Replacing DVD's with HD discs: Am I making a mistake?

[7hil]

I was lukewarm about this HD disc business. Then I got the HD-DVD drive for the xbox and was blown away by the picture quality. Suddenly watching SD-DVDs seemed rubbish. I’ve started selling my DVDs and am now replacing them with HD-DVD’s.

Is anyone else doing this with either HD-DVD or blu-ray discs? Is this sensible? What if both formats die in the war?

[Spinke]

You'll still have your players if either format dies, but it's very unlikely to happen. Expect we'll have a dual format world until the 'next big thing' .

I can still bear watching SD-DVDs, the quality difference is huge but I can't take the extra cost . Wish I could follow with the entire replacement .

[Greg]

As Spinke said, even if one format dies a total death, you still have the player and the new HD discs you have bought. It's not like they are going to stop working if one format dies out.

[the_pauley]

I've been thinking about this one long and hard too. At the moment I'm hedging my bets and buying new stuff on HD DVD/DVD combos. I certainly won't be replacing existing DVDs on HD until one or other of the formats is firmly established.

And machines won't last forever. If one or both fail to take off, your player's life is finite. You could still end up with a collection of unplayable discs. I'm in a similar situation with Mini Disc. I use it for home recording - compilations from CD, stuff of the radio, etc, but one by one mini disc players are disappearing rapidly. Eventually I will have to transfer irreplaceable stuff to CD-R.

It's the same reason I only bought SACD/CD hybrid discs and not purely SACD titles. That format and DVD-A are now all but dead.

[lfletcher]

I'm replacing my DVD's with either the Blu Ray or HD-DVD equivalent, but I was also somewhat concerned that I could be making an expensive mistake.
It's kind of an odd way of thinking though, considering I buy the HD version of new releases if available, so any title I purchased in the last 6+ months would also be obsolete if the formats were to fail. So I decided, in for a penny, in for a pound

I am finding it difficult to sell some of my DVD's though, especially as some of the high definition releases don't have any of the special features that the DVD's do. Although I hardly ever watch them, so I don't know why I'm that concerned.

[Raven1907]

even if it dies off COMBO players will be around and being made.

[Rasczak]

There is really no risk in buying into either of the high def formats IMHO. Even if one 'loses' the war - something I can't imagine happening TBH - there will still be ample support. On the consumer electrics side we already have the first dual format player on the market. There is no way it will be the last - even if one format becomes dominant the high end producers (and the 'losing' companies) would back both because that is where their customers have gone. There is no 'physical' incompatibility problem that has existed with so many other formats (such as Minidisc) and so the path to dual is relatively straightforward.

But even if this isn't enough assurance for you then the PC market should. Liteon, Hitachi-LG and Toshiba are all making drives that can read HD DVD discs - that accounts for well over 60% of optical drive production. The R&D they have pumped in is not going to be abandoned - it will be pushed down the dual format route. The same goes for BluRay where if you scrub Toshiba but add Samsung and Pioneer you get similar figures.

[7hil]

To be honest I'm hoping that dual format players will eventually become the norm, so no matter which format dies (if one does) I'll be alright.

[metalhead72]

I've started to collect new titles in HD DVD format, only if I havn't got them in my current DVD collection...

[Tejstar]

Well I'm trying my hardest to only buy titles that I'll know I'll watch again and again. That way regardless of what happens, I'll always have a decent collection that will still work with my player in years to come!

[Sonic67]

I bought Video CDs years ago when I had a CD32 and MPEG add on. I can still play them now. In these days of the Internet and E-Bay you will always be able to find something. I'm willing to bet you could find an 8-track player if you really needed to.

Anyway don't worry about it. In another 20 years there will be another more advanced HD format and you will have to start all over again. (HVD) Holographic Versatile Disc perhaps? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc

[Rasczak]

Originally Posted by Sonic67

I'm willing to bet you could find an 8-track player if you really needed to

Such as this one!

[BenchyUK]

I too am buying new releases on HD-DVD and a FEW of my favourite SD-DVD ones again on HD-DVD like Batman begins

[sinizterguy]

I am buying some of the new ones which I am really interested in HD .. But not replacing any previously owned titles until this whole thing settles down, with full-featured players of reasonable price out in both formats. I dont see a format dying out - so it will be multi-format. I just want the quality of the players and the releases themselves to settle down and be consistently good and the price of the players to drop before I can get standalones. Right now, I am using the XBox 360/HDDVD drive and a PS3.

If movies like LOTR, Gladiator and Matrix come out on HD, I will buy it without a second thought.

Eventually I may consider replacing the better titles in my DVD collection with HD stuff - There are some titles I just picked up because they were bargains that I wouldnt really watch again.

[amardilo]

Originally Posted by 7hil

I was lukewarm about this HD disc business. Then I got the HD-DVD drive for the xbox and was blown away by the picture quality. Suddenly watching SD-DVDs seemed rubbish. I’ve started selling my DVDs and am now replacing them with HD-DVD’s.

Is anyone else doing this with either HD-DVD or blu-ray discs? Is this sensible? What if both formats die in the war?

I know what you mean about the SD discs. I don't buy SD films any more. I now wait for them to come out in HD. I can bare watching TV shows in SD and still buy SD DVD TV shows (as a lot of TV shows are shot in SD) but I only buy films in HD.

I am also buying films in HD-DVD I have already got in SD and I have started to give my DVD (the ones where I own the HD version) to family members that collect DVDs. But this process is a little slow as I only do this when I have the spare cash.

If the Matrix or LOTRs trilogies came out as a box set I would buy those in a flash.