how many "usual suspects" were partially aware of this new technology and were looking to make purchases. For me that's good news as hopefully HD will have a bright future in the Uk!

[pat clancy]

hi all,its seems most agree with me,dvd was a great jump from video and pro logic in quality,widescreen picture and excellent 5.1,then freeview with rgb picyure from analogue very good also,i think freeview bandwith should be increased for better picture and 5.1 sound and forget hd tv,pat

[joker_zero]

Originally Posted by rogeralpine

....the only way "Joe Bloggs" is getting a taste of the new picture "revolution" is at your Currys/Comet etc... That's the big surprise for me that these stores are actually embracing new technolgy and trying to sell it to the consumer. (Obviously their motive is profit related - sell new HiDef LCD's etc and make a good crust in the process) I was surprised whilst in these stores recently trying out sets with my laptop how many "usual suspects" were partially aware of this new technology and were looking to make purchases. For me that's good news as hopefully HD will have a bright future in the Uk!

I think your right, quite a few people in my office have asked for advice on HDTV and which set to buy.
The reason this is happening is that LCD and Plasma are becomming mainstream and people ascociate these with HDTV, and are aware of the importance of the HD ready logo even if they are not too clear what it really means.

Interesting aside on the football, I visited the stuff show this year and one of the great dissapointments for myself and the 6 or so mates along was that the only thing Sky were demoing while we were there seemed to be football ( a liverpool match if I recall correctly). Anyway after queueing to get into the Sky boothe we stood around waiting for the football to end and it looped. Just as we were about to leave, one of my mates ( a policman by trade as it happens) commented:
"Wow this is going to make it really easy to identify suspects after a fight at the match."
So, its nice to know there are fringe benefits for scociety even if we are forced to pay for the football when we fork out for Sky HD in Feb.

[KyoDash]

Working in retail I've found most people will unfortunately buy a bad looking Plasma or LCD screen just because of the word 'High Definition'.

Someone came into my game store and said that the 360 demo pod LCD screen had to look good as it was HD. The average joe has no clue and mainly buys this stuff because of it's slylish flat design and HD brand more than anything.

It's a shame but I want HD to succeed but with more awareness and certainly more choice in the UK, like in the US were some good CRT's are available without bad geometry problems. Not those badly configered Slim-Fit ones either.

I think the whole HD-DVD think is arriving way too soon, If non CRT TVs weren't all fixed panel display then 480p DVD playback would more than be suitable for the next 2 to 3 years.

I guess it will take a few years for HD-DVD and BluRay to take off due to high price points and limited availability with regards to films converted, much like current DVD when it started back in 1996 or 1997. The choice of two next gen movie formats isn't very appealing though, the best bet is to stand back and let the companies play it out and then start buying after one format emerges and the new standard.

[Gregory]

My view is that if it were reliant on HD-DVD or television then it will be a fair while coming ... but that it won't be due to game consoles. The new consoles (360 et al.) are much better than the last generation and so will get bought in large quantities irrespective of whether the users have hi-def screens. However, they also look much better in high-def, so giving people a reason to go high-def when they upgrade their screen (as many people are doing just to recover all the wasted space of a large CRT). Then it is only one more step to get to either a high-def DVD player (with most people having one from the off in a PS3, or as a retro-fit/mid-life upgrade in a 360) or HD Sky.

So, I suspect that it is not reliant on multiple parallel upgrades just to get high-def - we will simply find it becomes mainstream almost by stealth

Cheers

Greg

[dan1979]

Originally Posted by KyoDash

I think the whole HD-DVD think is arriving way too soon.

The US and Japan have had high definition broadcasts since 98, the technology is too late not too soon, the problem is the UK is lagging so far behind - you can buy WMV-HD discs in Norway and Germany but not the UK.

As for films being converted - hundreds have been already to be shown OTA in other coutries.

[samhain]

Originally Posted by dan1979

The US and Japan have had high definition broadcasts since 98, the technology is too late not too soon, the problem is the UK is lagging so far behind - you can buy WMV-HD discs in Norway and Germany but not the UK.

As for films being converted - hundreds have been already to be shown OTA in other coutries.

Correct this technology should have been out ages ago in the UK, but the various committees could not get their fingers out and agree specifics.

[Parmenion62]

I for one will be going down the HD route having bought the Hitachi LD7200 it would be rude not to!
Amazon.com are advertising a HD-DVD palyer for $499 - out March 2006 - so I dont think the price is prohibitive - I guess just as early adopters of DVD such as myself had to put up with few tiltes and high prices HD-DVD discs will also suffer from this problem. I for one will not be replacing all my previous DVD titles - I will replace my favourites e.g. lord of the rings trilogy. I will be looking to new content and will buy this instead of the DVD equivalent.

Telewest have announced a HD PVR (available May 2006- apparently - see their website) so I guess I will be getting this - rental seems reasonable - not sure what channels will be available.

I notice that Microsoft have also announced an external HD-DVD player for the X-box 360.